Trip to Santiago and Portillo

We have finally made it to the mountains to do some skiing and snowboarding, but the trip there was rather long and interesting. After surfing last week we had some down time the day after because we could not catch a bus until Thursday night when we had hoped to leave Thursday morning. That bus ride from Iquique was going to be rather interesting. It was a 26 hour bus ride straight through. We left at 530pm on Thursday and did not arrive in Santiago until 730 on Friday the fourth. So I hope all of you had a great 4th of July. Ours was interesting, but we did bring a little cerveza on the bus to celebrate the day. Of course our night did not get any more exciting. Santiago is a huge city. There are around 6 to 7 million people here and we were not sure exactly where we were in relation to the city so we went to the nearest hotel to stay for the night. We relaxed and watched some movies and were able to chill a bit after the stressful bus ride. There are some people who have no clue how to travel in the states, but most of the people here have no clue how to travel. There were a few people I wish I could have kicked off the bus. First off this lady sat behind us and had to have had at least 6 pieces of gum in her mouth and chewed like a horse and used her large finger nails to blow and pop bubbles at least 5 times per bubble. She got on the bus at midnight, it was not easy to go back to sleep. I think the worst part of the buses are the parents who just do not care. I have no problem with children being on the buses because public transportation is so important down here, but when the children scream and cry the parents do nothing but let them cry it out. I know it sounds like I am complaining, and I am not trying to it was just a relief to get off of that bus and have some silence in our hotel. I just wanted to give a few examples of the things that drove me the most crazy for 26 hours, but of course stuff like that happens all over the world.

Phils cousin married a guy from Chile and his sister Silvana, and her husband Felipe live here still so the plan was to meet up with them and stay at their place for a little bit which we were excited about because the hostel scene has been tough. Always trying to find a good place to stay is actually a lot harder than we thought it would be. Well the next day they picked us up from our hotel and brought us back to their house. The are extremely nice people and have helped us with so many things. Silvana is in cooking school so she has made some incredible meals for us as well. They made us feel at home, which has been so comfortable for a few days. That night they took us out to dinner towards downtown and the bar scene. I was able to try a new food for the first time. I ordered conejo (rabbit). The interesting part is I could tell that it was a rabbit, the only thing it was missing was the head, which was fantastic because that could have been a little tough to eat if I saw some eyes and all. The interesting part is that we did not even leave the house to go to dinner until ten at night. Everything is done so much later in the day here. It takes some getting used to but we generally eat dinner around 10 or later. Silvana and Felipe took us out to a disco after dinner which was at 1 am then stayed there until 430. The discos are a lot of fun here and everyone likes to dance so there is a lot of energy there. However being out that late leads to such a late start the next day but it worked out perfect for us. Felipe took us to rent a car for our big upcoming trip. It could not have worked out any better. Being only a week from turning 25 we were not sure if we could rent one. Luckily you only need to be 24 to rent one here. We rented a Toyota Yaris which is very small, but it was all we needed.

We took off that night on our drive to Portillo. It was a couple hour drive but we had stocked up on food for the trip and to live off of so we did not have to deal with the resort. We got pretty close to Portillo and were not able to go any further because the police close part of the road at night and you have to wait until the next day to get through. We were planning on camping and it just worked out that there was a place nearby where we were able to setup camp, have a couple beers and chill under a sky that probably had the most stars I had ever scene. It was rather incredible. The next morning we made it to El Portillo before it even opened. We were able to rent our gear and get our lift tickets in time to start the day at the beginning. The one problem with Portillo is that it is set against a mountain that on the east side so it is until about noon until the whole mountain has sunlight, but once it hit is was very warm. The resort itself is a lot smaller than I expected but if there was a good storm it would be pretty sweet since there are no trees. However it had not snowed in a couple weeks so the snow was rather sun baked and quite hard. We rode for most of the day and then went to the border of Argentina which was right next to Portillo. We had rented our car for two days and after the conditions it was not going to be worth it to pay and ride another day so we decided to drive to Valparaiso on the coast. We figured we would camp there as well but after a long bit of driving and searching for a good camping spot we were unable to find one so we drove back to Santiago. At least we got to seek the coast and Valparaiso which seemed like it could be a really cool city if we spent more time there. All that matters is we finally got to go riding in South America.

Santiago is surrounded by mountains so Phil and I wanted to do a little hike to get to the top and overlook the city. The hike itself was pretty amazing, but when we went to look at the city it was visible. The city is covered with a blanket of orange brown smog. You were unable to see anything. The blanket coated the city so much. It would be an amazing view if you were able to get rid of that. In fact Silvana said that living in Santiago makes you a passive smoker because the smog is so bad. Unfortunately we had to return the car when we were done. Having that car made life so easy. We both wished that we were able to have one all the time. We are getting sick of buses and have so many more hours to go in one. Luckily for us Silvana had the afternoon off the next day so she took us to see some of what Santiago had to offer. The main tourist attraction is an old school gondola which takes you up to the top of town. You are able to see all of the city on the way up but once you get to the top the smog is so bad again it is impossible to see. On top of this peak is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary directly above a stadium seating setup with an alter in the front. They perform mass on top of the city every week. Uncle Donny I thought of you and how much you would enjoy performing mass on top of the city. It was a very cool place. Right next to the gondola was the Santiago zoo so we figured why not check it out. I dont know the last time I even went to a zoo. The funny thing is that we only had an hour before it closed and we were able to see all of the animals it was so small. But it was good fun for us to experience.

So Silvana has been cooking great meals for us so Phil and I thought we needed to cook one in return. We had been craving burritos so we went to the store and got everything to make it which was difficult considering that Chile isnt really setup for burritos. They had never had them so we had to make the best ones we could. Nate I figure you would appreciate this one, other than that I know it is a very random note to share, but when Nate and I were on the road for GoreTex we probably ate at least 2 burritos a week.

At this point we are in Santiago wanting to go ski more and are in limbo trying to figure out exactly how we are going to finish up the last part of our trip. We really wanted to go to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil, but to travel in Brazil you can only fly and the cost to do that then fly back to Peru was extremely expensive so we are still trying to figure out the plans. All we know is that we are going to ski more, then go north to the beaches in Ecuador and northern Peru to do some surfing and relaxing at the end of our trip.

So far this has been the most amazing experience and if anyone is thinking of doing a trip, please do it. I spoke to a lady who was traveling from Canada and was in her 60s and needed to have trekking poles with her every where she went. She was part of our travel group in Lake Titicaca and missed out on so much because she arrived after all of us and had to start hiking before all of us so we could be on time. Phil and I spoke with her for awhile and she said she was going to make her son go travel for awhile even if she had to help fund it because she wanted to do so much more and couldnt. She wanted her son who was 25 to be able to experience the best of what is offered when traveling and be comfortable doing so. Even though it is a passion of mine to travel this was inspiring to do as much as you can while you are able and worry about other things later. Whether that makes a difference to anyone or not I wanted to share that story.

Cheers to all,

Brandon

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