Last night in Vina del Mar

This is the view from our balcony right now. It's 9:25 pm and we just came back from dinner here in the hotel.

Tomorrow we board the Veendam (Holland America) to start our cruise. On this trip I can't wait for the next thing, like a kid.

Sally found the much coveted lemon reemers today in a market when she went for her walk and so we can now obsess on something else, preferably jewellery or some unobtainable perfume.

The Chilean Navy was parked right in front of our hotel for days and left last night . There were many ships of all sizes - maybe ten or twelve. It was fun watching a helicopter practice dozens of landings early last evening to and from the ship as we dined at a restaurant down the road.

It's lovely to have it stay light until after 9 here. And such beautiful sunsets. Usually in the mornings it's misty until about noon when the sun burns it off and then the afternoons are bright.

We are at sea the first two days on the cruise and our first stop is Puerto Montt further south.

As we don't have connectivity in our cabin, we will go to one of the internet spots on board to write.

Hope everyone is well and I will write in another day or two.

love m

x

Spa Day

I was exfoliated within an inch of my dermis. This is not a treatment for sissies here. But I have to tell you it didn't start well. To make a long story short, they don't make a robe in this country over about a size 6 and i would need wear two of them - one backwards and one forwards - to go around me. I take no shame in saying this, as even those of you who are slim would have difficulty with this velour kimono situation staying closed. I did the best I could and huddled in an anxious puddle until the lady came to get me for my treatment, trying my best to pull the two sides of this horrific tiny little garment together. Oh - and the other injurious thing they gave me was something they called "underwear". Well, it was like a little paper thong type of thing with the front and back being attached by a 1/4" thick piece of elastic. I didn't even attempt to put that on, thinking if I didn't quite get my leg into it I could put someone's eye out in the change room as it could quite easily transform itself into a dangerous projectile. I left my own sensible cotton undies on for the duration.
We have been lazy ladies today but did do more jewellery shopping this morning. We also continued our quest for a very specific wooden kitchen tool without success. No one would guess Little Miss Fulton and I have OCD, but when it comes to the pursuit of a lemon reamer, we are relentless. We saw the perfect little object in a market in Santiago, didn't make the purchase and have been haunted and obsessed ever since. Sally took her life in her hands today and walked around the seediest marketplace looking for lemon reamers. How the hell can you even tell someone what you're looking for with no Spanish / English translator? Ridiculous. Yet - here we are, planning yet another raid on marketplaces all down the Chilean coast and perhaps inland to secure said reamer.
It's been a slow day in Vina del Mar. Tomorrow we do the city tour and look at palaces and gardens. A little culture doesn't hurt. I will be exfoliated and ready to go looking for odd kitchen implements should the opportunity arise.

goodnight folks
maggie
xx

Vina del Mar, Chile

We are here, we are here !!! The drive from Santiago was lovely, through the Andes and then the Coastal Range. Lots of vineyards along the way. It's about a 2 hour drive.
Vina del Mar is just beautiful and I don't think i've talked about the weather here in Chile at all. It's up around 30 Celsius every day but there isn't any humidity and so it's absolutely perfect. We were sitting by the pool here which is on a point jutting right over the ocean and I was actually chilly due to the breeze, but the temperature was 86. There were a few enormous waves rolling in - at least twenty or thirty feet high, and when we were up from the lounge area and sitting under an umbrella further back a few gigantic breakers came crashing over the wall and people not only got soaking wet, but it was like the tide rolling back out on the floor. Sally's Teva sandals went overboard and there was nothing to be done about it. Quite dramatic with people screaming and yellin and jumping around. People in the pool looked like they were in the ocean itself with this gigantic wave over their heads and then crashing down into the pool too. There were half a dozen big ones and then they seemed to die down. Sally got the last big wave on video but the file is too big to send, even after she tried to compress it. sorry folks.
Our room is lovely and right on the ocean. there are big ships in the bay and you can hear the waves rolling in. We're at the Sheraton Miramar which is only about 5 years old. What can I say - we're happy as clams. Had lunch on the patio - everything here is on the ocean - every room and every restaurant. Tomorrow we may go to the spa in the middle of the day and get massages. Poor us. It will be difficult to leave the grounds.
We board the Veendam on Saturday - what's the date today??? I have stopped wearing a watch, first of all for personal safety while walking around Santiago when we were there, and now it's just not important except, of course, God forbid we should miss a meal !!!
Have been careful about being in the sun, mostly because you can't really feel yourself being burned because the heat isn't uncomfortable at all and there always is a strong breeze.
I've been derelict in sending pictures, but tomorrow i will try to do it. You have to see the view here and the rocky coastline with the waves crashing up in the afternoon.
Hope everyone is well. I heard about the torrential rain and e-mailed a friend to come and check the basement at the lake. I had an industrial strength sump pump installed in the Spring - but better to be safe on that score.

take good care

love maggie
x

up up into the mountains and down again

Today we went up into the Andes but only 44 switchbacks worth. We were up at 9000 ft. and Sally went even higher on the chairlift. The air was thin up there and the walk arduous over to the lift so I sat in the cafe and read on my Christmas present from Michael - my new e-reader. What a wonderful device for travelling. I had been in the Andes years ago when Michael and I were in Ecuador and the Chilean Andes aren't a lot different. The higher up you go the less vegetation and more "moon like" the landscape becomes. Some rocks the size of houses seem to be in the middle of nowhere up there, likely spit out by the last volcanic eruption. Chile has a zillion volcanos and three were right in the area, but not active.
The tour was partly the Andes tour and partly a wine tour which was actually not even tricky with a relatively new tea - totaller like me. The casks were very old and the winery (Santa Carolina) reeked atmosphere. There were only about 6 of us on the tour today and the interaction was good.
Tomorrow we have a car and driver taking us to Vina del Mar on the coast. We're there for four days and then onto Valparaiso to get on the ship for the cruise. Vina del Mar will likely be a totally relaxing venue. It appears to have a beautiful pool overlooking the beautiful ocean in this beautiful spa town. We are both very excited for this next leg of the trip. We will likely rent a car and drive in one direction or other just to see more towns along the coast. The roads appear to be very good here and the drivers aren't insane like they are in Europe. Can't wait for all of the above. Feel like a kid.
We went to a lovely restaurant again tonight called Tierra Noble and the food and service were great. Just had a steak well prepared with a salad, but simple and well done is what this place was known for.
Lapislazuli is everywhere, but so are Chilean turquoise and amethest, both polished and unpolished. We are just having lots of fun in the markets and not really buying tons of stuff. It's a long trip and we have lots and lots of interesting ports of call.

Will try to write again tomorrow night from Vina del Mar. Remarkably, we go to dinner at 8 pm and are working our way up to later and later because in Buenos Aires apparently it's difficult get a reservation before 10 pm !!!

love to you all

maggie
xx oo

the markets of Santiago

Good afternoon folks. Here we are again / still in Santiago Chile for another day or so and then onto Vina Del Mar on the coast.

We went to a fantastic restaurant last night called Mestizo which was cutting edge architecture and in a park by a beautiful pond where the black necked swans swam around and people were walking by with their kids. Lots of stray dogs too - looked a bit like disenfranchised Huskeys somehow.
Today was Market Day for us and we spent the day pretty much at a place called "Los
Dominos". Lots of shops outside that sold everything from Lapis and Chilean Turquoise jewellery to dolls and sweaters etc. I didn't buy a lot but did manage to make a few small purchases.
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip into the Andes and also visiting a vineyard- Santa Carolina - which will be interesting since we've had their wines at home. Have been on my feet a lot and feel it, but having a ton of fun. Continue to like the people here and the city is very very clean. Food is good. Last night had Chilean Sea Bass and Sally had Grouper and both were just terrific.
We can't get enough of the fish and seafood. Almost every meal so far ....
Will check in tomorrow night after our trip into the mountains.

love m
xx

Hi everyone ... Sally took this picture today in the funicular (note the word "fun") on the way up to San Christobel. Lovely day, but on the way down the funicular's cable jumped out of a few of the connectors and we were stuck for a short while. The look of the teeny tiny stairs going straight down about 500 meters at that point gave me pause.

We were on the Hop on Hop off double decker bus today for our trip around Santiago which was a great way to get a feel for this city of 6.5 million people which as it turns out is about 40% of Chile's total population.

We are finding the people here to be very friendly and helpful - particularly the fellow who owned the jewellery store we "popped into" while waiting for the little red bus. Sally, it turns out, has a fettish for turtles and she now owns three or four from this shop, two of which were LapisLazuli. I managed to buy a few gifts there and we both thoroughly enjoyed the fellow who owned the place.

Back on the bus, we stopped at Le Mercado which is a very large fresh seafood market and no surprise, we went to a seafood restaurant there for lunch.

So much for the day - went by in a minute. We are now about to go out for dinner to a Chilean restaurant not too far from the Hotel which Fodor likes called Mestizo - actually Latin American cuisine but you know what I meant.

Well - time to eat again .... and time to close for today. Hope everyone at home is well and happy - we surely are. We are blessed to be able to take this trip and we know it !!!!!

love m

my south american adventure

am setting up the blog as promised. We leave on Jan 21 arriving in Santiago Chile on the 22nd.

I will try to write daily if I can get to a computer, and if not, every other day. Will have to figure out how to post pictures.

maggie