2018 World Over 35 Waterski Championships

[eleeski]

It's our last day here. Our friends are all doing some early downtown organized activity; biking to the statue at the top of San Cristobal, taking the bus to Valparaiso, the spa treatment or something too structured for the morning after the banquet. At least we weren't stuck there waiting for the 2am bus back to the hotels in Santiago. We left early but it was still late enough that we almost missed the turn to Pirque - no traffic jam at the horribly engineered intersection which took half an hour on the way to the banquet. We slept in.

 

A cold shower until they finished washing amiable grande negro perro watchdog and the water pressure returned (the dog needed it!). We decided on a mountain walk so we hopped in the car and headed east (I think, GPS ruins sense of direction). We saw a different route to Lagunillas and decided on a drive instead of the walk. The walk would have generated a much lower heartbeat.

 

I thought the road to La Parva was tough. This was as bad but with one lane for 2 way traffic. Toot the horn at every blind corner. Fortunately there were only 3 cars going the other way - in the entire half hour drive. La Parva looked like a ski report, Lagunillas didn't. No chairlift, just long platters. No amenities other than a few ski club huts. So 50 years ago. The hill had potential but I'd have to feel quite adventurous to actually ski there. We found a beautiful picnic site for lunch.

 

Uneventful drive down (maybe I'm starting to drive Chilean). We had time before checkout so we went on a fancy Pisco shopping quest. The local Montserrat store didn't have the fancy Pisco. They said to avoid the liquor stores and go to Jumbo, the big supermarket. Of course we didn't listen to them and programmed the closest liquor store in the GPS. As the neighborhood got sketchier as we got closer; we were debating whether to get out to shop. Our destination turned out to be a liquor bottle recycling site. Off to Jumbo.

 

A last swim at our hotel (we chose the place for its pool but the colds kept us to just one swim), nice pool. Warm shower with just a couple cold plugs (who flushed?). Credit card declined on checkout, was the conversion rate that bad? Used the 3% surcharge card to pay the bill and left with hugs from the hotel people. Spa Luna de Pirque was a good choice.

 

Whenever I travel I like to visit the embassy (McDonalds). I love the ice cream. In Switzerland we got a sundae that looked like the Matterhorn. In Scotland they added a cookie. Little local twists. So I was excited to get a "Chilean sundae". It was the worst McDonalds ice cream ever. Regurgitated pineapple and strawberry on top of the ice cream. Took half of the ice cream to get away from the flavor that permeated through. The guy at the gas station warned us.

 

A little shakedown attempt at the car check in - it wasn't that dirty. He backed down when everyone went into "No comprende" lockdown. So we didn't tell him about the brake issue. Be careful if you rent a dirty red Chevy in Santiago.

 

A last Pisco in the airport and we are heading home. Of course nothing is going my way on this trip. I'm typing in the airport in Mexico City waiting for the airport to reopen. Sigh, we'll get there.

 

Eric

 

Three hours late, we head home. Once there, the bag the bag wasn't. When we get the bag and get home, the bottle of good Pisco is broken...