Portillo as it happens....

Dave Mac wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:He's possibly shacked up with a young lady and a bottle of red 8)

Nope.

OMG, he's not been turned has he :shock:

White wine, just would not go with his image :lol:

bandit wrote:

Dave Mac wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:He's possibly shacked up with a young lady and a bottle of red 8)

Nope.

OMG, he's not been turned has he :shock:

White wine, just would not go with his image :lol:

Spill the beans Dave I'm getting bored :evil: :evil:

Hello All, sitting in the lounge at Santiago airport sipping a G&T and waiting for my flight back to Europe.

Apologies for the abrupt break in reporting, but the sun came out, my Flickr account maxed out, my love of red wine intensified and the pull of the slopes was far too much for me!!

Well I will be honest, I rode a couple of short runs on the very first day directly from a 26 hour door to door trip, as I privately disclosed to Mr. Mac! From then on you could not keep me off my board. 8 days riding (even though Saturday and Saturday were quite short) and not a single fall, actually being acutely aware of my injuries the whole experience slowed me down a notch and greatly improved my technique, so every cloud and all that jazz....

Actually the lifts gave me more cause for concern than the slopes, just the logistics and other people made it tricky. However 5 Paraceatamol and an osteo-arthritis pill a day got me through. Stopped taking anything as soon as I started the descent to Santiago on Staurday evening, shoulder hurts more now that I have dropped altitude and am exercising it less, but hey it was worth it.

So on with the review (will be in parts, I need to refil my glass occasionally)...

The Scenery:

Quite simply the most stunning place I have been on earth. 6 of 8 days were clear blue sky which made photography a dream. I will post more pics when I sort through the 700 or so that I took. You can ski the entire resort and the only tree you see is in the restaurant, now that sounded a little dull to me, but believe me the place is stupifyingly beautiful in the sun. Steep and imposing cliffs above the runs, sun bouncing off the lake at 2880m, mountain cats (large looking foxes), Condors and some very skillful skiers! You will see some of the pictures later in the week :)

The Hotel:

As I mentioned already, the place is a wee bit worn, but this was no biggy. The service was phenomenal, anything you requested they would do. The guy at the boot collection could remember all of the 450 guests making his little ticket procedure somewhat redundant. The place is lively, homely, warm and friendly. However the rather aged St. Bernard did manage to sleep in some awkward places like the lift, stairs or entrance to the restaurant!

TBC......

I knew you would not be able to resist. Its hell being on a winter hol not being able to board. I did it once, was re-covering from pneumonia and broken ribs and was in so much pain and so exhausted I could'nt do it. It was hell. Glad you had a great time, will you go again?

The Restaurant:

WOW! Lovely old lodge stylee restaurant, serving Breakfast, Lunch, Onces and Dinner. Several waiters per table to give you exactly what you wanted (including extra desserts if you wanted, I maxed out at 5 on day 4). Great service, if a little quick, awesome food (not 5 star, but consistantly very good) good choice everyday and a huge variety over the week. I never thought I would be eating the likes of Ostrich and Abalone in a ski resort :shock: We had all kinds of meat; Argy beef, venison, lamb, chicken, pork and veal as well as different fish everyday with crab coming up a couple of times in different forms.

Additionaly if you metioned to your head waiter that there was a birthday in the group, he would have a huge cake made, get all the waiters to come and sing to you and cover the place in balloons and streamers whilst you blew the candles out. This was witnessed early on the 2nd night and after a conversation about the possibility of them checking the account of the recipient we decided to engineer a birthday for one of us at the table!.....they didn´t check 8)

Just like Rose, I expected that you would be unable to resist getting onto the slopes. I'm glad you survived without further damage to your injured bits, and that you had a good time :D

I reckon that you should go back onto the anti inflammatory stuff, if only for the flight home (but what do I know) )

Well, Tino, you got through your time, in one piece, and no falls! How valid was your insurance!!!

Great trip, well done.

I really did have the intention of only trying on the last day or two, but sensible intentions are like New Years resolutions, a nice thought but ultimately pointless. We are all made a certain way, and if I am honest with myself I knew I could not resist :)

Rose, snowboarding with broken ribs is a killer nevermind pnuemonia also, I cracked one in Mayrhofen in early December, and another in Grindlewald at Christmas. The actual riding is not so bad, but getting the bindings done up is agony!!

Bandit, got no anti-inflamatory stuff left apart from Asprin which I usually take flying, however I have become a little scared of Asprin ever since I took one in hospital recently and the pain in my head increased dramatically - not advisable with a fractured skull apparently.

On a more serious note, they just ran out of Gin here in the business lounge, had to use my best Spanish to inform the girl of the seriousness of the situation :wink: