Vina del Mar

By the time we had got up, showered, etc... and walked down to the coast where we planned to catch the bus to Vina Del Mar it was around 12:30. Vina Del Mar (Vina for short) used to be another town located around the bay from Valparaiso, however the two places have now expanded so much that there is no longer any actual boundary between the two. We flagged down a microbus which took about 25 mins to drive around the bay and dropped us off at the clock of flowers which marks the start of the resorts and beaches which line Vina's coast. The clock is in fact a working model where the face is made of a flower display, we are unsure whether the second hand works because there was a gardener working when we arrived. We then proceeded to walk along the coast line crossing the river by a bridge near which stood the obligatory horses and carts which mark this town as a tourist destination, unlike other places we have been though the Chileans look after their horses much better, they stand them in the shade and let them eat and drink so as a result the horses here look much healthier than those elsewhere. We continued walking along the beautiful promenade which boarders the beach looking at the various sand sculptures dotted around, all asking for donations of course, and the tourist stands selling local crafts. The beach itself is stunning, really wide and perfectly white with waves crashing into the shore all day, the only downside is that the strong rip currents make it unsafe to swim in the sea, not that we minded since, as we found out later, it is freezing!! It took about 2 hours to walk from one end of the beach to the other (via an ice cream stall of course) which is marked by a large rock formation with a zipline on top of it. It is possible if you continue walking long the beaches on the other side of the rock to reach the next town but we decided that this would be and excellent spot for some sunbathing, and some paddling in the water. (we thought about swimming before we realised how cold it was!!) After 2 hours we decided that we were now suitably roasted and made our way back into town via a very large shopping centre where we picked up a swiss army knife as part of my birthday present and Mae made the silly decision to walk around the food court and thus make herself hungry!! As we walked outside we came across the inevitable Plaza O'Higgins who seems to have a Plaza in every town in Chile, although he's not quite as ubiquitous as Jose Marti in Cuba. And walked back to the centre of town along the main thoroughfare which is lined with some beautiful buildings that not unlike Valparaiso seem to look rather out of place for the town. We picked up a couple of empanadas from a bakery in town, one cheese and one Pino which turned out to be similar to a cornish pasty, except with a rather unexpected olive which surprised Mae as it wasn't stoned. After grabbing a bottle of Fizzy Papaya juice which tasted a little like Irn Bru we walked to the lovely park which is located in the centre of town and relaxed for a little while. Wanting to get back before it started getting dark we finally succeeded in flagging down another Microbus, which have signs in the window telling you where they go but make a habit of driving so fast that by the time you see the sign it's too late for them to stop and pick you up!! Back in Valparaiso we picked up a bottle of delicious Chilean wine from the super market for $3 and had this both with our dinner and while we watched a film before bed.