Argentina

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.

It's been way too long since I've cooked up some of my world-famous, home-made spaghetti bolognese. Back in Oz, I do it once a week. Last time I tried it while travelling, it had rather unfortunate consequences (thanks, Cusco market ingredients!). Tonight, in the Patanuk kitchen, Jaza's Spag Bol returned, as massive in size and as uncompromising on quality as ever. This being Argentina, I decided to use cut-up steak instead of mince-meat in the sauce. And sadly, I couldn't find any mushies at the shops (but I found some nice eggplant). Shared it with Dave and Finlandia, and I received nods of approval all-round.

Despite my best efforts, I simply can't remember what his real name is: anyway, we all call him "Finland", or "Finlandia". Finlandia is a giant of a dude (must be about 6"5'), with shoulder-length blonde hair, and an angular face that shows his Nordic heritage. He's a mountain guide (climbing, hiking, etc — he's fit enough to do it all), and he's been working in northern Chile for the past nine months. Thus, when we're not calling him Finlandia, his other name is "Chileno" (or just "juebon" :P). He's an extreme adventurer, as well as a great chef; and he's been an all-out partygoer during his time here at Patanuk.

I already heard that Cerro Catedral is one of the first ski resorts in the world to have implemented an electronic lift pass system. Today, in my first day of snowboarding on the mountain, I saw the new system myself, and it is very cool indeed. Every lift has a little scanner at the front of its queue; and you just stick your ticket in the scanner, and hold it there for half a second; and then the machine beeps, and the turnstiles open for you. Much more funky and efficient than ye 'ol punch-a-hole-in-me tickets, which need to be checked manually (or not) by lifties, and which need to be visible at all times. Catedral has a nice new hi-tech system on their mountain.