Live from Balsliago, Chile: Viña del Mar and stray dogs

This past weekend we went to Viña del Mar, which is a beach town about an hour east of Santiago, with another couple. The public buses here are both punctual and luxurious, both pluses for a long bus ride. Getting off the bus in Viña at around 12, we quickly realized the importance of checking the weather forecast especially when your destination is a beach town. We encountered dense, cloudy skies and a chilly breeze with no hint of sunshine. Katie, who was scantily dressed, sallied forth like a soldier on the beaches of Normandy (My favorite expression which will be used ad nauseam).

The first day consisted predominantly of searching for a hostel, which took a while because we started out looking for one that was reasonably priced. After looking for a couple hours and determining all of the hostels/hotels too expensive, we finally settled on a rather feminine, flowery-themed hotel. The ambience that this hotel created allowed me to be more open and share many of my untapped, locked-in-a-bank-vault emotions with Katie. After crying and holding each other for hours though really minutes though really not at all, the sunlight breached through the flowery drapes. Much like the sunlight is an indicator to the vampire to run to the coffin, to us, it was the beach.

One thing you will quickly pick up on in major Chilean cities is the stray dogs running everywhere. These dogs are well adapted to city life and wait at the crosswalk just like everyone else. I even heard one crudely whistle at Katie. Saying all of this, it is common that these dogs will warm up to the pheromones of a particular pedestrian and follow them for a while. I don’t know if it was the ¼ pounder from McDonald’s we ate a few nights prior, but before we knew it there was a pack of dogs that picked up our scent and were following us for a good half hour. If we didn’t stick out before, we sure as **** (I can think of about three words off the top of my head to insert here, but it's your fault for selecting) did after all the dogs that didn’t go to heaven were following us. Pictures below illustrating just this….

We finally made it to the beach and into the frigid, West coast water. The coastline is beautiful here and Viña del Mar is adjoined by another coastal city, Valparaiso. We didn’t stay at the beach too long and went back towards our hotel in search of a pub and some sushi. We had a pitcher at a local pub, while American music was blasted from the speakers. We then ventured across the street and met the best sushi we had ever laid our taste buds upon. The seafood here is so fresh and was a deserved night cap to an exhausting day.

After talking to locals and seeing first hand, we discovered the following day that the typical weather pattern in Viña is cloudiness until about 2 and then sunshine and warmth until about 8ish. Before we made it to the beach, the couple we were with made it a mission to get an Americana from Starbucks. The extreme desperation for the Starbucks coffee was initiated from the lack of quality coffee in Chile. The popular coffee here is instant coffee (Nescafe) and freshly brewed coffee is hard to come by. After listening to the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere”, we were out the door and on the road to the beach.

We went to a beach a little further north this time that was heavily populated by natives and sparsely with stray dogs. We were even brave enough to fully immerse ourselves in the extremely cold, salty water. Further along the beach, we came upon these big sand sculptures that were semi-abstract and very detailed (Pictures below). Some more friends met us up at the beach and yada yada yada. There’s not much to do at the beach besides laying there and relaxing. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing but it’s not very conducive to blog posts. Just take my word that the gentle gravity pull on the waves, moderate temperature, and the compliments Katie was showering me with all day made it a very good day.

This was a cool clock that we saw pretty close to the beach.

A picture of la playa.

This is a popular Chilean dish called a Chorrillano. It consists of fries topped by eggs, onions, and beef.

Stray dog taking it all in.

Picture of the coast and unfortunately there's a smudge on the right side of our lens.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Picture of lighthouse in the background.

La playa tambien.

Our friend Rich corralling the dogs. Those who have the pleasure of knowing Katie's brother, Marcus, will know that this is just an everyday occurrence for him with his 5 dogs.