Good bye Vina del Mar

---

We are now preparing to leave Vina del Mar and begin our final travels in South America before returning to New Mexico. Our friend, Sara left to spend the holidays in the states. She is the first friend we made in Chile and we affectionately call her “Science Girl Sara” - she used to teach science to kids in Colorado. Luckily, we were able to squeeze in a final visit with her before she left.

Inspired by the boys at Isla Taquile in Lake Titicaca, Theresa bought Ben and Oliver both yarn and needles and taught them how to knit. Of course, she had to reteach herself first. The boys have found interesting uses for their products - Ovie is making a cape for Penguino and Ben is making parachutes and nets.

We went into Santiago to meet up with our friends, Jean and Abe, and their son Noah. They are traveling through South America trying to find a place to settle for a year or two. We visited the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Pretty fabulous museum, but the adults liked it more than the kids (meaning we went through it quicker than the adults would have liked). We met up with our friends and went to the Parque Metropolitano. This is like Santiago’s equivalent to Central Park. It is on a big hill (Cerro San Cristobal). We rode the funicular up the hill, then a teleferico over the tops of the hills to a swimming pool high up in the park. Wow!

We take our friends around our favorite spots in Vina del Mar and Valpariaso. It gives us a chance to see it all one more time before leaving. In all the time we have been in Vina del Mar, I haven’t gotten pictures of the Easter Island statues, the flower clock or one of Valparaiso’s ascencores!!! We visited the ropes course at the botanical gardens one more time. We played at the beach a lot too. We rode Valparaiso’s ascencores on more time too.

Things have slowly changed while we have been here. The water is now warm enough that even Theresa went in. The oystercatcher bird that Theresa saw every morning no longer comes to the beach - we assume he has moved on to other places.

There was one special dog that we said hi to everyday. It was a large black dog that reminded us of Luna - same size, same fluffy tail, same bit of white on the chest, same ultra-thick coat with a brown undercoat. This “Luna” is a male and is missing the hair on the end of his tail. But we still like him and he is very sweet. We didn’t happen to see him around the last days to say bye to him either. Bummer.

Packing to leave ended up being a bigger ordeal than we originally had thought. Rather than filling one duffel bag, we filled 3 bags, and really, really full. Steve had to shlep these to Santiago to store with our friend Sara (really her housemate, Edgardo). We packed separate bags for the next five or six weeks of travel.

On December 30th, we said goodbye to the coast and Chile and went into Argentina to spend some time with Jeanne and Abe and Noah in Mendoza.

---

Photos

Santiago
(notice the ever-present Andes)

La Moneda
The White House of Chile (except the Pres doesn´t live there anymore)

training to be worm puppeteers
Oliver, Ben and Noah with street performer at the beach in Vina del Mar