Farellones

This past weekend we somehow found ourselves with a free afternoon.  It hasn't happened in a long while and I don't foresee it happening until at least May at this point.  The question was, what to do?  With fall gaining on us quickly we knew we wanted to go outside and enjoy the weather.  On top of that, it was Holy Saturday (and in a very Catholic country that means almost everything is closed).  We decided it was a good day for a drive in the mountains so we packed up a couple of snacks and left on a whim.

We are blessed to be surrounded by the Andes mountains.  And it's kind of sad that they are almost invisible to me now since they are just a part of the everyday landscape.  They are still very impressive, they just get lost in the everydayness that is life.  But every once in awhile, you look up and there they are.  Stretching towards the clouds, sometimes reaching above them and they take your breath away.  I have spent a fair amount of time in and around them but there was one place we had yet to venture, and it was less than an hour from the house.

Farellones is only 36km (about 22 miles) from our front door to mountain top village.  Albeit a straight up, winding, hair pin curve, motions sickness inducing 22 miles.  Hence the reason that B and I had not gone up in the two years we have been there.  It is the town that is central to the three ski resorts closest to Santiago (La Parva, El Colorado and Valle Nevado).  Since we are about 5 months away from ski season here we didn't have any reason to hit the slopes at any of the big resorts but we did head to the pueblo and take advantage of the summer fun park set up for kids of all sizes.  Big kids and little.

This was probably one of the last weekends the fun park was open.  It is getting colder and crisper here each and every day in Santiago.  When you get to 8200 feet above sea level, the air gets even crisper.  It was overcast but beautiful.  And the kids were so excited when they saw that there was a zip line, horseback riding, trampolines and even a tubing slide.  They wanted to do it all but we just didn't have time.  We stuck to the safe bets - tubing and bouncing.

We all went down the tubes, the girls bounced.  We ate some Easter cookies and we stopped to view the sights along the way.

We will definitely be going back in the winter.  And the summer.  But next time we will plan ahead and spend the whole day.  Not a problem since it is so close.

They are both big enough (though Stinkerbell doesn't look it she is just under 1m or 39 inches and MadHatter is closer to 1.2m or 47 inches)

Not excited at all.

I got to go first since I wanted to take pictures of them all coming down.  Easier said than done...

Going down.  Backwards.  And trying to take a picture...

This was as close as I got to pics of them coming down.  It was fast, it was wet and it was windy.

Heading up.  They pulled you up on a lift by the strap on your tube.  I think Stinkerbell thought this was the best part of the whole ride.

Quick pic while we waited our turn for the next ride.

This time I went last to take pics from the top...

B's turn...

It flips you backwards...and fast!

Stinkerbell and I went together.  Me holding her.  She should have gone by herself since it would have been a slower ride.  My body weight pulled us down much faster than if she was alone.  She kept telling me to slow down as she was laughing.  Sure.  Slow down.  How do I do that Stinkerbell?

Everyone pulls their own weight here.

Even if it is more than you weigh.

Time to bounce.

And then we headed back down the mountain.  This time stopping to take in the views.  Which were stunning but hard to capture with the smog and cloud cover.  I did get a snap of the glacier...

And a snap with MadHatter and her favorite thing in Chile - the Caribineros.  They are the national Police force and she is in love with them.  She talks to them on the street, points them out on their motorcycles and must stop and take pictures when she sees their stations (even the remote ones)

And we kept heading down...There are 38 hairpin turns.  And they don't let you forget it.  They number each and every one of them on the way up - and the way down.  We had 20 to go.  Deep breathes from Mama's side - she doesn't do motion very well... Maybe next time I take my ear patches that I use on cruises...