A Walk in Another Park

Tuesday 31st January 2017

Our last day in Pichilemu and nothing particular planned so Barbara & I went exploring. Sara's uncle's Cabañas (holiday flats) are extremely conveniently situated near to the beach and shops, so there's plenty of interest within easy walking distance. Here's a view of the whole of Pichilemu, quite a big place:

 The flat we were staying in is arrowed, and here's a closer view showing just how close to the sea it is:

And this is the view from the street corner arrowed:

Walking parallel to the beach, we soon came to the Parque Ross with lovely views over the seafront, it being a bit elevated.

Nicely planted with a range of attractive flowers .....

A nice mix of nature and architecture.

About to move on again, I spotted this attractive young lady sporting a brand new hair clip and surreptitiously photographed her without asking permission! 

Down on the beach, walking along the boardwalk, a couple stopped me and insisted that I should photograph them .... 

Quite why they wanted me to capture them I don't know, as they'll probably never see the photo on this blog, but they were very pleased (more so when I showed them the photo on the camera) and even offered me a can of drink. 

A little further on a group were playing beach volleyball .... 

And just up from the beach were many horse-drawn carriages, keen to take the tourists' Pesos in return for a five minute ride. . 

Interesting to note also in that photo, the unguarded trip hazards on the pavement in front of the horse ...

Just imagine someone who'd had a little too much to drink, tripping on the little studs, and falling onto the large ones. I think in the UK Mr. Elf would have something to say about that, and in the litiginous USA, it could never happen. These weren't the only examples I saw either. Note: take care where you're walking in Chile! 

Moving on, the many kiosks with buckets, spades, beachballs etc were so reminiscent of my childhood holidays at the seaside ..... 

And back to the flat to pack up for leaving tomorrow. 

The Best Wine in Chile?

Monday 30th January 2017

Well, the title might be a slight exaggeration, (best value?) after finding a 2 litre box of white wine for less than £2, we weren't expecting much for the price, but it was remarkably drinkable and every bit as good as a £6 bottle of supermarket wine at home, making it about ⅛ of the price we're used to.

While white wine is very nice, especially when properly chilled, a good red is much nicer for evening drinking, IMHO. So an expedition to find a good red found us in a rather seedy looking off-licence. I gestured to the nice lady that I'd like to look at two particular bottles of red, with a view to choosing one or the other.

The Cabernet Sauvignon looked good, and I was fairly sure that would like it, but the other was a Carménère, a grape variety I'd never heard of until Eddy told us about it.

This grape had long been popular in Chile, but was assumed to be a variant of Merlot. But with recent advances in genetics, it had been discovered that it was actually a long lost European grape that was wiped out in Europe (in 1867) by disease (phylloxera). Nobody knew for many years that someone had brought samples to South America in about 1850 where it flourished under the misapprehension that it was a Merlot variety, and in the Chilean climate, was largely immune to the phylloxera insect.

So, I just had to try it. But in case it wasn't to my taste, the other bottle seemed like a good insurance policy. I had a bit of a shock though when I asked the price ...........

£5 (approximately) for the two 2 litre bottles!!!!!

I/we couldn't get them home fast enough (back to Sara's Uncle's holiday cabin) to try.

First though, we toured the bright lights of Pichilemu ......

So bright that Barbara was still wearing her sunglasses!  The funfair was in full swing, but we left that to the youngsters.

And stopping for some Churros - linear doughnuts, to add to the chips we'd bought earlier at the Empanadas outlet. Healthy eating!!!

Stray dogs are a very common sight everywhere in Chile it seems. We saw some very near misses with cars ....

Sober now. I can confirm that Carménère is really nice. I wonder how many 2 litre bottles our weight limit will allow on the flights home?

P.S. have subsequently seen Carménère in Tesco's, but rather more expensive. 

The Best Coffee in Chile?

Monday 30th January 2017

A very lazy day, getting up very late due to a late night (early morning) and rather a lot of Jamaican rum from Barbados.

After at least one game of Carcassonne, an expedition to the shops for basic supplies was necessary. One of the most basic necessities was a decent cup of coffee. Most of what we'd had anywhere in Chile to date was very average.

But a recommendation led us to a small takeaway establishment in the main street. Very unassuming, it didn't look different to any of its neighbours selling empanadas and hot dogs (Completos in Chile), but the coffee was really nice, and our lattés were decorated like Flat Whites, a presentation style we have yet to find in South America. Subsequent coffees elsewhere didn't change my opinion either.

So, when in Pichilemu, head for the Cardumen Café at 96 Anibal Pinto Street. Highly recommended.

P.S. a quick look on a popular internet search engine shows that a lot of others agree. 

The Best (safe) Seawater Bathing in Chile?

Sunday 29th  January 2017

Maitén, Clemente's pretty cousin (of almost identical age to him) joined us for a day out at the salt flats at Cáhuil not too far away from Pichilemu, her mum, Sofia having lent us her pickup truck to get there.

Much of the area seems to be a protected wild bird sanctuary, and has a nice viewing platform built well out on the calm salt waters of the estuary (Estero la Palmilla).

It was very bright, so we're all squinting a bit.

Further on, a rough track led down to an area with barbecues, picnic tables and stunted trees and a roped off area of water.

Clemente and Maitén obviously knew this swimming area and started off with a gunge * throwing battle.

* - some form of fine seaweed maybe?

Followed by lots of horseplay in the warm seawater, which was never out of their depth, or ours, which pleased Barbara particularly.

A skimming ball we'd brought from home proved very popular ......

The adults had as much fun as the children and only the promise of chocolate biscuits eventually got everyone out of the water.

The wildlife was interesting as well. Large gulls and black-necked swans.

The Best Free Concert in Chile?

Saturday  28th  January 2017

An earlyish start from Hostal Providencia saw the five of us (Eddy, Sara, Clemente, Barbara & me) arriving at the main bus station in Santiago just in time to catch the 10 am pre-booked express bus to Pichilemu.

Leaving from the upper level of the big bus station, the colourful surroundings of urban Santiago are arresting, and the bright blue sky doesn't really indicate just how hot it already was  ......

The bus was very comfortable though with air-con and darkened windows to protect us against the hot sun, and plenty of legroom.

Eddy and Sara knew the route well and commented that the huge tracts of charred land from the many wildfires were very different to anything they'd seen before ....

A couple of unplanned stops during the journey helped make it more 'interesting'. Firstly rescuing all the passengers and their luggage from a broken-down bus delayed us a little, then this truck dangerously 'parked' on a blind mountain hairpin bend required the bus conductor to check it was safe for us to pass:

After a while we got to Pichilemu (Little Forest), and settled into our new temporary home. Our first night was very temporary as the previous tenants of  Sara's Uncle's holiday cabin hadn't left when expected, but despite it being peak holiday season an alternative was helpfully found for us.

Exploring the seaside town, we found a nice place for lunch ........

And discovered one of the national drinks (though other South American countries also claim it), the Pisco Sour. These were especially good examples with the sugar-crusted rims and a frothy top (egg whites). Delicious, healthy and refreshing (and only a little intoxicating!).

Walking down to the seafront to take in the atmosphere; the fishing boats weren't for decoration, they went out every morning and returned with fish to be sold locally.

Surfers, a renowned surf city. Several surf schools and no end of surfing related businesses. The best surf is a bit further up the coast apparently, but you'd need to know what you're doing in the 3 m/10 ft waves here.

We discovered that a free concert was going to be held later. So we spent much of the evening socialising with relations and friends of Sara's (Barbara, Clemente, Sara, Eddy, ??, Sofia, Estoban, me and the wolf) and generally having a good time until the concert started about 10pm.

Here's Eddy imbibing something herbal and interesting (and perfectly legal I was assured) ...

About 10 pm the concert started.

It was very loud but with good quality amplification and all the lighting, looked and sounded quite spectacular. Not especially to my particular taste musically, but fun all the same.