When we started planning our trip, we thought that Viña del Mar would be THE place we “unpacked” and lived for a month or so, because of the way we heard people describe it. We had pictured it to be the Santa Monica of South America — plenty of great restaurants, on the beach, easy to walk around, laid back and great (warm) weather — all in an exotic locale. And of course, after hyper-inflating our expectations to unrealistic proportions, we were disappointed (imagine that!) with the reality of Vina del Mar.
When we arrived in Vina, it was chilly and everything was about 50% more expensive than Argentina – from lodging, to restaurants, to transportation ($8 to go 1 mile in a cab!). It would be OK if we were getting better quality with the price, but we left feeling that we over payed for everything, even by U.S. standards, nevermind comparing with Argentina.
Nevertheless, the lesson here is to temper your expectations and keep an open mind when visiting new places and you just might enjoy them more.
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Viña del Mar is billed as the nicer more upscale sister city to Valparaiso (a.k.a. “Valpo”) to the south, which is an artsy, grittier port town (which we’ll write about in another post). Because of its proximity to Valpo though, cargo ships, oil freighters, cruise ships (and even the odd submarine) dot the horizon, which detracts a little bit from the beachy feel.
The beaches are not the broad white beaches you see in Rio de Janeiro or Los Angeles, but little beach “nooks” interspersed by rocky areas, more reminiscent of northern California. I can only imagine what happens in the summer, when every square inch of these small beaches are packed with people. Alas, since we were there after summer (April), the weather had started to get chilly, so we didn’t spend time sunbathing or relaxing on the beach.
Vina is a summer town – where many people who live in Santiago, Chile’s capital, own a second home/apartment/condo. It (and Valpo) also has several universities (some of the best in Chile), and so there are many college-aged people roaming around. This makes for what I’ll call a “unique” feel, where the town is sleepy during the day on weekdays, with a lot of young people hanging out at local dive bars/cheap restaurants on weeknights and weekends.
Speaking of the restaurant scene, most of the action is centered around Av. San Martin. It’s reminiscent of Cancun in that there are MANY Mexican restaurants hawking cheap food/tacos/margaritas (catering to students) as well as a lot of other fast food joints. There are a few higher end restaurants here and there, catering to tourists. We tried some of these places (they charge almost U.S. level prices) and were disappointed. Even though the seafood is fresh, it definitely isn’t worth paying for the preparation. In fact, the seafood didn’t agree with our stomachs (Imodium and antibiotics – azithromycin – are “must brings” when travelling. Together, they solved the ‘disagreement’ with minimal discomfort).
The 8.8 Earthquake
Friends and family asked us if Viña and Valpo were affected by the recent earthquake in Chile. They were, but not nearly as much as we expected. We saw a few red tagged buildings (especially in the center of Viña – where the foundation is more sandy). But we were told most other buildings and homes suffered only cosmetic damage. The older buildings, like churches, were hit hardest, and, if they were newer buildings, then people suggested that one could see who cut corners on their building codes. Here’s one building that was damaged:
And another that was structurally damaged – notice how the balconies are all tilted to the left:
Learning “Castellano”
By the time we arrived in Vina, we had been in South America for five weeks. Both of us had a solid understanding of Spanish from past years of studying / living in Spanish-speaking countries. But even with this base – and after 5 weeks of constant practice, we realized there were some things we just couldn’t understand. We had built up a long list of questions – Spanish phrases we kept hearing that we didn’t know, or words/phrases we wanted to learn to speak like the locals. If only we could find someone with whom we could have a few hours of private classes… We were in luck! Across the street from our Bed and Breakfast lived an English teacher – Nina. She had spent time in the US many years ago and offered her services to us.
Here’s a photo of us at our final class:
A quick note about Castellano vs Espanol: Since citizens of Spain speak a number of different languages by region, it’s become somewhat politically incorrect to use the term “Spanish” or “Español”. Instead, most people say they speak “castellano” -originally the language of the Castile region. It’s the most common language spoken in Spain and is the language spoken throughout “Spanish”-speaking Latin America. In Argentina and Chile, everyone has adopted the use of “Castellano”. So when you go into restaurants – for example – the host will ask whether you want menus in English or Castellano.
Reñaca and Concón
Reñaca and Concón are smaller, more residential and exclusive beach communities, 20 minutes north of Vina, with more tranquil and picturesque beaches. We caught a warm day so we headed there to check them out to see if they would offer us a better place to stay.
But to get there , we had a little adventure. We had to navigate the bus system, which doesn’t publish its routes anywhere. The “buses” are more like minibuses – and there are tons of them all with about 10 place cards on the windshield and side door which are meant to indicate where the bus goes and how much different fares are. So, first you need to speed read your way through the list of places and then hop on before the bus leaves (they drive fast and stop quickly and for a very short time). Once we found our bus (to Concón), we realized we didn’t really know where to get off once we got to Concón. So we rode and rode and soon, we were the last people left on the bus. We ended up getting off along the outskirts of the town and started walking to the beaches. Here’s Playa La Boca on the north side of town.
They say that Concón is the gastronomic capital of Chile and that it boasts the best empanada restaurant. Maybe that’s true, and one would think that you can try almost any restaurant and not go wrong. The one we did try was OK but not spectacular. There seemed to be a lot of hole-in-the-wall type places that hawk you as you walk by. Maybe they’re good, maybe they aren’t. In the end we decided that Concón wasn’t very convenient for living without a car, so despite the promise of having great restaurants, we decided to pass on finding a place to stay and move on to Renaca to the south.
Renaca is supposed to be where the rich people live – it’s lined with high-end condo buildings and homes. You have beach “nooks” like the one below:
And a wide sandy beach next to the center of town:
Downtown Renaca seems like it could be neat, with several restaurants and bars clustered around a few blocks and next to the beach you see above.
Here’s an interesting concept we saw in Renaca – COFFEE AND SUSHI! Imagine those tastes together. But, I guess if you’re looking for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up in between lunch and a late dinner…
Chile’s Bicentennial – naval style
Finally, we were lucky to be in town when Chile celebrated its 200th birthday. There was a parade of antique naval vessels from various countries across the bay from Valparaiso to Concon. We had a front row seat from the living room of our bed and breakfast. Here’s Chile’s “valero”:
Here’s one from Mexico – maybe you can see all of the sailors on deck, standing evenly spaced around the entire boat.
So, all-in-all, Vina, Renaca, and Concon are worth a visit – I’d say probably doable in 2-3 days total if you’re limited on time, and closer to summer time if possible (although you’ll pay out the nose for lodging and activities). Be ready to pay close to U.S. prices for a lot of things.
Next up, we’ll talk about Valparaiso. But in the meantime, enjoy photos from Vina, Renaca, and Concon:
- Vina del Mar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony-chen/sets/72157623877823144/show/
- Renaca and Concon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony-chen/sets/72157623788132051/show/