Blog

Paul's a ragged hippie backpacker, from that place in Oz where you go if there's a wedding or a barmitzvah (aka "Melbourne"), and who (like myself) is doing the South America thing solo. I first met Paul while hiking in the Colca Canyon, in southern Peru, about 2 months ago. Today, I bumped into him again, while snowboarding up at Cerro Catedral. Funny guy, and always up for a beer or two.

My fifth day of boarding down the runs of Cerro Catedral was the best day so far. The weather cleared up a bit today — it was still overcast as hell, but at least it wasn't raining or snowing — and my skills on the board are only getting better. Yesterday was the first day that I really started feeling confident on the board — so today was all about having fun! I tried going down some "red" runs (an Argentine special — they're basically hard blues), and even a few blacks ("chicken style" all the way, for now). It's still really hard doing proper turns on those steep bits, but I'm getting there.

Sarah cooked up a beautiful stew tonight, here at Patanuk, which a whole lot of us devoured in its entirety. Lovely big hunks of meat, fat roasted vegetables, and a thick and juicy gravy-like sauce. Perfect dish for a cold, rainy night in Argentina. And went great with the standard several bottles of red wine (goes without saying, really :P).

A very unique couple to be staying in a hostel in Argentina, if ever there was one. Simon's an English IT dude in his 30s, and Anna is his very sweet little 10-year-old daughter. They're in town (in Patanuk, along with the rest of us) for the remainder of the week, and they're hoping to do a bit of skiing and a bit of boarding up at the mountain, during their time here. Simon enjoys crazy snow runs, lots of beer, and rolling his own tobacco ciggies — he's also a vegetarian, when not in Argentina (where I believe vegetarianism is virtually impossible, perhaps even illegal :P).

Another day, another trip to the slopes. The weather was once again less-than-ideal today: yesterday's snow gave way to more light rain; although at least yesterday's dump has improved the snow cover a great deal. When I arrived at Catedral this morning, the staff at the board hire shop told me that almost all the lifts were shut, and that most of the runs were inaccessible — this was extremely disheartening; but fortunately it turned out to be untrue, as they had the main lifts open, by the time I hit the slopes. My snowboarding continues to improve: today is the first day that I feel I can actually say "I did snowboarding". I hit a certain critical point today, where I started to really feel like I was in control of the board, and I actually started to enjoy the feel of what I was doing. So I'm very glad I came out today: it was well worth it!

For the past 10 years or so, Travis has worked every American winter as a ski instructor, in his home state of Colorado; and every American summer as a cycle tour leader. So as you can imagine, he's a very fit dude, and one hell of a skier. Travis arrived here at Patanuk today, and he's hanging round for the rest of the week. His plans include a lot of skiing up on the mountain, and a lot of beer- and wine-drinking back in town, of an evening.

Another big day on the mountain, for a small and fledgling newbie snowboarder to keep tackling the terrain. Today was a very white day: it was snowing all day — not just on the mountain, but also in Catedral's alpine village; and even back in town as well, in Bariloche! Snow is fine by me, of course — unlike rain, it doesn't make you wet, and it makes the ground-cover better rather than worse (plus it looks beautiful when it's falling) — although a post-snowfall clear blue day is certainly better. I kept practising, kept venturing further up the chairlifts (and back down the slopes), and kept stacking it every five seconds. But hey, still getting there, little by little.

The spag bol last night just wasn't enough: tonight, we were up for some more Italian! My mate Dave cooked up a fantastic gnocchi tonight (gnocchi being my favourite food on Earth), with the rich tomato sauce full of fried, chopped-up chorizo (sausage). Because Argentina has had so many Italian immigrants over the years, foods such as gnocchi are widely sold in supermarkets everywhere. Sensational dinner — and accompanied by plenty of the red wine that seems to be standard with every meal around here.

This brother-and-sister couple arrived in Patanuk today, and they're staying for the rest of the week. They're both from Colorado: Sarah still lives there, but Jordan's living in LA, where he's going to "school" (i.e. Uni) at UCLA. As with all Coloradans, they love their mountains and their mountain activities. They're here to do a bit of hiking, a bit of snowbaording, and a lot of partying.

Went back to Catedral today, after yesterday's debut, for my second ever day of snowboarding. Sadly, the weather was not very good today: it was raining in the village and on the snow all day, and I got soaked through by the freezing-cold precipitation; so much so, that I had to return to Bariloche at the early hour of 3pm, in order to get myself warm and dry, and to avoid catching pneumonia or something. But anyway, I managed to get myself another lesson, and I got in a fair bit more snowboarding practice. So it was a wet day, but a day of progress nonetheless.