Patrick
Well-known member
Well, this is pretty pathetic.
Here is a rundown of my Argentinian Adventures.
This Argentinian Adventures started in Santiago, LAST year. One trip down here and I wanted to come back. I decided to go maggot style (ie. (almost) as cheap as possible).
Day 1: Agosto 28
Arrival in Santiago after a 11 hrs flight. Air Canada had canceled the Tuesday night, but I hadn't seen the email.
Anyhow, Wednesday was now the correct date. Traded emails with a couple of maggots. The decision was to head for Pucon, the famed Santa Rosa storm looked like it was going to happen. One maggot that was suppose to take the bus at the same time, jumped the gun and heading earlier. Found out he arrived in a rain storm in town. He eventually skied on the lower lifts(?) before I got there.
Okay, so my plane got late and hoped in a minivan taxi for the Alameda bus terminal. Last day bus was at 12:50, I was on it. The trip lasted 5 movies. I watched 2 on the bus (The Last King of Scotland and Troy) plus the 2 on the plane (Caddyshack and some Danish movie with subtitles). Not surprised that the nude scene (?) and perhaps the weed smoking were cut from the movie, but the OhHeary in the pool gag? What is wrong with people.
SuperNat was the one that told me about Pucon. She had skied there as an alternative after all the road to the resorts close to Santiago were closed in 2005.
Arrived in Pucon at midnight, it was raining.
Ride from the airport to the bus station. Sunny and clear blue sky in Santiago
After 11 hours in a plane from Toronto to Santiago, I travelled 11 hours by bus to Pucon.
Along the road outside Santiago and going south
Chillan about 600km south.
Even further south
Day 2: Agosto 29
It rained all day. Maggots and I decided against skiing, the forecast for the next day was sunny. One of us found this great tour. Saw some waterfalls, rivers and rapids, a beautiful lakes...a finish in the Natural Hot Spring. The visibility was bad, so we didn't really see any mountains.
A few bad things happened on this trip. I smashed my head while jumping into the van (nice red scratch) plus the one that is more serious. My money (most of it) disappeared while in the Hot Springs. At first I thought I had paid 40000 for breakfast instead of 4000 that morning, but once at the Hostal I noticed that I was missing even more. I had a 10000 CHP bill went I paid for the tour, that and my changed was gone at supper time. I have a few suspects, but not sure.
Needless to say, I was pissed. The maggots went out to check out the meat market while I stayed in the Hostal.
Pucon (Chile) tour in the rain
Rain on Pucon
Pucon tour
Hot Springs
Day 3: Agosto 30
It's was suppose to get better. It was still raining, but the cloud cover was higher. You could actually see some mountains to the North. The maggots were warm in their beds when the Brazilian and myself decided to head up the mountain. I had asked at the office where they organized the transport, they mentioned that 3 lifts were opened. Instead of leaving at 10am, I had to organized my bus ticket (office was closed the next day). Went up at 11am, snow level was at about 1000meters. Visibility was bad, real bad. The only thing open was the lower lift which is mostly below treeline. We were warned that the lift might closed. We paid anyway (price was discounted). On the slow lift in the rain, the rain was getting harder. I'm thinking about Tony and what he is going to say about the ski quality and dog tail analogy (no, I wasn't
). Vert for that lift is 189 meters, pretty green terrain. There seemed to be a few fun shots to try, however the visibility was so bad, we didn't try it for that run.
Once at the bottom, a sign at lift said...CERRADO...they closed due to wind. It wasn't really that windy, the chairs weren't even moving. Oh well, chalk one up on the TISA factor.
Once back in the town, the rain was only moderate, nothing what we had on the mountain. The maggots had left for great Termas and the Brazilian changed his bus ticket to take the overnighter to Santiago.
I'm leaving the next day for San Martin de Los Andes in Argentina.
PS. Before Tony gets on me about the dog wagging thing, I recall him saying that he skied in the same type of conditions in NZ. The streak wasn't my only motivation, I wanted to ski on this hill before leaving + feed up of not going anything. The Brazilian didn't have a streak, he was tired of not skiing on his trip. He skied in rain in Bariloche and now in Pucon.
Enough for today, Internet is 3 peso/hour. :-s
Pucon street
Pucon. Sky clearing up?
Ski Pucon - 1 run in the rain then Cerrado.
Ski Pucon lower lodge
Ski Pucon - didn't see much of it - apparently there is a volcano?
Pucon - bottom lift below treeline was only open for 1 run. (source: nevasport)
Here is a rundown of my Argentinian Adventures.
This Argentinian Adventures started in Santiago, LAST year. One trip down here and I wanted to come back. I decided to go maggot style (ie. (almost) as cheap as possible).
Day 1: Agosto 28
Arrival in Santiago after a 11 hrs flight. Air Canada had canceled the Tuesday night, but I hadn't seen the email.
Anyhow, Wednesday was now the correct date. Traded emails with a couple of maggots. The decision was to head for Pucon, the famed Santa Rosa storm looked like it was going to happen. One maggot that was suppose to take the bus at the same time, jumped the gun and heading earlier. Found out he arrived in a rain storm in town. He eventually skied on the lower lifts(?) before I got there.Okay, so my plane got late and hoped in a minivan taxi for the Alameda bus terminal. Last day bus was at 12:50, I was on it. The trip lasted 5 movies. I watched 2 on the bus (The Last King of Scotland and Troy) plus the 2 on the plane (Caddyshack and some Danish movie with subtitles). Not surprised that the nude scene (?) and perhaps the weed smoking were cut from the movie, but the OhHeary in the pool gag? What is wrong with people.
SuperNat was the one that told me about Pucon. She had skied there as an alternative after all the road to the resorts close to Santiago were closed in 2005.
Arrived in Pucon at midnight, it was raining.
Ride from the airport to the bus station. Sunny and clear blue sky in Santiago
After 11 hours in a plane from Toronto to Santiago, I travelled 11 hours by bus to Pucon.
Along the road outside Santiago and going south
Chillan about 600km south.
Even further south
Day 2: Agosto 29
It rained all day. Maggots and I decided against skiing, the forecast for the next day was sunny. One of us found this great tour. Saw some waterfalls, rivers and rapids, a beautiful lakes...a finish in the Natural Hot Spring. The visibility was bad, so we didn't really see any mountains.
A few bad things happened on this trip. I smashed my head while jumping into the van (nice red scratch) plus the one that is more serious. My money (most of it) disappeared while in the Hot Springs. At first I thought I had paid 40000 for breakfast instead of 4000 that morning, but once at the Hostal I noticed that I was missing even more. I had a 10000 CHP bill went I paid for the tour, that and my changed was gone at supper time. I have a few suspects, but not sure.
Needless to say, I was pissed. The maggots went out to check out the meat market while I stayed in the Hostal.
Pucon (Chile) tour in the rain
Rain on Pucon
Pucon tour
Hot Springs
Day 3: Agosto 30
It's was suppose to get better. It was still raining, but the cloud cover was higher. You could actually see some mountains to the North. The maggots were warm in their beds when the Brazilian and myself decided to head up the mountain. I had asked at the office where they organized the transport, they mentioned that 3 lifts were opened. Instead of leaving at 10am, I had to organized my bus ticket (office was closed the next day). Went up at 11am, snow level was at about 1000meters. Visibility was bad, real bad. The only thing open was the lower lift which is mostly below treeline. We were warned that the lift might closed. We paid anyway (price was discounted). On the slow lift in the rain, the rain was getting harder. I'm thinking about Tony and what he is going to say about the ski quality and dog tail analogy (no, I wasn't
). Vert for that lift is 189 meters, pretty green terrain. There seemed to be a few fun shots to try, however the visibility was so bad, we didn't try it for that run. Once at the bottom, a sign at lift said...CERRADO...they closed due to wind. It wasn't really that windy, the chairs weren't even moving. Oh well, chalk one up on the TISA factor.
Once back in the town, the rain was only moderate, nothing what we had on the mountain. The maggots had left for great Termas and the Brazilian changed his bus ticket to take the overnighter to Santiago.
I'm leaving the next day for San Martin de Los Andes in Argentina.
PS. Before Tony gets on me about the dog wagging thing, I recall him saying that he skied in the same type of conditions in NZ. The streak wasn't my only motivation, I wanted to ski on this hill before leaving + feed up of not going anything. The Brazilian didn't have a streak, he was tired of not skiing on his trip. He skied in rain in Bariloche and now in Pucon.
Enough for today, Internet is 3 peso/hour. :-s
Pucon street
Pucon. Sky clearing up?
Ski Pucon - 1 run in the rain then Cerrado.
Ski Pucon lower lodge
Ski Pucon - didn't see much of it - apparently there is a volcano?
Pucon - bottom lift below treeline was only open for 1 run. (source: nevasport)
