Hannah's RYE year in Switzerland: Bettmeralp/Bettmersee

The weather was bad everywhere in Switzerland except in the Canton of Vallis. When I got up my host dad and I looked at a weather map and I asked him what I should do/where I should go. He told me about this village in the mountains where people can only get there by taking the gondola up. There is no public transportation, people have to walk and bike everywhere. There are electric cars people can reserve but other than that theres nothing. I thought "why not?” The only thing I knew about the place I was going to is that the weather was nice and they didn't have sources of transportation. In the morning I got on the train to Bettmeralp and just went. When I got out of the train station I took the gondola up with people holding grocery and shopping bags so it kind of gives you an idea about what the village is like. When I got up to the top it was like a ghost town, there were very few people. I saw a woman walking down the street and I asked her if there was a way I could go higher or if she could tell me a nice place to go and she directed me to the lake. In the whole village there was a coffeeshop and a Coop (a grocery store) the size of a Mac’s that was open. It was a steep 20 minute walk to the lake but when I got to the top I was so taken away by the view I forgot about how hot I was after trekking in my black long-sleeve shirt and jeans. I think I saw a total of 5 people all day but I’m not complaining because that just means it was more peaceful. I just walked around the lake, followed a little river further up the mountain and found a nice shady spot/the only shady spot on the mountain to have lunch. I am so thankful to be able to experience things like this. As I was sitting there 6,500 ft in the mountains looking at the view of the water and mountains, listening to the wind blow and the birds chirp and watching the fish swim I realized how unusual it is for people to just experience something like that. Here are some pictures of some of my views today but I just need to put it out there that PICTURES DO NOT DO JUSTICE !!!!!