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) ...
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.
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