CHILE-- Part 2. (part 1 below)
Finally we landed in Dallas and taxied ever so slowly to our gate.. it was literally painful waiting to hear the ding signaling that the seat belt sign was off and we were free to move about the aircraft. But we finally heard the ding and all 60 of us just about sprinted off the plane, up the ramp, into the airport, and to our next gate. With barely any time to even scan our tickets, we were finally on the plane to Santiago, AND the storm was clearing up. It was looking like luck was turning in our direction... but we were deceived once again.
We waited, and waited, and waited, for 2 more hours. Then over the intercom in English and then in Spanish, the pilot told us the predictable "sorry for the delay", but they regretted to tell us that we would be delayed further because they were trying to get someone of the plane who wasn't fit for flying, AND they were waiting for clearance from the airport that they could fly because apparently pilots have certain hours during which they can fly, but otherwise they are supposed to be resting so it is not dangerous for the passengers. Once again it made perfect sense that the pilots were not super human and they needed rest too, but that doesn't mean it wasn't inconvenient all the same. We waited another half hour, by then it was around 11:45 PM, and the pilots were all the sudden telling us to get off the plane because they had exceeded their flying time and the flight was canceled.. UGH! So the 60 of us got of the plane, this time sluggishly because we were tired and annoyed, just like the other unhappy flyers.
We waited around for some news of a different flight to Santiago, and found out that we would be flying in the morning at 9:00. That meant we had to spend the night in the airport, which is an experience in and of itself. We were all picking our spots in the gate lounge when we heard someone announcing that there were cots available to sleep on. Hearing this we all sprinted to the site of the cots, grabbed one along with a blanket, and settled down for a not very sound night of sleep. By the time the bulk of us fell asleep, it was around 2-3 AM and most of us only slept for 3 hours. Maybe 5 at the max. It was not by any means comfortable, but it was a learning experience and we all stayed calm and cooperative so everything went smoothly.
By 9:30 the next morning we were on our way to Santiago flying in clear skies and eating the wonderful airplane breakfast. Oh ya, I forgot to mention that we had only had 1 somewhat decent meal since that time the day before, and being ski racers who live off of food, we were hungry to put it mildly. We slept a bit on the 10 hour plane ride, but how much can you really sleep on a plane? So we were also exhausted when we taxied to the gate in Santiago that evening.
We all luckily got our bags at baggage claim after going through customs, and had loaded the buses and trucks around 2 hours later. But it took another hour for the coaches and drivers to decide if we had time to stop at the JUMBO supermarket on the way up to Valle Nevado. They decided that since many of us had things we needed to buy, we would stop at a 24 hour gas station that had everything we needed. 2 hours later, we were on the road again, by that time it was midnight.. and we still had a 2 hour, windy, inconsistent speed, narrow drive up to Valle. Lucky for me, I was asleep the second I got back onto the bus after buying food, so I was able to miss the nauseous feeling that many people get on that crazy road. I was woken up by a cold rush of wind that send chills down my spine... the sign that the bus doors had opened and we had arrived to our destination.
After around 36 hours of traveling, we were finally in the beautiful mountains that are the Andes. That camp went wonderfully once we got started - blue skies, perfect snow.. and even a little bit of POWDER! Of course, it was a bit inconvenient having to stop every 4-5 turns because I couldn't breathe at such a high altitude! But it was all worth it the second I put my skis on the snow."
.)) Mikaela Shiffrin
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