Catchin' Up

We made our way back to the city of Santiago this morning after a late night last night. Needless to say it was a long drive. We checked into our hotel and then slept the afternoon away. After that we hit the town and went to this super rad restaurant in the city called Liguria. After a 3 hour dinner we went into the Gas Lamp of South America, Buena Vista. We were recommended to this bar / club called Etniko that turned out to be the spot in Santiago. We chilled there for awhile and then took a tour of Buena Vista and found a couple of places that we wanted to check out in the next few days. It was hard to capture in photographs but we really felt as if we were in the heart of a South American city in primetime. I've never seen so many people out on the town this late and as we were heading back to our hotel it seemed as if things were just heating up. I finally was able to upload all the pictures from the last couple of days, check 'em out here.

Another Evening at La Casa San Regis

Still on the same computer so unfortunately no pictures but I do have stories. Catskiing at El Arpa yesterday was the most amazing snowboarding ever, blue skies, with some extra nice powdery snow. It was so amazing to have only 9 people on 4,000 acres of terrain. It felt like we owned our own mountain. We woke up today to it pouring rain so instead of snowboarding we did what any American teenagers would do as an alternative activity while visiting a foreign land, we went wine tasting. Michael and I are becoming quite sophisticated down here, we might just come back looking like the monopoly guy, we do already have the moustaches. I actually really enjoyed the experience, it was something I´ve never done before. I have a bunch of pictures and it´s killing me to not be able to post them but I should be able to do it tommorrow when we leave Los Andes (one of the raddest towns I´ve ever visited) and head back to the city for 2 nights. But before that, we hit the town.

I Found the Internet!

We ended up riding at Valle Nevado in Farrelones yesterday and even found a terrain park, think baby Big Bear in South America, small but lots of fun. After that we left for our next city, Los Andes and got here last night at around 7 local time. Our initial accomadations were intially pretty gnarly, words can´t really describe, you had to smell it to believe it. We got pictures if you must see it for yourself. We got moved into another hotel this afternoon and it is one of the raddest place I´ve ever been to. I found internet but unfortunately it´s on a shared computer and it takes a long time to upload the photos onto Flickr and the blog, I´m really gonna try to get some pictures up but its not gonna be easy. Tomorrow we go Cat Skiing, which should be really cool. They take you to a mountain with no lifts and you ride up to the top in a SnowCat, ride down to the bottom and do it again and again.

Vacío

Today was another amazing day. Our hosts, Christian and Carlita have been taking care of us so well it's ridiculous, we aren't allowed to lift a finger. After that we went up to La Parva and rode all day, there were probably only 12 cars in the parking lot of this gigantic mountain. In the afternoon went for another hike and found this untouched canyon at the very top of the resort. We came back home to some delicious snacks that held us over until the best dinner we've had since we got here, steak, pasta, potatoes, sausage, and salad. Sounds simple enough but it was delightful. The thing that I've found I enjoy the most is interacting with the different people here. The people we're staying with (there's about 12-15 of us) are all so interesting and very nice. For instance, there's a guy from England who is a writer for an English Music Magazine and is also the manager of two English bands. It's been so interesting to get to know these different people, it's too bad we're leaving this cabin tomorrow afternoon for our next destination, Los Andes. I tried to get more pictures of where we're staying, the food, the people, but for some reason, it's easier said than done. I'll try to get more tomorrow.

A Full Day

We went to a SSang Yong party last night...exactly, we didn't know who they were either. Apparently they are a Korean Car Company that is big over here. One thing we did learn, Chile's love their karaoke. Today we woke up early, had some breakfast and then went up to La Parva for Round 2. After some warm-up runs we went to the top and then hiked even higher for about an hour. It was exhausting but the view was amazing and the snow was just as good. It was definitely worth the hike. We put in a full day today and came back to the cabin to an amazing sunset. I think we could get used to this. Added more pics here.

Arrival

We got in at 10 o'clock this morning and met our guide Owen and drove through the city of Santiago into the mountains on the gnarliest road i've ever been on in my life. It was hard to get good pictures but this should give you an idea of what it was like. After a 2 hour drive straight up we finally reached our lodging for the next 3 days. We're staying in a cabin with some locals and they are taking care of us, home-cooked Chilean cuisine. After we got settled we went up to snowboard at La Parva which is unreal. The Andes are amazing, words cant describe them. I didn't do a good job of taking pictures today but I will make sure to take a lot more tomorrow.

Slightly Delayed

We were supposed to leave at 10:10, that didn't work, our plane was and i quote "broke" so we're waiting on a new one. It's all good, we've been waiting for months, 2 hours is nothin.

Feliz Chiledad!

Ignore the fact that its actually 20 minutes from midnight, I'm tired and goin to bed, so this is a pre-emptive Happy Chile Day.

Countdown

The Countdown begins. In a little more than a week, we board a plane to the Southern Hemisphere.