Zapatillas de Clavo

Zapatillas de Clavo are literally running shoes but the Chileans use the phrase to mean "ready to go immediately".  Like if you really want to get out of work on a Friday, as in you're in your car with the keys in the ignition at 4:59, you say you put on your zapatillas de clavo.  It feels like everyone is operating that way these days.  They can't wait to leave school, for the weekend, for vacation...and it's contagious.  Here are some of the adventures that have been worth putting on the zapatillas de clavo!

Last weekend, the 23rd-25th, we had a very generous friend lend us his 2 apartments up at Valle Nevado for the weekend (thanks Felipe!).  We had been talking about taking a group trip up to the mountains since May and were thrilled that it all came together.  We drove up the switchbacks in a rented van and found these fantastic fully furnished places.  Above are Ryan and Laura settling in on Friday night.  To the right is Sarah with her surprise cinnamon roll breakfast before the skiers headed out on Saturday morning.  Delicious!

I'm really glad we made it back to Valle Nevado.  They've had a lot more snow which allowed them to open all their lifts on the back side and let me tell you, it's like one big playground.  I did a LOT of hiking over the weekend and every run was worth it.  This one in particular required very little walking, only riding through a "Danger: Unpatrolled" sign (sorry mom) and over a few rocks.  The run itself was in bounds but the access traverse was on the other side of the ridge.  Probably 8 inches of unridden powder ending at a lift.  Awesome.

There are usually a few groups around from the Northern Hemisphere training for something or another but this particular weekend was special.  The US Giant Slalom Olympic Team was training on one of the longer runs at the resort boundary and the Russian Mogul Team pictured here were lapping a course they built.  Needless to say, I saw some very talented skiers.  The Russians especially were fun to watch.

No camera tricks--we had a full-circle rainbow at the top of Tres Puntas on Sunday.  You could actually see the whole thing but I couldn't get to a safe spot to take a picture of it.  The weather was crazy all weekend.  We had snow Friday night, heavy snow Saturday afternoon, and more snow Sunday.  I drove the switchbacks 4 times altogether (we picked Elaine up after a work function on Saturday night) but we never had to use our rented chains--the snow was completely restricted to the resorts.  Excellent.

This is the top of my longest and most rewarding hike.  The back side of Valle Nevado has two valleys.  The Tres Puntas valley is on the left side of this picture, and its lift goes up the left side of the valley.  The Inca Valley is on the right, and the 3 lifts that service it all go up to the right.  That means there is an entire mountain in the middle unserviced by lifts.  After a 30 minute hike you're rewarded with untouched powder on either side.  Count me in.

I dropped in just below the rock band.  The run was probably the best I've had in Chile.  Over a foot of powder with a few cliffs in the mix.  So much fun.

After a week of business as usual Laura and I spent our Saturday morning exploring some areas of Santiago I hadn't yet seen.  Parque O'Higgins is this huge public space with ponds, playgrounds, this skate park, a speed roller blading rink (no joke), a few sports clubs, and some concert spaces.  There is also a theme park with a few coasters that I'll be visiting again.  We just walked around and watched the locals enjoying their weekend.

We then wandered over to La Vega, a giant farmer's market that I ride under on the metro almost every day.  It's an experience just walking through the aisles and seeing all the fresh produce.  This was the first place I've seen sweet corn in Chile.  It has windows!

Cats are all over the place in La Vega and Mercado Central.  This one found a seat on a scale.  Only about $15!

After our morning of exploring we had lunch at Mercado Central (Reineta, my favorite Chilean fish) then headed back to the apartment to watch the Notre Dame game.  Not too much to say about our season opener.  It wasn't especially exciting.  In fact, you can see a descriptive picture on my Facebook wall courtesy of Dan if you like.

Saturday night I went to celebrate Mauricio's birthday (on the right).  He's a good friend that teaches music at San Nicolás.  We had a great time grilling and hanging out.  It's always nice when I get a chance to practice my Spanish on the weekend otherwise Mondays are rough language-wise.

I have a couple tickets left to El Colorado so I went up on Sunday.  I'm not going to lie--the season is coming to a close.  What used to be my favorite runs are now entirely brown.  I spent most of the day in the park hitting rails which was fine because I haven't been there much.  I'm hoping for one more day of riding then packing it all away.  The views of Santiago (thanks to the smog) are incredible so I'll leave you with the sun filtering through the clouds.

Now we all have our zapatillas de clavo on waiting for our one week break to celebrate the 18th of September when the independent Chilean government first met in 1810.  We have the schoolwide celebration this Saturday and it sounds like I'll be dancing some traditional Chilean Cueca.  Watch for pictures!