Friday 31 August 2012

Feliz Cumple Yessica!

We´re a little behind in the posts as the computers this past week have been absolute garbage, but I still want to write a quick few words about my birthday, as it was one not soon to be forgotten!

Again, what started this whole trip was me wanting to shred on my birthday, so two days after the pow day, we headed back to Las Leñas to fulfil my dream. The day started off, of course, with a personal serenade from the karaoke king and singer extraordinaire, Mr. Colin Thompson. Gracias baby ;) We then did the same routine of grabbing a quick breakfast and walking the 10 blocks to the bus stop to grab our ride to the hill. Frenchie wasn´t there this time, but the two guys from Whistler were, as well as Spencer from Colorado who we´d met on the bus on the way home last time. They all gave me some birthday wishes, and then once again we were off!

Upon arriving at the mountain it was also a very similar scene to last time - freezing cold! Only this time it was worse, as there wasn´t as much wind, but I think the actual temperature was lower. Brrrrrrr!! We grabbed lift tickets, and this time I intended to keep mine as a souvenir as it had my birthdate on it. They aren´t just pieces of paper you get for a lift ticket here, but rather magnetic swipe cards. Instead of a liftie with a gun to scan your ticket, they have computers, just like the swipe things at a gas station, and you simply keep your lift card in your top left pocket and walk on by. The computer senses the card and the turnstile turns, and you can then move onto the lift. Super cool, and a great souvenir!

We headed up to the same skier´s left side we started on last time, but this time conditions were much different. No fresh powder, and as it was so cold, kind of icy. We did a few runs up this chair and the beginner ones in the middle, then we had to go into the cozy lodge for a break to thaw out fingers and toes. It was really, really cold! Nothing a rum and hot chocolate couldn´t cure though, and after a warm up we decided to see what we could still find off the Marte. After enduring the two long lifts to get there, we were disappointed, although not surprised, to see it was closed. The day before had been a blue bird, so the surface snow must have heated up enough to make them uneasy enough to close the chair. The rest of the resort showed the same signs of this with the top layer being pretty sheer everywhere, so we were once again counting our blessings at how amazing of a day we´d had. This was confirmed as after riding back from Marte, we decided to have lunch (in a hallway of the shopping building to eat our sandwiches and drink our store bought beers, for lack of a better place haha) and ran into a German who was hanging out in Las Leñas for the season. He said two days ago was the first time they´d gotten snow in over a month. We were super lucky. As we were talking to him as well, the power suddenly went out - for the entire mountain, including the lifts! We were watching from the window, and it was a good 20 minutes before the chairs started turning again. I would not have been a happy camper if I was stuck on one of those in that cold for that long!

Once the chairs started turning again, we headed back out the skier´s left of the mountain to do some laps there. We did find one more poma lift we´d missed the first day, and in getting to that did manage to find a few fresh turns still. At the top of the Poma we ran into the guys from Whistler, Rick and Jeff, and Spencer from Colorado, who had skinned up to the top of the Marte after learning it was closed, and had just finished what they deemed a pretty amazing line back down into the resort. I got some more Happy Birthdays, and then Jeff, who was hilarious and a little A.D.D., told about 6 jokes in rapid fire succession right at the top of the lift. They headed back in for drinks, and we did a few more runs before calling it a day ourselves. It may not have been the best conditions on the mountain I´ve ever experienced, but to shred Las Leñas on my birthday was all I ever wanted, and especially with the epic day we´d had earlier in the week, I couldn´t have asked for anything more.

We finished riding for the day, and went back to the shopping centre to buy some required souvenirs. We bought a bunch of stickers, for our vehicles, snowboards and snowboards to come, and we each got a t-shirt. By then it was time to grab the bus, so we hopped back on to chat with our new friends. They were all heading out to what they had learned was supposed to be the best restaurant for steak in town, so we all made plans to meet up there later for a celebratory dinner - for my birthday, and the end of their weeklong tour in Las Leñas.

Malargue is still part of Mendoza province, so delicious wines of all kinds were still abound, and for fantastic prices, everywhere we went. When Colin and I got back to town, we dropped our rental gear off for the last time, then proceeded back to the hostel to shower and open up the nice bottle of Malbec we´d bought the day before for the occassion. After getting a few more Happy Birthdays from the hostel staff, we headed out on our jaunt to the restaurant, which was almost 1km out of town. Before we´d barely passed the main square, we met up with Spencer, and his friend John from Colorado who had just flown in and arrived to Malargue earlier that afternoon. We chatted the whole way to the restaurant, and when we got there Rick and Jeff already had a table and were well into a bottle of Malbec themselves.

The evening turned out to be so much fun, with Jeff telling joke after joke, and all four of them telling stories of all the pro-shreds and pro-skiers they´ve rode with in their lives, living in such prime areas for the sport, growing up in it, and now watching their own kids do the same. It was tough for Colin and I to get a word in edge-wise that evening, but super cool to hear these guys telling stories of riding with Jeremy Jones!

After many bottles of Malbec, we were all just about ready to leave, when suddenly the waiter brought out a custard cake with "Feliz Cumple Yessica!" written on it that Colin had sneakily arranged. There was a large party in the restaurant who was also celebrating a birthday, and we had all sang her Happy Birthday earlier, so now it was my turn to have the whole restaurant sing the song to me. First, in Spanish - and then, realizing I was obviously a gringo, the entire restaurant sang it again in English! The other lady who´s birthday it was came over and gave me a hug too, and you could really feel the love from these strangers (or maybe it was love from the wine, but either way, it felt good haha). After sharing the cake with the table, we all left shortly after, and the whole restaurant was once again waving us goodbye as we headed out. So far the Argentines have been the kindest people we´ve met yet, and it was really, really nice to spend my birthday with new like minded friends after a day on the mountain I´ve always, always dreamed of getting to experience on my special day.

10 year goal, and #1 goal on the bucketlist - check!! One of the best birthdays I´ve ever had, and although it will be tough, I look forward to trying to beat it one day :)

Las Leñas

The next destination was the one that prompted the entire South American journey in the first place - we were headed to Las Leñas, Argentina, my #1 shred destination for almost 10 years now. The goal was always to hit it on my birthday, so given what we´d just seen with the roads to Portillo (and our own experiences in Canada with mountain passes closing easily and often), we decided to err in favour of getting across the border and the Andes into Mendoza ASAP.

We left Santiago early Monday morning and easily got one of the many buses at the station heading to Mendoza. The buses in Chile and Argentina are night and day compared to the ones in Bolivia, so we were relaxed and simply hopped on to enjoy the ride. The journey took us right past Portillo again, which was once again basking in beautiful sunshine, and we saw how icy and tracked out it looked, solidifying just how lucky we were to have the pow day we did. There were still transport trucks lined up waiting to cross te pass, but we zoomed on by and enjoyed the panoramic views. About halfway we got to the border - a giant snowshack setup at the top of the pass, where all the cars and buses pull in to go through the process. The process, as we are now quite familiar with, involves standing in no less than 3 lines. The first is immigration for the country you're leaving to get your exit stamp. You then literally walk backwards into another line to get your entrance stamp for the country you're entering. Then, finally, you walk into one more line, for the police of the country you're entering to check your bags and everything you're brining in. Why this can't be condensed to a simpler, more efficient system I am not really sure, as this whole extremely boring process took well over 1.5 hours. Grrr. Back on the bus to continue the journey.

We arrived into Mendoza early evening, checked into a dumpy hostel (risks you take without pre-booking a room) and had a quick and unhealthy bite to eat before we were down for bed.

Las Leñas is still 450kms from Mendoza, and again due to impending snow storms we'd been tracking, we didn't want to get stuck "so close, yet so far" from our main destination, so we set out the very next day to Malargüe. This is a super cite, super friedly little ski town, and closest to Las Lenas, and here we checked into a Lonely Planet suggested hostel for the night. It was a cozy husband and wife owned place, so we made dinner there and chatted best we could with all the Spanish speakers about how excited we all were about the mountain and the impending snow. It was really refreshing to encounter snow enthusiasts and reignite the spark for snow!

To save some very quickly dwindling money, we checked into a Hostel International (HI) property as we're now members. We got settled and checked out the town, and discovered almost the entire community has siesta time from 1-5pm. Luckily we found a gear rental shop that was still open and got setup for the next day´s trip to the mountain. This time the gear was much better than for Portillo, with boots that still actually had some support left and boards who's brand names we actually recognized. We'd also hit the grocery store, so with sandwich supplies and snowboards in hand, we headed back to the hostel to prepare for the big day.

I could barely sleep that night as I was so excited, and was up before the alarm went off the next morning. We grabbed coffee and croissants from the included hostel breakfast before setting off on foot for the bus station to catch our ride. Luckily there was another guy at the hostel who'd been doing this routine all week, so we followed him the 10 block walk to the station. As we were loading our gear onto the bus, we practically got recognized from across the parking lot as being Canadians by a little man we would later call Frenchie. He is the definition of a life long ski bum, and you could see the sparkling passion for the sport in his piercing blue eyes from across the parking lot. We had a quick chat with Frenchie, briefly met two more Canadians from Whistler, then the bus roared out and we were off to Las Leñas!

I was like a kid on Christmas by the time we got to the resort 1.5 hours later, and was shocked when I jumped off the bus to discover how cold it was. As Canadians we often think that comparatively, there isn't any real "cold" outside our home country. Well, there is! The wind was howling, and I wasn't sure if my Bolivian "The North Fake" pants were going to cut it. I think the adrenaline kicked in then though, and we suited up, bought our lift tickets (same price as a full day at Sunshine, jeebus), and headed up the first lift. We'd made it!

We did a few warm up laps on the far skier´s left side of the mountain, and man do I mean warm up laps. The wind was so cold, and the lifts are soooo slow. For being one of Argentina´s main resorts, the lift system, although plentiful, isn´t very advanced, so we definitely had numb fingers and toes that morning. We soon forgot about this though, as we found powder! They´d definitely gotten a foot and a half over night, and once we got to the top lift, our first order of business was to hike up a small ridge from the lift line to drop into the next little bowl over. So worth it, and we were both shouting "woohoos" like only powder turns can elicit within minutes. The end of this run forced us to do a few of the more beginner chairs in the middle of the mountain, but from the angles on those chairs we saw the next bowl over that some skiers were now starting to hit, and we wanted some of those lines too! We saw how to get in from the chair, and made our way back up the triple set of chairs to the top. To get into this bowl required quite a high traverse, and it hasn´t been the best snow year overall for Las Leñas, so there is plenty of exposed rock in a lot of places. To spare the moms and grandmas reading this, we will just say we abondoned our quest before anyone got too seriously injured. Mom-approved judgements were made :)

We took a break after this little episode for lunch. Las Leñas is known as the place where rich people go to see and be seen, and it was pretty obvious when us brown baggers went to find a Daylodge to eat in, and found that such a thing did not exist here. Your options were either one cozier type lodge, or a plethora of bars that were all pumping euro-trash tunes. So, we ended up sitting on some steps outside the cozy lodge to have our sandwiches and enjoy some sunshine that had finally decided to pop out.

After our break, we decided it was time to source out the far skier´s right side of the mountain. This is where the infamous Marte chair is, which has made many an appearance in my dreams :) This chair, as we´d learned, is open maybe 3/10 days on average, as staff close it frequently with even the slightest weather and snow variations. There are stories of some snow years where the overnight dumps are so insanely incomprehendable (one legend talks of 9 metres, metres, within a 24 hour period), that the chair is either shut down until the whole face slides, or they bring in prisoners from one of the prisons close by to dig it out. This chair is also the gateway to Las Leñas´ infamous backcountry, and chutes that rival anything Kicking Horse has to offer. After riding 2 other lifts to get to Marte and finally jumping on (again, we were sooo lucky it was open on a pow day!), we were able to see first hand what all the fuss was about. This chair is high and steep, the whole way up. It reminded me of the Whitepass chair in Fernie, only way bigger, longer, and slower. We made it to the top, and were amazed at the terrain we found up there. Within easy skating distance there were 3 backcountry entrances, all setup like Delirium Dive where you need to check your beacon before you can enter. Those were only the ones we could see in-bounds from where we were, but there´s soooo much terrain accessible from here that it really is incredible. If only we´d had our own gear... and a guide ;)

We were more than happy to ride in-bounds, as it was a pow day, and all the more advanced riders were hitting the backcountry, and everyone else we saw on the mountain were more beginner level, so Colin and I pretty much had these inbetween runs to ourselves. We more or less found fresh lines from top to bottom, and these were no short runs! The snow up there was actually surprisingly dry too. I think Jay said it best when he called it "chowder" - chunky powder. Sorry Las Leñas, but you still can´t beat Canadian champagne! After we discovered this chair, we spent the rest of the day lapping it, until our legs were ready to give out. Such an amazing experience to finally be on the Marte chair, the one I´d had pictures of on my walls when I lived at home in Winnipeg, and to be lucky enough to hit it on a pow day. And, to be there with such an awesome riding parter (dawwwww hehe). I´m putting it up there with one of the best 3 shred days of my life!

After our legs were spent, we of course had to check out the scene and went for a Quilmes, the local beer, in the bar/club. It was absolutely the atmosphere you´d imagine in an 80´s European ski movie, but it was such a perfect end to an absolutely amazing day on a mountain of legend.

Viva Las Leñas!!


These photos are all from my iPhone, and they all loaded out of order, so sorry they jump to various parts of the day:

Top of one of the beginner chairs in the middle of the mountain

My beloved Marte chair!! xo

One of the chutes right off Marte

Chilly morning!!

There was even a rainbow waiting for me on the Marte :)

One of the beginner lifts has a magic carpet - to get you onto the lift! Too funny

Top of the little ridge we hiked early in the day to get into the bowl over

Apres ski bar. Can almost hear the "umpppt ummpppt ummppptttt" of the euro-trash dance tunes

Happy, albeit a little windburnt, at the end of an amazing day!

I made it to Las Leñas!! 

This was right by the first lift we went up - and the Virgo needed a pic with it, of course :)

Wednesday 22 August 2012

South American Idiosyncrasies

As we're sitting on yet another 6+ hour bus ride, I thought I'd pass some time by writing a separate post in itself about some of the odd, interesting, and sometimes completely ridiculous habits, customs and ways of life we've encountered on our South American journey thus far. As I'm currently sitting on a bus, let's start there.

VEHICLES OF TRANSPORTATION

In Canada, there are basically three major forms of transportation for long haul travel: car, bus or plane. In South America, anything capable of transporting you from A to B, everything from donkey to chicken bus, shared taxi to deluxe bus, is acceptable. As we're now in our 5th country of our journey, we've experienced quite a few different types, although overall I do have to say we have been keeping it pretty luxurious.

One of the biggest surprises in listeria been when we decided to fly from Lima to Cusco. It's a 24 hour bus ride or 50 minute flight, and the latter was a good price so we opted for that. We went with Peruvian Air, and hopped on our short flight expecting nothing more than a package of pretzels, a la WestJet. We were so wrong. In 50 minutes, we'd received a very nice pillow and blanket, drink, AND a meal. Very impressed. We had a similar experience on our flight from Caracas to Lima, where they even gave us free booze, no questions asked. In short, I think if you dish out the money to fly, they treat you like royalty.

Buses have been hit and miss. You can end up on anything from a large van converted into a "bus" by adding as many rigid, upright seats as possible, to a full cama (bed) bus, with footrests and seats that fully recline all the way into a horizontal bed. Semi-camas are somewhere in between, where they have footrests and seats that recline a little more than your standard Greyhound, and are what we have been traveling on the most as they're a good balance of price and comfort.

In Peru we got a mix of both worlds - the most luxurious of the trip, and the sketchiest. When leaving Cusco we bought tickets for the semi-cama, and somehow, most likely due to our lack of español, ended up in the plushy executive cama compartment almost entirely to ourselves. Score! On the way back from Machu Picchu, we ended up in the extremely uncomfortable, crammed to the max upright seats of a converted van, with a hostile driver who was trying to double charge us, and fearing that we would be thrown out at every town we stopped in. This lovely driver also drove like a maniac on barely 1 car wide dirt roads, with a 3,000 foot sharp drop into the river on one side, ripping around corners and simply honking ad hoping there wasn't an oncoming car. You get what you pay for!

By far the most uncomfortable has been the por puesto. This is a shared taxi, packed to absolute max capacity, that can take you as far as a few blocks, or the length of an entire country. I'm not entirely sure of the advantages of these, besides maybe shaving a few minutes off your total journey. They're usually more expensive than a bus, And WAY more uncomfortable. I'd compare them to being jammed into the extremely over packed back seat of the family vehicle on your way to the annual family camping trip, smooshed into the "bitch" seat between your two brothers, who were either arguing or getting carsick and puking all over you. Only in a por puesto, its not your brother you're sitting beside, so you can't simply punch him to shut him up! Thankfully we were only forced into a por puesto once, in Venezuela, when they decided not to run any buses that day due to current President Chavez making an appearance in a town nearby, and thus all buses were dispatched to his personal disposal. Which brings me to my next point:

UNANNOUNCED MAJOR EVENTS & HOLIDAYS

News does not seem to travel fast in South America, and it seems that interruptions into normal daily life are just that - normal life interruptions. With respect to Chavez's above, this visit was not announced nor made note of anywhere, so if you needed to take a bus that day, like we did, you were simply SOL. You either found another solution, or rescheduled your trip.

Another ridiculous political event happened in Uyuni, Bolivia, the town to enter the Salt Flats from. On Friday afternoon, they decided an election was to be held that Sunday, and no one could leave or enter the town until it was over. This place's bread and butter is their tourism, and as no one was allowed in or our, the daily tours that leave from each of the 30 odd tour companies in town could not proceed. Again, there was zero notice or information sent out on this, so people lost days, tours, money on unexpected accommodation, and even some flights that they were unable to make. Not to mention the residents who were supposed to make an informed decision in less than 48 hours! Towns would riot if this happened in Canada.
Luckily we arrived on the Monday, so only had to deal with the larger than usual army of tour Jeeps deployed after being stuck for three days.

Our first few nights in La Paz there were also riots happening in the Legislative Plaza a few blocks from our hostel, thus shutting down the road so not web taxis could get through. Although, the same thing happened a few days later when they decided to have an incessant parade of marching bands and dancers for 8 hours straight, so maybe this really is the norm!

You've also got to be careful of holidays. I won't say specific holiday days, but more the entire week before. Holidays are celebrated with earnest, and business and restaurant hours are sketchy at best at these times, so do your shopping, banking and eating in the few hours they are open! Having said that, South American people do know how to party, and have a sincere love of fireworks, so if you're into bright lights and late nights, holidays are a blast.

ROADS & ROAD RULES

Surprisingly, most of the roads we've travelled on have been pretty good. Exception: Bolivia. Even on major routes, Bolivia has few paved roads, and with the east side being very mountainous, can make for some very unrestful journeys. A lot of our journey has kept us on the "Gringo Trail", as we've learned the route we've been taking has been called, so for the most part it's been well developed and modern road ways.

The road rules, however, are pretty much that there aren't too many. Lanes are a mere suggestion, and taxis will often squeeze in between them to pass wherever they please. Traffic lights are to be obeyed only when felt like, or when there is an obvious flow of traffic beelining your way. Yellow definitely means go here. Passing is also very very aggressive, and there's been several instances, in several countries, where we were sure our lives were going to end as soon as we rounded the next corner. Bridges in cities = safe. Bridges in mountains = newfound talent for praying.

Rural areas are obviously worse than urban ones, but with so many more cars near the urban zones, some rides can be terrifying! However, in Venezuela, every ride was a gamble for your life. These are theory aggressive, speed loving, and often stupid drivers we've encountered the whole trip. Especially on the winding cliffs on the coastal road to Playa Colorada where Jakera Lodge was, we saw more than a couple grizzly accidents.

All these things are made even worse by the fact that I'm not sure a lot of these countries even have a word for "seatbelt". The first time I had a seatbelt to put on since we arrived on this continent was in the 4x4 Jeep for the Salt Flats tour - almost 2 months after we'd left Canada!

BAÑOS

I'll try not to get into too much descriptive detail on this one ;)

Before we'd even booked our flights for this trip, I knew bathrooms were going to be an issue, and something I'd have to deal with. We've had some really nice ones, and some that made me gag at the sight of them, and rather hold it than risk entering.

The first odd thing we encountered, and holds true for the whole continent, is that you don't flush your toilet paper down the toilet. Their sewer systems aren't setup to handle this kind of waste, so you put all your TP into the mini little garbage cans with lids that are beside every toilet. It took a long, long time to get used to this habit, with a few "oopsies" along the way, but I'm sure it will take us no time at all to get used to the North American way again once were back!

With the exception of hostel and hotel rooms, a lot of places have also been 50/50 on whether they'd have a toilet seat. Not sure if there's a big black market for toilet seats or what the cause for this is, but many restaurants, and all public toilets don't seem to find the need for one. Same goes for toilet paper. Every corner shop and kiosk sells TP due to it's lack of presence in the actual bathrooms, so trust me when I say I have had some on me at all times since we arrived!

I realize that Europe is also like this in some places, but outside of hostels, hotels and restaurants, you've also got to pay to use the nasty public bathrooms. When you pay, THEN they give you your little ration of toilet paper. You should be able to pay extra for a toilet seat, too!

Perhaps worse than the bathrooms, have been the showers. Not necessarily due to cleanliness, but due to lack of hot water, water pressure, and the occasional electric shock. Outside of major cities, "hot" water is produced through devices that are attached to the shower head, and are supposed to heat the water before it comes out. However, every single time we've encountered one of these devices, the wires and the breaker are right in the shower with you! So ridiculous! By wearing rubber flip flops and setting all temperature knobs and breakers before we even turn the water on, we've learned to minimize the shock risk. However, some of them are so badly installed that touching the metal water knob to turn it on gives you a jolt, so your morning shower really does wake you up, in more ways than one! Even after risking all this to get clean, you sometimes aren't even successful, as these devices suck and usually make you choose between turning the water up for pressure, or leaving it at a trickle to allow it time mildly heat up the water that is coming out.

FOOD & DRINK

I won't say too much on this one, as some of the food we've had has been absolutely amazing, and sometimes when it hasn't been, we've realized people are doing the best with what they have. However, across almost all the countries we've been to, double carbs seems to be the norm. Arroz and papas fritas. You order the local fish, and it's served with rice and french fries. Order the menu del dia (meal of the day), it's served with rice and french fries. Burger? You guessed it. How about a nice fresh salad, if you dare to risk it? They'll add rice AND french fries on the side. The rice is usually dry (soy sauce doesn't really exist here), and the fries are usually startchy, under done and cold.

Breakfasts have also been interesting, although we were warned before we left that we would come back craving bacon and eggs. It's very true. If I ever have to eat stale, hockey puck-like buns, watery jam and drink instant coffee again, it will be too soon.

These are honestly is our biggest complaints about the food though, as we've had a lot of amazing dishes too. Fresh catch of the day and seafood in Veneuela, ceviche to die for in Lima, soups that rival even grandma's in Cusco, surprisingly delicious and super healthy alpaca and quinoa in Bolivia, homemade salmon ravioli in Chile, and mouthwatering juicy steaks in Argentina.

There's been a new national beer to try in every country so far, with Cusqueña in Peru being our favourite. It's also the norm to have a pequeño (normal bottle sized) and a grande size (think Colt 45s) to choose from, even in restaurants. We've also enjoyed a lot of local specialities, like deliciously famous Pisco Sours in Peru, singria (no not sangria hehe) in Bolivia, and the amazing wines of Chile and Argentina (mmmm malbec).

DOGS (AND HOSTEL CATS)

Hardcore animal enthusiasts would have a hard time coming to South America, as there are tons, and tons, of poor stray dogs everywhere roaming the streets. Some countries have been worse than others (on Isla de Margarita I swear the dogs outnumbered people), and some have seen the poor things worse for wear than in others. They roam around solo, and in packs, yet there's no need to be scared of them as they all seem to know their place.

When we were on the kayak tour in Parc Nacional Mochima in Venezuela, there was a pack of about 10 dogs who kept just to the outskirts of our camp. The first afternoon they got cocky an came running up to me, and even snapped at my heels, the only time in the whole journey we've ever seen the strays act aggressively. All I did though, was use the "technique" we were taught - pretend to pick up a rock, no need to even grab one for real, and pretend to throw your imaginary rock at the pack. They'll scatter immediately and won't approach you again.

Some strays have been so so sweet, and looked up at you with those puppy brown eyes while you're enjoying your chicken empanada, and you just can't help but share. You then, of course, have a buddy for the duration of your time in town. You want to feed every one of them, as there's just so many, and some of them are so, so skinny, and it's just not something were not used to seeing at home. You obviously can't though, although one American girl we met tried, and had a pack of 20 dogs following her to the bus!

We've also loved that every hostel we've gone to, has had a resident dog or cat to enjoy. On Isla de Margarita, in our posada we had Socha the beagle, who went as far as accompanying us to the beach everyday, and when we went out for a fancy dinner she even growled at the waiter when he got too close to me (she was chilling under the table, of course). Almost EVERY single hostel has had a cat, from the heights of Cusco to the depths of the jungle. And every single kitty has seemed to know that we like giving pets as much as they like getting them, so they've always ended up on our laps :)

That's all I can really think of for now, bit I'm sure once we get home and are out at the pub re-telling stories over some pints, more will come up. Plus, all this typing is making me a little car sick ;)

Ciao for now!!

Sunday 19 August 2012

Portillo

After we made it to Santiago after our 24 hour bus ride and found our hostel for a few days, our next task was to make arrangements to hit Portillo. Our hostel helped us out by calling SkiTotal, a local equipment/shuttle outfit who does day trips to the surrounding resorts around Santiago. We'd been monitoring the snow on www.snow-forecast.com , and were looking forward to Portillo as we'd heard they'd gotten 2 feet of snow. We were met with disappointment after we'd gotten in touch with SkiTotal as they said the road to Portillo and Argentina was closed. We still wanted to shred, so we made arrangements to go to Valle Nevado, a closer resort who'd also gotten snow.

The SkiTotal was supposed to pick us up at 6:50am the next morning, but in true South American fashion they picked us up almost an hour later. We get to the SkiTotal hub to pick up some rentals, and are greeted by a crowd of about 300 other people with the same idea. For being the type of die hards at home who are usually one of the first cars on the road and some of the first people at the resort, patience grew thin very, very quickly. We maintained though, and proceeded to jump into the first of 3 required lines with the rest of the cattle.

As we were waiting, I started picking up on some of the staff muttering "Portillo, Portillo". Once I heard the staff in the bus line shouting this, I quickly ran over to confirm - the road had opened, we could get to Portillo!

Our anxiousness suddenly increased, and we were even more excited to get through the line and get on the bus. Our luck somehow improved, as since Portillo is the furthest resort away, they wanted to get those people on the road ASAP, so we stated being expedited through the the lines. We got our boots, and somehow managed to snag the last two larger boards over 140cms (163cms for Colin and 155cms for me). Lucky! We got our bus tickets, loaded our fancy rental equipment onto the bus, and we were off!

Portillo is about 2 hours from Santiago, and we got a first hand taste of the carnage a closure can do to the road. It's an odd one, as 2/3 of it are normal highway out of the city. Then you turn off and start climbing, and looking out the window you see desert cactus on the hillside, with a snow capped mountain backdrop. So weird! After a while of this, you get to a high mountain wall, with what turns out to be no less than 40 short and very sharp switchbacks. Portillo is at the top of this, and continuing on past it takes you into Argentina. The first sign of the lifts made us shout out, as not only were we excited to see them, but the one also crossed 3 of the switchbacks!

Due to the road closures, there was also a major, major backlog of semi trucks waiting to get through the pass. They were all stopped on the side of the road in a big line for kms and kms. Cars and buses were passing, and every 30 minutes or so the trios would move a km forward.

We got off the bus finally at noon, grabbed our gear, raced to the ticket window, and jumped onto the closest lift. The resort is so high up that it's well above the treeline, so it's all open bowls. There are 12 lifts, but only a handful are chairlifts. The rest are pomas, and I've never seen a 5 person one, all in a row, with only 2 sets of them on the whole line, charge up the mountain so fast before! It was almost comical, such a ridiculous contraption! We did a few runs on the one side with the lift that crosses the switchbacks, and discovered the snow was really good! Due to our late arrival a lot of it was already tracked out, but we did managed to find some fresh lines here and there, and they were awesome!

After a few runs here we made a quick stop into the on mountain rental shop for me. As I'm a goofy rider, they'd simply turned my bindings around instead of switching them properly. As a result, it felt like the high back was trying to snap my calf in half! Rental gear us what it is, and I was able to ride much better after this adjustment.

We then went to check out the other bigger side of the mountain that was in full sunshine. FUN! There was a big traverse we kept taking almost to the end that had a couple rollers to hit, with landings into only half ridden out pow. We watched a bunch of other guys hit them, all bailing, and then we both charged them successfully. Shredding in the Andes! If you went over further you could also snag over half fresh turns down the whole line.

Lower down there were a couple other plateaus through some rock garden type terrain that was mosty untouched, so we did the traverse-plateau loop a few times. It was then time for lunch, so we borrowed some stools from the J-Crew film crew who were shooting their Christmas catalogue, and sat next to gorgeous Laguna del Inca to enjoy our pre-packed sandwiches and beers. A moment to remember forever :)

After lunch we hit everything we'd done in the morning again, and did several of the traverse loops. So crazy that there were zero trees! Our rental gear was starting to leave bruises and blisters, but we still rode almost all the way til 5. We changed, snapped a fee more pictures, then said our farewell goodbyes to this super scenic resort as we hopped back on the bus.

2 hours later we were back in Santiago, tired and sore, but oh so happy Ullr decided to bless us in more ways than one. Viva Portillo!!


Here we go - shredding Portillo!! :D

Lunch beers at Laguna del Inca, in the middle of the two sides of the resort

Laguna del Inca

Sunrays at Portillo

From the top of the traverse line we kept taking

Lift line over the switchbacks of the highway

Last shot of an amazing day :)

The Uyuni Salt Flats

A week after getting back from Rurrenabaque we started out on a journey towards Uyuni. It was shock to the system after beautiful warm temperatures and hot humid jungle. The first step was a long bus trip 12 hours overnight.

We booked our trip with a friends recommendation a place called GeoTrek, trying to secure a good trip with zero turmoil. Of course, in South America this is almost impossible. The first problem started off with our bus. At first the lady from the tour place said she would pick us up and take us to where we would board the bus. She cancelled and got a map and drew the location of the bus and gave us the address. This you would think, when given to the cab driver would be enough to get us there? Nope. We drive around unsure where to go and luckily I see the bus that says "Uyuni" and looks like the bus from the ticket holder. I am always nervous when it comes to being late, and Jessica held us together through these tense moments.

The bus was quite nice and we were very glad to have chosen a tourist type bus. Movies to watch, food to eat and pillows and blankets to make us comfortable. At least me anyways - Jessica has trouble sleeping in the quietest of nights, let alone on a bus in Bolivia where they haven't paved any roads. You can imagine the turbulence riding on these roads.

Twelve long hours later we arrived in Uyuni. Woke up and were promptly handed our breakfast. Fruit loops and yogurt. Yummy! It was about -10 and we didn't want to get off our bus. A few minutes later a lady holding a card with our names on it showed up, so we got off the bus into the freezing morning. We grabbed our stuff and the lady took us too a nice little place for breakfast owned by a Swedish lady called La Vicuna. The next breakfast was much better - fresh warm bread, cheese and jam, all paid for by the tour lady. It was about 7 and our tour started at 10. . Things were going smoothly.....hmmm.

The tour lady said she would be back at ten, give us the details of the trip. At ten she was back. Nice, things were still going smoothly....hmm. Ten came and went and the lady started making excuses why the jeep was late - the que at the gas station was long, they had other passengers whose bus was late, etc. Ok she was still here with us, no problem. 11 comes, no jeep! We had been waiting since 7. Tour started at 9 was our thought. All of a sudden tour lady says "Wait here the jeep will come. Remember Gladys? She´ll come get you" We were like What? Who? Tried to argue and tour lady runs away. Great! My nervous tension is starting to flow. So we sit on the sidewalk and wait. Hmmm... Things ain't so good anymore. Typical Bolivian travel. To make a short story long, we were picked up in the next hour. Ouch, was my feeling as Gladys finally pulled up. Off we went. Not a great start.

We ended up being the first ones picked up. So imagine the two other couples we picked up on the way outta town. Similar feelings were described as we headed for the first sight of the day, which was an abandoned steam train yard 5 kms from town. After two minutes I was done with this place. So we walk back to the jeep. It's gone. Luis our guide had explained in Spanish that he was going to pull around the train yard. None of us English speaking people had understood. Anyways we found him and I thought not a great start again.

Marc and Gabby from England, and Mick and Suzy from Ireland were our companions on the journey. They too were frazzled from the start, and after we left the train yard we drove BACK to town. What!!! Luis went into a house and said something about getting our lunch. Well prepared, I thought! Steam might have been blowing from my ears!

We finally start off towards the Salt Flats. The Salt Flats are a giant 8 meter thick layer of salt that is 12000 km squared. They are the leftovers from a huge sea that was here before the Andes mountains. When the mountains came the sea dried up and this was left. Mesmerizing to the eyes as there is no depth perception. Great photos to be had because of this amazing effect. This place is amazing. We first stop at a salt hotel and eat our lunch and try our luck at some amazing pictures.

We were treated to a wonderful lunch and things were coming together. Alpaca meat and a delicious quinoa dish along with fresh veggies and fruit. Also a Bolivian staple of Coca-cola. It was a great place to have lunch. Very unique in a building made out of salt.

We leave after lunch and head out into the middle of the Salt Flats. Very queer shapes form on the surface of the salt - octagonal rings of salt form from the rainy season's dry up. In the rainy season the Salt Flats fill with a foot of water, and in the dry season it dries up making these shapes. Luis is a master photographer and helped us get some great group shots. Next we drove to Fish Island in the middle of the salt. This place was really cool and has 1000 year old monster cactus all over it. The island was quite large and we got some great pictures as we walked around. Finished off the day with a round of beers outside enjoying this beautiful scenery!

Within fifteen minutes of leaving our sunny spot, the sun went down and the temperature dropped 20 degrees, and we were once again on the road heading to where we would sleep. This again did not seem to be planned out. We drove to about 4 or 5 places and Luis said " uno momento" and went to see if it was ok to stay. After over an hour of stopping and checking there were very few places left to check. Finally we arrived at another salt hotel, our final destination for the night.

The salt hotel was a pretty cool place to sleep. The walls and everything were made of sale, and grains of salt filled the floors and it felt like a beach. We were lucky to have our nice down feathered sleeping bags for the night because the temperature kept dropping. We had a nice meal of chicken and rice and went to sleep.

The next morning we started early and hopped in the jeep. It was a very long day of driving. We drove for a few hours and our first stop was some cool rock formations within sight of an active volcano. We could see steam coming out of the top of the mountain. The next stop was a lagoon with flamingos! For the next couple hours we drove up around and through the mountains. It was amazing to finally reach the top plateau and be at 5000 meters above sea level. The beauty of the mountains is indescribable. Our last stop of the day is Laguna Colorada, an amazing lake that is the colour of V8 juice. It's because of the plankton in the water that makes it red and more flamingoes filled it's waters. Truly a " wonder of the world".

Off to another salt building, and this time a dorm room for all 6 of us to sleep in. So separate beds for us two and four extra people in the room. We arrived much earlier than the first day so we had time to enjoy each others company. A nice dinner and a couple of bottles of Bolivian wine made for a fun night.

Our last morning we were up at 5, yes 5am, after Jessica had a rough night sleeping in the bitter cold. We packed up and headed to our final destination, which was the border to Chile. Although, we had a bit of a problem - the jeep had no heat. Freezing cold at 5 in the morning driving, we all thought we would freeze to death. We stopped by some really cool geysers that morning but were too cold to enjoy them. Our reward for the cold was a natural hot spring for sunrise. Pins and needles getting in and very hot water. Beautiful place to enjoy our last morning. We stopped at one last lagoon. Lagoon Verde was this time a green lake that was very nice, and then off to catch our bus at the border. It was an amazing adventure and something we will remember always.

Wow that's a long post! Happy reading! -Colin


Train Cemetary outside Uyuni

Starfish on the Salt Flats with our English and Irish friends

Kisses xo

9 metre tall, 1000 year old cacti

Such a stark contrast between the giant green cacti and the super flat Salt Flats


Sunset colours on the Salt Flats

The Dining Room at the Salt Hotel we slept in

Flamingoes every where!

Giant tree looking rock in the middle of the desert at 5,000 metres

Seeking shelter from the storm at Laguna Rojo. Man was it windy!

Laguna Rojo

Geysers

Laguna Verde, and the crazy multi toned volcano behind it

Bolivia - La Paz

Our first order of business in La Paz was to check in to Wild Rovers Hostel. After our quiet week in rural Peru/Bolivia, we were ready for some socializing and some city hustle and bustle, and we more than found it here. Super comfy beds, hot showers (and with good water pressure!), complimentary hair straighteners, an in-house bar, people from all over the world, and a delicious Irish menu. It's definitely a party hostel, but they also had TVs in the bar showing Olympics, so we enjoyed cheering for Canada against all the other nations over a few beers.

La Paz itself is a very busy, albeit beautiful city, as its nestled in a narrow valley that was created when all the water receded back to the ocean, leaving Lake Titicaca. As a result the streets are very San Francisco-ish, being very steep and narrow. The downtown core is in the valley bottom, and everything else is built into the surrounding slopes. This makes for gorgeous night views when all the lights are on and you are surrounded by them on all sides. We decided to head out into the craziness and check out the infamous Witch's Market. This is the place to grab all sorts of souvenirs, as well as a spell or two. Booths are setup with little tables, and each one has several little piles of what looks like herbs, string and a glittery pompom or two for good measure. The tables are all framed by dead, dehydrated baby llamas, some with skin, some just skeletons, and pungent incense that really add that perfect creepy vibe to it all. We didn't buy anything from these booths, so hopefully we didn't walk away with any curses!

We also decided to do a city tour to really see some sights, as it was proving quite diffifcult on our own due to the altitude. La Paz is over 3,600 metres high, so sometimes even rolling over in bed leaves you breathless, let alone walking up and down the super steep streets. We leisurely walked down Ave Arce and hopped on a classic red double decker tour bus, and set off to see what the city was all about. The bus had headphone jacks where you could plug into one of 6 different langauages. The English was good, although didn't always correspond to what we were seeing at the moment!

The first thing we saw/noticed, was how many and how low the powerlines were! Sitting on the top of the open bus, we definitely had to watch our heads. I don't think they ever re-wire anything - if something doesn't work, they'd just add in more wires and leave the old ones. A serious electrical nightmare, all over the entire city.

After driving for a while and hearing all kinds of history about Bolivia as a whole, seeing just how narrow and closely the city follows the valley, we got to the end where the Moon Valley is. This is where the old lake ran off through, and due to all the rain they get, has also created some crazy hoodoo/stalactite structures. We walked around these and took some pictures with the city in the backdrop for about 15 minutes, then back on the bus. After some more headphone talk, more power lines, a drive through the affluent neighborhoods, and about 20 rounds of "punch-buggy no returns" (its insane how many beetles are here!), we were back in our area of town and heading back to the Rover.

The next few days we headed north to Rurrenabaque and the jungle - see other post on this one.

Upon our return, we headed back to the Rover to get caught up on the medal counts, and catch up with a lot of the people we'd met on the jungle tour. As we were soon heading out to the barren Salt Flats in Uyuni on Sunday, and it was a Friday night, we decided to splurge on a night out at the movies and the Hard Rock Cafe. We took a taxi to the MultiCine, and got tickets to the English/Spanish subtitled new Batman - The Dark Knight Rises. It was a very western theatre, with big comfy seats, popcorn, candy and the works. And the movie, albeit almost 3 hours long, was AWESOME. Go see it if you haven't already.

After the movie we took another taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe near the Witch's Market. This area is very, very different at night. Everything is shut down and locked and wrapped up, and there's a much less relaxed vibe. We walked up to the Hard Rock Cafe, and were greeted by 6 bouncers and a $30US each cover charge. As there were about 2 people in the whole place, we said no thanks and went back to our Rover home instead.

Saturday we spent doing laundry, packing, and had one last super fun night in the Rover bar, complete with the infamous dice game and a live DJ. In total we'd spent almost 10 days in La Paz, so this last night was a great send off. Our bus left Sunday evening, so we were even able to watch the Closing Ceremonies and enjoy the Rover's Sunday chicken dinner before we set off.

Our time in La Paz may have been a little more relaxed than a lot of the journey, but we had a great time, met some fun people, and were now prepped to set off on the last half of our journey!

The Witch´s Market

Fire hazard and electrical nightmare

Valle de la Luna - Moon Valley with handsome posing man and La Paz in the background ;)

Loco Valle de la Luna

Friday 10 August 2012

Rurrenabaque aka the Jungle

We couldn't come all the way to South America without experiencing some of the Amazon jungle, so we decided to book a 3 day 2 night Pampas tour. It's based out of a little town in NW Bolivia, just on the other side of the mountains, called Rurrenabaque. It's 18-24 hours by crammed bus on sketchy Bolivian roads, so we opted for the 45 minute flight instead. However, upon reaching the airport, we were also a little surprised to realize that the plane for this short journey was a 2 propeller, 20 seater plane, in which the pilot enjoyed drastically turning from side to side as we passed over the mountains from what seemed like a mere 20 metres up, so we could "see the views". Definitely an experience! We landed in Rurrenabaque very shortly after take off onto the recently paved runway (previously grass) and got out at the airport - one single building with a shuttle waiting to take us into town. As soon as we stepped off the plane we were hit with heat and humidity again, which was a welcomed change after spending the past few weeks at such high dry altitudes.

Nervous plane ride on a 20 seater plane

The town itself is small, scenic, and full of the most motor and dirt bikes per person I've ever seen in my life. Whole families were traveling this way - I think the the record we saw was 5 on one bike, although the 3 + one woman breastfeeding while riding on the back might be the winner! The tour didnt start until the next morning, so we checked into a hostel for a nice quiet nights sleep after the super loud Wild Rover in La Paz. However, not shorty after settling down, what do we hear? Yet another marching band. I'm not sure where the thousands of kids came from for this never ending parade, but it lasted well over 2 hours!

The next morning we headed over to the tour agency to start our journey. There is lots of controversy around which companies are Eco friendly and who is sticking to the correct practices, so after some research, we decided on Indigena Tours. We arrived at the office and hopped into the 4x4 Jeep with our tour group - an Irish couple, an Englishman, and 3 English girls who were just to be with us for the first day due to a crazy tight schedule. After 3 hours of being jostled around and covered in a layer of dust in the back of the Jeep (and getting stopped to let yet another marching band pass on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere!) we were let out at the mouth of the Yacuma River where our motorized canoe was waiting. With the gear loaded up, we were off into the jungle!!

Right off the bat, we started seeing tons of animals and birds - crazily so! In the first 5 minutes we saw a dozen caiman, alligators, turtles and more birds than Colin could keep up with. This continued for the rest of the 3 hour journey, to the point where cameras went away as we were so used to seeing these foreign animals already. We also saw loads of capybaras, the worlds largest rodent, and stopped a few times to say hi to the curious, super cute little yellow capuchin monkeys who hang on branches right over the river. This whole while there were so so SO many birds flying about as well, some the size of a little chickadee, to some of the biggest ones I've ever seen in my life, stork like birds that with their long legs stand at well over 5 feet tall. Cormorants, storks, eagles, parakeets, kingfishers, tiger birds, crazy ones we're not even sure of the names of yet - Colin was a happy boy!
At one point on the river where it opened up a bit, our guide, Sam, slowed the boat down and cut the engine. He asked who wanted to go swimming? Seeing the large black caimans chilling on the shore a mere 15 feet away, and knowing the river is infested with pirañas, we all looked at him like he was crazy. Then, we heard a spout blow and saw a fin - pink river dolphins!! These guys are the kings of the river, so when they're around, nothing else swims in the same area of water. Very quickly trusting this fact in our excitement, our whole boat jumped in to the muddy waters to have a chance to swim with the pink river dolphins. They were playing shy that day, so we cooled off for 5-10 minutes, hopped back in the boat and continued to the Indigena Lodge, one of the furthest lodges up the river.

We arrived at the Lodge locate right on the bank of the river, and barely had time to drop our bags off and shkoff the waiting snack of popcorn before we were back in the canoe to head up river a little further to the sunset watching spot. Up the bank from the river is all flat fields, a lot with farmland, so we had a perfect view. There's also a little hut here selling drinks and beers, as well as a soccer pitch, where the locals challenged the gringo boys to a match. With Colin in net, the game ended in a tie, and we all had a couple beers before heading back for the cover of the Lodge from the swarms of mosquitos who bombard you as soon as the sun goes down.

We got back to the lodge to find a delicious dinner waiting for us. The food they produce in the middle of the jungle with their limited resources really is amazing! We ate, chilled and chatted for a while by candlelight after the generator was cut after 9pm, then headed to our dorms to secure our mosquito nets around our beds and go to sleep. So incredibly glad I brought earplugs and sleeping pills, as the jungle sounds and numerous sightings of arañas around this place were unreal!

The next morning we were up at 730 for breakfast, then shortly after we were being fitted with "Wellies" to head out into the swamp up on the river bank to go anaconda hunting. Yes, anaconda hunting. We tramped through all kinds of swamp, bushes, mud piles and cattle trails in the ridiculously hot sun, all the while poking in bushes and clusters of branches with our walking sticks to see if there was an anaconda hiding in there. After 3 hours of this, we were unsuccessful. Later we would learn the history of these Pampas tours and how for the 10 years they were unregulated, resulting in the mass slaughter of tons of anacondas a day, due to tourists with their loads of deet on them picking up the snakes and putting them around their necks. The deet sinks into the anaconda's porous skin, and the next day the guides would find tons of dead anacondas where they'd just taken a group. Sad for the snakes, and for us that we never got to see one, but yet another reason we went with the company who doesn't use those practices.

Once back at the lodge we had an amazing lunch with 5 different kinds of salads (yes!) presented like a fancy restaurant. We saw some different kinds of monkeys right out back of the lodge, then headed back into the canoe to head down river in search of the shy pink river dolphins. They were not shy today! We got to a very large wide, open bend in the river, and found a dozen of them splashing around and playing. We hopped in, and I didn't get out for an hour. At one point they got so close to me I almost could have reached out and touched them - although I didn't :) It was a crazy experience, as the water is so muddy you can't see anything, and the dolphins aren't small and are still wild animals, and you have no idea what else is swimming in there, even with the dolphins prescence. We got some amazing photos and videos of these beautiful creatures, and then after much reluctance, headed back to the Lodge for some much deserved R&R in the hammock room. After some monkey lounging, we headed to another beer bar/soccer field a little further down the river to watch the sunset. This time the locals "beat" the gringos, and a round of beers were bought for our hosts. Colin made some pretty amazing saves, including one with his face! Luckily no injuries, just lots of mosquito bites :) Back to the Lodge for dinner, and then our guide Sam brought us some Bolivian vino tinto to share by candlelight. Some more chit chat with our new Irish/English friends, then off to the mosquito nets for bed.

The next morning Sam woke us up at 530am so we could pile into the canoe and head downstream to the sunrise watching spot. It was surprisingly chilly at this time of day, and there was an eerie mist covering the river. The bird and insect sounds were amazing, and we got to experience the extremely tranquil vibe up on the river bank as the sun rose and the heat kicked in. Well worth the effort to get out of bed! We headed back for a quick breakfast, a change of clothes, then we were back in the canoe to head upstream to go piraña fishing. There are so many of them in the river that this is not a threat to the ecosystem. Our bait was little bits of raw beef, and as soon as you cast your piece of line into the water (no rods here) you could instantaneously start to feel nibbles. The trick was to wait for the real solid bite, then yank the line to set the hook and fling the lil bugger into the canoe. Colin was quite successful at this, catching 3 pretty quickly. After my 10th one got away, I finally managed to get one into the boat. Just as we were about to run out of bait, Colin starts shouting "Hey, I caught a stick... No wait, I caught a snake!!" Sam looks over to see what Colin has hooked on his line, and says "Woah woah, hold up!" and goes running over to grab the line and announce Colin has caught an electric eel! Needless to say, Colin won for catch of the day!

After our exciting fishing experience, we headed back for lunch, packed up, had one more hammock monkey session, then back into the canoe to start the journey back. We saw just as many animals and birds on this journey, including the dolphins showing up again, and one even waving it's flipper at us as if to say goodbye. 1.5 hours of canoe ride, 3 hours in the bouncy dusty jeep, and we were back in Rurrenabaque. As the 5 of us were all flying out the following day, we met up for dinner and drinks at the local hangout spot called the Moskkito, and had a fun night playing pool, drinking Harvey Wallbangers, and enjoying the last night of warm jungle temperatures. The next day we caught the 130pm 20 seater plane again, and after a scaring turbulent landing, made it safely back to La Paz and the Wild Rover. This was one of the best things we've done on the whole trip so far, and despite my initial reluctance to head into the araña infested jungle, I'm so glad Colin convinced Princess to go!

Turtle party

Capuchin monkey

Eagle (yet to determine name)

Capybara, the largest rodent in the world

Black caiman

Ginormous bird (yet to determine name) This thing was over 5 feet tall - largest flying bird I´ve ever seen!

Eagle (again, yet to determine name)

Sunset on the soccer pitch

Sunrise on the river

Colin´s catch of the day - an electric eel!

My first successful catch after 10 fails - a mini piraña :)