Guess we'll start with Thursday! That afternoon, my friend Laura and I had a mission. One of her professors had told her about the only bagel shop in Viña del Mar, so naturally, we had to find it. Once we did, we were so excited that the owner was actually laughing at us a several points. While they weren't quite as good as Colorado Bagel Co. in Steamboat, they satisfied the bagel craving. That night I finished class and got home around 9:15. After walking to my friend Nolan's house to borrow his ski gloves, I got home and met my friends Rachel and Geneva. They live in Valparaíso, and the ski bus was meeting at 5am in Viña, so for safety and easiness reasons, they spent the night in my house! From there, we went to bed, only to wake up 5ish hours later to go to PORTILLO to ski!
Friday: The day was finally here. I had been trying to go skiing for the past month, and whether it was too snowy of roads, not enough people signed up for the group to go, or other conflicts, we just hadn't be able to make it. But finally we could! The roads from Viña del Mar to Portillo had been closed the whole week leading up to Friday due to too much snow/icy roads. This was still the case when we pulled up to the beginning of the pass going to Portillo and on to Mendoza. It was about 9:30am, and the roads were still a little too icy to drive over. Because of this, we had to wait. Yup, waiting for ice to melt. Similar to watching paint dry, it's not that fun. It was alright though, we got to get out of the bus and walk around a little, and even met some nice Argentinians! They had been waiting to get back to Mendoza for a couple of days, but hadn't been able to due to road conditions. They were really nice, and very excited about meeting some blonde gringas... and for this reason, they insisted on all taking pictures with our group. After waiting for about an hour or so, we finally we able to get moving! Yay! The drive up to Portillo was amazing in itself. I love the mountains in Colorado, but these mountains were at an entirely different level. They were magnificent. Words and pictures cannot even do them justice. The pass up to the resort was also unlike anything I have ever seen. It was hairpin turn after hairpin turn, I think all in all there were more than 26 corners (there were signs on every one). See crazy road below:
After a little more driving, we finally pulled up to the resort. This past year, I was lucky enough to be able to see the annual ski movie premiere by director Warren Miller, and a lot of the movie was on Portillo. The movie was obviously insanely well done and very high quality, but even the professionals couldn't do justice to the beauty of this place. I felt so at home in the mountains, and so blessed to be able to experience a place like that. The skiing was really great too. Since not a lot of people had been able to get to the resort due to road conditions, all of the powder from the two weeks prior was still great! The combination of all of our awesome thrift store 80's ski gear and the bright white snow was quite the scene, to say the least. The mountain had chairlifts, and then in the places that didn't have lifts, there were poma lifts (I had to google the spelling on that, so much for being a ski town native).
However, these were unlike any poma lift you have ever seen... they were for 4 or 5 people at a time, and there were only two actual pomas. So there'd be one at the bottom where people were getting on, and one at the top that people had just gotten off of. The first time using one of these was quite the experience for our group. To put it in perspective, there are 4 of us going up a steep hill (I'd be willing to say a 50-55 degree angle), and at the top, when the poma stops, there is no landing or anything. It just stops, and you are backwards facing an incredibly steep slope, and it's terrifying. So this first time, we didn't know when it was necessary to let go, and so we all just kind of screamed and let go... bad idea. It ended up being a pile of skis, snowboards, legs, hats, and arms tangled up sliding down the face. I can only imagine how entertaining this must have been for everyone watching from down below. After sliding down the face by myself a little bit more, I finally managed to pull it together and strap on my snowboard. Here's a google picture of more experienced people on the poma:
Later we had a woman tell us how you're really supposed to get off the poma's, and this made things much easier for the rest of the day :) After skiing a lot, taking snack breaks over looking the amazing Lago del Inca, and skiing some more, I was exhausted by the end of the day, but so so happy. At the end of this amazing day, I had a feeling that I've had a couple of other times in my life, but this time so much stronger. I felt truly content with everything happening in my life right now. Sitting there in the snow, overlooking this amazing lake and mountain range, I just breathed in and felt happiness and content-ness seep throughout my entire body. It was like realizing, wow, this is real, and this was meant to happen to me. I was meant to come here to Chile, and to see all that the world has to offer. Bah. No words.
Saturday: My program, ISA, took us to Pomaire and Isla Negra! Pomaire was a small town about 1 1/2 or 2 hours from Viña (I'm not really sure how long it took since I slept the whole way there, skiing in the Andes sure does take it out of you!). It was really great for touristy shopping, empanadas, and exploring. Gifts may or may not have been bought, but Mom, no matter what kind of questions you ask to try and snoop and see what I got you, I'm not going to tell. And you're not going to guess, because it's a weird Chilean thing that you probably can't even begin to pronounce, so just keep the 20 questions game to yourself. Love you :) After Pomaire, we drove another hour or so to Isla Negra, where Pablo Neruda's third house is. It was beautiful, just like the others! The view was by far the best of any, overlooking steep rocks and waves. All of his houses are insanely decorated, and with more things in them than any house should have, but that's what makes them pretty wonderful. He was so eclectic. I'd say that the tour of the Santiago house was my favorite, but this house and the views were my favorite of the three. When we got back, I had to hustle and get ready for something new, because it was time to make dinner with the same crew from last week! This week the theme was Brazilian food, it was delicious! We also enjoyed some caipirinha, which is a typical Brazilian drink. Very strong, but very tasty! Also, it was the night to make cupcakes. Yes, I had told the group about how I like to bake, and how my mother is an expert baker, so therefore I was assigned the task of making cupcakes. I was super excited about this possibility! Last night, on the way to dinner, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a couple of the ingredients that I didn't think would be at the house. This included cream cheese, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and buttermilk. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to find buttermilk, so I looked up the substitute for that (1/4 cup milk + 3/4 cup plain yogurt). However, finding cocoa and cream cheese were two of the most difficult things. After spending 40 minutes in one grocery, I called my Chilean friend, Frijo, and asked where the heck I could find these two simple ingredients. He directed me to another grocery, and there I was able to find cream cheese and while I couldn't find cocoa in the form necessary, I decided hot cocoa powder would maybe suffice. I made the cupcakes, and Alvaro's mom (whose apartment we were in) helped me to figure out the oven. When I told her it needed to be at 350 degrees, she looked at me like I was psychotic, and that's when I remembered that we use Celsius down here in Chile! Whoops! Thankfully, with the mother's touch, the cupcakes turned out, and tasted delicious as well! The Gringa didn't fail to impress - phew!
I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." - Kurt Vonnegut
Pictures from skiing:
 |
| Map |
 |
| The ISA group! What good looking gaper suits. |
 |
| Look at that powder! Polvo de nieve! |
 |
| My awesome $6 ski pants with Lago del Inca in the background! |
No comments:
Post a Comment