On Friday morning we took an Uber to the bus station in Rancagua for our three-hour ride to Vina del Mar. We walked to our new home from the bus station, dropped off our luggage and walked to a local Peruvian restaurant for lunch. We love our Lonely Planet guide books and Mike does a great job creating walking tours for us to see the recommended sites. After lunch, we completed two walking tours which included the Presidential Palace, the Quinta Vergara Park by the amphitheater (where Marc Anthony played at a huge music festival a few weeks before we arrived), and the beautiful flower clock (which we read chimes every 15 minutes, however it didn’t chime while we were there).
One of the supermarket chains in Chile is Unimarc and there was a location near our apartment so completing our grocery shopping for the week was quick and easy. We unpacked and since we were both craving Mexican, we went to a restaurant in our neighborhood and enjoyed traditional margheritas, chicken tacos and a chicken burrito.
We started our day on Saturday with a workout at SmartFit. This is the third location we’ve used. They are excellent gyms with a good daily rate of $7. This location is way too small for the number of members. There are often three people in line to use a weight machine, so it takes longer to complete our workouts. For lunch we went to Green Lab where their slogan is “Healthy Tastes Better” and our meals were delicious. It was a beautiful sunny day. We walked about four miles exploring the beach front. When we were in Puerto Varas, we had eaten pizza at Mesita Grande and loved it, so we decided to check out the location here. They didn’t serve the same specialty pizza we had previously, so we selected another option which tasted good but not as good. We watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. On our walk home we stopped at Bakery Lynch and took home a piece of cheesecake and chocolate cake to eat while watching the movie Spiderman 2 (Mike is in the process of watching all the Spiderman movies).
On Sunday we walked to Starbucks to enjoy chai tea and hot chocolate. We sat by the window so we could watch the event that was taking place on the closed street – locals were walking or running with their dogs. Afterwards, we hopped on a city bus for a 15-minute ride to Valparaiso (known as Valpo by locals). We had reservations at La Quinta de Los Nunez which serves local cuisine and has live traditional music by the band Los Crack Puerto. There were maybe five of us, out of 100, who were not locals. Our server recommended we order a pitcher of their local drink called “earthquake”. It was made with white wine, pineapple ice cream and grenadine. I wish I could say it tasted amazing, but it didn’t. It was okay, we drank all of it, however, we won’t be ordering it again. We learned that the older man singing with the band comes every Sunday to sing. He had a good voice, and everyone was having a great time. Several couples danced the traditional cueca (which we had seen at the rodeo). The event evoked a wonderful feeling of tradition, community and support. It felt like such a safe environment to be vulnerable. Although we don’t know how to dance the cueca, I contemplated pulling Mike to the tiny area in front of the band to dance with me (kind of wish I had – “they” always say we regret the things we don’t do in life and I’m feeling that now…in hindsight I can envision how much entertainment the “gringos” would have provided to the locals…and I imagine others dancing with us and teaching us how to do the dance properly, all while cheering us on!).
After a couple of hours of enjoying the local culture, we walked to the bus stop and headed back to our neighborhood where we ate burgers at Gin & Burgers. Mike recorded the Masters and was able to watch the exciting competition before going to bed.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday included:
- Watching the Blue Origin space launch
- Cardio workouts along the waterfront
- Shopping at the local mercado and markets to buy fresh veggies, eggs, flowers, cheese, and bread
- Doing laundry
- Working on logistics for upcoming travels
- Completing blog entries
- Watching Spiderman 3
- Eating dinner one evening at Mr. Wrap (healthy and delicious!)
We took the local bus on Thursday to Valparaiso and had a fun day exploring. Valpo is a vibrant and colorful port city with a distinct bohemian vibe. The town is filled with street art (even the street garbage cans are painted). Our Lonely Planet guide provided two excellent walks, which included us eating delicious bakery items at Maria Maria. Many of the residents live in the high hills off the coastline above the main area of the city. There are 30 funiculars, although we think only five are still in operation (we chose to climb the steep hills by foot, which ended up being a good workout for the day). It’s a cool town. We considered staying in Valpo but decided to stay in the neighboring town of Vina del Mar (which was a great decision). Valpo is a bit gritty and there are plenty of areas within town that I would not feel comfortable walking at night.
After taking the city bus back to our neighborhood, we walked to Donde Willy for dinner, but they weren’t open. Mario, at a nearby restaurant, charmed us into eating at his restaurant. The food was ok. The highlight was the great conversation we had with Mario. He lived in New York for over ten years and spoke excellent English. He gave us excellent tips and recommendations for our time in Vina del Mar. We tried to walk by his restaurant every day, after that, to say hi to him.
We made reservations to eat at Donde Willy on Friday night and the salmon, quinoa and salad were delicious. Our server recommended strawberries made with pisco brandy and black pepper for dessert to go with our remaining red wine. That is definitely not something we would normally order, and it was amazing! We completed the night by watching the movie Secretariat at home.
After enjoying Starbuck’s time on Saturday morning, we stopped at a shop that sold jackets as I needed to replace my Columbia rain jacket. The shopkeeper was extremely helpful and patient as we tried on multiple jackets and sun shirts. We each left with rain jackets (that included a zippered in removable fleece, so we have new fleeces too!) and a sun shirt. We are excited to see how they work in comparison to our former jackets.
All that shopping worked up an appetite, so we stopped at Archie’s American Diner to eat eggs, bacon, French toast, pancakes, and tea. Mario told us about the Feria Sobre Mesa Festival, so we decided to check it out. There was live music, vendors, food/beer/wine stands and activities for children. It was ok, but we think we would have enjoyed spending the time along the waterfront more. We have seen many Roof Burger advertisements, they have locations in several cities in Chile, so we decided we needed to give it a try. It was good. We would go again.
After a four-mile run by the water and doing some laundry we went to Sushi Roll for lunch on Sunday. Later we went to the movie The Amateur, which was in English with Spanish subtitles. Good movie! It was great to get some movie popcorn, but here the prices are about the same ridiculous prices as in the US.
We rewarded our workout on Monday with fresh orange juices, Mike’s first cappuccino and my first matcha tea at a Café that we go past regularly when doing our runs/walks along the beach front. We decided to take a bus to the Botanical Gardens with the hopes of renting bikes to explore the park. Since we found out they only rent bikes on the weekend, we walked most of the trails in the very large park. It was a feast for the senses! The fall (still hard to get it in my head it’s fall and not spring when the calendar says April) air was slightly crisp with the smell of eucalyptus, several trees were changing color, there were beautiful flowers, and the birds were singing. It was starting to get dark, so we headed back to our neighborhood. It’s also an adjustment because the days are getting darker earlier, and my brain says we should be getting more daylight each day. We decided “Healthy Tastes Better” and returned to Green Lab for our last dinner in Vina del Mar before going home to pack for moving day.
Our 11 nights in Vina del Mar went too fast. We really like this town (which is why we stayed three more nights than originally planned), our apartment – which is on the 16th floor with a balcony and great view – and neighborhood. The town has a healthy vibe with lots of trails for running, hiking, and biking. Streets are lined with huge maple trees (look at the size of the leaf in the picture) and vibrant flowers. It is easy to get around and it feels safe. Although we are always curious to know what interesting things lie ahead for us in our travels, sometimes it’s genuinely hard to leave places. This is one of those times. We were extremely comfortable here, can easily see ourselves living here and will miss it very much. It will always hold a special place in our hearts. Adios for now, Vina del Mar!
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