Feeling at Home in Chile
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010Our computer lost Internet access for awhile, so here is the blog post from last week. We are now skiing and snowboarding in Portillo, Chile – awesome!!! More to come later this week…
We head from the high desert to the coast and immediately feel like we are back home. The weather is just like Pacifica in winter: foggy, windy and miserable one day, rainy and cold the next, then clear, cool and sunny another day. The gray-brown sandy beach is long and wide, just like Santa Cruz. Flocks of pelicans and seagulls fly overhead. Funky seafood restaurants are scattered along the beachfront. People walk, jog, bike and rollerblade along the malecon. Even a few guys surf.
We are staying in La Serena (population 150,000+) for four days. We find a nice cabana across the street from the beach – kitchen, two stories, two bedrooms and a wonderful view. After settling in, we go to get groceries and are pleasantly surprised with the megamall – Home Depot-like store, huge department stores and amazing grocery store – like Target and Safeway combined. We are like kids in a candy store while grocery shopping – Italian salami, Serrano ham, fresh artisan ciabotta rolls and a huge wine selection! Quinn and I treat ourselves to new slippers so that we can be cozy in our beach chalet.
We spend lazy days in La Serena, taking long walks along the beach, exploring the old part of town eating leisurely seafood lunches (well, at least Paul and Connor do…), reading, watching sunsets. On a rainy, cold day, we head inland to visit a Pisco distillery. Very interesting. Pisco is made from grapes and is similar to brandy. The best part is tasting Pisco and the premade mixes: Pisco sour and mango cocktail. Connor even gets to taste!
Next stop – skiing and snowboarding in the Andes! Yippee!
hwy1alltheway