Day 3, Be resourceful

Hola. Bread and coffee always seem to be the way to start the day in life, no matter what country you’re in. Big in Argentina, same in Europe and breakfast in the States are all pretty similar. It’s just a matter of what you put on it. I dig the Nutella action, but dulce de leche is about all they serve…caramel, essentially. Enough sugar for the morning buzz to kick in. Enough to at least get me to the mountain.

A half day at Cerro Catedral is really all we wanted to do. None of us have much desire to ride much here anymore. Conditions are crap and the snow is heavy even by NW standards. Sure, I’m a spoiled Utah kid, but it’s just not fun to ride in that kind of snow. Mud boarding is a reasonably popular sport out here. It’s pretty simple: when you’re on your skis or snowboard, find a patch of mud and ride through it, but try to avoid the big rocks. Fortunately, you don’t need an extra ticket for mud boarding because it’s guaranteed here at Catedral when you hit the base area. Booyah.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a ski resort that’s enforced a leash law, but the liftie demanded I put it on before getting on a lift. I’m all, yeah, ok, it’s in my backpack. Ok, so I really can’t remember the last time I owned a leash. Just kidding, I can. It was at Crystal Mtn about 4 years ago and I had to fork over 8 bucks for a leash I used only for one chairlift ride to make the liftie happy. Similar tricks were pulled today. Except, hey, we’re in a foreign country, so American leashes are different, right? And with a little knot tying, my beacon strap became my new leash for the lift ride up. Nice. Liftie was satisfied and I went on my merry way.

As Barry and co. opened up their small-business snowboard shop at the base of the hill selling off their gear, I got enough time on the hill to realize I’m over it. Over Bariloche. It’s been decent here, I guess (again…spoiled Utah kid), but even Barry agreed that this place is about as fun as playing with poop on a stick.

After hitchhiking a ride back to town, we decided to rethink the Argentina plan. Barry has been talking about the storm coming to Chile next week. Sounds like our travels might take us up that way. Not very stoked on hopping back on the public bus with my gear and another 17 hour bus ride, but it might just be worth it..and what’s a trip without a little spontaneity? If we do the Chile thing, we’ll leave tomorrow evening, but plans are in the works now.

So, with the end of Bariloche upon us, I went to the downtown area and bought way too much chocolate tonight. But a touch of vino and chocolate makes everything ok in the end.