Back to the Basketball

Today I played basketball for the first time in about 15 months. The last time I fell badly and dislocated my ankle from my leg. It was ugly, painful and put me in crutches for a month, physical therapy for weeks and off the court, bike, trails, even the sidewalk! But I've recoved. There is of course a need to be careful. I can't go for every rebound like Dennis Rodman used to do. But I can once again play. Feels great.

Looking Down on the City

Photo by Kyle Weaver

It's been about a month and a half since I made it up to the top of San Ramon with a great group of guys. We ended up being eight, and managed to start the first day, about a six hour hike, pretty late around 4pm. The darkness turned it into an 8 hour climb this night. The end of the hike wasn't exactly pleasent. I struggled on each step up and the darkness only played more tricks on my tired mind and body. But on above me were the Andes, lit up by a lightening storm ever so and then. And the view over the valley as I passed the last bit of rock obstacles near the top shortly before midnight was grandiose. 6 million people and all their lights, all over a kilometer below me.

Chile vs Bolivia photo

As I mentioned on my last post we went to the Chile - Bolivia game last week. Chile won squarely 4-0. Plenty of goals to celebrate. Another win and another step towards the World Cup in South Africa next year. It's been fun to watch them play and this game was no exception.

Vamos Chile

The Chilean soccer team hosts Bolivia today and I've got tickets. Chile has played exceptionally well the last few games and is looking very good to qualify for the world cup. They even beat the top ranked team in South America, Paraguay, last Saturday. Should be a good game. VAMOS CHILE!

Getting back to the bike

Last weekend I made it out to Huinganal, an area in La Dehesa witha a great set of mountain bike trails. It had been a while since the last time I'd been out there, and I had the same reaction that I did the last time I went overa year ago: Why do I not come out here more often?

Chile's hills, cerros and mountains are well suited the adventerous biker. The sport seems to be gaining a lot of momentum. Huinganal for one was packed, and this last summer saw the opening of the first downhill bike park near Santiago in La parva, one of the ski resorts located on the edge of the Andes.

The photos below are from the 2009 Panamerican Mountain Bike Championship, which were held in March up at La parva. These guys are fearless. There were riders from all over the Americas. (check out the article I wrote about it in Revista Revolver.
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The travel blog dilemma: what’s the next step?

Today I should really start with that line but it would just be too obvious. My blogging suffers as a second tier activity in my life. No matter what it is that I seem to be doing with my day, the blogging never will get to be first in line. Even when I’m working in something that appears similar the blog gets less priority. In fact the more similarity my day tasks are, for example writing short articles for BNamericas nearly killed this blog, the less willing I am to focus on updating when the day’s work comes to a close.

There is another dilemma at the heart of all this. Why keep the blog? When I first started this blog back in November 2004 it was an unapologetic travel blog. Look at those stray dogs! The fresh fruit is cheap! The Plaza de Armas has a cathedral, etc, etc.

But as time goes by the day to day life in Chile appears less noteworthy. It’s a natural process of growing more comfortable with my surroundings. It’s a good thing, but it means that some of the things, or many I should say, that were a source of inspiration upon my arrival today are just another part of the backdrop.

So what’s next? I don’t know the answer to that one. I follow some other expat themed blogs here. There are several I like, others I don’t care much for. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of keeping a blog that serves as a sounding board for complaints and gripes. For me it has to have something more than just comments on the slow service, something else that appeals to the positive side of life, although the negative will always be there as well.

So, if after all this delay, you, dear reader, are still coming back here, I hope to promise you some things like:

Links to articles I’m writing on Revolver. These articles have a life/cultural/arts focus. Much different than my work at Yankee Group writing market research reports or my breaking news stories at BNamericas. They are definitely a more engaging article to write, although I still do like to talk about mobile handsets.

Photos, photos. I love to take photos. There are many that haven’t really seen the light of day and this is a good place to share them.

What else? I think that’s what is a bit unclear. Exactly what direction to take this blog in its post-travel era….