Chilean coast

14-17 January 2007

Hi all,

After 2 days of speed-touring in Santiago, we rented a car in Santiago and drove East to the coast of Chile.

We first visited the town of Isla Negra where we toured the coastal house of the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. We then traveled north to Valparaiso - known to be Chile´s most important seaport and the home of the National Congress. Valparaiso reminds us of a steeper San Francisco with houses build on steep hillsides, staircases for sidewalks, and ascensores (AKA funiculars) which act as small railroad tracks straight up mountainsides. The houses are colorfully painted and it seems a little like Venice where it is just fun to get lost and look around at the views of houses and the Pacific Ocean in the winding, sinuous streets. The town was great fun to explore. In addition, Neruda´s second house is located here, so we visited it as well.

Since Valparaiso, we have been traveling up the coast, visiting small shore towns - some are ritzy (Viña del Mar), others poor (El Quisco), and only a few in between. We stayed in a coastal town called Horcon last night - swam a bit in the seaweedy shore and fought the locals for a small piece of beach - funny for sure.

Today we successfully sought a penguin colony in Cachagua...we swam in incredible surf and walked along a "boardwalk" along the coast similar to Newport RI where we witnessed the houses of the wealthy Chileans and played with starfish! Tonight we stay in a town called Papudo (and on the coast we saw a dolphin!). This part of the Chilean coast reminds us of Big Sur, California.