Skiing and Other Festivities

So after checking out the streets of Valparaiso, we decided to head into the mountains for our last adventure with the vehicle. We made our way back towards Santiago and kept going east up the mountain valley. We parked for the night by a nice old farmers place to get one last sleep in Gringa. It the morning, we made our way up the winding road to the ski hill. It was getting later in the season, but apparently they had more snow this year than they usually do. I remember seeing a picture of Santiago earlier in the year and it was white which doesn't happen very much.




























It was more expensive to ski there than it would be in Canada. The hill itself was alright. There was a lot of Brazilians there. Most of whom it sounded like had never seen snow before, so their skiing skills weren't that high but as usual they were having fun.




































It took us all morning to find where there was some nice snow. A lot of the hills had untouched snow but there was a crust on top which made it easy to catch an edge and fall. Just before lunch Roberta found some good ground and we spent the afternoon skiing there which was good fun.






























































One last shot of our dependable wheels.

After catching our last run, we headed back down to Santiago. We picked up a couple of girls hitchhiking and they gave us a tip on how to avoid the tolls in the city. We were staying at an AirBnB that wasn't close to downtown but was close to a metro station so we could get downtown quite easily.

We had booked it for a week as we had to now sell the vehicle and we didn't know how long that was going to take. It was hard to believe that we had been on the road with our vehicle for 6 months. We were so lucky as to not have any break downs. Not even a flat tire over that span. Over the weekend we had a few Chileans and a few foreigners look at the vehicle but no one bought it. We decided that we would get the same guys who helped us buy it to help us sell it so we could continue on our journey. But before we left we had to take part in the "Deciocho" festivities which celebrates Chilean independence. It was a good way to give Chile a proper goodbye.

There was a weekend of festivities going on. The first day, we headed down to Park O'Higgins. It was full of families and all kinds of people. There were tents set up everywhere, some full of BBQ stations and others with games. There was rides and tents playing traditional music while everyone inside did traditional dancing. In the grandstand, there was reenactments of battles of the past along with a lot of horse shows. We had a fun day talking to lots of random people.


















Why not strap a machine gun to a mule’s back?









The ugliest equine I have ever seen.









Checking out the Chilean army displays


















Roberta practicing for next Great Friday's marshmallow shooting competition as she was unable to defend the championship this past year.








Army reinactments.




























The next day we headed to a different park to check out something new. This place was more about having a lot of BBQs and places to drink and dance. There was a large stage in which people were playing live music all day. We endulged ourselves with a few beverages and made conversation with random people.



























Roberta enjoying some "terramotos"



























We ran into a lot of Venezuelans. Most having left the country because of the conflicts. It was pretty amazing but also sad to hear all of their stories. Don't worry Mom and Dad, we are not going there.
After all the festivities were over, we signed the vehicle over to the boys to sell for us. It was a return to the backpacking lifestyle again. We then hopped on the plane to Quito, Ecuador....
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