Mountain Adventures in the Southern Hemisphere

2009-09-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my adventure travel blog about our trip down to South America. Jenny and I got to experience first hand what a winter down south is like. We learned a ton about the Argentinan culture and influences, checked out some skiing, and tried our hardest to learn some spanish. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to read the posts in the order they were written.

Homeward bound

2008-08-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's Wed. and our last day in Buenos Aires and time to catch our plane back to the states. We spent our last morning re-packing, yeah! it's the last time! Then we head on out to the Palmero district to check out some botanical gardens, too bad it's winter, I bet these gardens are much prettier in other seasons. We had to avoid the creepy guy in the first garden who kept staring at us and even asked for to take our pic, we told him no and left there pronto. End up eating lunch at this cute cafe El Galeaon, which had surprisingly great service with no extra fees for the water and little after dinner treats, that's a first. Great pizza and Empanadas, Jen finally gets some seafood, and then the waiter jokingly asks for my phone #, hah hah. After lunch we hit the japanese garden, then the art museum, and we are running out of time. Rushing back to the hostel, we manage to stop at an Ice cream shop, or Helado as it's called down here. I'm so glad we stopped, it was some of the best gelato I've ever had, yummmm!
Then it's the race to the plane, we get to the airport just fine, our cab driver was great, we get on just in time and mange to get a whole center row to just Jen and I, so one extra seat for all our crap. Then it's the long flight back. We arrive in Atlanta early, customs ends up being nothing but standing in lines. A full day of waiting around, 2 flights, a sore tailbone from too much sitting and we are finally in sight of our beautiful mountains of the Gallatin Valley. Yeahh! home, I'm soo happy to be back and to see my place and my cat Blue. Can't wait to get out into the mntns to play.

Beunos Aires

2008-08-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hey,

We are here in the big city now, not quite like anything else we've been doing this trip. Our overnight bus ride was pretty posh, traveled through some pretty desolate country on the way. For dinner along with our ham and cheese we actually saw some real food of steak and potatoes plus one lonely carrot (maybe for color) and some wine, I'm telling you they really know how to take care of you on these buses....
We got into the city super early, our bus arrived 2 hours early, weird. We managed to ditch our luggage at our hostel at 6 in the morning (only 1 more transfer of all our bags, yeah!) and we hit the streets and waited for the sun to come up. After our breakfast we walked on over to the Recolata district to find the city of the Dead. What a cool cemetary, the masoleums and ironwork and stained glass was pretty interesting. Found Evita Peron's resting spot along with many others. Then it was off to hit the markets, I think Jen was getting tired of my insistence of going to see all of the booths, but I love checking this kind of thing out. We wandered the streets some more, tried to see some tango but our bad timing interfered and we missed it by minutes twice. Back to our hostel, catch up with some other fellow travelers, and Jen is off to her usual early bed time, but not me. Go out with the welsh ladies for some awesome dinner of steak, muy bueno! They serve you these lemon shots after dinner, and keep feeding these shots to us, very dangerous. It's a sunday night, so the city is a bit sleepy, will have to wait to see what tomorrow is like...

2nd day in the city
Craziness, we go out and check out the palace Rosada, the city isn't at all sleepy today! You have to fight to just walk on the sidewalks or stay in the flow of traffic, it is very busy... Then we check out Florida street, and that is almost a mistake, by the time we got off of there both Jen and I are over fighting the crowds and end up just going back to the hostel to relax. Later we go out for a tango show at Cafe Tortinos, it was really good music, the dancers were excellent, they just didn't dance quite enough. Head back and end up going out later (minus Jen of the early bed time) with some English folk from our hostel to a bar in the San Telmo district. The band was good, it's funny to hear an argentine band cover american classics though. Lot's of good enthusiasm though, good desserts, and good times. I might not of made it out to a club while down here, but did get to check out a little bit of night life, maybe it was for the best that it happened that way.

Sea Lions and solitude

2008-08-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hola all,

We are leaving Puerto Madryn today, taking the overnight bus to Buenos Aires. Yesterday, we rented bikes from our hostel and went down to the Punta Loma area. We arrived at Punta Loma around 10 am, but the tide was too high at that moment and it was suggested to us to come back at noon. So we biked a bit further down the gravel road. The road was a bit bumpy, making us wish we would have rented bikes with shocks. We stopped to befriend a herd of horses; the horses, however, wanted nothing to do with us and ran away. At the end of the road we walked along the shore a ways until reaching this narrow, desolate, beach. Much to our dismay, we saw a dead whale washed up there. He, or she, must have died recently as the birds had just started to feast. We named the whale Moe, and had a funeral for him. It was a unique experience to see a whale so close; the skin was very cool and felt almost like a rubbery carpet. We also, on this beach, saw our first and only penguin. The penguin was also dead. Near the road where we had parked our bikes there was a maze of great dirt bike tracks...I´d advise for those who like biking to rent a nice mt bike and spend an hour playing around in this area. You could get some great air off a few places, and the downhill looked like so much fun. Next, we stopped at Punta Loma where the sea lions live. Beware that you have to pay 25 pesos to see them, but the money goes to conservation. The bike back was into the wind, so more of a workout...Other than that, not too much else going on here. Madryn seems to be very touristy and not really our style of town. The seafood isn´t what I had expected either; we have yet to find a good place to buy fresh seafood (a local secret?). We hope that the food in Buenos Aires will be much better. We are glad that we did not pay for the tour to Peninsula Valdes - in chatting with others who have done this, it seems that your time and money is better spent walking or biking near town (we´ve seen whales just as close and as frequently from the town pier as those who paid for a boat tour). Next blog, from the big city. Later.

No Penguins for us

2008-08-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We've now made it over to the Atlantic coast, still in Patagonia. Another overnight bus ride once again, and they served the classic fare of Ham and Cheese! We can't seem to escape that meal no matter where we go - especially Jen. Our hope is to see a lot of animals over here in Puerto Madryn, we've given up on the snow pursuit for our last week in Argentina. Sadly, Jen and I have found out that it's not possible to view the penguins this time of year, we are both pretty bummed when we found out about that. So no waddling around with the cute birds in suits, but we did head out to the sea after getting settled into our first hostel, and right in the bay in town you can see the whales swimming around in the bay. We walked out onto the pier and found a ton of whales every which direction you looked, pretty cool. I hear this snuffling sound and look down and there is this seal swimming around right next to us, so lots of wildlife to be seen real close. The whales seem to be playing around out in the bay, we watched some leap out of the water, some just come up for air, and we've learned that they don't like it when the seagulls land on them. We are both too poor to do any of the tours offered, which seem to be exceedingly spendy, so for our second day here, Jen and I just hike along the beach. We check out the pier before we go, there are these 3 seals just sunning on this boat dock, they must of climbed up the stairs, they are totally out of it, just sunning, cuddled together, pretty cute. We had a really nice walk along the beach, checking out seashells and fun rock formations, chilling, making sandcastles, a very peaceful day overall. Then back to our new hostel which has a way better vibe than the one we ended up in the first night, lots more friendly folks with more going on. Tomorrow we plan to rent some bikes to go and check out the sea lions, should be an adventure. I'll post pics as soon as the computers aren't soo competitive, but at least this place has computers for us to use.

Pigs on road

2008-08-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

After a week we are finally leaving Esquel. I think this area has been, by far, the favorite for Angie and I (outside of the hostel in Santiago, for Angie). It really is a special place that I hope to some day come back to. We have spent the last couple of days just hiking around and exploring the area as the snow isn't that great (the winds hit it). We have walked up to a local lake, Zeta, in the hills above Esquel, a couple of times. The views of the Andes from there are beautiful. If we could do it again, I would rent a 4x4 and spend a week skiing those lines (we keep hearing that the backcountry around there is amazing but hard to access). We spent yesterday hiking with Nico, the hostel owner, around this area along a local bike trail. We had wanted to rent bikes, but with our luck the bike rental place was closed. Along our hike we passed near the canyon of the bandits, la valle de banditos, where Butch Cassidy and his gang lived a while. Nico was also very patient teaching us the names of local birds, mountains, animals. Angie has a much better memory than mine, and hence is a better student. On the last lag of our walk we came across this huge, black, silly pig, that happened to cross the road as a group of cars were driving along, all within sight of an "animals crossing" sign. After the walk, Angie, Nico, and I headed downtown to grab some food. I´m afraid that some of the locals mistook Nico to be a gringo, when he was with us. We ended the day with Nico cooking us dinner (special thanks to you for that, Nico-brother).

The day before Angie and I walked along the La Trochita rail line. La Trochita is a beautiful steam engine, and the only one like it in the world. After that, we went hiking with Nico and his son, and then back to town for some Gelato.

Today we both had a wonderful massage with Celia Fuente Buena (Tele 02945 452527). She used some type of Rekki during the sesson, and you could really feel the energy. Shara, you would have loved it.

It´s sad leaving here, with some many things we haven´t done. We have yet to see the 2000 year old trees in Parque Nacional Los Alerces (easier to do in their summer), we have yet to ride La Trochita, yet to ski those seductive lines in the Andes, yet to bike the trail in the canyon of the bandits... These things must be left until next time... I hope we (and others) come back, someday, to find Esquel similar to how it is now, if not better. I hope that the locals can fight la mina a bit longer, as foreign companies try to develop the local mineral resources. I hope that Esquel can preserve it´s natural beauty and open spaces, for hikers, climbers, bikers, etc. Thanks, Esquel, for sharing yourself with us.

Our hiking trip was great yesterday, It's always helpful to have a local guide along, especially one who can crack you up. Nico, thanks for the help with spanish pronunciation - maybe some day (far far away from now) we'll actually start to pick it up and lose our gringo accents. Also Jen and I both properly tried Mate. It is a bitter tea that steeps in these crazy gourd type bowls, special to Argentina and other S. American contries. It gives you a nice buzz - after checking it out I can understand why everyone around here starts prepping it and drinking it right away in the morning. Maybe mate is the reason they don't really eat breakfast around here...
I'll always think of this hostel fondly, very good vibes or Onda! Now we are heading out on our way to check out animals on the Atlantic coast. I would love to come back down here in the summer to see this place in full bloom - hopefully some day soon.

Vienta de mierda

2008-08-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

We took one day off, just had a leisurely day of kidding around with our hostel host about learning spanish phrases, then a hike to a real pretty lake right outside of town. While hiking above the lake I came across this real strange rabbit like animal that bolted away from me - Jen didn't see it. It moved like a rabbit, but was waay to big to be one. I finally looked it up and what I saw was a pampas Hare, or Mara, it is of the guinea pig family, pretty cool. We rounded out our friday by going to Trevelin for a welsh tea. Very good cakes and such, very dignified but us two ski bums managed to completely polish off our treats.

Then Saturday is back to La Hoya for another round of skiing. Today we get picked up by this monster green army ambulance that sits way up there. Very funny, we were giggling as they turned around to come pick us up. Once again not too much communication with the guys since we just can barely understand a tenth of what they are saying, it can be bit frustrating after a while. We make it up to the resort and it is Windy up here - muy vienta! Head out and brave the wind and immediately go and hike, it's pretty nasty out here, have to fight to stay on your feet. One thing we are learning is that it is just windy in the Andes!! We go and ski fresh lines back in our favorite bowl first, then for a 2nd run go out to the further peak and ski sick lines down thru the rocks. It's real pretty out here in the spires, if only the wind would let up. We end up leaving early and give up on fighting the wind, start walking down the road till we get picked up by a real nice la chata (truck) for a fast ride down to our hostel. Back to our home away from home, making fun of our spanish, checking out the rock climbing wall in the garage, cooking dinner....

more good skiing

2008-08-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Another day of great skiing, just a later start due to the fun we had from the day before. It wasn't quite as nice of weather as yesterday, but still great out here on the slopes. We hiked out into the side-country all afternoon, right past those closed signs, I guess they can't do much to you here, you pretty much are on your own. What was funny is that we ran into the other couple from Bozeman that's down here as well, Hiedie and Aaron - small world! True to the hitching fun part of this town we caught a ride up in a yellow jacked up hippy bus, the guys thought it was pretty cool that they had a bus load of girls...us and two other argentinian girls riding in the back. If only we could actually understand spoken spanish a bit better it would help with the rides.

La Hoya Rocks!

2008-08-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an awesome powder day up at La Hoya (sounds something like "La Oye-sha). This is a great little resort, without the crowds that we've seen at other Argentine ski centers. We started the day by hitching down the street from our hostel. We caught a ride in the back of this pickup with two other hitchhikers who ended up being mountain employees. This couple gave us the low down on the mountain. Basically, the rescue system sucks...Most of the patrollers don´t have beepers and they don´t blast the mountain...so bring your own gear and a partner. Hiking here is sweet. You are warned not to, but ski patrol look the other way when you do. We ended up seeing our friend Gabriel and Eddie from the hostel and did a couple laps with them to end the day. Then back in the Cooling Repair van for a ride back to town with Gabriel and his dad. Finally, Jenny made dinner for our hostel friends, followed by Angie and the others heading for a late night down town, Argentina style. Today we might head up to La Hoya again...forcast is for winds the next few days. Lucky for us a two day pass was super cheap (75 pesos).

Finally a day that was fantastico all the way around. Good weather, lots of sun and minimal wind. La Hoya was awesome, Jen and I had such a great time all day long skiing fresh powder and wind swept runs. We checked out a good chunk of the mountian and managed to find our way out of bounds for some of the best runs we've had down here in Argentina, absolutely beautiful! We skiied right until 5, just hiking out over and over again at the end, taking our new friends with for the last two. Catching a ride back down with the refrigerator repair van once again, such a funny and warm father and son. Then a great dinner by Jen, and laughing at our phallic looking bread and out for just a few drinks, we only stayed out till 1am, so not living up to true Arentinian standards, they usually stay out waay later than that.

1st day in Esquel

2008-08-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Esquel - well we are here and we started the day out in our ski gear trying to hitch a ride to the ski area which is 12 kilometers up into the mountains. The road doesn't have much traffic and we were starting to wonder if we would find a ride even after our hostel host assured us last night that lots of people hitch, and we would have no problems being girls. It takes a bit, but we eventually get picked up by this guy in this tiny little car (most cars here are tiny) and shove our skis and board in and we are on our way up this switchback dirt road. It gets a little tricky up near the top, the road gets snowy and our little rear wheel drive car starts losing traction, maybe our driver picked us up for the extra weight, he doesn't speak much english, so no real communication on this ride. We arrive at La Hoya and are told that it is not open, the weather is too stormy for them to open even the lower chairs. Once again the snowy weather is our adversary rather than our friend - it's soo weird in the states this would be an awesome powder day, here in Argentina it's considered too dangerous to open. We are bummed! we go and hang out inside and find our other hostel snowboarders and chill with them hoping they will open it up later. While waiting around we end up talking to these two older Canadians about skiing, they pegged us for Americans right away - we can't escape that!

So they never opened the mntn, and as we see the workers take off Jen and I head outside into the blowing snow wondering if we can find a ride back down, there are a total of 10 cars in the parking lot, no one is around and we aren't quite sure what to do! the canadians have a full car so they can't help us. we stand there looking pitiful and then this repair guy and his son take pity on us and manage to squeeze us into his work van. They at least speak a little english ane are fun. We take the slow drive down the moutain, on the way we see a herd of Gaunacos - and the Dad stops so I can take pics of these crazy camel family animals, they are like llamas, pretty cool, I think seeing them was the high point of my day. As we come back into town it clears off a bit and later Jen and I go out for an exploration of town and a hike. We end up on the shady side of town, little huts and lots of mud, it's off and on drizzling on us. we find a little path leading up past these cool rocks and cliffs and finally work off some frustration climbing up this hillside past thornbushes and moss. We get a great view of town from up there, you can see the military side (they own a ton of land) the apartment section, downtown and the poor section. It starts pouring on us so we turn around and head back down hill, cross the bridge and make it back to the normal side of town safely. Back to our really cool hostel, Planeta, to chill out and dry out, and then our latest new friend Eddie, the New zealander makes us all dinner. There are only 5 of us in this hostel currently, the couple that's here are from Beunos Aires and also speak english, so it's nice and cozy and almost feels like a family here.

So wish us luck or Suerte as they say it here, we really need it and hope that La Hoya will open tomorrow, and por favor the whole mountain, not just the lower chairs. We are both jonesing for a good day of skiing.

plans change

2008-08-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We are here in Esquel, hanging out at this little hostel with other fellow snowboarders (Angie, the tele skier, is currently out numbered). Our plans for staying at Refugio Frey in Bariloche were shot down when new snow on an already unstable layer made avy conditions too high...all backcountry travel was not advised for the next few days (and more snow in the forecast). We'll try La Hoya in the morning. We have heard that there is good powder there at the moment. Esquel seems to be a cool town so far...pretty small and laid back. There is a climbing wall at this hostel...and pictures of the local skate crowd. Argentina...this is your last chance to prove that your snow is all people say it is. Don't let us down!

Top image is the drainage we were suppossed to skin up to get to refugio Frey, so sad to just pass it by on the bus. the other images are us in our hostel in Bariloche trying to figure out what to do next....

El Bolson

2008-08-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a 2nd day of exploration. We ment to get up early, but it was a late night in our very loud hostel that seems to keep evryone up. I ended up joining the loud group when they gave me a drink, my first taste of Fernet and Coke, they never let my glass get empty and ended up drinking till almost 3 in the morning. Even though I don't speak much spanish I managed to have some fun conversations, (and dancing to!) these Argentines pick up english from all the american tv and music that they listen to. Then after hardly any sleep it's up at 7:30 and Jen and Martin and I are off in our little white Fiat heading out in the fog and sleet to El Bolson, which is known as more of a hippy type of community. It was an hour and half south of Bariloche and a little bit tricky driving in our little teeny car, but fun to be out on our own schedule instead of on a bus. The forest and lakes are real pretty and by the time we get to El Bolson, the clouds start to lift a bit. We check out some of the cool hippy house communities around town, they are very unique. Then it's on to the market for some awesome empanadas and fun crafts. Very laid back friendly little town, it's got a nice feeling to it like you can hang out here forever. Then it's the drive back, at least the roads have cleared some by now and we can get some views of the mountains sorrounding us finally, muy bonita.

Sunday ends up being another day of car exploration, Martin flew out this morning for home, so now it's back to just Jen and I. We'll have to see what kind of trouble we manage to get into on our own. We plan to head up into the mountians tomorrow for some backcountry skiing if the conditions cooperate. We are going to stay at this cool hut/building called refugio Frey. It wil be good to get out on the skins and get away from the crowds and town for a bit.

High Tea in Bariloche

2008-08-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

So we changed our minds and didn't end up skiing today, instead went out exploring around the town, found our 2nd hostel, get settled again, rent a car and go for a drive. We head out looking for former Nazi strongholds - this is Jen's latest interest and there was a lot going on here in the 30's. We end up at this hotel, Llao Llao, it's super fancy on the end of the Lake, just too bad that it's overcast and we can't see the famous views. It's still real pretty out here, the forests are amazing, you just want to go up and pet the trees. We check out the hotel, the door guys weren't too sure about us and were following us around, it's pretty nice and super rich. Jen finds out that they are doing high afternoon tea and for 60 pesos we can partake in the smorgasboard buffet of treats. We sit down with our ski bum gear only feeling slightly out of place and order some fancy teas. Then it's on to the selection of treats and finger sandwiches. The food is awesome!!! These amazing torts, cheesecake, strudel, muffins, cake like things, it was hard to choose. We each do a couple of rounds and overdose on sugar, chill and enjoy great tea while looking over the bay. I have to say it was worth it, I'm glad we stopped.

Cerro Catedral

2008-08-07T13:36:00.001-07:00

Thursday August 7th,

We went up to Cerro Catedral today after finding a ride up. It's a beautiful area and very touristy for sure. Looks really good after all the snow we got last night, all the trees are covered in snow and are a nice contrast against the huge lake. The ski area itself is super busy!! We wait in line for our tickets, we wait in line for almost an hour to get on the first chair, get up to the top and then wait in line some more to ski the few chairs that are open. The terrain is a bit more mellow at the ski area here than at Las Lenas, but the sorrounding mountains look awesome. Not many of the chairs are open which is dissapointing, we ski as much as we can handle with the loads of people and aggressive lines - you have to be real pushy or never make it onto the chair! It was a beautiful sunny day and we did get to ski fresh snow though, it just wasn´t quite as nice as the snow we did find in Las Lenas. Tomorrow we are going to look for some backcountry skiing, we've had enough of paying for lifts that don't open.

On to Bariloche

2008-08-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

We left Las Lenas on the 5th late in the afternoon riding a bus to San Rafeal, what's funny is that the bus cost us less to go farther than the shuttle rides cost to get up and down from Los Molles to the ski area here. We (I'm reffering to Jen, Martin and I) are pretty excited to move on since Las Lenas has been a bit dissapointing with the nothing being open experience. We arrive in San Rafeal and it's a cute little city with a real local flavor, it just sucks that we have to hang out with all of our stuff at this tiny bus station for 4 hours. We take turns wandering around the downtown and gaurding our stuff and glaring at the creepy types. We finally get on our bus at 11:30 at night and find our comfy half bed seats and pretty much konk out for most of the ride. At least these big buses are really nice and you get better service than you do on an airlines for a lot less cost. We are on the bus for over 12 hours and the landscape is pretty consistently desert type until the end as we get closer to Bariloche, finally some trees and it starts to snow which is a good sign for us! We unload and deal with transferring us and our gear, find a hostel and get settled in. Bariloche is a cute, very touristy feeling town. It feels a lot more comfortable to us americans than the other places we've been in so far. It's been snowing all night, after making ourselves a nice dinner here at the hostel we went out for a fun little walk in the snow and hilly streets checking the area out - cool trees and lots of trendy restauarants and clubs .

Las Lenas

2008-08-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

We are in Las Lenas which we are very excited to see. It feels good to be in the mountains and to see the snow. Our last bag arrived at the Mendoza airport Friday night after I waited there for 3 hours for it to show up, it's quite a trip taking taxis when you really don't speak the language, one driver showed me a Creedance Clearwater cd that he had and asked me what it was - Classica rock n roll musica was all I could think to tell him, other than muy bien. We left mendoza super late after a nice dinner at this local little eatery, once again Jen ends up with Ham and cheese, she's on a roll with that! We rode an overnight bus up to Las lenas that left the station at 2:30 am, tried to sleep on the bus so that we would be ready to ski on Saturday, the 2nd. We arrived just as the sun is starting to come up and it's overcast, so can't see a whole lot at first. Wander our way up to the (hopefully) right apartments, and there's Martin!! It's exciting to see some other people that we know. Get to hang out with Matt, Kurt/Rusty, and Martin for the next couple of days. We get ready, and go skiing, Jen and I are running on fumes at this point, not much sleep, no real food, but we have snow! Get our tickets and go and check the area out. Jen and Martin take off in their own little world, I go and ski with Matt and Rusty, our first run was an awesome steep powder run, just had to sign a sheet accepting our own responsibility before going thru the gate. Yeaahhh!! Snow! that first run felt soo good, snow flying up in the air behind me as I make nice powder turns. We go back around and keep skiing the same area over and over again since only a couple of chairs are open. They have lots of pommel/surface lifts here and the wind is blowing hard. We are finding out that they don't open many of the chairs here due to weather and wind which sucks cause the terrain looks incredible, we just can't seem to get to it. Eat a nice lunch, realize how tired we are and try to get back out for some more runs, but they close down everything except the pommel lifts, that blows, and the lines are competitive, almost downright rude at times. I go and have a bottle of wine with Rusty and Matt on the deck, we chill and enjoy ourselves before looking for some groceries and our shuttle. We find the right shuttle for getting ourselves to our next stop, the cabanas, but we have sooo much stuff, our skis, our packs and luggage, we fill this little van full, but they keep shoving more people into our van. Wow, this is nuts, we finally get moving and end up being the last ones dropped off. The cabins turn out to be really nice, they are just in this desolote little valley 20 min down from the resort, all that's out here is wind, mntns, sage type brush and rocks. The boys and I go in search for food, try walking a half mile down to the other couple of hotels in the same area, first hotel, no luck and she doesn't reccomend the other one either, so we walk into the 3rd one, wander around this dining room and thankfully we find one guy who speaks english and find out that the dinner is for guests only but they will accomadate us luckily for us. We end up having one of the nicest dinners I've had in quite a while. A full course meal, wonderful empanadas, wrapped chicken and egg, and beautiful desserts plus the great wine. We feel spoiled, they don´t eat dinner till late around here, it didn't even start till 9, so by the time we make it back to our cabin, it's late and Jen and Martin are already asleep. Time to get ready for the next day.

One thing we have learned about being here in Argentina is that you can't rush anything! We are on their time, we spend a lot of our time waiting for shuttles or buses and then once the shuttle shows up you wait even longer. If we aren't waiting for a bus, then we are waiting for them to open more than one chair and two pommel lifts on the mountain. My 2nd day here in Las Lenas, Jen and I decide not to spend our money on a ticket since not much is open and we head out to hike with Martin. I have come down with a cold, so after an hour of hiking in the wind I decide to bail and go back to the ski area and wait for the other boys. Jen and Martin keep going. I hang out with the boys and eat some lunch and chill until it's time to catch our shuttle down to the cabin. This time we stock up at the local and only grocery store so that we can make our own dinner in our cozy little cabin. For our 3rd day here it's snowing when we wake up, which is exciting, but we can't find our shuttle driver! It's pretty desolate down in the valley at Los Molles where we are staying and everyone is getting frustrated that we have no way out of here. Close to 11, the driver finally shows up and once again we are loading multiple packs, skis and luggage, we have way too much stuff all together. Finally make it up to the resort and ditch our luggage. I´d reccomend not staying at the cabins in Los Molles unless you have your own car, you're pretty stuck once there with not many options. Since we are so late on arrival we wait until half day ticket prices, which doesn't start till 12:45, and there is no selling of tickets until that time. We finally get on our way and the snow is excellent, light fluffy powder and the skies are starting to clear. We end up having a blue bird powder day and then they open up the volcano chair so we have some new terrain to go and explore. I ski with the boys, Matt and Rusty all afternoon and we just keep doing laps on this powder face, it's perfect. One run we go out further to see if we can ski into these chutes, but as we stand at the top it completely cracks, oops, time to turn around and just ski the face instead. What an awesome day, I just love snow like this, too bad we can't ski from the top though, have to wonder if they ever open up that top chair, Martes. We ski until we can't anymore then it's off to our little apartment room up here on the mountain. Our room is super tiny, just has 4 bunk beds and a trundle, a bit tight for all 5 of us and our gear, but at least we don't have to deal with a shuttle this time around and can chill out for the night.

Mendoza

2008-08-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

We´ve made it into Argentina!! our passports our now stamped with a Chile departure and an Argentinian arival. The bus ride over was good, the pass has a ton of switchbacks which were numbered with signs, I lost count after I saw the sign for turn 30. It was beautiful in the mountains and I was just glad to see some snow. Portillo looked interesting as we passed it by, ski lifts right across some of the road even. We got here in Mendoza late, finally got our bags and loaded down like mules we hustled along these dangerous looking streets at 11 at night, towing our ski bag hoping we are going in the right direction to find our hostel. We made it to hostel Casa Puebla which is painted in these great bright colors. Settled in and went straight to bed. After our morning breakfast were we got to talk about skiing with this nice couple from France, we went out to try to do a bike wine tour. Our first stop was to get some money since all we had on us was Chilean pesos. The first atm we went to we waited in line for 20 minutes and then try to use it and it tells us that it has no money!! so we have no change for a bus ride to the tour area or for the tour anyways and have to start wandering around looking for downtown and another atm or bank. we go the wrong direction at first, me trailing behind Jen who is in super speed walk mode wherever we go. We finally work our way into the downtown area and go to the bank, exchange our money, get some from an atm, but by then it´s to late to do a tour since I have to make sure to get to the airport by 6 to find our last bag. We find a cute little cafe, have a good lunch, I have a pisco sour, very nice. Then a little more walking to explore a park and back to the hostel.

Hi, It's Jenny. We are here in Mendoza at the moment and leaving at 2:30 in the morning for Los Lenas. Mendoza is a much nicer city, maybe more European. The people are also a bit more active-we saw many people biking and running. We had hoped for a wine/bike tour as this is a huge grape region and the wineries are known for their beautiful landscapes and good food, but we ran into trouble at the local ATM (out of money) and headed for downtown to find a bank. We ended up at their huge city park-very pretty. The weather is pretty warm for us, maybe around 50 or 60 F and it is strange to see the locals with coats on. The snow forcast is favorable for the mountains and if Angie's bag arrives tonight we might go skiing in the morning. Let's hope there is a bag storage at the resort.

Moving on

2008-07-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well this is our third day here in Santiago with most of it being spent on our favorite new game of "Where's our luggage" We got 3 or our bags yesterday afternoon, but they couldn't find the 4th, so we are without our ski boots at this time. We went to the airport this morning bright and early to try to talk with Delta in hopes of getting to talk to someone that wasn't a phone recording. We saw our Delta friend Raoul right away and he was once again very helpful and had some info for us after we waited for a bit. I was trying to pull the upset girl card, but after a night of making new friends and trying Chilean Pisco for the first time, I am definitely worse for wear and really just looked miserable anyways. It also didn't help that we didn't have time for breakfast before catching the bus out. Now we have our tickets booked for a bus to Mendoza, have to give up our plans of stopping at Penitintes on the way over the pass and skiing there, and hope that our bag with our ski boots will actually arrive in Mendoza like promised. Argentina here we come!!!

Hi, it's Jenny. One more day in the city, but we have bought our bus tickets to freedom (Argentina, here we come!). Fellow US citizens, I would advise flying into Buenos Aires and saving yourself a headache. Especially since the exchange rate here has fallen to 1 peso=0.45 US (and you avoid the $130 US entrance fee just to arrive in Chile). On a better note, we took a walk to the Pahque square where there is a historic fort and park. Yesterday morning I went grocery shopping and then to the fish market. We have found that it is much cheaper to eat fast food here or cook your own. Ladies or men with purses, they tape bags shut here upon entering into a store. Don't panic. And another important note, either carry spare change for the bathroom or risk peeing on the street. The going rate seems to be about 150 pesos, and they even throw in two sheets of paper. If that won't do, you must pay extra for more. Next stop is Mendoza, on the other side of the Andes. PS...Delta, we are still pissed and will be more so if that ski boot bag does't arrive in Mendoza.

Arriving in Santiago

2008-07-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally here, can`t say the same for our bags though.
Our flights went fine, but unfortunately the luggage seems to have disappeared somewhere in the mugginess of Atlanta.

So after spending waay too much time in the Santiago airport we finally catch a bus downtown and wander around looking like total tourists and having to ask Donde esta Calle riqualme, after aking numerous people we eventually find the right address but then have to figure out how to get into the place. We knock but no answer, we stare at the door with dumbfounded expressions, then finally in our jetlag haze I look over and oh yeah, there is a door bell! yeah! civilization at last. We are taken in by a very nice guy who is our host, Carlos, at Hostel Moai Viajero and he makes us feel very welcome. So now we are settling in, petting the cat and doggie, looking for our lost luggage and looking at staying in Santiago longer than expected.

later in the day, we wander around Santiago getting looks from everyone we pass, I guess we are an oddity around here. We make our way past the markets getting one rap song from these two random guys along the way, I believe he just wanted to practice his english and talk to us beautiful americans! We wander through the streets until we find our way to the Cerro San Cristobal mountain right in town. We find the hiking trail and make our way up until we can get up the Virgen Mary statue. There is a beatiful church up there as well. Then we hike back down the hill and thru the downtown, checking out the market on the way, we are accosted on all sides, they just like us for some reason, hence the picture with the shark head and tail. I am kind of glad I don¨t know much spanish, that way we don¨t know what they are saying to us. We go to the church on Catedral street, it is stunning, so much artwork and extravagant details, wow! We try to find some food after that and step into this little bar-restaurant, nobody speaks english, try to order and have no idea what the waitress is asking us or what we are getting, Jen gets her sandwich, turns out to be ham and cheese, I end up getting nothing, not sure why and boy am I hungry, but while we are waiting the waitress brings us two drinks that we did not order, turns out this older guy and his friend in the corner must of ordered them for us. He comes over and attempts to talk to us, but we can¨t understand each other at all! I think I am glad for the language barrier this time around, we have no idea what he wanted but it could not of been good, we try paying our bill and just get our of there with no dinner for me. soo tired, just want back to our nice friendly hostel where we can chill out with the few items we do have.

Hi, it's Jenny this time. We are still here waiting in Santiago for our luggage. If you ever have this problem, work with Raul Gonzalez. He has been the only helpful one from Delta. They are telling us that all but one bag has arrived in Santiago. One bag, with our ski and snowboard boots, has vanished into the depths of the Atlanta airport. We spent yesterday exploring Santiago and managed to get in a nice (and needed) walk. Tonight I plan to re-visit the central market (see photo with shark) and buy some nice fish to cook at the hostel. Angie isn't as excited about this...she hates the smell of fish (Shannon and Jeff...one more like you). We seem to stand out here a bit, both with a more light hair color (and Angie being right out blonde). I'm half way serious when I tell Angie that we'll dress like nuns for the rest of the trip. I do hope the bags come soon. I'm really not a city girl and can't stand being pent up in the hostel while waiting for Delta to figure things out. I need the mountains quick. We must flee to Argentina! We have a cabin paid for in Los Molles for the 2nd...if I don't make it there in time, I'll be a bit pissy. Delta, I hope you read this.