11-20-09
Up today at 7:30 and had eggs and toast for breakfast

On the road at 9:00. We had a 10:30 appointment at the Congress in Valparaiso, about an hours drive.

When we got to the Congress building, he asked the Carabinero’s where to park (after telling him that he was a general) We parked right in front of the Congress. Couldn’t get a much better parking space! We went through the security check without them checking our bags even though we all beeped. They took us to the Captain’s office. He gave us a personal tour of the building.

Our "personal" parking spot

With the Captain in front of the Declaration of Independence

It’s a very modern building. There is an imaginary line separating the building into 2 parts - one side is the Senadors and the other is the Diputodos (Senators & Representatives) The Diputados side has a green copper wall behind the president of the diputados. It represents “new” All bills are introduced here, voted upon and then submitted to the Senadors for a final vote. The Senadors have a brown copper wall representing “finish”. The Congress is in Valparaiso because several presidents ago decided that all of the important people in government should not be in the same city. They meet in Valparaiso on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and are in Santiago on Monday and Friday.

The Congress building

The Senate. The wall behind the desk is made of copper

The Diputados. The wall behind the desk is also copper

After the Congress, we drove to a square in Valparaiso and parked the car. We went up an incline to an artsy area and walked around for about an hour. As we were walking to the first incline, Dario found a friend from when they lived in Puerto Montt many years ago. They talked for a while. The friend was in the Navy and was stationed in Virginia Beach for 2 years. Then we took another incline back down and walked back to the square.

Here are some pictures of the city





We ate at Restaurant Bote Salvavidas. It’s the same place that we ate at when I was here in 2001. We had shrimp and cheese empanadas that are the best. We also had beef empanadas and pisco sours. I had sea bass with a shrimp sauce, Dale and Nacho had conch, Marisol and her dad has something that looked like octopus. We also had a bottle of wine - Cousina Macuol Chardonnay.

The restaurant

Dale's in foreground. Dario/Marisol's meal in background

After lunch we drove around Valparaiso again and then drove the coast back home to Costa Quillen. We learned from the radio that there was a protest that closed the road. They were protesting that they were going to start charging a toll for the road. We had to take a detour that took us the LONG way back to the house.

At 9:00PM, we went to Maitencello (a town north of Costa Quillen) to La Canasta. We had drinks and tapas. We started off with rolls and spread them with butter and a parsley, garlic, oil salsa. Marisol ordered a shrimp tapa and a potato thing that had cut potatoes cooked and topped with Tabasco sauce for all of us to share.


The entrance to the restaurant.

Home around 11:30 and to bed. We can sleep in tomorrow. Yippee!

11-21-09
Up today around 8:00. We are going to have a leisurely drive up the north coast. The usual breakfast of toast, turkey, salami, cheese, and tea.

Having breakfast on the deck at the beach house

It’s a sunny day today. Finally.

We left around 10:30 and our first stop was Maitencillo on the Pacific Ocean.


It’s a cute town with lots of pelicans.


There is an open air market selling artisan goods. There is also a fish market here. They don’t keep any of their fish on ice.



In the area we stopped, you can’t swim because there are too many rocks and the surf is rough. Further beyond this area, there is a clearer ocean and a popular surfing area.

People surfing


We continued driving along the coast to the next town of Cachagua. This town appears to be more exclusive. One of the people running for president (who is also the owner of LAN Chile and other companies) owns a beach house in this town.

If you look hard enough, you can see his house from the long driveway


In Zappallar, we walked along a path along the ocean. There were all rocks on the path. We took lots of pictures here. Then we went to the sand beach in Zappallar. The ocean was a beautiful blue green color and seemed very clear. There are a lot of older upscale homes in this town.



The next town we went to was Papudo. We just drove around this town. There is a very calm beach here. We ate lunch in this town at the Club House Restaurant. I had the best Pisco sour. Nacho told me that it was made with lime. We started with a shrimp empanada. It was excellent. I had fish that was similar to shark and vegetables. Dale had chicken and mashed potatoes. We also had a bottle of wine.

Nacho was explaining the menu to me


We drove back along the coast to the house. We took a short siesta and headed back to Santiago around 6:00PM.

the drive back to Santiago

There was a forest fire on the way back


Marisol’s mom, Marisol arrived home around 10:00PM and we had a snack of fruits and chips. We sat around and talked about our travels, hers and ours.

To bed around midnight.

11-22-09
Our last day here. Up around 7:30.

We went to the grocery store around 10:30. I was going to buy a bottle of pisco but decided to wait for the Duty Free. I did get Brayden a soccer shirt at the mall.

In the afternoon around 1:30, Marisol’s family arrived for a barbecue. There was Dario’s mom, sister and brother - Sylvia, Marcella, Claudio; Marisol’s mom and dad - Dona & Edward. Marisol, Dario, Nacho and Marisol were there. It was lots of fun. Everyone brought a dish to share. There was a chicken dish, beef dish, gnocchi, potato salad, asparagus, flan, some kind of dessert with a fruit. Nacho made us a pisco sour that was excellent. They had two bottles of Nissley Rhapsody in Blue and we brought them a bottle. So, we had two bottles of the wine at the barbecue. At the end of dinner, Dario brought out the alcohol and everyone had a drink. Everyone left around 5:00.




Their house in Santiago

The front of the house

The dining room

Dale's (aka Nacho's) room

We sat around and talked until about 6:30 and then left for the airport.

We wanted to get to the airport early to try to get our seats together or to get the exit row seat. It was a sad goodbye at the gate. They waited for us to go through customs before they left.

11-18-09
I slept in today until 8:30AM. We had breakfast.

Then we went to the Monasterio Benedictino de la Santisima Trinidad. They have a 200 year old monastery that is very modernistic. The main lighting for the sanctuary comes from natural light. The building was designed in such a way to allow natural light into the building without being obvious.

Front of building

Inside with no lights on

Then we went to the grocery store at a mall. There was a Dunkin Donuts and Dale got a coffee and two donuts. I think the donuts taste the same. Dale didn’t think so. The coffee was different though.

At Dunkin Donuts

We dropped off the groceries and went to Marisol’s work at the senior living center. She showed us around. It is a very nice place. They have about 150 residents and there is a waiting list to get in.

We drove west to Pomaire. This is the area where ceramics are made. There is a main street in town where there are many shops that sell ceramics and other artisan goods.

Typical building of shops. These were closed


Inside one of the shops

We ate lunch around 3PM at San Antonio Restaurant. We started off with chicha a sweet, fruity alcoholic drink and a huge piece of empanada. I was full after this but still had my main course yet. I had Pastel de Choclo but it wasn’t as good as Adriana’s. Dale had pig’s leg and rice. Dario had pork chops and French fries, Nacho had the same as me and Marisol had pork ribs. We were too full after that for dessert.

Enjoying chicha

Our entree

I guess I should say that Marisol’s mom was away at Easter Island for work this week. She will be home on Saturday night.

There are a lot of stray dogs that just wander around the streets.

We are just chilling at home tonight.

11-19-09
We were able to sleep in today but I still got up around 7:30 and I think Dale did too. Since Nacho and Marisol both have single beds and the rooms are smaller, we had to sleep in separate rooms.

Dario made eggs for us today for breakfast. They were pretty good.

He had to take his Rotary minutes to someone who works at the airport where the Carabineros keep their helicopters. The Carabineros provide police and air medical assistance. They also have some planes. There are ten crews available to be ready at all times. The air medical helicopter seems very sparse compared to Hershey’s helicopter. We had a pilot give us a tour of the helicopters. We were able to look at their helicopters. One of the helicopters was shot at recently and he showed us where the bullet hit the rotor. Afterwards, we went inside to talk to the doctor in charge of the air medical. He was very interested in how Hershey air medical worked.

Dale and the pilot looking at the helicopter

After that, we went to Starbucks. The clerk there spoke very good English. He said he learned it at school.

Then we had lunch at home. Adriana made spaghetti with a vegetable sauce made of zucchini, onions, tomato, mushrooms. It was very good.

After lunch, we left for the beach house in Costa Quilen. It’s a two hour drive toward the northwest. We finally got some sun. It was sunny for the whole drive.

They have a single family, four bedroom, three bath house near the beach on the Pacific coast. We took a walk around the property. There are two condominium complexes and a single housing area. There is a forest and beaches. The property has three pools, a gym, and a café. It is a closed community. The beach is nice but has lots of rocks that reminded us of Iceland.

This is a view from the woods. Their house is on top of the hill....last one on the left beside the green netting.

It's a pretty good walk from the house to the beach. This view is from the pool. It took about 5 minutes to walk to this pool. There are 3 pools in the complex.


Walking to the beach. They said all these rocks on the beach are unusual

After our walk, we came back to the house where Nacho was preparing dinner. We had chitimoya (a fruit) wine punch, chips, peanuts, olives and pickles. Then Nacho prepared a barbecue. We started off with sausage (which I tried). Then we had chicken, beef and potatoes from the grill. The grill is steel surrounded by ceramic and was heated with wood. There was also green beans and cucumbers and a lettuce and tomato salad. We had a really nice bottle of chardonnay. Nacho is also a pretty good cook.

Nacho cooking on the grill


Serving up dinner

After dinner, Dale and Dario had a rum & coke and I had a pisco and coke.

We went to bed around 11:00