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Published: September 28th 2006
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Me at Ski School
Ready for the off So, after my arrival blog Santiago has turned into a fantastico place to be. Quite a lot of people have said they dont like the place but i love it. Very clean, freindly and easy to use and with as many universities as you can shake a stick at. Really i"ve not been in any other place on my travels thats turned up zero Starbucks and a pleathera of universities. I guess also the hostel im in helps a lot as there is always something going on and lots of new people to meet. After my day out as featured in the last blog my evening was spent chatting with various new best freinds which included some folks who persueded me at the 11th hour (literally, it was 11pm when i decided) to the next day go Skiing (im still most unsure of the correct spelling of this so will try a few over the blog) at the Valle Navado Ski area in the Andes. Having never Skied before i was assured this would be a good introduction.
So at the sleepy hour of 6.30am the next day i and my team (2 cambridge university geology students just finished mapping
Starting to Ski
lots of snow and lots of height an area of north chile, 2 london cockney geezers, a west country boyo driver and a older father like chap obsessed with Skiing and happy to pass on wisdom) met across the road from the hostel adn set off on the 2 hour journey along an often hair raising moutain road that climbed from Santiago all the way up to the 2700m high ski resort. Teh views just on the drive were totally spectacular and although we had a cloudy day we climbed through 2 cloud layers (see pic) which meant it was still jolly bright by the time we got to the resort. Skiing itself started in the way of ski school. A 2 hour lesson (menat to be in a group but in fact solo tuition as i was the only English person there and hence needed a seperate instructor) on the fflat area next to the resort where i learned (badly) to do things like walking in skis, stopping once id got moving using a snow plough with my skis, turning, and eventually skiing itself, which mostly involved careering down a pracrice slope very fast and stopping myself from near death just in the nick of time.
Clouds
2 layers of the stuff on our climb up I suppose the lesson was good and needed as i taught me the rudiments, but it wasnt until after my Chilean instructor had left me to my own devices that i cottoed onto the idea. I stayed o the pracitce slope untill 1pm making sure i had the basics down and then after lunch back with the others (all people who knew what they were doig) I headed out to the easiest of the runs down the moutain and spent an awesome afternoon wizzing down, chair lifting up and probably causing hilarity to those around. Having said this by the end of the day i could go pretty well, turn when i wanted, stop if i needed and keep up with most of the others on the run. Only 2 bad crashes as well, which ranks as a success I feel. By 4pm the ache had set in and my legs were on fire. So i had one last run with the others who had come to see me, and then it was off to the hot tub at the hotel of the resort. Sadly most of us hadnt had the forethought that there may have been a hot tub
and consequentally many Chilean folks in the pool and on over looking balconies were treated to views of us Brits in various stages of undress as we tried to dry off without a towel and ungracefully put back on all the ski wear. All in all a super day in the Andes, I now love skiing and will certainly try to do lots more. And the drive back was again spectacular with sunsts over the mountains and vertical drops beside the road highlights.
After such joys, the evening was supposed to be a quiet recovery, but as seems to be the way over here that was not to be. Had an quite suburb chicken dish at the restaureant next door to La Casa Roja, and then sampled the delights of cubbing Santiago style. Quite a surreal experience as all the music was western (in fact all the music in Chile full stop seems to be western) but everyone was dancing in a very exotic south american sort of a way. Clearly the classic foot shuffling British dancing style was an interesting addition to the place, but everyone was happy good times rolled. Finally at the hour of 4am we
toddled off home (as Claire has mentioned early finished dont really happen in south america) and despite the tiredness of us all (a group of 10 or so went from the hostel) we all stayed up yet longer and i was pushed into providing the music on my guitar (not quite sure how good it was but nobody seemed to mind).
Phew, anyway good times in Satiago and i"ll be sad to leave later today for the North of Chile and then onto Bolivia and Peru next week. I"m off to try and order some food (destined to fail i"m sure) and get lost around the metro again (very easy to use in theory but i still manage to make a meal of it - luckily as i said previosly its a nice place to get lost in). Sorry if this blog had any huge mistakes, but the keyboard is useless.
choa, marc.
finally a Chilean chap has left a comment on my last blog correcting me on a few wrong details so check it out to get up to speed on a few of my wrongdoings. sadly as im on the move so quickly and generally
have to rush writing these blogs, mistakes happen...quite a bit really. so to confirm, the "angel" ive been harping on about is actually the Virgin Mary - probably quite an error in religious circles. apologies.
marc
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Miguel
non-member comment
Go North, young man.....
this is the chilean "chap" you referenced in your blog (what an honor!). i hope my comments don't annoy you, as that's not my intent. i've never been skiing in chile and i'm jelous. i think santiago is a wonderful city and it always annoys me when backpackers (i'm one too) shortchange the city and write it off as an ugly polluted mess best left avoided. santiago isn't one of those cities like rio or buenos aires that jumps out at you, but it has it's own lowkey charm. chileans themselves are rather lowkey and reserved by latinamerican standards, and calling attention to yourself is generally looked down upon (chileans have been referred to as the "english" of south america for this, which i don't agree with....). there are actually 14 starbucks in santiago, most of them in the eastern part of the city (wealthier area). the reason you're probably seeing so many flags is because september 18 was chile's independence day, so the country just finished celebrating it's 196th anniversary and so the flags are still up. chileans don't display the flag like americans do (i know you're not american). during the "fiestas patrias" (national holidays) it is common to drink chicha, so you may want to take advantage of this and ask at your next restaurant if they have any available. it's made from fermented grapes and is yummy (and alcoholic). don't mistake this for the chicha drunk in peru and bolivia, which is a type of corn beer. if you get a chance to be near la serena (region IV), go to the elqui valley, where chileans make their pisco (a type of grape brandy, between 35 and 50 proof). otherwise, be sure to drink some pisco sours and piscolas (pisco and coke, which i like with twist of lemon). have fun in san pedro. don't forget to look up at all the beautiful stars. saludos. miguel