Casablanca and Valparaiso

On Tuesday, our driver Pedro picked us up at the hotel at 10am and we headed out to the coast. Originally our plan was to rent a car, as it had been difficult to find a tour that did exactly what we wanted to do. However, we had met Pedro since he drove us up to Portillo. His English and guiding was excellent and he offered to do a private tour just for us - take us up the one highway to Valparaiso stopping at some wineries, and then two days later pick us up and take us down the coast and back through Pomaire. The price was almost the same as what we would have spent on the rental, insurance and gas, so it was a no-brainer.

We were glad we did as everything turned out so much nicer to do the wine tastings without having to worry about driving!

A completely different climate exists as soon as you go through the tunnel to get you out of the Santiago valley. The smog disappears and you see sprawling farms. It was explained that most of these farms provide food for Santiago - the export farms are further north and south. The amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in Santiago is nice, although the diet is still very meat based.

First stop was Emiliana winery. We had sampled these wines in the US. They are organic and have a nice balanced wine. The samplings were very generous (thank goodness I wasn't driving)

We then went to Casa del Bosque and stopped to eat. A wonderful sunny patio with good food and a cool white wine to go with our lunch made us all a little sleepy.

While Sara took a short nap and the girls played in the yard, I had a private sampling from someone who used to live in Burlington VT! After the four wines on the sampling, he decided to let me sample a Syrah that was from Casablanca and was absolutely wonderful. I ended up buying two.

We then headed into Valparaiso - a coastal city. I had read about this place and knew we were going to enjoy it. The hotel turned out to be even more than expected. We could not place the hotel in Google Maps and was really unclear what it was going to be like, other than the excellent reviews. But the place was lovely. Casa Higueras is a small hotel (20 rooms) and, as it turned out, we were the only guests on the first night!

Our balcony overlooked the harbor, and our two interconnecting rooms were spacious with beautiful bathrooms.

We went out and explored the city, the architecture, and the graffiti art.

Being on the Pacific coast, the precautions for Tsunamis were very present

One thing I would not want to be in Valparaiso is an electrician

We got ourselves lost several times on the tour. Plenty of streets that weren't on the map and plenty of streets that were on the map but weren't marked. The only ascensore that we found was closed. We were so close to finding another ascensore but the street wasn't marked so we didn't follow it far enough. So we got our exercise going up and down stairs in what was an indirect path to an area that we never did find (at least that day). The closed ascensore made us give up finding the area with the "nice" street art, and we had seen plenty already anyway so we headed back.

Dinner was at Cafe del Pintor, which is a very small (cash-only) place where they basically have two things on the menu for you to choose from. Excellent food.

Tomorrow we do our Chilean cooking class, so it will be a long day. Valparaiso has been fun so far. But we had a chance to relax in a hot tub and sauna while watching the sun go over the hills creating an indescribable color.

Sightseeing in Santiago

We arrived at our hotel - the Plaza El Bosque Ebro and after a slight mixup (we had a quad room suite and they only gave us keys to one half), we realized how much more room we had to spread out! It was a good thing, because the ski equipment still had to dry out.
One thing I've noticed is that the Chilean hotel rooms are not generous on available power plugs. Between the boot dryers, the laptops, the iPads, the iPhones, the portable radios (normally not necessary anymore in the day of cell phones but we have no cell service here to keep in contact on the slopes), we use a lot of plugs and were constantly fighting for the ones. They didn't even have a plug near the desk!
Laundry turned out to be a bit more of an issue than we hoped. They were all closed on Sunday, which left us only Monday (we leave for Valparaiso on Tuesday morning). Through broken Spanish, we determined they wanted until Tuesday morning to do five loads (they were pretty small loads, as they would have easily been three). Meanwhile all of her machines stood empty. We stood our ground and got her to ag
Sightseeing in Santiago was fun. Lots of stuff closed on Sundays of course, but everyone goes for a walk, so the streets were crowded. We saw the Palacio de la Moneda - the Presidential offices (originally the mint). I thought it was similar to the White House, but the President apparently doesn't live there.

The Plaza de Armas was a hopping place with a family entertaining and a "silver" and "bronze" man, who was very successful at grabbing the tourists to get some $$

The Plaza was hosting some "small sided soccer", 4v4 with a very wide range of ages on a single team so it wasn't obviously divided by age group. The soccer was very popular and large crowds were around the matches. It was even being televised.

Walking around Santiago was nice because they had some pedestrian only streets. Apart from a couple of flashing lights which we had no idea what they were signaling, the normal cross walks got the girls attention. Not only did they tell you how much time you had left, the man on it started to "walk" faster the closer you got to zero. It was kind of funny to watch it.

We stopped at a cafe for a coffee (a cortado - espresso and milk). The cafe was huge with at least three large espresso machines that looked like they were capable of making four pulls at a time. At the cafe, you have to pay at a front cashier first and you get a ticket for your coffee. You then go to another waitress (all wearing very short skirts) that would then get you your coffee (and an aqua con gas - mineral water with bubbles). The girls proclaimed the whipped cream in the cocoa the best they've ever had. At its peak, I'd guess they could probably serve around fifty people coffee, and there was more than one of these on every street.

Dinner at the Tiramisu restaurant. An amazing time that took almost two hours in total. Dinner is not rushed around here and we savored some amazing pizza (I had tuna since there is no such thing as gluten free pizza around here - I've seen one option in a supermarket that was labeled "sin gluten") and Sara enjoyed the tiramisu.

On Monday, we started our day with breakfast at the 17th floor of our hotel with great views of the mountains in the distance and just how sprawling the city is

We went to the market area, saw a twist on the "everything for a dollar store"

Had lunch in the Chilean market - I had ceviche (raw fish) but the girls went for something a little more standard but very Chilean. Lots of vendors to choose from, and mostly the same food so it wasn't clear how to best pick. We ended up finding one that had some locals eating there and looked relatively comfortable and a reasonable location (not way in the corner, not in the center). In the center of the market are some really fancy places set up - but we had been told that these were mostly tourist traps and you would not get very authentic food for a good price. Anyway, the lunch was delicious.

We headed over to Cerro San Cristobal and took the funicular to the top. There is a very large statue of the Virgin Mary at the top and this was apparently where the Pope said mass when he visited Chile.

After that, we headed down to the Bellavista area and found a nice pub/restaurant where we enjoyed some Pisco Sours and sat and enjoyed the afternoon sun with a little snack

We did visit a museum - one that claimed to have an Easter Island room. The curator didn't seem very interested in letting us in. To get her attention to unlock the door must have taken about three minutes. We paid the small fee and went in to beautiful courtyard and some exhibits on the history of Chile, but no Easter Island room to be found.

Its off to Valparaiso tomorrow. We had a wonderful dinner at a sushi restaurant (Temple) near our hotel. Girls loved this one table that was set off in a pond and looked like a bed. Unfortunately, it was reserved for a couple so we sat in more regular setting. The food and the presentation were wonderful.

ree that they would be ready by 9am on Tuesday.

Last Days at Portillo

The day before our last day (Friday), it started to snow. They had predicted a centimeter or so - we weren't expecting much and didn't even try to get a "powder day start". But throughout the day, it started to pile up and it wasn't stopping. Sitting out in the Portillo pool knowing that we had one more day of skiing and it was dumping was unreal

The torchlight parade was canceled because of the snow. We had our last dinner in the dining room - the girls had mastered the napkin folding

And we had a dinner with our "team" - Diego, Alejandro and Mario (not pictured, the other Alejandro and Agustin who had that evening off)

Last day was a bit of a blur. We had everything packed and checked out early to get out for the snow. It was easily 10-12 inches and very light. Posing for a last picture in front of the hotel:

We went up Roca Jack after it cleared out enough and it was very nice. Something about only taking five people at a time (with about three minutes between every group) keeps the powder from getting used up. It was a great run.

After lunch, Renee and I went out to catch the Cara Cara lift. As we were standing "in line" (one group), we noticed that the traverse wasn't open which was a bummer as we wanted to do the S-chute. But a group was standing up there and a ski patroller had just started in front of us and he opened up the traverse over. We watched a group get first tracks down the S-chute. Up we went, and scored fifth and sixth tracks down the chute (everyone else went further out). Renee ripped it up.

It was sad to leave Portillo. We were on the slopes until 2:45 before our 4pm shuttle to Santiago. A fairly chaotic packing of the ski stuff and a ride down in terrific weather allowed most people to nap. We had a great time at Portillo and it will be hard to live up to that for the rest of the trip...

Powder!

The girls took Thursday off. It was not quite as warm as the past days, and my plan to take Sara down the S-chute back fired when we waited too long and the chute was way too icy to make good turns down. The video made it on to the cutting room floor.

Anna is able to use the fitness studio - the one used for yoga, stretching and zumba, to practice dance in. That's pretty incredible find - it is a nice studio.

Food continues to be excellent. After dinner, we have taught Renee and Anna how to play hearts. They've more or less gotten the hang of it, but the cut throat nature of the game is a little hard to take amongst competitive siblings.

Late night ping pong and a foosball game (I think Sara and Renee's team won) and we went to sleep thinking there would not be much to the weather that was moving in - only a centimeter or two was forecast.

Woke up Friday and there was a little bit of snow on the ground - around an inch and it was snowing very very lightly. No hurry to get out - after all, the forecast wasn't calling for anything special - we had a nice breakfast (I've finally got the right assertiveness while saying "muy firma" to actually have scrambled eggs instead of runny eggs). But the day just got better and better. From "dust on crust" to a bonafide 8 inches or so is my estimate by the time I got tired and came in around 4:15pm (the lifts are open until 5pm to accommodate the late Chilean start that most people get).

However, the visibility was quite low. This was good and bad - a little bit of vertigo and difficulty in finding your footing on the bad side. On the good side, it kept many people away. Well, it was probably also that the road was closed so no one outside of the hotel could ski today. The place was empty, leaving the powder to only a few. Also on the bad side, the visibility kept them from opening up any of the top lifts (the va-et-vients).

The 3pm group lesson call time was interesting. There were about 40-50 instructors out there, and I'd hesitate to guess that maybe around 15 people made it out to the group lessons. They would cheer for each person that was brave enough to come out (visibility, wind, and powder moguls). A large group of instructors were left "free" and would traverse across the front side to get their powder fix.

The weather also meant that the torchlight parade was canceled, but that wasn't a big deal. I got to sit out in pool while snow dumped around me. As of right now, it is still snowing and I believe the road is still closed (the website claims it is open). It is supposed to clear tomorrow, which we hope to mean will be a prime ski day - with the va-et-vient lifts open maybe? Our shuttle doesn't leave until 4pm, so we should be able to get a good day of skiing in.

A dinner of bacon-wrapped filet mignon and we treated ourselves to chocolate fondue (wanted to do this yesterday, but didn't realize you needed a 24 hour reservation on the fondue). Way too much food tonight. We are mostly packed and ready to go in the morning. Early wake up calls set so that we can check out and hopefully make (close to) first lifts. We shall see.

I can't believe the first week is almost over. Portillo has been great. Haven't missed work at all. Its been relaxing and the skiing has been good. The hotel is everything it is lived up to be. I can see why they refer to it as the "cruise ship of skiing".

Most of the guests seem to have young kids - ages 3-7 seem to be predominant. Also interesting is that I've seen quite a few leg braces and other injuries - including witnessing two people taken off the slopes. Given the relatively small number of guests (around 400), I'd say the number of injuries is more than I've noticed at other resorts. Is it the experience level of the skiers? Is it the conditions? Who knows.

No pictures uploaded to the blog today. I took a few, but am too exhausted to "develop" them. We have some days off in Santiago to get some of the video and pictures done.

Looking forward to tomorrow, except the leaving part...

Spring Skiing, in summer, in winter

Alternate title: Tio Bob's and the S-Chute

 Most of the family is on Chilean time!

I was the only one that made it to breakfast this morning - everyone else slept in. I went out to scope out some lines, as today the goal was to put a chalk mark next to the Roca Jack. They had also opened up the Cara Cara lift (unclear if it is meant as a literal translation - the Face Face lift?) and I went up that one, traversed skier's right and saw what looked like a nice chute.

Unclear if it was skiable at this time, I passed it by and continued the traverse and enjoyed a more open run. Down to Juncalilla, back to the hotel to shed some layers quickly and met up with the rest of the family.

A quick warm up run, and up the Roca Jack. I took a new method and wrapped my arm around Anna and grabbed onto her poma to keep her from slipping off. It worked well and we made it to the top without incident - this one is far longer than the Condor lift that we had practiced on. The unloading of Roca Jack is fairly easy this week, as there is a bit of a flat spot on both sides.

You feel like you are on top of the world.

A short rest from the lift ride:

And down we skied:

I had now had a chance to scope out the line that I had seen from the bottom. We later found out that this was called the "S chute" due to its two prominent turns. Here's a picture taken a bit later in the day:

The Cara Cara lift is on the right hand side of the picture - you can just make out a group that was at the top of the va-et-vient lift right where the traverse starts.

Everyone else was still tired from the Roca Jack and decided to sit this out, so I went up alone. The S-chute run was quite fun. The snow was nice and soft given that this chute probably starts to get full sun at around 9:30am (it was around noon).

After a false start up Cara Cara with Renee, we decided it would be best to go to lunch. Today was the day we had planned to go to Tio Bob's for lunch - the on mountain restaurant at the top of the Plateau lift. We got up there, found a table and sat down with a bottle of wine.

More spectacular views.

and family pictures

A group of ski instructors sat with us. One of them had a thermometer and we placed it in the shade of a ketchup bottle. The reading was 81.3! While we doubted that a little bit, it certainly felt like that in the sun. With the soft snow, it was spring skiing, while we were in our summer and their winter. Three of the four seasons represented.

The lunch was very enjoyable and we were probably there for close to two hours. Even Anna decided to shed a layer for the run down.

Back to the room early, we napped. I went to the yoga class. For some reason, the yoga instructor singled me out halfway through the class and asked if I was doing OK. I think there were four men in the class, and I personally thought I was doing the best of them!!! :-). I'm going to believe that she singled me out because I was the only person to say that my Spanish was spotty (at best) and she did the class in English for my benefit.


Dinner is soon. Anna hasn't been feeling well, so she may just have some soup and retire early. I wonder if we will make it to the "mask party" tonight. Each night, we've had good intentions to go out, but the 11pm start time is too imposing.

First Days of Skiing

Beautiful view of the lake for Sunday morning. Renee chose to sleep in and catch up on some missed sleep, and Sara, Anna and I made it out at the awesome hour of 11am. We learned that we should order our scrambled eggs "firm" (firma huevos revueltos), and we started out on the sunny side (Juncalillo - which an instructor told us is really pronounced "junk o' lillo"). That's the trail that goes over the highway twice on the way down, and over the highway four times on the way up.

Renee joined us in the afternoon, and after a few practice poma runs, rode the "easier" va-et-vient lift (La Condor). We learned that snowboarders ride the lift strapped in, which is definitely foreign. Anna barely held on, and was a little bit phased by it. The lift goes FAST! But with a little help from Dad, she made it to the top and we unloaded it semi-gracefully (I've certainly seen youtube videos that show worse).

We stopped for some pictures with the iconic Portillo hotel in the background. This is the Plateau run, which has some of the best snow.

And then later that evening (after "tea"), we went for some family pictures out on the balcony overlooking the lake.

And a tango demonstration in the evening

No one wanted to enter the Uno tournament - too exhausted after a day of skiing.

On Monday (7/15), the whole family made it down to breakfast at a reasonable hour of 9ish. The eggs were firmer, but I guess the adjective "very firm" will have to be added tomorrow. Out on the trails by 10:15am, it was already warm on the sunny side and Renee was snowboarding in a t-shirt.

Anna and I did some more poma practice and I managed to find a poma that was detachable - or at least slipped all the way down to the next poma. I was glad we were the only people on that lift. More va-et-vient practice on the Condor - we're getting ready for the Roca Jack which is much faster, longer, and steeper (the Roca Jack is the one in the above youtube video). She can now make it to the top without crying! :-).

The Las Canarios poma is quite interesting. All of the pomas are "pooled" at the bottom so when the lift is empty, just the cable runs. You line up at the bottom and put the next poma between your leg. When you say "go", the attendant pulls a bar and you attach on to the cable and it takes off!

Ski patrol took an excellent family portrait. Nice touch to get the Portillo umbrella in the picture...

So far, that's the picture of the vacation...


Some time at the pool, a quick nap. Sara went to yoga, while we went to the game room and did some "slack line" (basically a tightrope, but the "rope" is about the width of your foot). Still pretty challenging. I could balance on it but not go forward. Renee could traverse but had to steady herself on the attendant. We then saw a magic show (in Spanish, so it was a little bit hard to follow, but the general concepts are the same), the "early dinner" and then went back down for pool (Renee is getting pretty good) and some rock climbing.

Tomorrow - the Roca Jack awaits! Best to do it around 11-12 when the sun has warmed the slope enough. Its amazing how quickly it goes to shade in the afternoon.

Renee has reminded me that I forgot to tell the story about the first day, when I had a tough time finding my ski pants in all of our baggage. I found the pants, but thought it was strange because it wasn't the brand that I thought they were. Started to put them on and thought I had put on too much weight - they were way too difficult to strap. Turns out they were Renee's (who likes to buy her snowboard pants big). When we play the "laughing game" where we try to make each other laugh, retelling the story is one of the winners.