Thursday, November 28, 2013

Vina Del Mar, Chile

November 25 - 27

After two long bus rides (one of which was an over-night bus), we were back in Chile and in Vina Del Mar, the most popular beach in the country.  We had some seafood at a restaurant in Puerto Varas where we had a 5 hour layover in between our two bus rides.  Unfortunately, Gene ended up getting terrible food poisoning.  That's probably the worse thing that can happen to a person just as they board a 12-hour over night bus.  Poor guy was sick the entire ride, and neither of us really slept (really uncomfortable "cama" seats).  The bad news is that the food poisoning symptoms did not go away within the 12-hour time period we were on the bus.  Gene was sick for the entire next day, and didn't really start to feel better until the morning of our second day in Vina Del Mar.  

We did get to walk around Puerto Varas during our bus layover.  It's a beautiful city with a similar ski-town feel as Bariloche.  The city is located on the shores of the Llanquihue Lake with the Osorno Volcano visible in the background from the lakefront.  Here are some pictures from our short day in Puerto Varas.

Osorno Volcano behind Llanquihue Lake

Other end of the lake

Here's the restaurant where we ate in Puerto Varas, Fogon Las Buenas Brasas.  The food at this restaurant was actually some of the best we had in South America (aside from the oysters that were the result of Gene's food poisoning).


Our first day in Vina Del Mar was very low key.  I spent some time on the beach and walked around the town while Gene recovered.

Our hotel, Neruda Mar Suites, was on the far northern end of Renaca beach, just across the road from a large seal habitat.  Here are the seals hanging out on the end of the rock.


The coast of Renaca Beach


Renaca Beach


View from the top of the cliff above our hotel


We had an incredible sunset our first night.  
We cooked dinner and out on our balcony - this was our amazing view.




The next day we walked from Renaca to the main town of Vina Del Mar.  Here's the "downtown" area of Renaca, the famous hill with the landscaped seagull.

Renaca beach looking north 
(our hotel was at the far end of this beach)

Vina Del Mar Beach
These were a couple of the sand-figures



This military ship passed right by our balcony while we were hanging out that evening.  The Chilean naval academy is located in Vina Del Mar.

   

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