Horizontal sand and squeaky snow...

As the title implies it has been a contrasting week. Most of it was spent up near Antofagasta in Chile, the dry north, add to that some altitude and it becomes the harsh dry north. A frontal system swept its way through Chile during the week bringing winds and freezing conditions to the otherwise dry desert. Needless to say I have ingested more than my RDA of dust these last days.

There is not a lot to see in Antofagasta, so this ranks amongst the must sees - La Portada













About halfway to Argentina, lots of nothingness. It has its own kind of beauty.

Won't complain about the front though, the cold fingers were worth the snow that awaited in Santiago. Even Manquehue, a comparitively low hill in the suburbs had a light dusting... nice! Needless to say skiing called once again, but being the last weekend of school holidays we decided against the trip up the hill to Farellones (Friday saw a 3 hour traffic jam to get up there) and opted for the more exclusive Portillo again. Squeaky cold snow, magic.

The view looking out over the lake, in two weeks it has done quite a bit of freezing. Will soon be able to skate.

















View from Tio Bob's lunch spot (hmmm a bit of a gramatical mix of Spanish and English, can I do that? You know what I mean though...)






















That burried thing is Tio Bob's, we had to venture inside when the wind picked up, a forecast maximum of 1 ˚C was plenty optimistic
















So optimistic the 10 minutes outside saw our tomoatoes freeze, how about we finish this inside.

















The view from snowed in Tio Bob's, quite festive inside, awesome spot for a party! By the way, the wine really helps the skiing ;)






















One of the longer runs at Portillo actually passes over the national road to Argentina, the lift back up is quite hairy... quite weird passing over all the poor sods that have been stuck on the wrong side of the mountain the past week. The pass had just been opened again, hence all the trucks crawling their freight across the border. On the way home we passed at least 30 km of trucks queued up at the carabineros check point.

















At least the slow drive home gave us the oportunity to take in the beautiful light that the sunset brought with it.





















A spray of soft powder snow while you recover from your tumble... that's what I wish you this week.

More of the white stuff...

Below is the story, here's just another photie...

The white stuff...

Today was a great day to show what Santiago has to offer, just up the road, well two hours on the way to Mendoza is Chile's number one spot to enjoy the white stuff - Portillo. It seemed great timing as the road was closed until this morning following a snow storm during the week that left 2 metres in its wake. Beyond Portillo, the road remained closed, but luckily for us the carabineros had opened it up until the resort. And what a perfect day, while the south is experiencing terrible floods, mud slides and is in a state of high alert, we experienced the calm between the storms.

















7 a.m. Sunrise in Santiago, the air has been washed, and the days are crisp, not yet unbearably cold. It bode well...

















The road sounds like it has been closed for more that a week, as one of the 9 km of trucks said they had been there since Saturday waiting for the road to Argentina to be cleared of snow.

That's why I say, "Duckie!
Don't grumble! Don't stew!
Some critters are much-much,
oh, ever so much-much,
so muchly much-much more unlucky that you!" - Dr Seuss

They are hoping for tomorrow.

















As you step out of the Portillo hotel this is what greets you, largo las incas. Argentina awaits over that peak.






















Ah! sunshine that's better....

















Sombody's done a good job of losing a ski...

















An incredible lunch spot, Tio Bob's, sits on top of one of the advanced runs near a cliff. Magic views down over the lake and the Portillo resort. Believe it or not that lift you see below ends up here. I thought U2 would be my only vertigo posting...

















Apparently later in the winter you can skate on this... stunning!
















Way home, looking back from whence we came. The towering Aconcagua, the highest peak outside of the Himalayas. 1 metre shy of 6960.

A beautiful way to spend a Saturday! By the minor protests I hear from parts of my body I haven't heard from for years, if ever, I suspect I will need another weeekend to recover.

Wish you a week of calm between storms and a little bit of the white stuff.