Over the Mountain - Ozzy Osbourne

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Well, it´s almost over.  Just ten days left in the last country of my six month global spin.  I can´t believe it went so fast, even though I´m definitely primed for a little permanency.  I´m not ready yet to get very retrospective though so let´s just review what I believe was the best possible way to end this magical mystery tour  Skiing, the Andes, in summer.  While NY was sweltering, I hit the snow.

As my review mentions I booked the Backpacker deal at the Inca Lodge of the Portillo Ski Resort.  An absolutely amazing deal that puts other ski and stay packages across the States to shame.  The 4 person dorm room held just me and Sam from Chicago 6 out of the 7 days and sharing a bathroom is old hat to me these days, so there´s no complaining to be had.  Did I also mention that Portillo is a damn fine mountain with plenty of tough terrain (the US Ski team trains there in August), and oh yeah they received 120 inches of snow right before I got there?  One final glorious fact, I got to ski all that powder untouched because it was opening day and only 400 skiers were there.  Freshies, nothing but powder, for DAYS.   In fact the snow was so great I wore my knees out and had to switch to a snowboard for 2 out of the six days.  I also walked (about a mile) to Argentina, but they wouldn´t let us in because it was getting dark.  Yeah, yeah, I know it´s not the first country to turn me away (although on this trip it is) but at least things in my world are rarely boring.

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Other than the perfect skiing I met some great folks, like Evan from Philly and the Zins from Michigan, and did a fair bit of partying.  It really was a perfect way to end the trip and I can´t believe my luck with the weather.  So just 3 more days and I´m home.  Hopefully I´ll make it back someday, if they let me past the border.

Vaya con Dios me amigos,

Bill