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Published: February 20th 2009
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Across the Border
Descent from the Andes SANTIAGO Our trip from Mendoza to Santiago was pretty straight forward, except for the 365 curves on the way down from the Andes. We got to the Santiago bus station at about 1pm and met my parents there, who were on their way to Colombia from Mozambique, and stopping in Santiago for two nights.
They had arranged a small apartment in the posh area of Las Condes in the Golf neighbourhood. It was a peaceful leafy suburb with lovely residential buildings and some office buildings, shops and restaurants dotted around.
We spent the first day with my parents taking it easy and cooking dinner at the flat with the lovely wine we brought from Mendoza. The next morning they left pretty early for Colombia, and we stayed at the flat to sort out our plans for our last week of travelling before returning to Colombia for Christmas.
The truth was that we were a bit exhausted, and did not need too much action, so we decided to go to nearby Viña del Mar and Valparaiso for a few days, and then come back to Santiago before our flight.
That day we went for a walk around the city centre and visited
Meeting my Parents
Santiago Bus Station an exhibition of Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera at the cultural centre in the Palacio de la Moneda. After a short walk around the city streets we went back to relax at our lovely flat and had dinner at home again.
VIÑA DEL MAR On Wednesday we took a bus to Viña del Mar in the early afternoon, only about 2 hours ride. So we were there on time to find some accommodation, which was pretty easy with all the agents waiting at the bus station to get you a place to stay, and even easier considering it was low season. We found a cheap little flat which was nowhere near as good as the one in Santiago... very basic, but it did the job, and the location near the beach was pretty good.
We went for a walk around the town and the beach in the afternoon, but the weather was not the best to convince us to go in the water, it was quite cool and overcast, and the ocean water seemed even colder. Viña del Mar was not exactly a charming city, it is a pretty modern beach town with many rough edges but not a lot
Cheers!
Having dinner at our flat in Las Condes, Santiago to see that we can highlight. We visited the Parque de la Quinta Vergara and the Anfiteatro Vergara (where the Festival de Viña del Mar takes place) which were quite interesting. Here we confirmed out thoughts about Chile being a country full of couples kissing, hugging and almost having sex in public places. Every patch of green grass, park bench or stretch of beach would be occupied by a loved up couple on top of each other, not being able to take their lips and their tounges appart. I guess there are certain things they cannot do at home.
VALPARAISO On Friday we went to Valparaiso for the day, only a short 30min bus ride along the coast. In complete contrast to Viña del Mar, Valparaiso was a totally rough port town with some tidied up edges. It was just like Pablo Neruda described it in one of his writings (see picture) which I will not attempt to translate. It was a mess full of little streets, hills, rusty buildings, graffitti and cable cars, but at the same time some really nice restaurants, shops, art galleries and a really pleasant athmosphere. It was by far a more interesting place than
Palacio de la Moneda
Frida and Diego exhibition at the Cultural Centre in Santiago Viña del Mar.
During the whole day we just walked along many streets and alleyways, travelled by cable car and bus and visited the beautiful house of Pablo Neruda in Valparaiso, La Sebastiana. We had lunch at the really nice Restaurante Cafe Turri overlooking the sea, and then wondered around some colourful residential streets all the way down to the city centre area and into the docks. At about 7pm we made it back to Viña del Mar and the following morning went back to Santiago for the last couple of days.
SANTIAGO On our return to Santiago we were pretty much ready to go back to Colombia, and not too preocupied with visiting too many places. We stayed again at the same lovely apartment in the barrio El Golf, so we were quite happy just staying at home and relaxing, and Lorena did not feel too energetic to be running around (probably still lingering effects of the Chicken Pox). The following day we went to the Bellavista neighbourhood near the city centre, and visited the Chascona, Neruda´s house in Santiago. The day was extemely hoy and sunny, so at the end of the afternoon we decided to go back
home and chill out at our balcony overlooking the mountains.
On our last day in Santiago we decided to visit the Cousiño Macul wine cellars which were not too far away. In the morning we stayed at home, and Lorena realised she had not had her period for a couple of weeks, and luckily we had some pregnancy tests that Edu had given to us back in Rio (freebies he got given in the streets of Copehagen). So we went for the test, and while Lorena had a shower, I eagerly awaited for the little stripe/s to appear (One stripe=not pregnant - Two stripes=pregnant). A single stripe started to appear faintly, getting stronger and stronger..."only one stripe" I told Lorena, but suddenly the second stripe started to appear, and at the end they were both bright and clear!... "two stripes!!!"... oh dear! this is it!
After realising what was happening we started to get worried about the Chicken Pox, beacuse after calculating some dates, we worked out that it all happened just after Lorena recovered from the Chicken Pox, while we were still in Rio. She was also taking some antibiotics after that, so we were a bit concerned about
Santiago
Palacio de la Moneda how it would all turn out.
Anyway... we went to visit the Cousiño Macul vineyard and needless to say, I ended up drinking most of Lorena's wine tastings. After that we just relaxed at home and couldn´t stop thinking of things to come and whether everything would be fine. The next morning we got up very early to go to the airport and off to Bogota, where we met up with my dad and my sister at the airport, we were ready to spend Christmas and New Year with the rest of the family in Medellin and Cali.
What a great ending to our world tour!
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Guillermo
non-member comment
ya vi la prueba reina de valparaiso
muy bonitas las imagenes de valparaiso, me recuerda un poco a medellin y sus comunas, como puedo ver Neruda y Frida son dos personajes que no peuden pasar inadvertidos. Ustedes ahora son expertos Gourmets de talla mundial. la primera foto "tremendo descenso" yo solo imagino una etapa de ciclismo por alla, debe ser un solo dolor de piernas chao Erika y Guillermo