Things are ticking along nicely...

It´s amazing how friendly this place is. Saturday was transfer day, and I´m pretty darned please we came in mid-week, as it´s carnage. This week, the hotel appears to be mostly full of Americans. Jacque, my young Argentinian room-mate, has been replaced by Jim, Jerry and Jack - three guys in their fifties from Virginia. I ran into them in the hot-tub (not literally; that would have caused issues) before I realised they were my new room-mates. I was invited to help myself to the red wine and ´Wild Turkey´Bourbon they brought, so I think this´ll work out. I´ve found myself talking to almost every person I share a chair with, as well as anyone sitting nearby in the hot-tub. There´s a diverse bunch here, but they all (at least, the North Americans ) share a love of snow. Unlike European resorts, this place is small and enclosed (like a cruise ship), so you see the same people time and again. Sylv has three new roommates, two of whome are Spanish, and one of whom is from Brazil.

I`m over the jetlag now, and waking up at a decent time. Not sure whether this is due to the snowboarding, the vast amounts of food and alcohol, or the high altitude, but it´s done the trick. Speaking of food, it´s fantastic. The fish is awesome, and so well prepared. Generally, I finish one, then the waiter brings another. The waiters are the best I´ve experienced, being attentive, funny and very relaxed considering the ´silver service´nature of the dining. Heck, even the boot guy (we store our boots by the ski store) remembers me, so that when I walk in, take off my shoes and walk up to the hatch, my boots are already sitting on the sil waiting for me. Unbelievable. He´s definitely getting a tip.

I trashed my board today. I took the new one out yesterday and it´s fantastic. It handles like a dream, and has plenty of pop to it. Even the board storage bloke called it ´beautiful´. I caught a couple of rocks, though, so I put it away in favour of my old ´beater-board´. Good thing too, as it got destroyed today. I took a seven inch gouge to the core down the middle. The repair guy reckons he can save it, but it won´t be pretty. Never mind. We hiked up the traverse from Roca Jack today (it´s avalanche prone, so they generally close it in the afternoon). Powder and rocks: A deadly combination. Still, it´s all good preparation for heading South. I spent the afternoon riding Switch (backwards), and can now do it pretty smoothly. Also threw in a couple of tentative one eighties, and they´re coming along nicely.

So, the sun is STILL shining, but snow is on the way. Apparently, it´s going to dump on Monday and Tuesday, so Sylvia - very much wearing the pants, these days (that´s the US ´pants´, by the way) - has taken it upon herself to book us in for another night. Hopefully, we´ll still have time to get back to Santiago and hook up with Casa to hit the volcanos.

I´m afraid this is turning into a record of events. I didn´t want that to happen, but I guess it´s worth doing. I´ll see if I can´t turn the corner shortly...