La Primera Semana

From Valparaiso, Chile I sit writing this with a 2000 peso bottle of red wine, bread and cheese to help me along. 


We’ve had about a week in Chile now. Two days in Santiago, 4 nights in Farellones and now unexpectedly, the fourth night of what will be 8 days in Valparaiso. The snow that we happily watched fall on the ski fields, has also blocked our path to Mendoza where we were to start a Spanish course on Monday. Fortunately Valparaiso is a charming city and has a number of Spanish schools with spots available, so we have now settled here for the week. 

Santiago central plaza. Day 1, hour 1. A double amputee cleans shoes, while in the background crowds gather around a covered body (human).

Our short time in Santiago was very enjoyable. Having spent the flight from NZ reading each of the ‘dangers & annoyances’ chapters in 'South America on a Shoestring', my paranoia was eased by Gustavo, our local Santiago street guide. He extolled the virtues of the Carabineros - the Chilean Police Force - who he proudly described as only mildly corrupt. Mildly corrupt and moderately negligent (see above).

No locals nearby to assist with road crossing

Street art, Chilean style. A Llama rides unicycles replete in matching hat and jacket.

Nic in downton Santiago

When I feel despondent that my beard is patchy and sparse, I draw inspiration from this building

As we wandered the streets Gustavo paused briefly outside a cafe with blacked out windows and pink neon lights. He described how businessmen come to these coffee houses during the week for a ‘coffee with legs’. The waitresses, donned in miniskirts and bikinis, serve coffee while the Santiago suits close business deals. At an undisclosed time the manager rings a bell to indicate the ‘happy minute’ has begun. For 1 minute, the lucky patrons are then given a quick demo of what is presumably the waitress’ night job.

Snow cactus. Something to distract us from the appalling road and furious driving.

From Santiago, we caught a shuttle bus to the ski town of Farellones. The road to Farellones is best described as a neglected version of the Crown Range. Forty consecutive hairpin bends lift you 2000m above Santiago in the valley floor. And our driver, in the spirit of the Colin Sinclair school of driving, was not to be deterred by the condition of the road or the snow that had fallen overnight.

Refugio Los Andes, Farellones. Refuge from the bus.

Lodge Andes was our home for 4 days of skiing at lung-busting altitude in dry, soft snow. The preconditioning efforts in Australia, squandered by 2 weeks of eating and drinking in NZ, were sorely missed.

Arrival afternoon at Lodge Andes

We awake the next morning to this. It snows all day and we spend the day drinking and eating with Ingrid at the bar.

A foot of snow has fallen at El Colorado. Santiago stews in its juice below.

Nic swimming in snow. Behind, two perfectly formed snow boobs.

The lodge was inundated with Brazilians on their annual trip to the South American ski Mecca. In the evenings the Brazilian contingent would have animated conversations in quickfire Portuguese across the lounge. We would haplessly follow the theatrics to understand. On our last night, the discussion turned into an argument about which professions the world could do without. We listened up. Fisioterapeuta, dermatologista, analista de crédito - all were dismissed. I ask whether engineers were required in the New World. Sim, sim, essencial, necessario. And pharmacists? Daniel, the instigator of it all, pauses. In his best English he replies - I can think of only one or two I'd keep.

Hitch-hiking to Valle Nevado, in the valley next to Farellones. While Nic travels in the comfort of the cab nestled between two strapping Brazilian ski types,  I crouch awkwardly amongst skis, boots and poles in the tray. 

On our final afternoon at Valle Nevado I save my best for last on a watershed day of crashes for both of us. I eject from both skis into a forward somersault, half twist, face plant. With one ski located I search for its pair but other than a body sized crater, the snow is unbroken. Nic offers useful advice from further below. After excavating a small swimming pool sized area of snow, Nic arrives on the scene having skied to the base lift, rode it to the summit and traversed back to the boundary of the resort. She immediately stands on the missing ski. We leave as the shadows set in.

With all skis attached we head back to Farellones via El Colorado. Smiles, but we are exhausted! View from above the summit of El Colorado, roughly 3600m.

Alpine high-wire course

Sun sets behind the Andes

More to come soon from Valpo!