Friday, February 27, 2009
Below the Equator - Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile
Yesterday we travelled 6,208 miles, from San Juan to Santiago. Which means we sat in airplanes for 9 1/2 hours. It actually wasn't so horrible.
We arrived in Santiago to find that our hotel was very centrally located, and a short walk to a hopping night life area called Bella Vista. We ate dinner at 11 pm, at a restaurant called "coma Agua para Chocolate", and yes, the excellent food was made with lots of love. What a marvelous find.
Something we noticed while walking through Santiago were many, many free dogs wandering around. All breeds, very friendly. We saw this in Athens also... just dogs who live in the city and are sort of communally cared for. They all seem very well behaved and have their special spots where they hang out.
Santiago strikes me as a friendly, clean city trying to become more modern.
As we flew in, we could see all the farms surrounding the city. It is such a treat to finally eat Chilean produce in Chile - it's local!
We left early today to travel to Valparaiso, the coastal city from which we will depart on our sea voyage. It is about 80 miles from Santiago, and we travelled by bus. Chile seems to have solved the public transportation problem - they have excellent metro, trains, and busses.
Valparaiso is surrounded by 6 hills. Where we are staying is in an old area of the city, which reminds me of Greenwich Village on hills, I guess like San Francisco also. There are lots of galleries and restaurants, and I saw many working artists. Some tiny little houses surrounded by roses amidst the 3-6 story buildings.
We are staying in a molto trendy hotel with only 9 rooms, a sitting room like your very favorite cozy living room, and a beautiful garden. Tomorrow we hope to get to the market and purchase some flowers to bring on board the ship.
O...and the most important thing...I can testify that, below the equator, one feels upside-down and inside-out, and yes, the water swirls down the drain counter-clockwise!
And another strange thing.... even though we traveled west (we thought), we ended up in a time zone one hour ahead of our beloved Virgin Islands. Need to look at a map, and see how far East South America is!
We arrived in Santiago to find that our hotel was very centrally located, and a short walk to a hopping night life area called Bella Vista. We ate dinner at 11 pm, at a restaurant called "coma Agua para Chocolate", and yes, the excellent food was made with lots of love. What a marvelous find.
Something we noticed while walking through Santiago were many, many free dogs wandering around. All breeds, very friendly. We saw this in Athens also... just dogs who live in the city and are sort of communally cared for. They all seem very well behaved and have their special spots where they hang out.
Santiago strikes me as a friendly, clean city trying to become more modern.
As we flew in, we could see all the farms surrounding the city. It is such a treat to finally eat Chilean produce in Chile - it's local!
We left early today to travel to Valparaiso, the coastal city from which we will depart on our sea voyage. It is about 80 miles from Santiago, and we travelled by bus. Chile seems to have solved the public transportation problem - they have excellent metro, trains, and busses.
Valparaiso is surrounded by 6 hills. Where we are staying is in an old area of the city, which reminds me of Greenwich Village on hills, I guess like San Francisco also. There are lots of galleries and restaurants, and I saw many working artists. Some tiny little houses surrounded by roses amidst the 3-6 story buildings.
We are staying in a molto trendy hotel with only 9 rooms, a sitting room like your very favorite cozy living room, and a beautiful garden. Tomorrow we hope to get to the market and purchase some flowers to bring on board the ship.
O...and the most important thing...I can testify that, below the equator, one feels upside-down and inside-out, and yes, the water swirls down the drain counter-clockwise!
And another strange thing.... even though we traveled west (we thought), we ended up in a time zone one hour ahead of our beloved Virgin Islands. Need to look at a map, and see how far East South America is!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
What I can't figure out is how this lovely old city, which reminds me of Lisbon, and where I hear Spanish being spoken all around me, is part of the United States! Must read up on that history...
We had a nice surprise at our hotel, where Cathie and Dick had left a message pack at the front desk, including a map, and copious notes on where to eat and sightsee during our short stay. They were here at the beginning and end of their Tortola adventure, and stayed at the same hotel.
I found The Butterfly People, a shop which has enormous displays of rain forest butterflies, caught between plexiglass and very artistically arranged. I inherited one which came with our home in Tortola.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Getting Ready for the Big Trip
I am really getting excited about starting this trip next Thursday. We will fly from Puerto Rico to Santiago, Chile, with a layover in Panama City. The second leg is a long flight, but when I look at a map I see how far away Chile is. I am actually going to be below the equator for the first time in my life, and cannot wait to see if it is true that water swirls in the opposite direction when one is "Down Under". What are we, "Up Above"?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
