Sunday, September 18, 2005
John with Tina Sicre at her Wedding Sept 17, 2005 in Santa Barbara
(0) comments
Monday, September 05, 2005
My favorite food from Temuco, Chile - sopapillas and pebre...
(0) comments
Enjoying a local custom, Mate - slurp it up, refill and pass it on...
(0) comments
Visiting Las Familias in Temuco, Chile in one of the Habitat for Humanity houses that we worked on last November.
(0) comments
Labor Day
(0) comments
Valle Nevado, Chile Aug 2005
I flew to Santiago late August to meet up w Jimmy, Junko & Val, and Julio for some skiing and relaxation at Valle Nevado, Chile. Our van met us at the airport after a 9+ hour flight from Atlanta (after a 6 hour flight from SF for me). The other 4 arrived in Santiago about 20 seconds before I did as they were in business class and I was relegated to economy, having used mileage to procure my transport. Luckily the flight was very light and I had plenty of room. Our 2 hour drive to the resort took over 4 hours due to heavy snow, a narrow windy road, and an IDIOT who got stuck TWICE without chains. We seriously considered risking further delay to pluck him from his car and beat him with the chains he should have used. In hindsight we were lucky to get up the mountain at all - the snow continued and the road was closed for 3 or 4 days.
Some in my party were foolish enough to actually ski on Sat and Sunday in whiteout conditions. For those who are not familiar, white out is a term that means you cannot see the ski tip in front of you, or for me, it means you stay INSIDE the lodge, where it is warm, you go to the fitness center, use the sauna, and pay Teresa to massage scented oil into your flabby hairy body. I enjoyed it greatly, I am not sure about Teresa, but we all have our jobs to do.
The lodge and hotel at Valle Nevado is at 10,000 feet, and the lifts take you up from there to the slopes. There is no oxygen at 10,000 feet. The first night I discovered that walking up 5 flights of stairs resulted in stopping and gasping for breath - this was not enjoyable. I felt like a fat, winded American winded and breathless as if on a journey from sofa to fridge, but I waddled on. I skipped dinner and wine the first night and was fine the next day.
We had several days of great skiing - some in full sun with amazing views of the surrounding mountain peaks. We would ski in at lunch, leave our equipment in la Casa de Gabriel, and eat lunch at the restaurant. It was quite nice. In the evenings we cracked open a couple bottles of Chilean Wine (we purchased about 10 bottles at the supermercado prior to our ascent to the lodge) followed by dinner in one of the restaurants (Chilean, Swedish, French, and the Bar). Junko and I used the fitness center several times, often meeting for the 5:30 stretch class. This always included a man leading us in undecipherable spanish (who studies 'now place your left ankle behind your right ear while pushing your right leg sideways'?) as well as enjoying his 'assistance' whenever we failed to put the correct body part into the proper degree of pain or alignment. Gracias, senor! I never knew I could contort my body into that configuration. Now if only I could walk.
I left the group early to fly down to Temuco to visit with the folks in the Habitat for Humanity office that organized the project I worked on last November. The we went out to visit with the families that I worked with on our 2 week volunteer project. It was a great visit and I will add more once I get some of the pics from Paula.
Ciao
JP
Some in my party were foolish enough to actually ski on Sat and Sunday in whiteout conditions. For those who are not familiar, white out is a term that means you cannot see the ski tip in front of you, or for me, it means you stay INSIDE the lodge, where it is warm, you go to the fitness center, use the sauna, and pay Teresa to massage scented oil into your flabby hairy body. I enjoyed it greatly, I am not sure about Teresa, but we all have our jobs to do.
The lodge and hotel at Valle Nevado is at 10,000 feet, and the lifts take you up from there to the slopes. There is no oxygen at 10,000 feet. The first night I discovered that walking up 5 flights of stairs resulted in stopping and gasping for breath - this was not enjoyable. I felt like a fat, winded American winded and breathless as if on a journey from sofa to fridge, but I waddled on. I skipped dinner and wine the first night and was fine the next day.
We had several days of great skiing - some in full sun with amazing views of the surrounding mountain peaks. We would ski in at lunch, leave our equipment in la Casa de Gabriel, and eat lunch at the restaurant. It was quite nice. In the evenings we cracked open a couple bottles of Chilean Wine (we purchased about 10 bottles at the supermercado prior to our ascent to the lodge) followed by dinner in one of the restaurants (Chilean, Swedish, French, and the Bar). Junko and I used the fitness center several times, often meeting for the 5:30 stretch class. This always included a man leading us in undecipherable spanish (who studies 'now place your left ankle behind your right ear while pushing your right leg sideways'?) as well as enjoying his 'assistance' whenever we failed to put the correct body part into the proper degree of pain or alignment. Gracias, senor! I never knew I could contort my body into that configuration. Now if only I could walk.
I left the group early to fly down to Temuco to visit with the folks in the Habitat for Humanity office that organized the project I worked on last November. The we went out to visit with the families that I worked with on our 2 week volunteer project. It was a great visit and I will add more once I get some of the pics from Paula.
Ciao
JP
(0) comments
Julio and Junko take the slopes.
(0) comments
Jim w his friend Julio at Valle Nevado. Jimmy is a natural born athlete, and was a demon on the steep slopes with his snowboard.
(0) comments
A big dork with a beautiful background.
(1) comments
I do think that coming into a fine dining room may be the best part of skiing. We would ski until 1 pm, then leave our skis w Gabriel in the equipment room, and meet up for lunch at the restaurant. Very civilized.
(0) comments
Valle Nevado - so much for our room with a view. The snow was very high.
(0) comments
The Lodge at Valle Nevado, Chile after the storm.
(0) comments
August 2005 - at Valle Nevado in Chile - our first few days were a blizzard
(0) comments
Tres Amigas
(0) comments
Gotta Love the Art in San Francisco! Teresa Visited us in August 2005
(0) comments
