Foreign students working at Eaglecrest trade Christmas Eve traditions for neon lights and lasagna

Linet Meza, 24, is a former member of Peru’s national handball team now double-majoring in art design and marketing. But at the moment she’s spending the winter months as a ski instructor at Eaglecrest Ski Area, where instead of a traditional Christmas Eve gathering with family she’s helping her fellow foreign employees make a holiday feast of lasagna and pizza.

Meza is among the 26 employees in the J-1 student visa worker program Eaglecrest is reviving for a second season, after temporarily suspending the program previously used for several years. Like many co-workers, she cited Alaska’s natural beauty and cultural intrigue as reasons to come — which in Juneau on Christmas Eve meant going out onto a rainy ski slope at dusk clad in holiday lights and neon to participate in the annual Torchlight Parade.

“At least in my country it’s really attractive, the American culture,” she said while still indoors before the procession. That said, at the time she applied for a ski resort job in Alaska “I didn’t know they had this much rain. But I was really excited for the winter here. Alaska is a really huge name, at least in my country. It’s like you’re going to visit penguins, or something like that.”

Meza said this is her fourth time in the U.S. via the J-1 program — which offers temporary visas to students, teachers and others for cultural exchange purposes — working the other times in different states in the Lower 48. She said one of the main educational incentives is improving her English since speaking two languages is a graduation requirement at her university, that as an athlete she learned to ski well enough to be an instructor while living for a time in Chile, and her artistic side is hoping to photograph much of the area.

Christmas occurs during Peru’s summer and one of the season’s traditions is the Chocolatada where people with means bring spiced hot chocolate and panetón to those with less. Other traditions are similar to the U.S. such as Christmas Eve Mass and a feast that may include ham or turkey (and perhaps tamales).

Eaglecrest’s J-1 employees, rather than trying to import their homeland traditions here, are opting for a communal celebration where they divide into two groups to make each of the ostensibly Italian centerpiece dishes. Some are planning to branch out more during Christmas Day, when Eaglecrest is closed.

“Tomorrow we probably want to go to the glacier,” said Mapu Moreno, 26, a ski rental shop worker from the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil.

More than 100 people — a large percentage of them kids — took part in Christmas Eve activities at Eaglecrest including indoor crafts and music before the Torchlight Run, when many of those gathered took the Porcupine lift to the top of the Muskeg Run and then skied down in a colorfully lit line. The last down the mountain was Santa, guided in the dark by Rudolph, who then handed out presents to kids back in the main lodge at the base.

Two of the lift operators, David Quirós, 26, and Gabriel Aguila, 20, are both J-1 employees from Costa Rica, where the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass is known as “Misa de Gallo” (Mass of the Rooster) and tamales can also end up being part of the traditional feast. Both said they’d likely be spending Christmas Eve with their families if they were in their tropical homeland, but since they’d never skied before arriving in Juneau — let alone operated a resort’s equipment — being able to say they’ve done both is quite a gift.

“It’s a wild spot,” Aguila said.

“We see the mountains in the movies or something like that — it’s like a dream to come here,” Quirós said.

Learning to operate a chairlift involves some technical training — which can be a bit more complicated for someone when English is their second language — but Aguila and Quirós said that’s not the biggest challenge of the job.

“The most complicated part is if you are not a person who can be outside in the cold,” Aguila said, adding so far he’s acclimating just fine.

All of the workers interviewed came from Central or South America, similar to last year’s program that had 22 participants. The applicants are referred by a sponsor organization from the participating countries, said Erin Lupro, director of the ski area’s snowsports school, rental, retail and repair operations.

“They find us the candidates that have an interest in coming to Alaska,” she said.

Lupro said she interviewed about 35 applicants before hiring the 26 scheduled to work this season — including five or six who also worked at Eaglecrest last year — among a total staff of more than 150 employees. While the applicants cite the novelty and adventure as a lure, Lupro said the J-1 program significantly helps Eaglecrest due to ongoing workforce shortages that are plaguing many industries both in Juneau and statewide.

Adding to the workforce woes is Eaglecrest’s wages are below the industry average, a source of concern and complaint by some resort and city officials who in recent years have implemented some increases in pay. One way the resort is trying to appeal to J-1 workers is a program that offers housing at the University of Alaska Southeast, plus an effort this year to immerse them into community activities when they’re not on the job.

“We’ve created a bunch of different what we call cultural activities that they’ve never done before,” she said. “So we consider this one event — you know, we might celebrate Christmas differently. We are going ice skating. We do trips to the museum. We’re bowling. And then last year they did the polar plunge.”

Helping kids make holiday decorations inside the lodge before the Torchlight Parade was Maria Laura Guollo Martins, 22, another Urussanga resident working in Eaglecrest’s rental shop. Fittingly for Christmas Eve, she cited spiritual inspiration for her decision to spend the winter in Juneau.

“I hoped to stay in a place where the people are friendly and the city is good,” she said. “And when I chose, when I (saw) Alaska, I had this feeling — I think it was God — like ‘choose here.’”

Perhaps in reaffirmation, Martins said on Friday she met a Brazilian woman who’s been living in Juneau for a decade who invited her to Christmas Day Mass. Meanwhile, Martins said during a typical Christmas Eve at home “we are just my family, without friends” — so what she was experiencing during Eaglecrest’s celebration was an entirely different thing.

“Here I like it because it’s like many families together doing things like the kids decorating, the treats, Santa Claus — very nice,” she said.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.