SkiSickness

I met a cool Chilena (Samy) at Coleman's Paul party. She invited me to come to Chile for a visit to El Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Cómo me podría negar?

For extra thrills and moneysavings I used a buddy pass. It was working great until now; the planes to and from Santiago are bien vacio by this time. But now, securely positioned at the very bottom of the standby list, I am left to find my inner peace in Atlanta International Airport, watching full planes flit in and out of gates without me as if in a Fricke film.



Luckily I saved enough plata on plane tix that I can be spendthrifty for internets [I'm too lazy to aircrack these days.] So here are some fotos from mi ultimo sueño.









While frolicking through the hobbity woods we happened upon some yellow-dotted morsels that my Chilean guia me juró que no me iban a matar. They are called digueñes. They tasted...special. I ate half of one right away to see what would happen. Supposedly there is nothing in the Chilean woods that you can not eat. Hrm... We had many for dinner. They tasted excellent with lots and lots of merquén.








The weather did not disappoint: we saw every kind of weather, including upside-down rain.










By the fourth day there was a metric shit-ton of new snow on the peaks. It blew beautifully off of the cerros and torres. There were some ski lines here and there, but my pics don't really show them. Descúlpame








Then we went surfing a little bit.






That's not me--that's my stunt double.


With blessings like these, I should really spend some more time surfing.


But for some reason (why?) I went to the airport as planned... And so here I am, dreaming about the dream, stuck in an airport that doesn't seem to agree with me returning to the grind.

Pues, Chile nos vemos en la próxima.

WOW (speachless)

Looks amazing!
But you came back and left a cute little chica and all that amazing stone and surf...por que?

Indeed I had much time to sit in Atlanta pondering this question (24 hours to be exact.)

I always heard paine was sort of difficult for skiing and not so worth it, compared to, say, PN los glaciares. you say different? is silas w. on this forum? he would know the answer. and all of them, I suspect.

Fernweh is an important word that the english language does not seem to have.

I am sure that you are correct, though I still know rather little about the relative merits of the Patagonian Parques. I do however know some folks who are not discouraged by the dfficult and potentially not worth it.

Indeed, it usually is the best when it is difficult and potentially not worth it!

Waaaaaaaooooooooooooooooow! Pretty peaks (and pretty lady too)! Lucky you.

Nice trip-chica Justin. Your pics are giving me the travel bug. Its ok to travel abroad with newborns right?

I met a nice German climbing couple in Joshua Tree who had two toddlers and a camper van. They were doing the whole US tour and probably not spending too much... a lot of things make sense about that

naomig wrote:Waaaaaaaooooooooooooooooow! Pretty peaks (and pretty lady too)! Lucky you.

I know so lucky! This was the best dream I have ever had so far. Luckier still if it's a recurring one!

huevón wrote:I do however know some folks who are not discouraged by the dfficult and potentially not worth it.

would be interested in details if available? seeing as the southern season seems to be starting