ski slopes, swim or both?

The 4 Caballeros that I met in Pichilemu invited me for a ride with them up to the ski area of Santiago. They picked a spot to meet that even I could find. It is a Shopping Mall dedicated to sport. How many shopping malls do you know that have a marina selling boats?

Francisco, Osvaldo and Ricardo made the trip, with 2 others being distracted by work or family. 2 BMW's, 1 Suzuki and 1 Honda.

The road to the slopes is near the city centre and it immediately climbs the mountain sides by way of narrow and tight hairpins for a large part of the journey. They number the Hairpins for some reason (36 to the first ski area). I don't know if it is to be able to tell the Ambulancemen, or more likely the Mortician, where to look for the bodies.

A lot of them are so tight you can not keep to the correct side of the road. There are more than occasional pot holes and a lot of gravel and some rocks that just tumble off the mountain!

There are also a lot of cyclists making the climb to 3,200 meters and doing so in pretty quick order.

I think I described the joy of being in the "High" Andes earlier in my journey. They were not the "High" Andes. These are!

Most higher peaks near Santiago are volcanoes, or what is left of them. Cerro Plomo is 5,400 meters high and easily accessible from Santiago. Apparently it is often used by Aconcagua expeditions for acclimatisation. We are looking at the "Grey" glacier (Plomo) on our way up to Farellones where we had a drink at 2,500 meters. I thought we had earned it but there were about a dozen cyclists who streamed in for a much more deserved beer!

On the Beer front - this week Chile has brought in a zero tolerance on drink driving. I don't believe you get a dispensation for drinking Rusty Ferret or whatever it was called!

We saw about 7 or 8 Condors wheeling above and easily the closest I have seen them. They have 3 meter wingspans, the males being Black and White. Francisco thought the English accent attracted them as they have been known to snatch Brits! I think it was his way of getting me to stop talking Spanglish.

He then led us up to the Valle Nevado Ski area where we had lunch at 3,200 meters.

  That is Plomo in the back ground again.

After a very nice lunch we left and 2 Condors came really, really close. There was a small herd of cattle and they speculated that they were looking for an easy meal. One of them flew straight past us no more than a few meters away.

In keeping with my camera skills - he flew just the other side of this building at the perfect moment! Like the Dolphin, this is a picture I wish I had captured. I don't think it is a surprise that the only decent picture I have taken was of a glacier - not known for their speed of movement!

Condors are fantastic to watch. A call will go up when they are spotted and EVERYONE, stops what they are doing whether cyclists, construction workers or tourists to watch them. I asked Francisco about this and he said " no one ever gets bored of watching the Condors". I can believe that.

We headed back down the hairpins (with Matt Monroe spinning through my head) and got back to Santiago where we went our separate ways. It was a great ride & I am very grateful for taking me up there. They threatened to take me out again - perhaps the coast and Valparaiso?

I took more photos of the mountain range but they just don't do them justice so I won't post them on here. Much better to have pictures of Condors.............ahhh!

I just mentioned to Wilks (yes he is still in Santiago) about the problem with taking pictures of animals. He said "I have bought you a ticket to the Zoo - even you can't f*** them up!

Back to the somewhat warm apartment so I got my trunks on and went for a swim...............did I mention the apartment has a swimming pool on the 22nd floor?

 

I have to take the bike to the workshop tomorrow so I will be without transport for a while. Duncan 9he of the socks) has had about a 2 -3 week wait to get his bike fettled. Looks like I will be improving my Spanglish.

Santiago is nice but I suspect not a lot will happen over the coming weeks to warrant daily blogs. I will report anything of interest but don't expect much more for now!