Sweet powder

Phenomenal, incredible, amazing, sweet! These words all aptly describe my last 3 days of skiing. It started snowing on Wed. night and intermittedly continued through yesterday! For 3 straight days I left my tracks in bowls of fresh powder, and skiied in good company. Mike (who is living in the same house as me and is on the left in the pic below) and I skiied together, at times sharing our lines with Sephen and Joan. Yesterday, with most of the lift access areas pretty skied off, we put on the skins and headed up to Nubes -- a lift that's only been only been open once for 2 hrs. the whole season (that's Argentina for you) and that accesses some of the best pitches on the mountain. I think we made some people jealous because shortly after our first drop, others started heading the same direction!

Chillin' in Chillan

On Friday afternoon, Guillermo and I left Santiago with a group of people from his work for Las Termas de Chillan, in the South of Chile. As a group of 10, we were plenty inefficient and disorganized, but also plenty festive and excited for the weekend ahead. We arrived at the cabins somewhat late. Exhausted and tired, I was a bit shocked when the wine began pouring, the music started blasting and the dancing took over the living room floor. With people from Venezuela, Guatemala, Brazil and the U.S. (me), I should have expected as much. Latinos do know how to party!

The next day as everyone went off early to ski... noon.... and I sat by the fire, passing the hours with an excellent book (Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl). Later that afternoon I walked the several kilometers up to the ski resort. Snow had recently fallen and the scenery was beautiful. At the resort I learned that during the day one of the girls in the group had fallen and hurt her angle. Instead of just one or two people accompanying her to the clinic in the nearby city, all 10 of us piled into 3 cars for the drive. (This is another marked feature of vacationing with Latinos: everything is done as a group!)

Rain on Sunday meant that everyone spent the day indoors. We started talking about going to the hot springs in the morning, but by the time we ate lunch, organized cars, figured out where exactly we were going, etc., etc., etc., it was 5 p.m. before we actually left. The first springs we went to, at a hotel, wouldn't let us in, even with paying. The second springs were closed because we were too late. Finally, we went to a friend of a friend's hotel, and were able to take a dip in the outdoor pool there. Rico!

One of the chicos celebrated his birthday on Sunday, which, of course, meant another long night of fun. Let's just say, I was still dancing salsa and meringue at 4 a.m.

Monday morning came too early. We packed up and headed out. Since it was a 3-day weekend in Chile, getting a bus ticket back toward Argentina was tricky. I got the very very last seat, leaving at 11:45 p.m. This meant nearly 10 hrs. by myself in Chillan on a rainy day. My solution? The mall. I went shopping and bought a sweater, I drank a cup of coffee in 3 different cafes, I used the internet, I ate ice cream, I meandered through the small museum, and once all the shops closed I went to see the movie, Los 4 Fantasticos.

Anyhow, I made it back to Bariloche the following afternoon, tired but in good spirits. There's nothing like a good weekend, spent with a good friend!!!!

Lens on Santiago, Chile

Yesterday, while Guillermo was at work, I meandered around Santiago, Chile. For not having a map of any sort, only the vague directions Guille gave me, I was amazed at how effectively I naviagted the city... subway system and all. I guess that's just one of many things traveling teaches you, how to get your bearings quickly.

First I stopped by the art museum. There was an interesting picture of a female Christ hanging on the cross, as well as a "drawing" done completely by holding a magnifying glass to the sun and burning the canvass, but mostly I just confirmed that modern art isn't quite my thing. After the museum I passed through the fresh seafood market. What an amazing smell! To bad I wasn't hungry or I would have for sure stopped to eat. From there I made my way to the main square, Plaza de Armas. How much better does it get than old men playing chess, artists selling beautiful work, trees everywhere, nicely lit colonial buildings and churches, and a whole row of Taro card readers?!?! The pedestrian-only street, which led me from the square to the subway bound for home, seemed to have it all... except cafes where one could sit and read for an hour or two. There were cafes, nice looking cafes with fancy espresso machines, but they were filled with business men standing at the bar, behind which ladies in short red dresses took orders and made strong cups of joe. Interesting, to say the least.

Below are some of the images from the day...

Six hours in Osorno

So, I've had six hours now to fiddle around Osorno, Chile while waiting for my bus to Santiago. What does one do in so many hours? Spend lots of time on the internet (thus the long-winded blog). Wander around open-mouthed in the huge super market (it's just not very often that I get to go into big super markets). Buy peanut butter (this was definitely the highlight! I found peanut butter once in Bolivia, and other than that I haven't eaten peanut butter in six months!). Ponder the strange concrete churches sprinkled throughout the town (I've seen lots of churches in my life, but never ones quite so bizaare as the ones here in Osorno...see photo). Sit in the central park (there was a group of people practicing their juggling). Buy a cup of coffee and write in my journal (this one never fails, it can be done basically anywhere in the world). And meander through the streets some more (make sure you have the "I'm a little bit lost" look on your face, so that if you trip over someone, they won't be too bothered).

Ski to Frey

On Sunday Nico and I left for a ski trip up to Frey refugio, a hut tucked in the mountains around Bariloche. The trip went great... adventurous and great!

Normally the 10 km. to Frey can easily be traversed in day. However, due to the huge amounts of recent, heavy snow, and the fact that we had to brake our own trail, it soon became apparent that we would not be arriving to the hut on one day. No matter, we thought, there's a small shelter some kilometers before Frey where we can pass the night. We continued, one slow step to the next, making our way. By the time we reached the area where the small shelter, called Piedritas, is located, it was well into the night. With nothing but the beam of our headlamps and the snowy forrest all around, we couldn't quite find the right boulder that Piedritas is tucked against. What we did find was a dry area, sheltered by two boulders leaning against each other. Rather than meander around aimlessly, we decided to bunker down for the night. We cooked dinner, and despite the hard ground and frigid temperatures, fell asleep easily. The next day we woke up, and wouldn't you know it?.... we were only 50 meters from Piedritas!

ANYHOW, we continued on our way, and arrived up at Frey mid-afternoon. In marked contrast to summer when the place bustles, nobody was in the refugio. We shoveled out the doorway, went inside, started a fire and began melting snow for water. The night was totally "tranquilo." The wind pushed against the windows outside and inside we chatted over the sound of crackling wood. Whenever we did happen the venture out the doors, we were greeted by a very milky Milky Way and innumerable stars.

Yesterday, retracing our steps and using the downhill to our advantage, it was a 6 hour ski out. What a great time... and adventure!

Cerro Catedral

Frey hut The window of Frey hut
Self portrait Nico hiking through the deep, heavy powder
Me, while waiting for dinner to cook, on our first night
The "dry, sheltered area" where we spent the first night
The last pitch before arriving at Frey

Top eleven reasons that skiing in Argentina is skiing in Argentina

11) Groomed runs don't necessarily mean runs devoid of deep holes, sudden drop-offs or large, unmarked ice patches.

10) Lift lines could more accurately be called lift mobs. An organizational system is completely nonexistent.

9) After 3 days of skiing on the mountain I could give more accurate directions than some of the lifties.

8) So as not to scratch the gondola, which is also used to transport sight-seers up the mountain, "beanies," aka soft pieces of fabric, are placed over snowboards.

7)All the ski school instructors and lift attentends have knee-length, water-proof overcoats to guard against the all-too-common rain and overly saturated snow.

6) Although the lifts are many, they all go to basically the same spot on the mountain.

5) The people who prepare, open, and run the resort seem often to be riding the same bus up as the skiers.

4) While there are many people who visit the resort, 90% of them meander around the base, while only 10% seem to be interested in actually skiing on the mountain.

3) An entire tram, which runs from the base to the top of the moutain, is reserved for pedestrian-only traffic.

2) The fact that it's voting day is given as the reason for a lift not being open.

1) A cartoon size snowball, meaning one that started small at the top of the slope and grew with momentum to be taller than a human, is left smack-dab in the middle of a run, marked only by two orange poles placed in the shape of an X.

Neumeyer

The day after I arrived to Bariloche, I joined a couple of Spainards on their trip up to Neumeyer Refugio set up through the local Club Andino. The weekend outing was perfect in every way! There was nearly a meter of freshly fallen snow, bluebird skies and amazing terrain for making tele turns out the back door of the refugio. Plus, the 4X4 vehicles that daily take dozens of tourists to Neumeyer were unable to plow through the recently fallen white fluff, creating a serene and quite hut experience... I really had to laugh when I was passing all the stuck vehicles on my skis, and the cameras were flashing relentlessly.

Marcelo, my tele buddy who works at Neumeyer, passing me on a snow machine after delivering hot drinks to the stuck vehicles and tourists below

Heading up early

Lunch in the hut

Admiring the view before pulling off my skins and heading down

Refugio Neumeyer

Buenos Aires to Bariloche

A couple of weeks ago now I made the big 22 hour trip from Buenos Aires to Bariloche. I left Buenos Aires in the middle of torrential rains and arrived to Bariloche in the middle of a huge snow storm. Nontheless, the trip was still a good one. With a half-empty bus there was plenty of space to spread out, I had an excellent and riveting book, the good music on my ipod kept me company, and I stayed cozy with the blanket I bought in Bolivia. Plus, I felt all Argentine with my thermos and mate close at hand.