SKI PORTILLO!! and Santiago

Hello blog viewers! It’s Maddie, Matt’s sister. We decided that I would write the blog on our trip to Ski Portillo. So here it goes!

FRIDAY My flight to Santiago was very nerve-racking. There was a large amount of Spanish I did not understand. But my excitement overcame my nerves because I was on my way to CHILE in SOUTH AMERICA! I could not wait to see my brother and finally have someone translate Spanish for me.

SATURDAY When I arrived in Santiago my luggage did not arrive with me. I was devastated. No clothes, no toiletries, and most importantly NO snowboards. After the long morning I finally found Matt. I was so overwhelmed and excited! He was shaken up as well because he thought he lost me. We caught up a bit and took the bus to Ski Portillo. Our dorm style hotel room was located in the Inca. We had about three feet of space to move haha. Most of the young, party animal guests stay there so I was okay with the tiny room. Because of our rough morning, we went directly to the bar to have a drink. I tried a pisco sour, which is Chile's famous drink. It tasted like a lemon drop. It was tasty but a little too sour for me. And let me remind you, the drinking age in Chile is 18 ;). There was live music playing as well. We met 5 boys who work for ActiveJunky.com and had their trip paid for to test gear. SO JEALOUS. They told us about la Pasada, which is the employee bar. The drinks are much cheaper and the people are much younger. Later on we met 4 girls from Argentina. They all spoke English so I could easily communicate with them. The Argentine girls all had extremely long hair and wore funny looking boots. Everyone was super nice and friendly. We went to la pasada and had a wonderful time!

SUNDAY The next day was very relaxing. Because Matt and I did not have our snowboards, we laid out on the deck and went for a swim. The view was absolutely incredible! I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. Colorado has great scenery but the lake located in front of Ski Portillo surpassed Winter Park. (Sorry mom) My luggage also arrived that day. Phew! We ate at the cafeteria.  I now understand why Matt goes through one bottle of hot sauce a week. The food was very bland but I liked it. We went to la pasada again and met some Brazilian boys.  My brother kept calling them mollusks. They were very friendly! In South America, you greet by kissing one cheek. It took some getting used to.  Everyone there loves American music, which was exciting for me because I could sing along and obnoxiously dance to every song. We had a limbo contest and I was pretty close to winning. But I managed to fall on my butt and break my camera. Woops. While walking back to the Inca we saw Barney. He was a huge saint bernard dog that just laid around all day. I loved him.

MONDAY The next day we rented snowboards. They were incredibly stiff but manageable. It was really sunny so we decided to go to Tio Bobs; a restaurant at the top of the mountain. In order to get up there, you have to take something called a “sling shot”.  It consisted of single poles with a circle, seat-like thing at the bottom. You had to put the pull between your legs and sit on the circle, and then it shoots you up the hill. Matt couldn’t do it to save his life the first time. I was laughing my butt off. Haha. At Tio Bobs we saw foxes running around, it was crazy. After our eventful day on the mountain we returned to the hotel to find our snowboards!! Finally! We decided to lay low that night because we wanted a productive day of snowboarding Tuesday. We hung out in the “great room” with all the friends we made. We played card-drinking games and it was hilarious.

TUESDAY Boy does my snowboard kick-ass! I hope I never have to rent again.  Matt wanted to catch up on some sleep so I went out by myself. I enjoy snowboarding alone sometimes because I can go at my own pace and blast my music super loud. The Active Junky boys we met were heli skiing! I saw their helicopter a couple times. It was intense. When I went to meet up with my brother, the boys were getting ready to shoot a video for their website. The video consisted of Tommy flipping into the pool on his skis. It was amazing! We changed it up that night and went to the disco for $2 coronas. It was a good time.

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY  typical days. Snowboarded and went out with our new friends.

FRIDAY Matt and I went up the Palma. It was like the “sling shot” but four people go up at one time and it’s extremely steep and extremely fast. I hated it. I fell off twice and I think Matt fell off twice.  It was for advanced skiers and it was much quicker than a chair lift. I’m sure I would like it after more practice but it sure was scary. The view from the top was indescribable. The lake was gigantic and the hotel looked tiny. I could barely get down the mountain because it was so steep. We ate dinner at the bar at that night. We ordered shrimp and sushi. It was delicious! The ski instructors did a torch run at night. They skied down the mountain with torches and chanted a Chilean chant at the bottom.

 Time-lapse of Portillo, It's sweet.

SATURDAY Time to leave beautiful portillo =( It was sad. I could have stayed there forever. But we were on our way to Santiago and I was excited to stay in the city. We ate completos, which are hotdogs with EVERYTHING on them. I loved it! Then we met up with matt’s friends and went to a disco. Again, everyone there loves American music!

SUNDAY We walked to Santa Lucia. I’m not sure what it is but it was full of pretty architecture and plants. We climbed to the top and saw the entire city. It was beautiful. I ate some Gelato(ice cream). I ate it all. YUM! Finally it was time to catch my flight. It was hard saying goodbye to Matt. I got a little choked up but I knew he would be home soon.

Overall, my trip to Chile was AMAZING! I met great people, bonded with my brother, snowboarded in South America, and experienced a new culture. I had the time of my life! I learned how important it is to travel and meet different kinds of people. I want to learn another language and travel more. Thanks mom and dad!

PS. If you are considering going to Santiago and wondering if it is safe, please review this article, here.