Fin de Semana (the weekend) en Vina del Mar (in the vinyard by the Sea)

We took a bus from Santiago for 1 1/2 hours to Vina del Mar. It was $12 each round trip. Per this clock we arrived around 1:34. Our classes start today (Monday) and Cherith has class 6 days a week so we wanted to take advantage of our long weekend to travel before school starts. Rich has class 4 days a week, but his days are more packed than Cherith's which are spread out.

This is a plate of Churillanos. It is one of the truly Chilean foods we've had so far. French fries topped with scrambled eggs and onions, topped with cubes of beef. It was pretty good, especially because we were really hungry.

There are "wild" dogs everywhere in Chile. But, it seems the custom is that everyone takes care of them, so they are actually not skinny, mostly well fed. They are also very friendly, although they are a bit dirty so we are encouraged not to touch them much. But, this guy really liked Rich's french fries.

This guy turned up his nose at Rich's french fries.

A castle by the sea....by the way, there is a lot of German influence here. Some parts of the country even still speak fluent German daily. This was a suprise to use.

Although the weather has been perfect, warm, and sunny in Santiago (where we live) every day, it was colder and overcast in Vina del Mar. The sun would come out around 4PM though, and the beach would fill up with Chileans from 4-8PM (the sun sets around 8:30)

We were quite popular...not sure why. We didn't even really give them attention, and no food.

This guy hung with us for about 4 hours on the beach....he used us for shade and company.

A dip in the cooooooool sea. All those white bodies in the background are English teachers.