Today was a day for exploring a couple of Valparaiso's neighboring cities. We caught a city bus to Vina Del Mar with our first stop being the Museo de Arqueologia e Historia Francisco Fonck. This museum features a Moai statue out front that was taken from Easter Island in fifties. We toured the museum and its bonus natural history exhibit on the second floor. The museum featured the extensive history of Easter Island, as well as a brief history of the indigenous peoples of south America. Finishing up in the museum we walked toward the ocean and were soon exploring one of the largest beaches in the area. The beach was busy as the sun was shining but there were few people in the cool waters of the south Pacific. The water is between 50 and 60F as it hasnt had much chance to warm on its journey up the coast of Chile from Antartica. After an ice cream and walk on the beach we ventured into the very sterile and western feeling, well manicured city. We stopped at a shopping mall for lunch and had a couple of very large and filling burritos. Following lunch we wandered back through town and visited a small castle that is built on the coast. We watched the pelicans eating for a bit before moving on.
Once again we caught a city bus that took us along the coast up to the small surf town of Con Con. The town was larger than expected and we ended up with a bonus walk of a couple miles along the coast as we searched for the surfing area that our tour guide the day before had talked about. The walk was very pretty as we hugged the seawall on our left and admired the houses built on the hill to our right. As we began to tire of walking we arrived at the beach and were shocked with how crowded it was. There were hundreds of people crowded onto a small strip of sand. The water was a bit warmer here due to a river flowing into the ocean resulting in more people playing in the ocean as well as a handful of people who had donned wet suits to surf on the small waves. We found a small restaurant serving beer and empanadas enjoying another hefty meal. Full we found a bus to take us back to Valparaiso. Fortunately the bus drove past the famous flower clock that we had missed during our walk through Vin del Mar earlier in the day.
A fun day in the sun, though our favorite town on the coast remains Valparaiso.
Once again we caught a city bus that took us along the coast up to the small surf town of Con Con. The town was larger than expected and we ended up with a bonus walk of a couple miles along the coast as we searched for the surfing area that our tour guide the day before had talked about. The walk was very pretty as we hugged the seawall on our left and admired the houses built on the hill to our right. As we began to tire of walking we arrived at the beach and were shocked with how crowded it was. There were hundreds of people crowded onto a small strip of sand. The water was a bit warmer here due to a river flowing into the ocean resulting in more people playing in the ocean as well as a handful of people who had donned wet suits to surf on the small waves. We found a small restaurant serving beer and empanadas enjoying another hefty meal. Full we found a bus to take us back to Valparaiso. Fortunately the bus drove past the famous flower clock that we had missed during our walk through Vin del Mar earlier in the day.
A fun day in the sun, though our favorite town on the coast remains Valparaiso.
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