Chile, Vina del Mar

I am such a lucky girl because every once in a while my husband has business trips to exotic places and I get to go! I love to visit new places. In fact, one of the reasons (just one of many) that I married Jim was because he promised to take me all over the world. I'm happy to report that he has kept his promise.

The latest adventure began on February 27. We flew on four different flights for a total of 28 hours to Santiago, Chile. We checked into our hotel, the Santiago Intercontinental, enjoyed long hot showers, and took a picture of our thousands of peso dollars. We felt so wealthy!:) Actually, to put it into perspective, a knit cap cost 6,000 pesos which translated to about five dollars.

Our first meal in Chile was at a tapas restaurant located around the corner from the hotel. The meal, consisting of finger foods, was delicious. We were impressed with our first experience with beef tartar (raw marinated beef) and fresh chilimoya juice (a fruit unique to Chili).

After a great night's sleep in a wonderful "cloud bed", we enjoyed a delicious fresh fruit filled breakfast (both courtesy of the hotel). We tasted our first South American "tuna" which is actually the fruit of a prickly pear cactus. We then embarked on a bus tour of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Both cities are located on the western coast of Chile just an hour and a half from Santiago.

Before reaching our destination, we traveled through downtown Santiago which was clean, modern and very European. At the edge of the city, we saw ramshackle homes crammed together and stacked on top of each other. We drove through a lush agricultural area (fresh produce is the major export) with vast fields filled with vineyards, gardens and orchards.

The sight that met our eyes when we arrived in Vina del Mar was totally unexpected. Maybe we could attribute it to the gray skies but instead of the tropical garden paradise we were expecting, we saw a drab, hilly city covered with a jumble of faded homes and buildings. When we got out of the bus to see the the waterfront area, we were met with cool temperatures in the mid sixties. Luckily, Jim had brought a jacket which he graciously let me wear.

The "palace" is actually a presidential residence.

The park by the casino was beautiful.

Here's our tour bus in front of the casino.

The "castle" on the hill above the hotel was the police station.

Next, we hit the beach. The water is always too cold for swimming but it is usually a popular tourist destination.


It definitely wasn't crowded that day!


We stopped at the Fonck Museum of Archeology and Natural History and saw the only Easter Island Maui on South America's mainland.

We managed to squeeze in a quick tour of the museum....

...before climbing back into the bus to continue on to Valparaiso.
Although Vina del Mar wasn't exactly what we had expected it to be, it had been a fascinating place to visit.