Our weekend in Chile was completely free of 3M work obligations, but the crew wasn’t going to let us sit around and not really experience Chile – at 10am we were picked up at our hotel along with some of the other 3M travelers and we were off to the coast! We left Santiago and about two hours later, we were enjoying the best known resort town of Vina Del Mar where we stayed at the Miramar Sheraton, which was styled in a minimalist design and a quite different feel from our first hotel in Santiago. However, this one had a view of the ocean that was amazing! And, a balcony to take it all in with. The waves crashing against the rocks, the Chilean Naval ships in the water, giant pelicans – just amazing, and calming.
After our check-in, we rejoined the group and were then whisked up the beautiful coastline, with some construction detours, to the small coastal town of Concon. Such a fun little town, teeming with seafood restaurants and shops. Quite in the winter, but I’m sure swarming in the summer months! We went to a fabulous restaurant called Calypso. It hangs over the shore with amazing views of the water. We gorged ourselves in delicious seafood, the table favorite seemed to be the mussels covered – more like smothered in parmesan cheese. The few times I’ve had muscles, I thought they were horrendous. But, willing to take one for the team and experience the culture, I tried one, timidly. OH MY GOSH! AMAZING. This was evidenced by the six subsequent platters that showed up, one after another. We were addicted. I also tried the local fish favorite – loco. That was okay, but I wasn’t floored by it. There were other seafood savories that we all shared but in the end, I ordered a salad and steak smothered in cheese. I needed some of my own comfort food, the amount of seafood I’d already ingested was more than I’ve had in the year leading up to the trip.
A kayaking class and brown pelican.
Parking is a little tight.
That afternoon, we took an organized tour of Valparaiso. It was part English, mostly Spanish but I really enjoyed the sights. We toured the house of Nobel Prize winning poet, Pablo Neruda. His artistic qualities surely shone in his house through his eccentric decor. We couldn’t take indoor photographs, but the views were free for the snapping and quite amazing.
After seeing the house, the sun was setting so we ventured around town to view some stunning sights from higher up the coast as the lights came on. Quite beautiful. We then took off up the hill to take one of the funiculars back down. The funicular is basically a small train car that travels a very steep set of rails up and down a hill. They were built over a hundred years ago to help lift people up and down the hill because walking the hills is just brutal. They still run now, more as a tourist attraction, but they’re quite neat. Beautiful wooden cars, great views up top, creaky and steep!
The view going downhill and the power behind the lift.
Loran and I separated from the group for dinner and enjoyed a nice, leisurely meal with a quick call to talk to Ella to start the evening. Once again, great food, giant portions – salad, pasta, bread. YUMMY!
After a restful night and a nice walk along the coast to enjoy the waves, we were off again. We made a stop in town to Parque Quinta Vergara to visit a former palace for the man who had founded Vina Del Mar and grounds that was just gorgeous. Unfortunately, the palace sustained quite a bit of damage during the 8.8 magnitude earthquake last year. Aside from this one building, you wouldn’t know that only a year ago in February, they had experienced such a violent earthquake. To hear of our hosts’ experiences was terrible. One was clutching his small son as things fell from the walls surrounding them and the other thought he would die that morning. Yet, the country has rebounded amazingly well thanks to their great engineering, and an amazing rebuilding effort because I understand many of the major highways and roads in Santiago sustained severe damage. So, to see the damage on this building was sad, but still a testament to how much worse things could have been. Hidden on the grounds, virtually out of sight until you’re nearly upon it is a giant amphitheater. Every February it hosts the Festival of Song which is a giant concert/festival spanning a few days that hosts 30,000 people a day. It was so neat. Yet, I have absolutely no idea where anyone would park for the festival as this park is hidden in a neighborhood and there aren’t a lot of parking spots anywhere.
We were then off to a vineyard/winery tour at Vina Indomita. It was beautiful, even in winter, lacking actual growing vines. Up on a hill with amazing views and a great tour; we learned a lot, tasted a lot and ended the tour with yet another fantastic meal. I really like the Chilean style of eating. Big breakfast, GIANT, long lunch and then a small dinner around 9pm. Makes more sense to me as far as digestion and actually using your food as fuel.
We got to drink right from the steel tanks!
Once we wrapped up the wine tour and lunch, Loran and I purchased a case of wine to bring home for our party (two days after arriving back home). We loaded up and all headed back towards Santiago.
After checking back into the San Cristobal Tower, we immediately went back out to explore the giant park behind our hotel. It was, of course, on a steep hill. We walked quite a bit, past their small little zoo as all of the families were pouring out at 6, and to their funicular going up the hill. Once again, amazing views of Santiago along with a chapel on the top of the hill with a giant illuminated white statute of The Virgin Mary. It was all spectacular to see.
The city was pretty clear, affording us views of the Andes. Because they’re basically sitting in the bottom of a geological bowl, they collect smog quite easily. And a view going up the hill on the funicular, I like the sense of motion in the photo...but it actually goes quite slow.
We took the funicular back down the hill, walked around that neighborhood a bit then finally decided to get a cab in search of some pizza. Unfortunately, our first choice was closed for the night, but we did stumble across a great place near our hotel. We decided to get a pizza for take-out to bring back to our room. We cuddled in that evening with a sausage pizza…or so we thought, then we lifted the lid of the box. We learned a very valuable lesson. Apparently, in other cultures, sausage is actually hotdogs. Yes, our pizza was covered in cut up hot dogs. :( Luckily, they were easy to pick off and the pizza underneath was still quite good. But really…that’s just gross.
Our weekend was just fabulous. I did have one breakdown over being tired of not understanding Spanish. Luckily, that was short lived. It was great to have tour guides to drive us about, show us some of their favorite places and get a local perspective that we would have missed out on. After that weekend, despite the long flight, I’d go back to Chile. It’s just spectacular…even in the “dead” of winter.
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