Ciudad de Mexico

Last week I had a business trip to Mexico City. Even though I've traveled all around Latin America and I'd been there before, that place still scares me. 25 million people live in the distrito federal...the place is jungle. One day I was taking a cab back to my hotel from a meeting. We came to a street that was blocked off by the police and the taxi driver says to me: "Well, the street is blocked, you'll have to walk from here." To which I reply: "Are you kidding? I don't even know where I am!!" He assured me my hotel was only a few blocks away...

Having grown up in Southern California, I LOVE Mexican food. With all due respect to my Chilean friends...your food is bland and boring. I ate at some awesome restaurants in Mexico. But the best meals by far are the ones you eat off the street...fast food, mexican style


This is the little taco stand on the corner near my hotel...

5 tacos al carbon for a little over 2 bucks

This is the gigantic rotating mound of meats. I have no idea what they call this in Spanish, but it is basically meat on a stick. It has bacon, beef, chicken, and who knows what other animals on there. How did they get all that meat on that stick? I don't want to know. I just want to savor the flavor

This guy is an artist. He shaves that meat off there and puts it on a fresh corn tortilla with some cilantro, onion and bit of pineapple. Top that with salsa...MONEY!!

Futbol Chileno

Wednesday night we went to a world cup qualifying game between Chile and Argentina. A little soccer history here: the Chilean team had NEVER beaten the Argentine team in any soccer match of any consequence...until now.

History was made. Chile won 1-0...and WE were there.

This defeat was so humiliating for Argentina (a world-renowned soccer powerhouse) that their coach resigned a day later. It was nice to see the Chileans (who have a profound inferiority complex) win something for a change.

Me and the Tiffer Nihat and I (in our official Chilean soccer jerseys)

Victor and Monica

The statium holds 80,000 people...

but don't expect cushy seats, cup holders, or good food

They have some very creative chants and sayings for the opposing team

Most involve some type of 'groseria' (cuss word) coupled with 'tu madre'

The winning and only goal of the night...Tiffany got it on video!
The roar of the crowd when they scored was amazing

Good times

Final Ski of the Season

My ski season came to a premature end, due to a broken hand suffered playing basketball.

Maybe I am getting too old for contact sports...

Anyway, I decided to post a few photos and videos from this past winter. Mostly because I wanted to learn how to embed videos from youtube into my blog. Blogger gives you a 100 mb max for videos, which is somewhat restrictive. So I opened a youtube account to see how this works.

My ski buddies were Nihat (my Turkish coworker and fellow expat amigo) and Tano, Nihat's quasi-cousin and all around fun dude to hang around with. I'm not even sure what his real name is, but his nickname is Tano.

goofing around...amatuer Warren Miller.

Why am I skiing with 2 sets of poles?

So Tano can take pictures...dude takes a lot of pictures

Lunch time: burgers, fries and empanadas. Disneyland prices.

Nihat and I

This place is called Tres Puntas, because you can see three peaks from there. Right behind me (almost spitting distance) is El Plomo, 18,000 feet. If you look closely you can see the glacier on the front side. I am planning to hike it this summer...should make for a good blog entry.

A Better Way (to waste your weekend)

The great thing about living overseas is that weekends are for fun. It seems when we lived in the U.S., we wasted far too much quality weekend time working on home projects, mowing lawns, or taking trips to Costco. Living here in a rented house, we really don't have a lot of domestic responsibilities, we have maids and gardeners for that sort of thing. This give us more time to explore the surrounding areas, or just hang out at one of the many shopping malls.

Pomaire

Pomaire is a little tourist trap town about 100 kms from Santiago. The town speciality is clay pottery, but you can find all sorts of arts & crafts-type stuff: hand made sweaters, paintings, dolls, etc. Of course, Tiffany loves the place. I don't get too excited about the products being peddled, but I do like some of the traditional chilean food you can buy there, like gigantic empanadas.

We witnessed this on the drive out to Pomaire. It defies all the laws of physics, as well as basic common sense. This little van is about a third of the size of your average Honda Odyssey. I like to call it a 'skinny van.' This particular van appeared to have the contents of an entire village stacked on top of it. Absolute classic.

Bienvenido a Pomiare...

I smell some gringo dollars

All major credit cards accepted

The sign says 'don't touch the bells'

Mmmmm...a delicious plate full of pig shoulder...looks sooo good.

Jake and I in our favorite pose: me holding him.

These ladies make the delicious wood-fire baked empanadas. The lady in the back was snobbing the photo op...probably mumbling something about Yankee imperialism.

A chilean Huaso (cowboy) serenades Mya

Juxtaposition of Jumpy Town

Just to demonstrate that Chile is not all rustic pueblos and poor villagers, I'm throwing in some video taken at InflaMania, one of those inflatable playland-type places at our local mall. Our kids go crazy for the place. Chileans are very proud of their shopping malls. They are pretty much like any high-end mall in the US, except everything is twice as expensive.

Foot in Mouth: Had to include this little gem. Jake fell asleep while doing time. He was sentenced to a 3 minute "time out" for bad behavior, during which he apparently slumped over and fell asleep on the sofa.

Enjoying the Andes

One of the few things I enjoy about my morning commute to work in Santiago is seeing the snow blowing off of the top of 'Cerro Plomo,' an 18,000-foot Andes mountain peak visible (on a clear day) to the east of the city. I went to college in Utah, which has some pretty spectacular mountains, but nothing compared to the Andes.

Two weekends ago, after a fresh snow, we drove up the mountain (clarification: not to the top of el Plomo) to take the kids sledding. The scenery was amazing, and the sledding wasn't too bad either (no major injuries reported).

They are not kidding...the drive up can be a bit 'peligroso' and requires intestinal fortitude.

The hills were alive....with the sounds of kids whining.

Jake digs it

Our friends the Alomias

"I want to do it again"

Skiing in the Andes - July 2008

Last weekend we took our first ski trip as a family to Valle Nevado, a ski resort about 45 miles from Santiago (45 miles up one of the windiest, steepest roads you've ever seen). Tiffany took a snowboarding class, Hailey and Mya took a ski class, while Jake just played in the snow (with a little adult supervision). After a hearty lunch of peanut butter sandwiches (brought from home), Tiffany took a turn watching the kids and I went out for a ski. The conditions were great and the skiing was awesome. At the end of the day we were treated to one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever witnessed.

Check out pictures above and videos below...

Pucon - Villarica March 2008

In Chile there is a summer tradition where everybody vacations in the South. Southern Chile is a beautiful region with lots of lakes, volcanoes (some still active), and rivers. If you journey far enough south into Patagonia, you find the kind of beauty you'd expect to find near the southern pole...glaciers, etc.

In our first trip South last March, we journeyed as far as Pucon. Pucon is about 800 kilometers south of Santiago. It reminded me a lot of Jackson Hole, Wyoming in terms of geography, as well as the variety of outdoor activities you can do. One of the coolest things to do is climb Villarica Volcano, which you can do on a guided tour, complete with crampons and ice axes. As this was more of a family trip, that hike will have to wait until next time.

This was the view from our hotel 'Hosteria La Colina.' Great little hotel owned & operated by an American couple. We had our own little private bungalow with a deck overlooking lake Villarica. The food (especially the American-style breakfast) and the service were great, and they had a cool old-fashioned, wood-fired hot tub. It looked like a giant wood barrel. Anyway, I highly recommend the place: http://www.hosteriadelacolina.com/
or this one if you prefer to stay in Pucon
http://www.monteverdepucon.cl/

Hanging out at a local pizza joint in the town of Pucon.

Horseback riding in the hills of above Pucon. Hailey and Mya loved it, Jake got a little bored after 3+ hours.

Jake is 100% daddy's boy...a real man's man. Notice that I am the one holding him in almost every photo...my faithful sidekick.

THERMAL POOLS

This place is cool. They call them the 'Termas Geometricas' (geometric thermal pools). Basically its a series of pools heated by natural spring water piped down a canyon from above. Each pool offers varying degrees of heat, some scorching, some lukewarm. At the top of the canyon there is an ICE COLD waterfall. The only ones to brave the waterfall were the gringos...that's us and our gringo friends the Walkers.
Getting to this place was part of the adventure. It's about 50 miles or so from Pucon, but the last 10 miles are up a windy dirt road with one lane, rickety wooden bridges. It's the kind of road you would only attempt in a 4x4 (which fortunately we have)...unless you are Chilean. It that case you see all kinds of vehicles making the attempt and most seemed to make it there.

Tiffany and I taking in the icy refreshment

My buddy Nathan Walker and I getting the full icy waterfall experience

The Davis Family soaks it up in the warm mineral waters...probably some kid urine in there too!

Hydrospeed

Hydrospeed is sport that would never be done commercially in the US, for liability reasons. It is basically whitewater rafting on a hard plastic, sled-like apparatus. Our guide was a chilean dude who spoke very little English. He basically leads the way, shouting instructions to help you avoid the rocks. My group consisted of me and 4 Israeli dudes. They spoke no Spanish and limited English, so I served as the relay man for the guide's instructions. On the very first rapid we encountered, I hit my left thigh on a rock...hard. It hurt at the time, but the cold water and the adrenaline made me forget the pain. Not until the next day did I realize how nasty it was. Even though I limped for a week, it was worth it.

all geared up...wetsuit (smelled like 40 day old urine), flippers, chest protector, helmet, and lots of bravado.

Take a BIG breath...

...close your eyes and hope you don't smash your face on a rock

Live to fight another day.