Skiing in the Andes!

Location: Cordillera de los Andes, Chile

Rundown: Took a ski trip on a beautiful, sunny weekend in Chile. Headed out to Valle Nevados and skied our brains out!

With the end of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, we have the end of winter here in the Southern part of the world! The snow in the mountains was slowly melting away until a big storm drown the city in sleet, and dumped a beautiful new cover of snow on the peaks of the Andes, just outside town. The mountain gods called, and we responded, by hitting the slopes!

A complete 'bluebird' day... bright blue skies, and new powder!

Didn't quite call for a dust-off, but a helo buzzing around kicked up a lot of snow!

We soaked up every second of it, and came back sore and tired! Sweet!

Check out the video clip!

Chillin' in Chile!

Location: Santiago, Chile

Rundown: Flew from sunny Northern Michigan in full-blown summer 13 hours South to winter-clad Santiago. Started working at amazing Nido de Aguilas International School and sink into the culture of Santiago...

First shock: Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere! Walked off the plane from hot Charlevoix summer into frozen mountain air! Yikes! An hour from the coast and 15 minutes from the mountains, Santiago has an amazing ambiance that attracts outdoorsy expats like flies to honey.

The International School Nido de Aguilas (Eagle's Nest) is one of the best in South America, and couldn't be in a more beautiful location, right in the shadow of the Cordilleras de los Andes.

Found a place just a few minutes away from school, with a killer view of the mountains. A local produce market springs up on Sundays with fresh fruits, veggies, and eggs! We have been taking advantage of the amazing Chilean wines as well!

The new view out the living room window! Note the palm trees amidst the frost and snow-capped mountains! Lo Barnechea, a neighborhood in the north-east region of Santiago is tucked right into the folds of the hills and has a very small town feel.

Have been making some friends down here! Watched the World Cup finals with a group of the newbies in downtown Santiago.

Chile is 2,700 miles long and has 4,000 miles of coastline. This discrepancy makes for awesome sushi places everywhere you turn. Yum!

Lots of good musicians in the teaching staff at Nido. Got pulled into an impromptu jam session at one of the get togethers put on by the teachers. Good stuff.

Took Pepe the Peugeot out in the mountains. The winding roads with tight switchbacks are closed to traffic at certain times of the day, so you have to wait at a certain point until the authorities give the all clear.

The hairpin turns can be a gut-wrenching experience, and the lack of railings above the precipice gave incentive to drive slow.

Hiked into El Sanctuario Loco, after we had been cleared to drive into the pass. Snowcapped ridges ran East towards the heart of the Andes. For the first time in two years got my hands in REAL snow! Snowball fight ensued...

It's been great to be a little closer to the natural world here. Although Cartagena had the sea, it's been a treat to get back into hiking, biking, and climbing!

The sun going down over the mountains...

So that's it for now. More to come, I'm sure.

Summer in Charlevoix!

Rundown: Spent just under two weeks in Charlevoix the Beautiful. Awesome to be home sweet home, however short!

Location: Charlevoix, MI, US-of-A!!!

Spent half of the two weeks unpacking my life from Colombia, and the other half repacking gear for winter in Chile! In between got to hang out with my parents! Did some good kayaking, diving, and kiting! Not too many pictures from it all, but here's a few...

The kiting is great! The water is clear and doesn't burn your eyes when you get sprayed unlike the sea water I'd been used to, but COLD!!!! Felt great to be on the board and in the Great Lakes again. Too long!

Almost looks like the Caribbean! Maybe even better! Rode one downwind from Fisherman's Island State Park, across the bay and landed at the McSauba public access. Great ride with good wind and not another kite in the sky! Landlubbers!!!!

Here's a little video of the kiting. Nothing special.

Thanks to my spotters!!! Did a couple of downwind runs! One was 11 miles from South of Elk Rapids heading north towards Norwood. Took a couple hours, but was an awesome ride! Sweet!

Even had a little time to do a mini excursion up to St. Helena Island in the Straights of Mackinaw to do a little diving and visit the refurbished lighthouse!

...and find some sunken treasure!!! Er... or an old stone end-table. Pretty fun none the less!

Repacked my gear and set out to Santiago de Chile! More to come!

Ciu-DAD Perdida Trek

Rundown: Headed again into the Sierra Nevada jungles, but this time brought some reinforcements: Papa Gorkiewicz!

Location: Jungles of the Sierra Nevada... Ciudad Perdida

Headed out from humid Cartagena up to Santa Marta with my dad at the end of the school year before flying back to the US. Took off from Santa Marta the following day in a gregariously colored 4x4 chiva which drove us 3 hours into the jungle before dropping us off at the last little village on the jungle road called Mamey.

Hiked for 3 days into the jungle. Local kids played in the rivers... just like the kid in the Jungle Book. What a cool place to grow up in!

We crossed and swam many a rivers ourselves. As we got higher into the Sierra Nevadas the temperature cooled, the rivers became brighter and crystal clear.

The jungle is home to many critters. Our most exotic on the trip was this good looking Toucan, who raised quite a racket with his mate as we were hiking.

The trek is amazing! The terrain changes between dense jungle, savannah, and rocky riverbed. If you like hiking, the hike is superb!

Other local fauna included the Kogi indigenous, whose villages we had the privilege to see from a distance on an occasion. They have such simple lives, and such complex social interaction, it's amazing to think of the similarities and differences of the cultures...

Other local flora and fauna...

Stayed in rustic encampments along the way with interesting trekkers from all parts of the world.

On our last day we did the big push up the long, winding stone staircase built into the mountainside and emerged sweating and breathless at the lost city, Ciudad Perdida.

Safety? Sure! The site is loaded with a platoon of soldiers stationed there to keep the peace in and the FARC out. Amazing to see them after seeing no one on the trail for three days.

For more pictures check out my dad's blog about the trip!

http://bobanddianesadventures.blogspot.com/

Islas San Andres and Providencia

Location: Islas San Andres and Providencia, off the coast of Nicaragua.

Rundown: For semana santa jumped a plane out to a set of islands in the Caribbean. Hiked, ate, slept, snorkeled, and went diving. Rough trip.

Here's a little video to start it out!

The archipelago is off the coast of Nicaragua, but just an hour hop from Cartagena.

Isla Providencia:

Flew to San Andres, a tiny, tropical island off of Nicaragua from Cartagena. The dark blue water turned light, then green, then white in the surf on the reefs surrounding the islands. Stayed only a night in San Andres, then flew via prop-job aircraft with cabin signs in Russian to Isla Providencia, a smaller island, some 18km in circumference just North of San Andres.

After a riveting flight low over the water, we landed on the mountainous island of Providencia. Apparently, landing between mountain peaks is a difficult maneuver...

Our tiny hotel was up the rocky hillside from the most brilliant aquamarine water I've ever seen.

We settled into our little pad, complete with chirping geckoes with the moon coming up over Isla Congrejo, a tiny islet 3/4 mile off shore from our place.

In the morning we took to the highway, i.e. the abused road that circles the island on a mighty motor scooter we named the Blue Beast. We of course wore all the required protective clothing one might expect is essential to riding on trails and beaches: flip-flops and sunglasses.

We chased down some hidden beaches around the island and dried the salt off our skin in a hurry with the rushing wind.

Met up with the locals and had a taste of their catch. These boys were pulling in needlefish as long as they were!

The next day we took a hike into the mountainous interior of the island. There were more colorful lizards than you could count! Every few steps they would skitter out of our way. Trying to catch them was fun, but fruitless. Fast little buggers!

The unmarked trail would up and up through rocky forest, then out into plateau, then peak.

The reef surrounding the island, the third longest in the world, lit up the water like a iridescent ribbon. Great 360 views of the reef system and the isolation of the little island.

We spent some time again on the beach, no hurry of any sort. The kind of time on one's hands where one can try to catch a coconut falling from a tree. Hours of patience...

We soaked up the sun as if we hadn't seen it in months. The only thing that would've made the trip better is if we had arrived from a northern Michigan winter.

At night on the beaches, big white crabs roamed in the moonlight. We had ourselves a wrestling match or two, but running sideways isn't a great defense.

The next day we took the plunge, snorkeling the 3/4 mile out to Isla Congrejo, a rocky spit with a few trees and a dock, wrapped with reefs.

A passing set of ugly clouds left the little island deserted, and Miranda and I hoarded the little piece of heaven greedily. Snorkeled around the entire island, saw rays and lots of fish. Laid on the dock and soaked up the last rays of sun before snorkeling back right before twilight.

Took a jellyfish to the face while snorkeling. Got a tentacle wrapped around the side of my head, down my neck and onto my back. Left me with a really sweet treasure map in raised redness.

Not much to do on a tiny island, which is exactly what we were aiming for. So we spent some more time on the beach hanging out.

Lots of hanging out.

Spent a day hiking around Santa Catalina, another island off of Providencia, connected by a colorful, if faded and in disrepair, that connected the two islands over a shallow passage.

The islands were supposed to have been a regular haunt of Captain Morgan, and many things on the island are named after him, including a submerged cave where he hid some treasure.

San Andres:

Flew back to San Andres and spent much of the rest of the time there underwater. The diving was fantastic! We saw rays and squid, as well as great corals and fish. Snorkeling just off of our hotel was amazing as well!

Spent some time topside and got to know the locals. Culture on the island is even slower than in Cartagena, much more relaxed. Check out how chill this lizard on the bus was! You'd see lots of people carrying live lizards around. We got a quick shot of this one before he got off the bus.

So there you have it, San Andres and Providencia. Fun in the sun. More to come...