Vina del Mar

We must have gotten used to staying up late because we didn’t fall asleep last night until nearly 2am. For the first time in what feels like weeks we got our 8 hours of sleep though, which was fantastic. Breakfast in bed arrived at 10am and was a pleasant surprise for Amie. ;-)

We lounged around catching up on this blog and photo downloading until about 2pm and then headed off to “McCafe” for free wireless and frappaccinos (is McDonalds starting its attack on Starbucks in South America??). We had lunch at a ritzy waterfront bistro. The food was fantastic and we couldn’t help but notice how American/European things feel. It definitely doesn’t feel like the rest of South America in central Chile.

Vina del Mar is the seaside resort for Santiago’s citizens. Its got a carny area, a pedestrian mall/promenade, a posh beachfront Malecon, highrise condos and casinos. The pacific is cold, just like home, and the weather is usually overcast in the morning and not all that balmy in the summer, much like Santa Cruz, CA (in fact the ride here over the hill yesterday was a lot like highway 17 with tall pines along a windy mountain road).

On the way back to the hotel I stopped to say hello to an old lady and a giant rottweiler. As I approached the lady was fear stricken that her dog might chew me up she pulled his leash so tight and told me to get away. What was that dog capable of we wondered. We spent the rest of the evening catching up on US gossip thanks to the E channel and watched American Idol.

Exquisite Chilean food

Everyone enjoying summer

Where's Mike?

This lady didn't want Mike NEAR her dog/beast