Argentina Blog 2010

Tom ‘The Bomb’ Peak Leaders/Ewbank has had a bout of laziness since last week, so he has decided to pay me, Will ‘Honeyboy’ Murphy and Matt ‘Power’ Brauer two pesos each (that’s around forty pence) to write this blog. Of Course, I jest; the truth is that we felt that Tom’s role in a flat structure organization such as Peak Leaders didn’t constitute the level of responsibility that writing such an extensive body of text entails, and so we decided that it needed to be more of a ‘group effort’ (Tom – ‘well done for listening in the ILM lectures boys……but I lied, it was a hypothetical flat structure……Bariloche 09 is a hierarchical structure with me at the top and you two clowns at the very bottom’).

Young love, Matt & Will having an intimate moment

Monday was crap. Pure and simple. We spent the entire day hiking up the mountain and then snowploughing down. Whilst everyone showed certain amount of disdain for this malicious and tedious exercise, we were all constantly reminded of how this was ‘essential’ to the learning process, which it probably is, but it wasn’t much fun to say the least. It’s safe to say that the beginning of this week marked the beginning of ‘learning how to be ski instructors’. (Tom – ‘As you all know stopping and controlling speed is a fairly important part of learning to Ski, unfortunately both Will and Matt were a little rusty’)

Colo and some of the instructors

More good news – for those of you that have spent copious amounts of cash on your sons and daughters to ‘learn how to be good leaders’ the ILM course is now well underway. With great thanks to The Bomb’s late night efforts, we’re all now experts in the differences between teams and groups and the advantages and disadvantages of negative, positive AND constructive feedback. Imagine that! We just feel sorry for the poor people that aren’t learning such important life lessons as these. (Tom – ‘cheque is in the post Will’)

Tuesday was much the same as Monday, in that the snow was not only very finite, but also more akin to water than actual snow. There was one chairlift open, one poma, and just the one run, of which we took full profit, along with the other 600 holiday makers to whom Bariloche is currently home. To add insult to injury Will had the pleasure of skiing directly over a tree root, a mere two yards from the restaurant, which unbeknownst to us at the time, would be the last place we stopped that day.

Wednesday, the whole resort was closed (Tom – ‘On this day some trainees went swimming in the morning and everybody went for a meal in Bariloche for lunch’)

Whilst it may appear that we are being decidedly nihilistic, in all seriousness, the first part of the last week was somewhat disappointing. But later that evening, lady luck started to play into everyone’s favour (well ours, at least; after a night out on the town a small squadron of elite drinkers decided it would be a great idea to wake up half the hotel on time of arrival… at 3 in the morning. Resulting in a small cut on Rod’s right hand, a fat lip for Kit, an embarrassed Rosie, a screaming Milla, a petrified Sophie, an unimpressed Ben and a very angry Judith). (Tom – ‘Very lucky that I’m a heavy sleeper and that Rod (aka Big Dog) went easy on you’)

The winning streak continued into Thursday, which promised copious amounts of snowfall and some quite magnificent powder skiing through tree lines and other more challenging endeavors than Monday’s snowploughing had provided. Rod ended the day face-first in a shrub, which was the cherry on top of a cake of a day. Lara would like us to mention that she did a grab of some sort (Snowboard trick), she assures us that the ‘photo is on its way’. (Lara - 'Hi Mum').

We were even lucky enough to witness this trend continue into Friday, which brought about yet more good snow, with the small price to pay of fingers so cold they felt as though they may just drop off. The lack of time spent on the hill during the early part of the week was made up for to some extent by an uncharacteristic early start on Saturday for a little more instructed skiing.

Saturday night was messy. Barnaby Fry finally turned 18, and what could be more appropriate to celebrate than an ‘I love the 90’s’ themed night. He was born in the 90’s, so it works…..Sort of. Anyway, people made their best efforts to dress as if brit-pop was still rife, but to be honest, it tended just to involve people wearing the least ordinary clothes they had brought with them from the U.K. – an underlying dress code that will most likely dominate future themed nights. Nevertheless, the birthday boy definitely had a good time. As did most people, which was indicated by the subsequent lack of bodies at breakfast the next morning. (Tom – ‘I’d like to mention that a small group of the more mature and culturally experienced trainees, pictured below, went to the ‘Fiesta de las Colectividades Europeo Argentinas’ where they proceeded to drink every drink in the European backcatalogue and represent the UK, who hadn't been invited to take-part in the celebrations. Unsuprisingly Will and Matt found themselves in a cheesy/sleezy nightclub as usual’)

Until next time…

Lots of love Matt and Will....................(and Tom)
xxxxxx

As this is the first of many blogs I'm not entirely sure what tone of voice I should take and what exactly you want to hear, but bear with me!
Firstly you'll be happy to hear that everybody has arrived safely in Bariloche and despite the concern about Swine Flu everybody appears healthy, if a little hung-over and tired from last nights antics. So where do I start! As you know the majority of the team departed from the new and very smart looking Terminal Five; which despite being full of expensive shops selling an endless array of expensive handbags, fragrances and electronic goods the trainees resisted and quickly descended upon the bar to indulge in a cold beverage. After a minor scare and a quick call to a worried, but not entirely surprised Mum, everybody boarded the Plane and we were off.

You leave them to their own devices for 5 minutes and this is what happens....

On arrival at Eze Airport we were greeted by Colo, my right-hand man, where we boarded the buses and made our way to the Hotel Zentra in downtown Buenos Aires. Argentina was uncharacteristically cold; everybody wore jackets, scarf’s, gloves and wooly hats which wasn’t what I’d envisaged. Like the majority of trainees I’d expected humidity, palm trees, maracas and Mojito’s. Nevertheless Buenos Aires really is a massive cultural melting pot of European and South American cultures; it definitely had a metropolitan buzz about it which some South/Central American cities don’t have. Nevertheless, you can’t help but notice the South American stereotypes which appear around every corner; the large French/Spanish colonial architecture and tall, clean-lined glass office blocks mixed with rickety favella-type buildings; the fleets of brand-new Audi’s and VW’s sharing the lawless roads with large petrol-hungry trucks painted with Juan or Jorge in large letters across the windscreen, it’s not uncommon to see gangs of men pushing sketchy looking trailers down the cities 8 lane carriage-ways.

Look interested guys!

The Chica's at Puerto Madero

On Saturday we woke early to board another flight which in just a couple of hours would fly us to Bariloche. The views throughout this flight were magnificent; from the gridded streets of Buenos Aires through the vast empty expanse of the Patagonian Desert (where I didn’t see a road or house for at least 90 minutes) to the snow capped volcanic peaks of the Andes, which literally appeared from nowhere. At Bariloche airport we were met by Ivan who proceeded to load his poor little pick-up truck with over 70 pairs of skis; once this was done we boarded the buses and followed Ivan’s buckled vehicle through the town of Bariloche to our beautiful lake-side hotel. Words really can’t describe how beautiful the setting for the hotel is; a deep blue lake surrounded by thick wooded mountains and snowy peaks. Once we’d thrown our belongings into our rooms we gathered for a quick welcome from Ivan and his band of merry Argentine’s then enjoyed an Argentine BBQ with all the trimmings, including Dan’s toffee Birthday Cake….delicious. As a number of the trainees had forgone the previous nights entertainment a large group headed in Bariloche town centre to see what all the hype was about…..they weren’t disappointed, until the following morning!

Today has been a little overcast but we’ve managed to make the most of it. The majority of the day was spent walking up the muddy back-route to Cerro Cathedral where the trainees were fed with Beef goulash and other German delicacies; it was strange to see such strong Germanic culture in a small mountain resort in South America. This evening a number of local mountain safety experts lectured to the group about the causes and dangers of Avalanches; it was enjoyed by all trainees despite their mass exodus when it was announced that food was about to be served. At present it’s raining very heavily outside the hotel lobby and despite the fact I’m not looking forward to getting soaking wet on route to bed I’m reassured that Cerro Cathedrals slopes are getting a healthy dusting of snow.
 

I'll be posting the next blog within the next couple of days so stay tuned!

Tom