Viña del Mar and Valparaíso

We hopped up early this morning so we could join a tour to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. The drive takes about an hour and a half and takes you through the coastal mountains, which are much lower in elevation than the Andes--an hour and a half in the other direction--and where much of the country's produce is grown. We saw vineyards, olive groves, citrus farms, and several other kinds orchards and farms. And then, at some point, we saw nothing more because the fog is very thick in that valley and doesn't lift until temperatures climb a little higher. We made four stops in Viña del Mar: Quinta Vergara, which is a park honoring the city's founding family; the city's famous flower clock; a tiny beach; and a restaurant by the sea where we had lunch.

A vineyard in the Chilean Coastal Range

A church in Viña del Mar

Stadium in Quinta Vergara

The famous flower clock

Acapulco Beach

Lunch at Nogaro

Climbing + spinning + ocean=
Perfection for two little boys

After lunch, we made the short drive to Valparaíso. The driver took us to the top of one of the city's famous hills, Cerro Allegra, and our tour guide walked us down the steep streets and stairs of the colorful city, which allowed us to take in as many of the colors and as much of the street art as we could. It is a very unique city and a sight to behold. We had actually planned to stay in Valparaíso for a few days, but we changed our plans at the last minute. We loved visiting, but we decided we were happy with our choice to make it a day trip.

Colorful Stairway

Houses in every color

Mural and stairs

Happy house

Street Art

Street of faces

Box Jumpers

Tree Climber

Ascensor El Peral

Beautiful Valparaíso

More Fun in Santiago

We went back over to the Parque Metropolitano today because we wanted to see the Japanese Garden and the Mapulemu Garden of native plants. The first turned out to be closed for renovations, but we got a nice hike out of it. And when we had seen the second, we popped over to the Gabriela Mistral playground, which we loved so much yesterday. It was even more fun today because we had it almost entirely to ourselves. On our way back to the apartment, we walked by the impressive U.S. Embassy to get an idea of possible future work environs. We were amazed at how large it was and at all the security. Once we were back at the apartment, we watched England pull out a miraculous World Cup victory over Columbia. And this evening, we caught an Uber over to Barrio Italia, which has some fun and interesting shops and restaurants. We wandered through several of the shops, bought some painted chocolates at a little chocolate kiosk, had a wonderful dinner at Bar Italia, and grabbed some ice cream at Nahia before heading back to our apartment. It was a lovely day!

Jardín Mapulemu

Gabriela Mistral Playground

U.S. Embassy

Barrio Italia

Exploring Santiago

We came down the mountain on Saturday evening, and everyone needed a day to recover from skiing, so we stuck close to the apartment yesterday and watched all the World Cup games, which was just as well since it was raining all day. Today, was lovely, though, and we were ready to get out and about and check out some of the city's offerings. We intended just to pass through the Constanera Center (a shopping mall) on our way to the Sky Constanera Tower, but we found a couple of stores we wanted to stop in on the way, including a really cool book store. 

Since the tower appeared to be closed to visitors today because of a holiday, we proceeded on to the Parque de las Esculturas (Sculpture Park) and then over to the Parque Metropolitano, which claims to be the largest urban park in Latin America. There, we had our picnic lunch, rode a cable car to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, tried the national drink of Chile (mote con huesillo), played at an amazing playground about halfway down the hill, and then hiked the rest of the way down the hill and back to our apartment. It was a great introduction to this great city, and we had a wonderful day! 

Antarctica Bookstore

Max stopped to inspect a travel agency's display,
noting that we've been to all these continents.

These boys always find a tree to climb!

Sky Constanera Tower from the Sculpture Park

Parque de los Esculturas

Climbing high with one of my monkeys at Parque Metropolitano

Seeing the city from the cable car as it ascends Cerro San Cristobal

National drink of Chile: Mote con Huesillo

Church at the top of Cerro San Cristobal

Santiago

Little boys love big equipment

The swinging Watts boys

Our last week in Mendoza

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of our month in Mendoza. It has been amazing, and we are sad to leave. But new adventures awaits, so the sadness certainly won't linger, and we will always carry a fondness for this city in our hearts! Our goals while we were here were to eat beef and drink wine, and we were quite successful at both! But there was so much more to our time here--from the people we met, to the personal growth we each experienced, to the laid-back pace of life here, to being literally surrounded with nature's beauty. This was an important stop on our life's journey, and we are so glad we had the chance to be here! We hope to visit again.

This last week has mostly been about the World Cup. We have become super-fans and have watched as many matches as we've been able to work in. We've also set up a friendly intra-family bet, picking teams to support basically at random. I can tell you my teams are generally not doing very well, but it's been fun to cheer them on at various bars and restaurants around town. We also visited the Mercado Central, participated in a going-away dinner for one of our new friends, enjoyed time at the park, played at the house, experienced another national holiday (Flag Day), and ate some great food.

"Speed" Demon

Cheering for England

Our personal collection of wine bottles from our month here in wine country
--from least favorite to most favorite--

World Cup viewing at a sidewalk cafe
(The sign says, "Eat Healthy, Live Better, and
I can tell you we did one of those while in Mendoza!)

This little inventor made all sorts of gadgets this week

Mercado Central

Lerot was our favorite venue for World Cup watching
because of the big screen, but the decor was also pretty interesting.

Dinner at El Club de Milanesa

Many happy hours at the park

Our last night in Mendoza
--Sunset view from Mirador,
City view from El Faro Bistro,
Dinner at La Florencia--

Another Fun Week in Mendoza

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! As usual, there has been plenty going on, but the days have been getting away from me to record all of it. I started my proofreading course, which has been interesting and informative and a little humbling. Weston and Max have been engrossed in their books. Ruth has been writing a story of her own. Clay has been very busy drawing, playing, and practicing his Spanish. And Jeff moved up to the next level of Spanish classes.

We've also gotten together with friends a few times, visited a chocolate factory, eaten some fabulous and cheap food, taken a couple of lovely hikes, played at parks, and watched a couple of World Cup games. It's been a wonderful week!

La Cabaña Chocolate Factory 

Good eats and drinks--at home and out

Date night at Don Aldo

Cutie Clay
(At his favorite playground, playing the "drums" at the house,
at the chocolate factory,  and doing pull-ups at the park)

A walk in the park

Out and about in Mendoza
(Weston with a huge calzone, a beautiful abandoned building,
Clay at the art store, the amphitheater at one of the plazas,
swing picnic table, walking by one of the acequias that makes
Mendoza so lush, a church, one of many sidewalk cafes)

Cerro de la Gloria hike

World Cup Watching

Various combinations of us have gone out at different times this week.