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Published: November 30th 2008
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The next stop was a small village called Ritoque. It was the place where we were decided to chill and kick back. Leaving the city vibe and returned to beach style with surf on the door step.
We took a local taxi from Vina and headed around the rocky headland for about 35kms to the town of Quintero. It was another 6km down a potholed track to our final destination of Ritoque beach and our accommodation of a surf hut. It was really great, the hut was with sea views and had all self catering facilities. Our host´s name was Ian was a sceptic who had lived over in Chile for the past twenty years, I asked him in our introduction where he was from and he replied that he did not believe in countries. '"I am a citizen of the world" came the reply. Woodstock for Ian had been a experimental time me thinks.
However he had a great place and some of the other people staying there we up in the other lodge. We quickly unpacked and got introduced, there was a young couple from London Jake and Lindsey (well he was English and she was American)
and then a young German lad, Conrad (later named Herman). We towered over them in age but after a short time realised that we were reading off the same page. Our first mission that we chose to accept was to take ian´s offer of a lift into town to get some supplies, the essential things like, beer, wine and some food for the next couple of days. This was slightly heartbraking as the surf was strolling through and I had to leave it, I felt as if I had left my child crying with no alloted time to return.
Our time in the local town started with nasal conflict as Ian had stepped in the dogs muck before entering his van and we had to endure the stench for most of the journey, each one of us newly aquanted roomies looking at eachother as if we had soiled ourlseves. Entering Quintero we had strict intructions of which shops to go into and where to get things, after this informal briefing from Ian it quickly dawned on Emma and I that he was as mad as a bucket of spiders and the whole group roared with laughter as we left
our host. However after visits to several shops and supermarkets we were well stocked and headed back to the beach. There is one local bar on the beach and the owner is a avid surfer, so with him outback already it was a quick change and then dived into the fray. The surf was about 4-5ft with a rip making you feel as if you were the blindfolded participant of the national hokey cokey team.
Em chilled on the beach with a pack of the local dogs and with our base no more than twenty meters away it was a great place to go back to and relax. In the evening after some great food we started the traditional fire outside the huts and opened a couple of beers and talked into the night about people back home, past experoences and perhaps the do´s and dont´s about life. Stuart trying to get onto his high horse of advice but realising that he had drunk too much wine and so toppled and fell off. The young guys were fantastic company, they were very interesting and witty, especially the German guy who would take the stereotype of his homeland and put
it to bed. We stayed up until the wee hours and only retired once we could no longer speak our own names.
The surf was dipping but still coming through and managed to clear the head early doors, withy breakfast set up in the main hut it was nice to chat away and settle the hangover hunger. The views were amazing, it actualy inspired the German guy to get in the kayak and venture out onto the high seas for the first time, a joke about the sinking of the Graspere fell on deaf young ears and he managed admirably. We felt this whole place to be very calming and our company provided a welcome relief from the traditonal travelling talk. With the offer from the young lads to play a bit of footbal on the beach, the old man could not resisit but had to start his warm up twenty minutes before the other guys. As Lindsey played footbal in the states, Smith came up with the idea of a bit of two on two, with Smith and the sceptic taking on the young guys. Smith´s first tackle on the German started around the upper calf and went
further up, so the standard was set. A victorty came about after about 30 mins when all parties involved agreed that they were about to spontaneously combust if they did not get some shade.
I surfed again in the arvo and get back to change just before our team adventure upto the hills to watch the sunset. It was amazing, a view from cliff top. over the pacific ocean and with a couple of tinnies. We chatted away, staring at the crashing waves until there was a glimpse of crimson no more. The business of the day had caught up with most of us and it was time to hit the hay after a quick gaze at the stars. Lindsey had helped us earlier in the day to book our bus tickets to La Serena, helpful as the girl was fluent in the Spanish lingo and the booking seemed a much easier task.
It was great to find this place, a venue that after the Paris to Dakar rally stroll through in the next couple of months may not be the same. For us it was a great place to again feel the sand between our toes.........and
in our hotdogs.
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