Our Latest Trip: Part 1: Chile

Dennis had a meeting to attend in the resort town of Vina del Mar, Chile. He thought I might enjoy going along and he also decided that it would be a good time to take a little vacation and visit Machu Picchu in Peru.

We flew to Atlanta and then caught a red-eye flight to Santiago. We had a little challenge at customs, which included confiscated dried apples and the threat of having to pay a $240 fine for lying on the customs form,  but were eventually able to leave the airport. We arrived at the our hotel and they were able to get our room ready. We regrouped and got ready to head out. Dennis went into work at the dealers in Santiago and I help in search of the Hop-on Hop-off city tour bus. I spent the day exploring different parts of the city and going to the fine arts museum. There are a lot of interesting new modern building as well as a lot of older, classical ones.

That evening, Dennis and I took the subway into the Providence district and walked a half an hour till we found the temple. Then we went and found an Indian restaurant for a yummy dinner. The weather was pleasant and it was a nice evening.

At 6 the next morning, we were picked up and we made the hour and a half drive to Vina del Mar. We got to the conference center which was the really nice casino in town. We got the display set up and I sat through a couple of interesting lectures on Cystic Fibrosis and Pulmonology. I learned a lot but after three hours, I was ready to do something else. I headed out to explore some of the city. I walked along the water front for awhile then cut inland and found a shopping center. The mall I had was shopping heaven, compared to what we have in Cache Valley. There were a lot of the higher end stores that you would find in larger cities of the US or Europe. I had a lot of fun looking but as my suitcase was already pretty full and I couldn't find anything that I didn't love or have something similar to it at home, I just enjoyed being in retail heaven.

The mornings always started out foggy and chilly. Everyone heading to work and school
are wearing coats, hats and boots.

By mid afternoon, the fog burned off and people were able to go out and enjoy the  beach. 

I planned on going through the Rose Palace. It was all locked up but right next door
I found this familiar looking building.

There were a lot of things to see and I did 4 hours of walking everyday. In the late afternoon, I would head back to the hotel to rest for a bit and then go out to the beach and read until Dennis was finished around 6:30. We would go in and get ready to go out to dinner.

This was my view from my reading bench.

A carriage ride tour of the city

We finished up in Vina and had a few hours back in Santiago to grab a bite to eat before heading to the airport. One of the amazing things I noticed in South America is that flights come and go all night, unlike our SLC airport which is pretty quiet from midnight to 5 AM.