PORTILLO

Thursday evening, 7 February 08

Buenos Noches!

And Happy Lunar New Year Day!

Today`s all-day tour took us 100 miles up in the Andes to Portillo, which is just 3 miles shy of the Argentine border. I expected a little village, but Portillo is merely a nice old hotel, ski resort, single-building ski lodge that can only house 450 guests. The mountain scenery up there is FANTASTIC. The elevation is 9,000 feet vs. 1,500 feet in Santiago. You look out the back window over a heated outdoor swimming pool, then Lake Inca, then Mt. Aconcagua, which rises to 21,000 feet.

Most of the drive up there was on a narrow, paved, winding, slow, two-lane road. The last stretch of maybe four miles is up the darndest system of very slow switchbacks I`ve ever seen. This is an international highway connecting Chile and Argentina and, by extension, other countries. So there are a lot of big trucks on the road. If you keep going, you come to Mendosa, Argentina, in another hundred miles or so.

We had dinner in Hotel Portillo. Huge dinner. Big salad, main course, desert. Ate way too much. Delicious. Pleasingly presented. There were two choices. Helen had salmon. I had steak. Huge steak and good, better than last night`s. We sat with two ladies, Barbara Smith of Alabama, and Aileen Mackie of California whom I had helped with her luggage on the plane. Then we saw a video advertising Portillo`s skiing. It looks like you have to be an expert to ski there. One option is to take a helicopter to ski down from the summit of Mt. Aconcagua.

Passed through a lot of very dry countryside before reaching the mountains.

Sole remarked that rodeo is the national sport of Chile and a real big deal. But their rodeo is very different than the rodeo we know. Different competitions. Not the same rodeo competitions we know at all. She said horses are very important in Chile. There are a lot of horse racing, polo, and horse jumping events.

I made these observations about the big tractor-trailers on the road: We are used to 18 wheelers, and these are seen here too. They also have 20 wheelers and 22 wheelers. These have six instead of four on a side in back. Sometimes the front set is well ahead of the other back wheels, sometimes immediately ahead. Sometimes the front set are off the ground except in case of a heavy load. I never saw a sleeper type of road tractor.

Through part of the mountain passage there is a picturesque narrow gauge railway alongside that goes through some narrow tunnels. Higher up there is the remains of a former narrow gauge track. Sole said the old one phased out in the 70s and the new one came in in the 70s. (But it doesn`t seem to me that they cover the same territory.)

We passed a couple of copper mines on the way up.

We passed a police gate before the final steep climb. It is closed when the conditions are real bad in the winter. Also, in the winter drivers are required to use chains from there up. The weather, Sole said, changes very suddenly in the mountains.

I mentioned earlier Chile`s California-like control of agricultural products. I think I failed to mention that the authorities get quite upset if you carry fruit over the border and impose heavy fines -- like $80 for an apple. One of our tour members got caught up in this.

I feel I`m losing touch with the news. No English language newspapers available. News in English is available in the evenings on TV in our room, but I haven`t been taking advantage of it.

We had pizza this evening down the street with a couple from near Philadelphia.

Tomorrow morning we leave Santiago by air for Punta Arenas, Chile.

SANTIAGO

We´ve been to Santiago
And the winery de Martino.
We´ve sat in a yarda
Munching our empanada
While sipping on our pisco.

We`ve been way up in the Andes
Where the views are quite outstanding.
We`ve dined in high Portillo
Where rich folks go to ski, oh.
Everything`s been fine and dandy.

Six million isn´t small.
We´ve been to the cathedral.
We´ve seen the palace presidential
And fine districts residential.
Yet we haven´t seen it all.

Santiago was founded by Valvivia.
Baquedano fought in Bolivia.
We´ve ridden round the city.
From San Cristobal she is pretty.
´Twas a shame to take leave of her.

:-)

Bernie