Tuesday-February 15--the tour
Breakfast at 8:30. Our driver, Chris and English translator, Diego arrive at 9:45 a.m.
The group consists of a couple from Buenos Aires, two Canadian women, Jenny and Sandra from Nova Scotia and myself. A nice group.
Chris drives us through a more scenic route that takes us through the wine country. When we get back to the coast our first stop is at a group of condominiums that has the world’s largest pool in it’s backyard.
San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile, world’s largest swimming pool, where a computer-controlled suction and filtration system continuously pumps water from the ocean, keeping crystal clear. Although it wasn’t cheap, costing around $2 billion to build and another $4 million/year for maintenance, the pool seems to be worth it as it has been attracting huge crowds of curious tourists, since it opened
It’s more like a lake than a pool. It was amazing, I’d never seen anything like it. No photo I could take would show how big it is.
I ask how much a condo costs and Chris says maybe around $300,000. But you can rent one for a week or a month.
I was also curious to see the town of Algarrobo because I was thinking of coming here for a few days to be at a beach location. Again, the sun wasn’t out so when I saw the hotel I had contacted about availability (which was more than the hotel I was already in) it didn’t seem like it was worth my packing, getting a bus and coming down here (nearly an hour from Valparaiso) for a “beach” vacation if the sun wasn’t going to come out.
We continued to Isla Negra, which is one of the three of the Pablo Neruda homes.
Casa de Isla Negra was one of Pablo Neruda's three houses in Chile. It is located at Isla Negra, El Quisco, San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region about 85 km to the south of Valparaíso and 110 km to the west of Santiago. It was his favorite house and where he and his third wife, Matilde Urrutia spent the majority of their time in Chile. Neruda, a lover of the sea and all things maritime, built the home to resemble a ship with low ceilings, creaking wood floors, and narrow passageways. A passionate collector, every room has a different collection of bottles, ship figureheads, maps, ships in bottles, and an impressive array of shells, which are located in their own "Under the Sea" room.
The tour included the entrance fee and they made arrangements for us to get a tour in our respective languages. No photos allowed inside.
The tour guide in Santiago told me this was the nicest of the three houses and so far I was inclined to agree. I hadn’t seen the one in Valparaiso yet.
When we arrived at the house I felt like I was in Carmel, California. The fogginess, the ruggedness of the coast all reminded me of what coast looks like on Highway 1.
The road to the house was a dirt path and the house was on the beach. The other homes in the neighborhood were also very nice.
We had to wait about a 1/2 hour for our tour but it was a lovely view so I didn’t mind. There were lots of people here (mostly Chilean tourists) and Diego (the English translator) explained that this was an important place for families to bring their children so they could learn about Pablo Neruda.
The tour was fine. This house is much bigger than the one in Santiago and of course the views far better. There is also a lot more “stuff”. The guide told us that Matilde was allowed to come to this house during the Pinochet (military rule) time and was able to save more things than from the other homes.
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| part of Neruda's bottle collection |
Again it was so interesting to see this house, on the beach and know that Neruda was afraid of the water. In the room that was his “study” the tour guide told us that Neruda had found the desk in the sea. One morning he was walking on the beach and saw it floating in the water. He went back to the house to wake his wife to tell her “his desk had arrived” and asked her to come to the beach with him. When they retrieved the piece of wood out of the ocean it was actually a hatch from a ship. That was perfect as Neruda collected things from ships. It was meant to be. He had legs put on it and there it was for him to write his poems on.
After our tour at the Neruda house, the driver and guide had a discussion as to where we would have lunch.
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| the front of the restaurant |
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| man outside the restaurant |
We ended up at a restaurant that neither of them had ever eaten in but the location couldn’t have been better. It was almost on the sand it was that close to the beach. The sun was starting to come out and the ocean view was incredible. I enjoyed the decor of the restaurant.
Bottles built into the walls. Good recycling. Not exactly like Kibbutz Lotan but close.
Most of us ordered fish empanadas. I started to cut mine with a knife and fork and was told by Diego and I needed to pick it up with the napkin and eat it with my hands. I also ordered a typical Chilean salad which is tomatoes and onions.
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| our group |
Everything is so fresh here. We have a very nice international lunch. The couple from Argentina are very kind. He is a retired police officer that started a police uniform business. He told us that police officer’s in Argentina need to buy their own uniforms. The wife is a geography teacher. The two Canadian women (Jenny and Sandra) are both retired school counselors. Excuse me if I’ve already mentioned that. I can’t remember.
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| getting back in the van after lunch |
Our tour is not finished as we need to stop at a winery. Diego asks me if I would rather go to a winery that had a good tour or better wine. I told him I was not the person to ask since I don’t drink wine. I didn’t care but thought probably it would be better to go to the winery with the better wine. In the end that is what we did.
The drive to the winery went back through the same road we took to the beach and took about 45 minutes.
Casa del Bosque--The house of the forest--is the name of the winery. The surroundings are beautiful and now it’s really hot.
We are asked to sit on these very comfortable chairs and they bring out two bottles of wine.
Two glasses are put before me and filled. Both are red wines. The first one a Pinot Noir is served cold. The Canadian girls and I say we’ve never seen red wine served cold before.
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| Chris explaining the wine |
Chris (the driver) explains that this Pinot is more like a white wine and that is why it is served cold. Interesting.
I take one sip of each glass to be polite, although I do explain that I don’t drink wine and in the end Chris and Diego drink mine.
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| Diego |
The second one is a Carmenere, a style from Chile I’d never heard of before, more like a Cabernet.
It was much heavier and flavorful.
The tour was suppose to end at 3:00 but it was almost 6:00 p.m. and we still needed to drive back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 7:00 and I went to my room to have a rest.
I was a bit hungry and decided I wanted to try the Thai restaurant. Andre and Rene heard the restaurant was good but hadn’t eaten there. I walked up the hill and much to my chagrin the restaurant was closed. I was bummed. Not all was lost though, I went down the street and found a vegetarian restaurant. I had the best sauteed vegies with tofu in a peanut/curry sauce and a side of rice I’d had in a long time. Yummy. I wanted to have ice cream for dessert from the ice cream store but when I got there it was closed. What a save of calories.
End of a great day!
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