T-Bars, Coffee and Hoes

The ski trip on Saturday was great. They have some pretty neat ski tours here. All we had to do was show up at a ski shop around 7 30 am. At the shop they set you up with all your equipment, pants, jackets gloves, goggles etc, put you in a shared ride to the mountain of your choice and then pick you up at the end of the day and bring you home. It was easy peazy. We skiied the resort called El Colorado which had the most snow in the area at nearly 200cm which is a lot for this time of year. The resort was different than any place I have ever skied in the US. First off, overall it was smaller. The ski terrain was fairly large but the lodge facilities etc were nothing compared to any of the resorts in the states or europe for that matter. The terrain was also amazingly different. It was completely above treeline so there were no trees..only rocks, snow, fences and equipment to move people. They had very few chairlifts..mostly all T-Bars where a bar comes around that you put behind your backside and it hauls you up the mountain while you stand on your skis...this mountain must have been so easy to construct...no tree clearing etc. Anyway, overall, the terrain was not that challenging or extreme, just different. We really lucked out with weather. When we arrived the wind was holwling and I really thought that we were going to be in for an epic day of surviival on the slopes but as soon as we purchased our tickets, the wind dissapeared...amazing. We never got much sun but it wasn´t bitter cold either, just in the lower 20´s or so. One strange experience I had was on the back side of the mountain. Remember, there are no trees. At this time we had a lot of what I call Flat Light...where the sky is about the same color as the snow and washes out all of the light so there are not really any shadows and most of your depth perception is shot. I´ve had this before but with scattered trees, rocks, dirt, etc you can do ok. No here, I would litteraly get freaked out because I felt like I couldn´t see the snow I was skiing, then I would go to stop and nearly fall over becuase I became so disoriented....everything was stark white..it was strange. I went back over to the front side of the mountain where the slopes had more direct light and the snow was better anyway. I will say that I was very suprised at how good Chileans ski. I expected to see beginners everywhere but it was quite the opposite..they were cutting up the snow like pro´s...although, I didn´t see too many of them venture into the loads of unexplored snow..they seemed to like the skied over terrain and avoided what was some crusty, sind packed but decent powder. The lodge food was also more expensive than anywhere I have been. I paid about $20 for a shitty piece of salmon, french fries, watered down soup and a water. I went with 4 other gringos I met in Santiago, three girls (german, russian and dutch) and a guy from Brasil who grew up in the states. They were all beginners. I may have some aspirations of being a ski instructor this winter so I spend the first run with them trying to teach them the basics...it took nearly an hour to complete the first run..a few of them got it pretty quick but two of them just couldn´t get the legs to work together with the skis. Anyway, that is the ski experience..now for some slight dirt on Santiago.

I had heard of an interesting type of cafe in Santiago that they call ´cofee with legs´. They can be identified as having regular cafe type signage but then with all blacked out windows. I had to check one of these out. So I found one that looked decent and walked in. I was greeted by two chilean ladies in high heels, skimpy skirts and boobs spilling out of their tops. They were suprised to see me come in and though I was lost. I had to ask just to make sure they were open becuase I was the only customer at this time. I asked if they had coffee and they seemed confused, then the manager came over and asked in spanish..whats going on here? I said I wanted coffee at which time she asked me if wanted to take my coffee upstairs with company or down stairs at the coffee counter. I quickly glanced upstairs at a huddle of more skantily clad women, very low light and a generaly shady feel. I chose to take my cofee downstairs where there was more light...so of course I could better apreciate the scenery. That is most of the excitement, I hung out, made just a little small talk with the waitress who looked better in the dark, paid for my cofee and hit the road. My other sahdy exprience was back during my walk in the rain which I blogged on early but I just remembered this spicy little slice the other day. When I left the bar around 2am in a pouring rain with no umbrella, i was hustling down the sidewalk when I spotted what I immediately identified as a prostitute. And to be honest if it hadn´t of been raining I probably would not have noticed her...but here are the circumstances.

1) Its pouring rain...no one is just standing around...everyone is trying to go some where out of the rain.
2) She is wearing high heels, has long hair (soaking wet of course), short skirt and a lot of makeup
3) There is one man standing with her but looking stiff and shady..both are soaking wet...(i admire their work ethic)
4) Her eyes flash dollar signs when she sees me
5) As I am huddled over briskly walking past, she comes in pursuit...I could hear the rythmic clatter of her high heels.

I couldn´t make out everything she was saying..she was switching between chilean and bad english...where you go? You want talk? I will say I turned around once just to give her another once over because she was exceptionally tall for a chilean and really was pretty good looking but neverteless I stayed my course and hustled on to bus stop further up the road.

Thats news for now. Today I am wrapping up things here..going to buy bus tickets, doing some more gift shopping (i don´t like typing souvenier) and of course doing some more spanish homework. The Tour de France is underway and I can´t get the coverage on TV down here...that sinks but at least I will be home to see the last stages..Until next time!

Pierce