This whole journey came about as a result of some e-mails with the pastor of an Anglican Church in Vina del Mar that does English services each Sunday morning. We couldn't figure out where the church was, and after a few e-mails of instructions from the pastor, we decided we'd better check things out prior to Sunday morning. We didn't want to start out for a 10:30 Sunday-morning service and not know where the heck we were going!
The following few pictures are what we found at the top of the flight of stairs....a lovely community called "Forestal". This area is approximately a 30-40 minute walk from our place on San Martin. These pictures show a rather upscale neighborhood that looks down over the city of Vina. One thing we have noticed is that virtually every property, businesses included, have iron gates. We have also noticed that many homes have iron bars over their windows. We are thinking this is a combination of design features as well as security. This is not something that is seen too often in Canada unless it is a "gated community" and/or very upscale.
This is a view from a small park at the top of the hill. We stopped here and had a picnic lunch of fruit, nuts and chocolate....yummmm! Just for your information, our apartment is very close to the taller buildings in the central part of this picture.
A "self-portrait" after lunch.....
What goes up must come down, and down we went. If you can see the very small person at the bottom of the steps, it gives you some idea of how steep these steps were.
Along the way, we noticed some cactus growing on the hillside. What caught our eye here is the little orbs on the tops of some of the cactus "leaves". They were kind of a red color and looked something like large strawberries. This shot is also a glimpse of what many of the rooves consist of, especially on older buildings . . . corrigated metal. If your specialty is asphalt shingles, you need not apply in Chile! Tin or terracota tile (Adobe style) is muy popular!
At the bottom of the hill, we found the Palacio Vergara. This is a home built by one of the founding families of Vina del Mar. There is a museum inside, but unfortunately, because of the holiday, it was closed. We will return at a future date to investigate.
This plant , the Bird of Paradise, grows all over the place here. It is a lovely plant, and Norm caught some great shots. I remember when I used to work at the Nosegay flower shop, these flowers were one of the most expensive, especially in the middle of winter. I seem to remember that they ran about $7 a stem.
That might be me in the background!
This tree was in the park surrounding the Palacio Vergara. We thought it was significant because of its size. Unfortunately, the camera just couldn't capture the full effect of this tree. It was huge! It made us think about the "giant tree" close to Blain Lake in Saskatchewan. There were numerous full-sized "normal" trees sprouting out of the base of this tree. It was quite amazing.
At the entrance to the park, there was a monument to Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. Both of these people are icons in Chilean history because of their contributions to the literary arts as well as their outspoken opinions on the polical atmosphere of their era. Gabriela Mistral was the first person in Latin America to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945.
It was Pablo Naruda's house that we visited on a hill in Valparaiso a week or two ago.
So....that was our trip to the top of yet another hill. As a side note, we found the church, but for whatever reason, we did not take a picture of it. It is at the bottom of the hill (thankfully!). So we will report on it at a later date.
That's all for now....Hasta Luega.
Love, Norm and Charlene
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