Santiago Y Mas

I spent my first morning in Santiago with the United Airline Baggage Services. Apparently, my suitcase decided 5 hours was not enough time to enjoy the Houston airport and skipped the flight. Since there is only one flight per day to Chile, it looked like I was going to have to do a little shopping.

We fought off our desire to sleep and after a quick shower we caught a ride with a friendly Uber driver to a Barrio Bellavista. This neighborhood seemed a little sleepy but after a strolling around a little we realized that it must come alive at night since it seemed every other establishment was a nightclub.

After lunch we walked to the center of town to look for a few items to hold me over until my suitcase arrived. Our jet lag was quickly catching up to us so we just tried to kill time until it was acceptable to eat dinner.  Just before dinner we found a park with some spectacular sculptures. After just a few minutes we realized that this park was a favorite with young couples. There were couples snuggled up every few feet. It was borderline uncomfortable for Colleen, Dan and I but we ventured on and took in the entire park.

Finally, we decided it time to eat and found ourselves at a nice wine bar that served several Chilean and Argentinian wines by the glass. We stretched out our dinner so that by the time we finished the restaurant it was finally an acceptable hour to eat dinner in Santiago.

Day two was the start of our tour and thankfully the return of my suitcase. We returned to the airport and met our guides Vicente and Claudio. It took us a little while to get to Farallones but we still managed to have a group meeting before heading to Valle Colorado for our first day on the slopes.

One thing I’m not loving about the ski resorts in Chile is the extensive use of T-Bars and Poma Lifts. These are not snowboard-friendly methods to the top of the mountain. On day one, in the battle between Lucinda and the T-Bars, it was T-Bars 4, Lucinda 3. Perhaps I will catch up by the end of the trip but I’d prefer to retire from the T-Bars altogether.

After a couple hours on the slopes we took a break for an avalanche safety course in the unlikely event of an avalanche. Just before we all froze on top of the mountain, we finished the class and snowboarded back down to our lodge for the first half of our tour.

We enjoyed a spectacular sunset, followed by a steak dinner and then a well deserved night of sleep.

Day two, we headed to Ski La Parva. At this resort we made our first climb of the trip. About halfway up, I had a newfound respect for the people I see climbing Granite Chief at Squaw. I also discovered that they were crazier than I thought. By the time we made it to the top, my legs felt like jello and my lungs were burning. It took about 40 minutes to get up and about 1 minute to snowboard down. The snow was great, in fact the best we found all day, but I would have preferred a shorter climb and longer ski.

After a couple more runs on piste, we broke for lunch where we were introduced to a Chilean specialty – Chorrillanas. This was a giant plate of French fries topped with chicken, steak, chorizo, hotdogs, grilled onions and three fried eggs. I’m not sure I’m ready to eat this dish again anytime soon, but after the long morning of snowboarding, it hit the spot.

After lunch, I began my battle with the Poma Lift. Poma Lift 4, Lucinda 1. Eventually Vincente took pity on me and took us to a chair lift. From there, we took a long ride all the way back to the village and called it a day. It was a good thing too, because, we still have several days of snowboarding still to come.