Next stop was Chile and a brief scare in the line at customs where we
thought we were late for our flight made things tater interesting. I
just try to stay out of aarons way when we are around airports and don't
take offense to his remarks. Aaron is not much fun when A) we are
within 2km from a airport or B) when something he is or has organized
falls through. This list may grow larger in time but we will see!
So yes; Chile. I managed to befriend a businessman on the plane
and chatted in English for a while. It was good before I thought I
would attempt to try thank him in Spanish for talking to me. I said
mucho gusto: which my Spanish app says I like you. I picked ip a phrase
book and read that that term has sexual connotations! Haha I wondered
what his strange look to another passenger was about!
Santiago was the first stop for a day and a night before we made our
way upto the snow capped alps where we were going to be snowboarding for a
couple of days. Santiago didn't really impress me the way BA did. i mean
there was still some great stuff but it all just seemed a bit of a
downer and a bit of a void of culture. saying that there was a great
plaza where isat and finished my book in the sun and everyone was out and
about enjoying the sunny (albeit it chilly) weather. We cme across
¨coffee with legs¨in Santiago where itis like a skimpy bar but serving
coffee in the CBD to all the workers. In truth the girls wernt fantastic
and neither the coffee, but aninteesting experience no the less. Oh and
another interesting experience was fast food in the city. i was starving
(tango humbre, tango mucho humbre) and thoughtid check out on of these
food stalls on the streets. they served me a hot dog with about a inch of
advocadopaste on the top of it and a massive amount of mayonnaise on
that. i cant say it was a fantastic culinary delight but was cheap and
fast!
we caught a taxi up to the Fareollens region in the mountains in
Chile where we were going to be snowboarding and came across some of
the most winding rads i have seen to date. As well as getting a bit crook
from the taxi driver gunning it around these tight bends i was also
starting to feel for thefirsttime the effects of high altitudes. i began
to find it very difficult to breath. This as well as not being able to
walk up a flight of stairs without buckling over out of breath and dizzy
was all new to me!
we got some amazing conditions in Chile where the first night we were
there it dumped roughly 50cm of fresh powder snow. according to the
locals this was the best they had had all year. and it dint stop for the
whole next day. which mnade for some challenging snowboarding
conditions when you have only got sunglasses and not goggles! it was
relatively expensive to rent gear and pay for accommodation and i dont
think any more than 3 daysup there would have been much good for me or
my bank account!
We met the hostel owner when we arrived and he wasted no time in
telling us how awesome his place was and how he had heaps of friends and
that everyone came tohis hostel to drink at the night. Puncho was his
name - an abbreviation of Fransisco.I mande the mistake on
numerousoccasions in calling him Pancho.. which translated in Spanish
to hot dog. needless to say i didn't really find it necessary to spend much
time talking with him and neither did he with me! this hostel was the
most challenging to date (I'm writing in past tense cos ihave since
left). there was very little heating the showers were only hot sometimes
and not many people spoke English at all. I still had a one good Friday
night up there as well as watching the Chile soccer match on the Sunday.
the snowboarding was great and i was alot better than last time
thanks, i think, to the longboarding i have been doing. the Best
conditions where when it was clear blue sky and sunny but still cold
enough to keep the snow powdery rather than melting it. we picked up
some awesome snow days and i have got some good gopro footage to prove
it!
there was thins one time where i ventured into fresh powder only to
find out it was just below my nipples in depth! i found this out because
when i crashed and couldn't get back up i had to walk through it for
about 15m. now this might not sound hard and maybe even sound like a bit
fun but i assure you it is not. because all my gear was rental stuff
and i am too big for most Chilean sizes itdidnt really fit very well at
all and every time i crashed i would get snow up my shirt and
occasionally down my pants (pantallonies). so walking throng waist deep
powder really took its toll. iwas freezing cold, exhausted and getting a
bit `paniccy about getting out of the situation. in the end imanagedto
compact nought snow under me to kind jump on my board on my knees with
enough momentum to skim across the top of the powder. after this i
finished the run and had to sit down and collect my thoguhts again!
apart from this snowboarding was great and i enjoyed the more relaxed runs where i could manage todo some chilled carving.
SO i made it thought 3 days snowboarding without getting injured
until i went to leave the hostel and threw my backpack over my shoulder
and went ass up on the ice on the balcony hearing and feeling a nice big
click from my right knee. i shat myself! all the way to Santiago and all
that nightbecasue although i knew it wasn't another ACL it still hurt
like hell and couldn't walk very well at all. this would jeopardise alot
of our upcoming adventures if it did not heal quick!
