Into our mini van this morning with our team – Carolina and Juvernal.
J struck a bit of traffic so was running late – time for me to run to the supermercado following a last minute request from home for some maté tea.
Fascinating to see the ads on buses and along the freeway – lots of the same multinationals with a spanish twist.
Out of Santiago, past an abandoned copper mine (Chile’s number one mineral, with number two being Lithium) through the mountains via a long tunnel into the Curaciví Valley – rich agricultural area – avocados, lemons/citrus, strawberries. With avocado farmers taking most of the limited water available to produce a key Chilean export.
Lots of olives – Chile produces some of the highest quality (low acidity) olive oil.
Casablanca valley – vineyards – mainly white – Chardonnay/Sauv Blanc/Pinot Noir.
There was a fog in the valley. Prevailing winds mean the mountains on the right are greener with more trees due to the moisture in the fog.
Valparaiso and Vino del Mar are sister cities. Valparaiso was home to the most important harbour until the Panama Canal changed things. Vino del Mar was a resort city for the rich about 200 years later. 300k and 200k population respectively.
VDM has a famous music festival which has seen some pretty big names – Elton John, Julio Iglaisio/Shakira/Ricky Martin who got their start here at the festival.
Both Valparaiso and VdM are multicultural cities with people coming from everywhere to here.
With the 2010 earthquakes the first tsunami was experienced at 2am – over 600 people killed. Now Chile has a procedure to educate people and hold a monthly tsunami drill. Yellow signs are the danger zone, green ones indicate evacuation route.
We drove through VdM along the coast to Oceanic Rock – which is the home of the Inca Tern. There was amazing seaweed swaying with the rhythm of the waves and swell.
The beach along here looks inviting but swimming is not allowed due to the very rough seas and the seaweed entanglement risks. Evidently people still swim, however if they need to be rescued they are charged by the Chilean Navy.
We stopped for a toilet break at Dunkin Donuts – I think it was really about Carolina and Juvenal wanting coffee and donuts. So we also partook.
The whole length of the coastline and the bay was filled with lots of bird life, very rough seas.
After coffee we drove on to Valparaiso and along past many of the buildings and parks along the foreshore.
Valparaiso houses the main port, which is shared by the Chilean Naval Armada and a commercial port. The city began life as a fortress with the hills containing cannons to protect the port. The houses are built in almost ramshackle fashion up the hills with no space wasted. Along the flatter area close to the harbour there are buildings of all styles from the very multicultural history.
Back in the 1800s they built Ascensors to move heavy armaments up the steep hills. There are still 6 of these in use today. We used two of them to explore the streets and the street art and various architecture the city is noted for. It was a great walk around. Many many photos taken.
Mid to late afternoon we returned to Vino del Mar for a very tasty seafood lunch at a fancy restaurant in a castle overlooking the bay which we couldn’t see well this morning in the sea fog.
The birds were going crazy in a feeding frenzy. There were hundred’s probably thousands of them flying around and diving after some sort of food. We think they were tern or darts. They hit the water at a rate of knots diving vertically and pulling their wings in and darting after their prey. It was captivating to watch.
We shared a Sea Treasure plate (seafood basket) it was so fresh and enjoyed by all.
Then it was after 4 and time to return to Santiago.
Mary suggested we get dropped at Bicentennial park for more of a look, then we could walk to Bella Vista for tea and back to hotel.
We enjoyed another skewer of choc dipped strawberries. There were many families and others enjoying time out in the park. There was also a concert with Subaru as sponsors and the new Outback model on display.
Our walk took us past the Costanera Tower (tallest building) and we thought it worthy of a visit to Sky Costanera – a lookout with 360 views from the 58 and 62nd floors. The lights of the city stretched for miles.
We walked for quite a few kms to Bella Vista neighbourhood and found a pizza place ABTOA – shared the best pizza and shared two deserts-a crème brûlée and a passion fruit and chocolate one too. A couple of last night drinks before final half hour walk back to hotel by about 11:30.
Time to pack a little, download photos and try and get a better nights sleep than we all had the night before.
Condorito = Chilean cartoon condor. (Just a very random fact in my notes)
Travel adventures with Nicola & co. 