We arrived into Viña del Mar on the metro, backpacks strapped to our backs. Of course, the first thing I noticed was the lack of station starters (signals), so I made Katy wait around while I could try and piece together how trains were signalled. Sadly, being a tourist with minimal Spanish meant this was something I was unlikely to solve. Yet, I was intrigued by the information displays for the train divers at the satiation. I made a mental note to look this is up at a later (as of yet, I have not)
Google maps handy we walked up towards our next lodging. When I say up, I mean up. Katy has managed to book us into one of the few residences which sat on top of a hill overlooking the city of Viña del Mar.
On looking around, the first thing that came to mind was how the architecture resembled Germanic housing. All very grand with intense wooden structural beams.
Our new host was kind enough to take a local map of the area and highlight where we should go for food and drinks in the area. Around the corner was a highly recommended Peruvian restaurant; convenient as we were both getting hungry for lunch.
We were keen to get something else done with our day, so we took a walk along the promenade. On our walk, we came across a big crane often seen at Docklands, so we stopped to read the signs nearby. They explained how the area was an overflow for Valparaiso during the pre-Panama canal era and that a lot of goods from ships were moved to freight rail at this point, before being distributed across Latin America. The crane was the only main point of interest as the rest of the shore felt desolate, rough and perhaps even a bit sketchy.
We headed back into the more lively, and tourist-focused, part of Viña del Mar. We went into the shopping centre to have a look around. We both decided that it was ice cream time and went in the hunt for the cold treat. Katy chose a “proper” ice cream while I decided I would go for a far lower class McDonald’s McFlurry. The rationale for this was that McDonald’s ice cream shops are far more common than actual McDonald’s restaurants (from what we observed) in Chile.
I went for an Oreo McFlurry with hot dulce de leche while Katy chose some fancy combination of flavours. On taste comparisons, we agreed that in fact, McDonald’s had smashed it out of the park with their ice cream. We left the shopping centre and wandered the streets of the area. It wasn’t long until a sign promoting happy hour becomes us with the promise of two for one pisco sours. What was going to be a one drink stop turned into four drinks as the sun started its descent towards the horizon. Keen to not stay in one place we moved onto the next bar, which offered pisco in a variety of sizes. Katy decided she had enough sours and moved onto a rum-based drink. However, on seeing mine, she was jealous and had Instant regret.
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and we figured it was probably a good time to get some dinner. We continued in the direction back to our hotel and stumbled into a burger bar which had an offer too good to refuse! We were both a little more intoxicated than we had realised so after dinner we were ready for bed.
The next day we decided to take some time to chill in the morning. We had a repeated breakfast, and I tried to rest a little more to fight off my perpetual South America illness. However, even when I’ll, I get pretty darn bored and so by midday I suggested we make a move. We looked at how to get to the massive sand dunes we could see from Valparaiso. It turns out we would need to get our new friend, the micro-bus 😀.
After a very cultural subway (I’m trying to make it sound like we didn’t just resort to a well known western sandwich chain while in SA) we hopped onto the micro-bus. Dry cramped seating slightly confused fare for the journey, but we were on our way.
After an hour on our little bus, we arrived at the dunes. Not sure if we were at the correct stop, we hesitated for a moment too long, and the driver took this as a cue to bolt down the road. The next bus stop was a fair while away, which meant we had to walk back, but thankfully the sun was out, and this wasn’t too big an issue.
Once we can close to the sand, I started to get my camera ready while Katy suddenly got excited and called for my attention. Near to us were a whole bunch of owls. All were chirping away in the trees and shrubs; watching us with their wise eyes. It was so cool to see these wild birds up close and in the sand, not an environment I would have associated with them. Some wild dogs were walking around the area, and few bigger nastier birds circled, which distressed the birds, so we didn’t hang around too long to avoid being part of the problem.
The unforgiving nature of sand dunes is that:
- sand is rubbish at providing foot traction. A high effort was required to get around
- Sand has ana vilify to make long distances seem short. Therefore, crossing these took longer than first thought.
We tried to see somewhere we could rent boards to do some sandboarding. However, it seemed on the day we had chosen to go that there were no boards to rent anywhere. We mulled over what to do and recalled that our hotel host, as well as tour guides in Valparaiso, had recommended the dunes to see the sunset. We spotted a supermarket nearby and made a plan to get some drinks and sit on the dunes for the evening. First, though, we played around with the drone and threw ourselves about the sand!
In the supermarket, we located the drinks aisle with ease. In glamorous looking bottles was pre-made sours. Who were we to refuse? We picked a bottle to share and headed back to the dune.
We climbed to the top and took a seat at the zenith of the sand mound. We admired the relaxed atmosphere and calm waves. Others also sat around us, revealing how popular the sunset is. At one point a man with a red bull snowboard and helmet stood next to us, strapped in and threw himself down the dune. It was impressive to watch and was a clear indication of how bad Katy and I would’ve fared had we tried this.
As time ticked by, I had a call with a friend who lived in Montreal scheduled. The crazy thing was that although we were basically on the same latitude, we had a 2 hour time difference! Time zone madness! Katy popped back to the shop for some snack while I had a catch up on the phone.
Sunset came, and suddenly it got cold quickly. We packed up our bags, into which the wind had sneakily shoved a ton of sand into, and ran down the dunes. While a fun idea, to begin with, we ended up back at the bus stop with our shoes stuffed with sand. Annoyingly, this meant we missed our first micro-bus as we had to pour the sand out of our shoes. Thankfully, this transport miracle has a high frequency of service, and it was mere minutes until the next bus arrived.
We got back to the hotel, and we agreed we would have a night in, in which I could try and gain a better nights sleep. To be super lazy, we decided to order a pizza. I had found a Papa Johns (which were quite common in the area) and tried to book online. Sadly the lack of a Chilean mobile number hindered me in completed order. Not to be blocked in my dough circle quest I downloaded the local equivalent to just eat. Order complete we had showered and shakedowns to remove the dune that had returned with us.
When the app said the order was nearly outside, Katy headed up with the cash to pay. She returned to me pizza-less and told me that the restaurant had refused the order as we didn’t have a Chilean mobile number. However, the poor delivery boy still had to come to us to deliver the bad news. He noted our issue and drove back to the pizza place to make the order himself. He returned 30 minutes later with the hot pizza in hand. Now, this was customer service!!! Best driver ever.
We chowed down outside on the terrace overlooking the city. As we neared the end of our pizza, loud bangs began. So loud that nearby car alarms started joining the melody in unison. Keen to see what the commotion was, we moved to a better vantage point on the balcony.
On the street below was a three strong troop of one-man bands. Loudly banging the drums on their backs, while also combining this with street dancing, they entertained the crowds in nearby bars. The drivers of the cars of the road they were blocking seemed far less amused. Still it was impressive to see; they received a massive round of applause and cheers from the evening drinkers below.
Our final day in Valparaiso was spent with more chilling. Katy and I, deprived of a beach day for far too long, packed our towels and swimming gear and headed out to the sands. It turns out we were not the only ones with this idea, and all of Viña del mar had got their strut out to the sand. We squeezed into one of the few vacant plots and put out towels out, put sunscreen on and lay down.
As far as beach days go, there usually isn’t a lot to mention. However, an hour in, a helicopter flew over the waters and sand near the coast. It started to bleep and boop at us beachgoers. No idea what the fiasco was all about, we assumed it was the coastguard warning of strong currents. However, as soon it flew away, people ran back into the waves, so who knows.
The other exciting event included people who would preach at the beach. The walked amongst the sun dwellers until they found a slot where they could stand and rant about something. We paid little attention at first, assuming it was either a salesperson or someone wanting money for something or other. However, when they finished their rant, everyone in the area gave then a round of applause (even a standing ovation in some cases), and no one handed any money over. Not sure if this was Chile’s got talent we were left confused by this (incidentally it’s not something we have witnessed anywhere else).
After enough UV exposure, we decided we wanted to cool down with a new favourite be weave, pisco sours. Katy was still jealous at my bigger glass of the nectar from the previous day, so we headed back to the same bar. Sadly this was closed, so we wandered back to the hotel area to go to one of the lively bars there.
We found a bar we could see from the hotel, which came complete with a roof terrace. Puso sour’s in hand, we sat back and reminded ourselves how lucky we were to be enjoying the adventure at hand. After an additional round, we settled up and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening.
I was excited that there was a casino in town and managed to convince Katy it could be fun for a few hours. We wandered in, and I withdrew an allotted amount as my spending money (the only way to control out of whack spending in casinos). We ordered a round of drinks and had an explore. In passing, I gave a go on some of the slot machines. Experience should have fraught me better, but flashing lights attract me like a moth to a flame, and I spent a little time there.
However, I didn’t play too long on these as my main attraction was to play some blackjack. I was keen to be able to sound far wealthier than I was by playing in Chilean pastors. Placing bets of 10,000 at hand (10 pounds) Lady Luck was on my side, and I soon made a decent return. I was about to go to the bar and order another round of drinks when a waitress suddenly gave me a free (very strong) vodka and coke.
Sadly, as with all things casino based, the house always wins. I put aside my original investment, and a small amount more) and played the rest away. I left with about the same as I entered with, which for casino standards is not terrible going. With the night running away from us we decided to call it a night, grab some late-night falafel and hit the sack.
The next morning was an early rise; we had a 7:30 am bus to catch to get us in our way to the airport back at Santiago. The host awoke with our stumbling and wished us safe passage. We walked through new parts of the town which had a far rougher feeling to them; useful in some respects as it kept our pace up to catch the bus. The bus ride to Santiago, the transfer to the airport and the airport itself went without a hitch. At this point, it’s fair to say that our experience of transport in South America was more comfortable in practice than the various Internet forums and sites had made it out to be. Next stop, the Atacama Desert!!