Viña del Mar and south to Villarrica, Chile

We´re back in Chile after what seems like an unusually long amount of time to cross the border from Argentina. It took two hours, part of the time waiting in line, but an amazing amount of looking at passports, stamping pieces of paper, checking bags, etc. It seems as though they don´t trust each other.



But the bus ride was interesting back across the Andes, and the flora became more colorful with flowers and shrubs as we got closer to the coast near Viña del Mar. Lots of flower and fruit and vegetable stands along the way. We pulled into Viña in the early evening and got to our B&B that we picked out via the computer. We lucked out again! It was an old Victorian home that had been converted into a darling hotel. The yard was full of flowers, and it looked so inviting after a long bus ride. The owner came out to meet us at the gate; he was Canadian with a Chilean wife, both as nice as could be. Our room upstairs was pink and green, very restful. We put our things down and immediately went to dinner (recommended by Brian) at a seafood restaurant on the ocean. There we sat on the terrace under white umbrellas, watching the sun hit the water´s edge. The waves crashed up on the rocks straight ahead and to the south of us was a small beach where dogs were playing in the surf. I couldn´t imagine that it was the only beach, but we couldn´t see any other because of the approaching darkness. We then walked home and crashed ourselves.



The next day we went to Valparaiso which is a town about 5 miles south, also along the water. I expected a smallish place but found that I was mistaken yet again. The city is very large, a huge port with two cruise ships, an oil tanker and maybe 50 other large ships docked right downtown. We had lunch overlooking all this chaos and were amazed at the cacophony of noises--all kind of bells and whistles from every craft there. After lunch, we left the shoreline area of the town and took an ascensor, which is an outside elevator (just a box, really, with seats) up a steep hillside to the upper level of town. Of course, there was a repairman fixing the rails as we started skyward! It looks so much like Italy! And there is a big population of Italians who live there, so it´s only fitting that it would. We visited another home of Pablo Neruda. He called this one Sebastiana, and it was on such a steep hillside that we decided to take a taxi there. We walked down and back home on the metro.



On Monday, we decided to see the town and then the beach. It was super-crowded in town, but we found the bus station and purchased tickets to Villarrica. We could have taken an overnight bus, but I wasn´t falling for that plan again. We walked back to the beach for lunch and after that decided that we´d walk north to see the other beach. As we turned the corner, we were so amazed to see thousands of bodies on the sand! This was a Monday! Lots of colorful umbrellas, rows of shops selling all kind of beach trinkets, dogs roaming up and down the beach on the prowl for some forgotten morsel, and a little boy who looked at Terry and said, ¨Daddy!¨ I looked around, expecting to see a man who looked like Terry behind us, but there was nobody around. The mother of the child came up to us with a sheepish look on her face and explained (in English) that Terry looked just like her husband, and the little boy thought he was. He had been there with them visiting her mother but had flown back to the US a few weeks earlier. She had a photo in her camera, and, sure enough, he looked just like Terry. They were Chilean. Amazing!

Back to the B&B and a bottle of wine that we had brought back with us from Mendoza, shared with our hosts, ended the evening.



And so, we are up to yesterday, when we caught the 8:00 bus south. We rode through countryside that looked like a mixture of places to us. At the beginning, very dry, desertlike, morphing into very lush green treed land. We passed lots of vegetable and fruit orchards, corn fields, grapes, and apples. Then came wheat fields and cows that were truly handsome, brown and shiny. Then we began to see the volcanoes, and they edged closer, and by early evening, we were very close. We arrived in Villarrica at about 9:30 and took a taxi to Hosteria de la Colina, and that´s where we are now.



We got up this morning to a beautifully gardened lawn with breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake. The volcano is to the east, and we can see it from the yard. What a lovely landscape, serene but potentially exciting--the volcano smokes all the time, we read. But there are lots of hiking areas and fishing. Much to do.



This may be my last blog entry as I received several emails last night when we arrived here that my mom had had a stroke and was in the hospital. We talked with Terry´s sister Marge late last night and will call the hospital today at noon. We are in touch with both Holly and Heather and family and friends in Florida, so we are waiting to hear how she is doing. Last night, she seemed to be doing better and everyone said not to rush home, but I´ll need to talk with Mom and also the doctor before we decide. It´s very difficult not to be there. I´ll let everyone know what we decide to do. Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us. It´s been fun to get your emails, too, and we always enjoy hearing from you.