I Wonder What's Up There!

So, here we are starting up yet another incredibly steep and long flight of stairs. See that very little person at the top.....that's where we're going! Of course, we have no idea what's at the top!




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

We've been to the mountain top!

On Friday afternoon, once again, our friend Ines picked us up and took us on another journey of discovery. In addition to taking us to the Universidad de Vina del Mar where I dropped off another resume, she took us to a place called Laguna Verde on the outskirts of Valparaiso. We weren't sure what to expect, but we headed off over the hills of Valparaiso to see what was there. Thankfully, Ines knew where she was going! As previously mentioned, Valparaiso is a city to the south of Vina del Mar, and it is built on a series of very high, steep hills. It is truly an architectural marvel as to how houses were built and how they remain standing on these hills. There appears to be no real system to the streets. It is a mishmash of curving roadways that intersect with the occasional yield or stop sign thrown in. How there aren't more collisions is
amazing!

Since we have been in this area, we have always been on the ocean side of the hills of Valparaiso. We wondered what might be on the other side, and Ines helped us to find out. Once we were on the outskirts of the city, on top of the hill, we moved into an area of green vegetation. Ines said people go to the area for camping and day trips to the beach.

Along the way, there were lookout points to admire the view....
The video was shot at 4:00 with the sun descending over the Pacific.







We then began the long journey down the hill to the playa (beach).....



This is the pueblo (village) of Laguna Verde with the road down the hilside in the background.....



This is the playa....



We had noticed these trees the day before in the park at Laguna Sasaulito, but we weren't sure what they were. Ines told us they were eucalyptus trees. They appeared to be at the end of their season, but we weren't sure. We couldn't quite communicate with Ines regarding our questions about the trees. We're not sure if they always shed their bark as the following picture shows....
We do know that the "berries" that fall off the trees smell really good!





While enjoying a cold treat in Laguna Verde, we received a call saying that the phone company would be coming to hook up the internet in our apartment. Wooo Hooo! That was an appointment that we didn't want to miss so we quickly headed back to our side of the mountain.
There was, however, time to stop at this lookout point (punto de vista). This shot looks over Valparaiso and somewhat north towards Vina del Mar.




OK . . . our apartment (departamento) is now wired and Saturday would bring a short bus ride (20 minutes) up the coast (via the inland route) to the gastronomic centre of Chile, ConCon (slight emphasis on the second syllable).

When you don't know where you are going, finding the right place to get off the bus can involve a little guesswork, and perhaps a little faith. We parted ways with the bus and looked up to see a sign for a tourist information booth. Yes, it was open . . . and yes, the host spoke English! Good start.

The first stop on our tour of ConCon was a wildlife sanctuary. Apparently unparalled in Chile, it seemed like it would be home to several species of birds. I say "seemed" because we didn't see any. We were given a personally guided tour by the young man in in the picture. You can see display panels in the background that outline the different species. Ironically, if we were to look 90 degrees to the left, there was an oil refinery and a chemical plant!






Earlier, I mentioned that we were in the gastronomic centre of Chile. This was good because we had previously wondered about the seeming lack of seafood on the restaurant menus. This is a country dominated by two geological features . . . . mountains and ocean. There must be fresh seafood here! The street that fronts the ocean is literally lined with restaurants and proprietors in front trying to convince you to try their particular establishment. Essentially, we flipped a coin and picked a spot where it appeared some locals were hanging out.

Charlene picked some sort of fish and shellfish soup. While ordering, she was given the option of ordering a larger size with a greater variety of sea critters. She wasn't sure just what might be in the soup, so she proceeded with caution and got the smaller size!



Ummmm . . . interesting is the word I will use for now! The waitress told Charlene that this was a large mussel and assured her that it was indeed edible.



My pick was a shellfish omlette. Now I don't normally take pictures of our meals but this had to be done!



I finshed mine because I was hungry and can rarley bring myself to leave anything on my plate.
Charlene however, just couldn't bring herself to eat most of what was in the bowl. The broth was good!! I am sure it was good . . . . just not for our particular pallettes.

The next few hours were spent miandering southbound down the coast. The plan was to walk for as long as we felt like walking and then catch the bus back to Vina. For the most part, the further we walked, the nicer the surroundings became. The highway separates the beach and walkway from the homes so we could stay on the ocean and see the homes along the way. (sorry, no pics of the homes)



Pelicans are plentiful around here. Plenty for them to eat I guess.



The next two shots are what local buses here are like. (The reason for these shots will soon become clear.) They are much smaller than the transit monsters in Canada. This one is quite new but most are not.





On with the story . . .
When the time came, catching the bus was easy.
The ride home . . . not so much!!
When we got on, there were no seats available, but that is normal and not a problem. As we continued on, more and more people began to cram on board. Just when I thought that we were at about double capacity, the driver stopped and more people got on, and then more! This picture was taken after a dozen or so had gotten off and I had room to take the shot. Rounding the coastal corners and hitting the bumps in the road made for quite a ride.



Having made it safely back to Vina, we disembarked and walked the remaining mile or so back home. ("home" . . . it's a nice word that can now use!)

In an earlier posting we mentioned the popularity of flying kites. There are normally several in the sky along the beach and today was no different.



Random notes: This could prove to be an interesting week as Thursday is NATIONAL DAY. (I believe that it will be Chile's 198th birthday) We have heard much about this holiday. There are normally plenty of Chilean flags visible, but over the past few days we have noticed even more. Many cars are being decorated with flags and ribbons bearing the red, white and blue of Chile (and the Montreal Canadiens!). We have been also told that this celebration can last up to a week! Tomorrow we will stock the shelves as we understand that all stores will close on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Stand by for National Day updates and hi-lights!

Amor,
N & C

A Walk In The Park

With the daily grind of menial tasks out of the way (shower, breakfast, trip to the internet cafe - no internet in apartment yet - lunch, walk to print shop have some pictures printed for the fridge etc) it was time for some more exploring. There is much talk on the street about football (soccer) and there is a team based right here in Viña del Mar. The home team "Everton" play at a pitch within walking distance and so we struck off to find the field and perhaps find a schedule of home games. A 40-minute walk through varied neighborhoods brought us to the first significant green space that we have seen. (Think about a miniature Wascana park but not near as nice).

The area is called Laguna Sausalito, and Sausalito Stadium is where the games are played.

In this shot you can see clay tennis courts on the right and a "Ship- restaurant" on the left.

This is a small beach, a playground and area for picnics, etc.

This is the soccer stadium

On our way back home, we walked down this street in Vina and found a great little fruit and vegetable shop. We took this picture to show some of the character of the neighborhood. A very interesting part of town that is distinct from the area where we live; however, we are not all that far away.

We are enjoying exploring the city and finding new and interesting areas. There are still some "tourist" highlights that we have yet to see (museums, churches, etc.). Outside of the small neighborhoods, we are noticing a lack of culture and tradition as is the case in every big city, I guess. If we had been dropped into our neighborhood, without knowing exactly where we were, we would not immediately assume we were in Chile. Of course, we would catch on soon enough that we weren't in Canada because of the language around us, but, in our immediate surroundings, there isn't a real display of culture and/or tradition. We have seen some displays/booths of artisans selling their wares, but we have yet to see something that would be unique to this area. Geographically, Chile is long and thin and has very distinct regions for mining, agriculture, wine making, etc. It is full of mountains, lakes, ocean, desert and volcanoes. It seems that Vina and the connected cites of Renaca and ConCon are focussed almost entirely on the tourist industry. While we are enjoying the city, and certainly the ocean, we are looking forward to a point in the future when we can travel to other parts of of the country and see some of the things that are distinct to those areas.

That's all for now folks....Love, Norm and Charlene

A home at last! . . . for now

Before we start . . . some unfinished business. In the last post "Go Forth and Explore" there was one video missing. It was of the Cueca dance and is now there along with a little history of the dance.

Now . . . on with the show . . .

Well, here it is.....home sweet home. We moved in on Monday afternoon. We are on the 12th floor with a lovely view of the ocean and beach.

This is our living room and balcony.....

This is the view from our balcony....the photos just don't allow you to experience what a live view is like. We can hear the ocean quite clearly, and sometimes we are shocked by just how loud the crashing of the waves can be. No matter what time of day it is, there are always people on the beach, and there is a boardwalk that goes for quite a distance. The sun sets around here about 6:45 these days, so we can watch the sky changing color. We can't see the full sun set from our balcony, but if we walk down to the beach, we can watch the whole show. It is beautiful!!

Kitchen....and yes, those are pictures of home on the fridge. The kitchen is very tiny with a "moving around" area of about 8x3. (less than a sheet of plywood!)

If you were to turn slightly to the right in the kitchen, this is what you would see.......

Then another slight turn, and here´s the sink. Note the box above the draining tray. This is a gas heater for our hot water. Each time we turn on the hot water tap, the pilot light fires up, and we have hot water. We are having a bit of a problem with getting enough hot water for a shower in the morning. So at this point, showers are not the pleasant experience they once were and tend to be quite short. Norm isn´t risking a cold shower each morning and has opted for the every-other-day approach.

This is the door to the apartment and our dining area. We have decided not to get television hook up as it is just too expensive. We will make do with internet and Scrabble games for now!

Our bedroom...

Can't move in without a trip to the grocery store for some essentials....

This was an unexpected surprise in the grocery store. "Safeway Select" maple syrup, made in Canada.....a little touch of home!

Here we are sharing our first meal in our new home. The Chileans certainly know how to make good wine. There is an incredible selection at every grocery store, even the small stores in the neighborhood. We aren´t sure what the legal drinking age is here, but we haven´t noticed them asking for ID at the check out.





This is the Dominoes Pizza shop right down the street from us. They do their deliveries on motor bikes or bicycles. A little different than in Canada!

It's nice to have a place to call home at the end of the day. We have an address, a phone number and internet hook up. It's all good! Now that we are settled, we have had some time to go on a couple of "day trips" around Vina del Mar. Details of these to follow.

Until then....all the best, love, Norm and Charlene