Viña del Mar

Mi amigo who lives by the seashore handily has two single beds in his room of his rented apartment in Viña del Mar. He's from the south of Chile and always seems to have people over to visit that he decided to install two beds and is quite the hospitable host. We decided to visit him one not so warm, spring weekend.

We planned our trip a few days in advance. We bought a bus ticket for early Saturday morning, only, in our effort to be organised, we ended up being more disorganised and left the house too late. We missed the bus by two minutes, but not to worry, we could buy another cheap ticket at the terminal; we only had to wait in the never-ending queue of every woman, man and dog that lives in Santiago. Ok, I exaggerate and the wait was not too long, although we did have to intercept someone who tried to subtly push into the line (not so subtle for our keen eyes), and there was no wait for the next bus.

Viña del Mar is about 2 hours without traffic from Santiago, towards the Pacific coast. It is one of the most popular beach destinations for Santiaguinos as it’s so close. However, I am yet to meet someone who thinks that the Pacific Ocean isn’t too freezing cold to swim in. Chileans all tell me that one or two kilometres from shore the sea floor suddenly and sheerly drops, so much so that the sun cannot possibly heat all the water.

After walking around the conveniently compact town centre, we had lunch at a picada, which is basically a restaurant that embodies the three Bs: Bueno, Bonito y Barato (Good, Beautiful and Cheap). This picada was Italian and it certainly wasn’t very big but the food was mouth watering homemade and the place was full as soon as it opened. The walls were covered with pictures and posters from Italian popular culture as well as tourist highlights. I soaked in the ambiance and gulped down gnocchi, while my lovely Chilean tasted heavenly pesto ravioli. Note: it is very rare to find good pesto in Chile and if you find a jar of it in the supermarket, it is way too expensive to even consider purchasing. Pre-made sauces in general have yet to make a big hit here and so most people buy the raw ingredients and just make their own salsa.

With our bellies jolly and satisfied, we walked off to meet mi amigo. His ‘pad’ is opposite the beach, where we didn’t waste any time in getting to. A little bit of wind didn’t stop us from taking off our shoes but it did seem to stop everyone from actually going into the water. I don’t think I saw even one person attempt. Mi amigo, on the other hand, joined in to play beach volleyball. The white sand crept in between our toes as we watched them play, but soon we left the scene to check out the stalls of knick-knacks that run all down the beach. We had to fight our way down the path for all the people. Can you just imagine what it is like in peak summer?

That evening, groups of young students, not yet mature enough to prune away their delinquent tendencies, came over in honour of our visit. We headed off to la discoteca soon after the clocks changed into summertime. In the end no one wanted to pay the cover charge and we grew sick of waiting for the ‘friend of a friend’ who was meant to let us in for free that the three of us strayed from the group and heading to Café Journal.

Now Café Journal is my favourite hub in Viña del Mar. I hold many fond memories of this place from my last visits to this coastal town and after four years of separation, I was not disappointed. Nothing had changed. The place still offered multiple rooms to sit in and a courtyard on the upper level that is rich in character. On its far wall is painted a façade of overlooking townhouses and an actual verandah has been attached to give the appearance of sitting out in some European alleyway and yet the Chilean music and voices hovering past your ear gives the place that exotic, latino touch. The pizzas are yummy and a jug of beer is cheap.

Again talking food, lunch the following day meant empanadas and not just your typical empanadas. This restaurant offered empanadas filled with unusual blends of ingredients and had around 30 combinations to choose from. Cheese, prawns and Merkén would have to be my favourite, mostly because I have this new, found obsession with the Mapuche spice.

We said our warm goodbyes to my dear hospitable amigo as he left us to study and we headed to another of my friend’s place, who also studies and also comes from the south. We sat in her spacious, heritage apartment for once (afternoon tea) and caught up on some very overdue gossip.

Then it was back on the bus and back to chain ‘smogging’ in Santiago, and work the next day. That is the beauty of this skinny country; you can easily escape into nature on your weekends.