Vina del Mar

It is never-ending. Just when we thought the weather couldn't possibly get any better we arrive in Vina del Mar. 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and with a constant cool breeze blowing off the Pacific so that at no time does it feel overly hot. Dangerously deceptive, however, as with the aforementioned ozone being so thin we have to be hyper-vigilant about not staying out in the open sunshine for any long periods of time. At least not until we have a little more of a 'base' on us. Well, we had yet another adventurous day today. We had a beautiful drive through the Casablanca Valley (largest vineyard area in Chile)and the Coastal Mountains and arrived just in time for a beautiful lunch on the patio overlooking the Pacific. It was clearly the afternoon to sit by the pool so off we went. There are 3 pools. One is indoors (not today, of course) one is a beautiful outdoor pool overlooking the ocean and with a large patio for sunbathing. Beside it are some stairs leading down to a salt water pool that is fed by a tidal pool. Our server told us that yesterday there had been some enormous waves late in the afternoon that had washed over the pools and sent people screaming off. Now, I mean these waves had to be 4-5 metre waves in order to do that and we're thinking, yeah, right. Sure enough, around 3:30 after we had moved out of the sun and were sitting at a shaded table, these waves start to roll in. They came crashing in over the rails of the patio, into the pools and washing everything away that was on the ground. My Teva flip-flops were in that category although they aren't alone as many, many were washed away with them. It really would be quite funny if it weren't for the fact that they were favourites. I did get a great video of one of these waves hitting us but the file is too big to put on the blog. When I get a chance I will put it on my Picasa web page. We have just returned from the best dinner yet in Chile. We thought we were heading to the most informal restaurant in the hotel to have perhaps a hamburguesa or empanadas and instead found ourselves looking at a very fine menu presented by a very fine chef. Maggie had calamari and a risotto with osso bucco and I had the best caprese salad ever and fettuccine with crab in a saffron sauce. Absolutely fabulous flavour but the presentation even surpassed that. All in all, most remarkable, given that we were absolutely not expecting this. Almost made up for the loss of my Tevas. I got wayyyy too much sun today in spite of my knowledge of the depleted ozone and railing on about it with you yesterday. Just plain dumb but there you have it and little miss brown person has suggested that it might be safer for me to sightsee or shop tomorrow. Although I am covered in arnica and various other healing unguents I am not sure it will all be 100% by tomorrow so I am willing to sacrifice myself to a day of shopping/touring. Mercado Centrale will be on our list of stops here as apparently it also is filled with wonderful seafood restaurants where the fishermen take their catch directly to the restaurants. We are definitely slowing down our pace and moving to the very relaxed rhythm that pervades this country. Everyone is very efficient, everything is on time but it all seems to be done without any need for rush or urgency in order to attain it. I have yet to meet a Type A. I must look up the stats on heart disease here. :-) Everyone be well. Talk to you soon. Love, Sally xoxo