It was a beautiful, sunny day for a trip to the seaside. Vina del Mar is about 1 1/2 hrs away along a good highway. Knowing that, I really wanted to see the ocean! I know I've seen the Pacific from BC, but this is different, and as my son put it, it's the South Pacific (sort of).
The Museum Fonck owns the only Easter Island statue off Easter Island. It was gifted to Chile in 1951. Originally when we were first discussing a longer trip to Chile, we had planned to take the 6 hr flight to Easter Island. Given that my trip is a whole 5 days, finding this guy was a close as I would get, and I'm ok with that!We wandered the promenade along the seaside, and stopped for lunch at a cafe. Lots of stray dogs. Unlike the Santiago dogs, these ones don't have collars, and most of them don't have coats either.
Then I got to play in the water! I wasn't about to miss the chance to put my feet in the Pacific in Chile! It was cold but not desperate. The waves were huge and the undertow must have been something else too, but 2 men decided they'd swim anyway, in spite of it being winter. Now I say that, but it must have been 20 degrees.
Our dinner reservation was at a place called Tierra del Fuego. The joke is that after watching an episode of british tv show "Top Gear", I want to drive the road to the real Tierra del Fuego, which happens to be in Argentina, I think. The Top Gear guys had a lot of trouble with the Argentinians, and we had our own challenges at this restaurant too. All week, I have travelled with a spanish phrasebook. It has helped us with menus to no end. Today, by mistake, the book stayed home, so we had to rely on Google Translate to decipher the dinner menu. Not good. PP thought he was ordering paella. Waiter told him no it was soup. OK. He'd have the king crab. I was expecting full crab, legs and all. Not so. PP received a large mound of crab meat. The end. My googling led me to believe I was choosing crab cakes. Sounds safe. Guess what - not crab cakes. When mine arrived, it was a bowl of warm melted cheese. With crab in it. Sort of like cheesy crab fondue, but without the stuff to dip. Tasty, but definitely not what I was expecting. I've never eaten a bowl of cheese before. The capirinhas were the saving grace. While not the national drink of Chile (that's a pesco sour), PP likes capirinhas (from Brazil) much better. It's cachaca, lime, and sugar. Very nice.
The whole point of this particular restaurant was the location. One goes to Vina del Mar for the sunsets, and this place gads a fantastic balcony right on the water. Judge the pictures for yourself. The sunset was spectacular, as was the drive home under a full moon and a sky full of stars.
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