Nordic Skiing at Cerro Catedral

A view of Cerro Catedral from home.  By late June, the snow pack was a foot or two deep and the lifts opened a couple weeks later.  The base area is at 1,000m (which is just about at snowline these days); the ridge top is 2,100m.  The Nordic trails are at treeline to the left in the photo, just behind the silhoutte of near trees.

In the base area, heading to the gondola for a ride to the Nordic trails.

While we're skiing up in the mountains, the lowlands are sunny and dry, often shorts and T-shirt weather.

Hans Peter with a view of Lake Nahuel Huapi in the distance.

The Club Andino crew of older juniors with a range of expertise.   The group travels once or twice a year to regional races, mostly just enjoy informal skiing at Cerro Catedral.   

The Club Andino Bariloche junior Nordic team is directed by Lola Lovisolo and her husband, Julio Moreschi.  During the summer months, they take a small number of Argentine national team skiers to Europe to train during the Northern Hemisphere winter.

Julio was an Argentine Olympic Nordic skier during the Sarajevo and Calgary winter games.

During the 2 week winter vacation from school, the Club Andino has 20-30 skiers that attend a Nordic camp with full-day sessions for instruction in classic and skate technique.    

Here's the whole crew down at the Club's base area lodge where they have lockers and a cafeteria for break time.

Hans and Marco towing an unsuspecting victim.

Ooops!

Annalise got to join the younger crew.

Lola does a fantastic job with a large number of young skiers, teaching technique while making sure everyone  has fun at the same time. 

Patricia and I were able to ski with the kids on our own a few times as well.

Winter Has Arrived!

By late June, the mountains were receiving consistent snowfall above 1,500 meters every few days.  In lower elevations like near our house, it was cool at night, but sunny and in the 60's by day and snow-free.

In the first week of July, we received our first snowfall in town.

We hadn't seen snow in a year and a half, so it was pretty exciting.  

Happy Fourth of July!!  On this big day, when back home we're often dressed in shorts and T-shirts, enjoying summer in Montana, here we had our first day on skis!  The roads in town were slippery enough so that the schools were closed, so the kids had a special day off.

This ski center has just 4 kilometers of trails, but the setting is beautiful.

And the warming hut has great food and an inviting fireplace! 

Lionel Messi and the Argentine National Team in Buenos Aires

In June, Patricia and I took the kids to Buenos Aires for their first visit to the capital city.  It was partly a trip to celebrate the birthdays of Patricia and Hans Peter, and fortuitously, it happened a few days into a 5 day period in which the entire city of Bariloche was without natural gas after an accidental break in the main supply line to the area.  Winter was approaching, so the nights were cold and heating the house with the fireplace only took the edge off of the chill in the house.  And there was no hot water for showers, so it was a little bit like winter camping in your own house!

The trip was planned around seeing Lionel Messi play with the Argentina national soccer team in a World Cup qualifying match against our other favorite team, the Ecuador national team.  The game took place a couple days after we arrived, so we had some time for a tour of the city to learn about the history of the city and the early days of Argentine independence.  And the kids prepared a short report about the trip to present to their teachers when they returned so they wouldn't feel too guilty for being gone.

We stayed at the Plaza Hotel, a grand old hotel where, in its heyday, visiting dignitaries like Theodore Roosevelt, Charles De Gaulle, and Indira Gandhi stayed.

One our first day, the priority was to buy some soccer paraphernalia and a few other trinkets.

And we stopped for lunch at Cafe Tortoni, established in 1858.  

For country bumpkins like us, riding the underground metro was a great adventure.

We visited the San Telmo district where there are street markets and a famous antique fair on Sundays at the Plaza Dorrego. 

We went back to see this street performer that I saw when visiting the city back in April with Mom, Liese,and Laura.  He starches his clothes to make it look like he is walking in gale force winds!

And of course we visited the Recoleta cemetery to see the grave site of Eva Peron.

There is a strong Italian influence on Argentine food in Buenos Aires, and many old time restaurants with lively wait staff.  Here we're enjoying a chicken dish and pizza.

This gigantic solar-powered flower sculpture has petals that slowly open with the sunrise and gradually close again at sunset.

And then we would eat again!  This is one of my favorite lunch spots near the Recoleta cemetery.

From the hotel, we were able to walk to the Presidential Palace on the Plaza de Mayo which has been the center of government since Argentina established independence from Spain in 1810.

And we were fortunate to be able to tour inside the Palace.

Right up there in historical status with Eva Peron is Diego Maradona of the Argentine national soccer team of the 1970-80's.  He has his own little shrine down the hall from the President's office.

We even were able to visit the president's office (since we were touring on the weekend when the president is at her home).  

Patricia, posing with a royal guard on the balcony overlooking the Plaza de Mayo where Eva Peron was known to address large crowds in the 1940's-50's.

And here is evidence of the history portion of our visit to share with Hans' and Annalise's school teachers back in Bariloche.  

And then came the MAIN attraction.  Since all Argentines are devout national team soccer fans, we shared these photos with the kids' teachers, as well.  The anticipation of this game for us was huge.  It was hard to believe that we were actually going to be able to see Lionel Messi perform live, before our eyes, and in a game that would help determine whether they make it to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.  

We arrived after sunset by bus in bumper to bumper traffic in downtown Buenos Aires.  The game was held at the Monumental Stadium, home of the popular River Plate club team of Buenos Aires.  We walked with throngs of chanting fans for several blocks before entering the stadium to see the bright lights and green pitch, along with the crowd of 50,000 cheering fans.

It was both exciting and a bit sad to see Messi and his team go up against our other favorite team, Ecuador.  And we were not sure how the people around us might react if we cheered for an Ecuadorian goal!  

At the time, Ecuador had a FIFA ranking of 36 in the world, while Argentina was ranked 7th.  There were no surprises during the match with Argentina winning the game 4-0.  And Messi was a major force in the game, scoring one of the goals and serving as a constant threat for Ecuador to contend with.

       

   Footage of our walk to the stadium.

 

                                          Pre-game ceremonies.

             

Messi in the middle of the frame doing what he does best.

If you blink you'll miss the goal early in the clip!