Left the Scotland of early dark for the southern hemisphere where long hours of daylight are being enjoyed! Our flights with Air France via Paris to Santiago were excellent with plenty of leg room and very tasty food. The staff were very pleasant and helpful as well. It is a long way with a 1 1/2 hr flight to Paris and then a 14 hr flight to Santiago. We arrived after an overnight flight to bright sunshine and temperatures around 20 degrees C! Our hire car is a Toyota Yaris - very compact, but comfortable. We drove straight out of Santiago onto route 68 for the coast. We found lots of wineries on the side of the route and were tempted to visit one and bought a bottle of very nice Sauvingaun Blanc. This is a toll road so I am glad that I had taken some Chilean Pesos with me! We had some excitement at one of the toll booths as the car stalled and then refused to start. We then found some of the problems of being in a country where we don't speak the language! However one the guys from the toll booth pushed us t
o the side of the toll plaza and went and found someone who spoke English. He tried to start the car too - no success. I asked if he would phone the hire company for us which he did. The answer was that you have to always put the clutch in when you start the car even if it is not in gear!!! We were delighted that it was such an easy solution to the problem. We have never come across this type of situation with a car before! After that excitement we drove to Vina del Mar a huge seaside resort. We discovered first hand the excitements of driving in a Chilean town. There is lots of traffic and nowhere to park, but in the end found somewhere that was being guarded by a young man. We found a lovely restaurant for lunch with sea views and people bungee jumping from a crane to the sea. We also found lots of pelicans who were bathing in the river water behind a sand barrier that led to the sea. We had a walk around this area and found pelicans on the rocks and apparently living on this building which is a hotel and restaurant! We found the castle 
Wulff which had been built by an industrialist around 100 years ago. We were able to visit it for free and the architecture is most unusual, all with wonderful sea views. A house that I could enjoy living in!
o the side of the toll plaza and went and found someone who spoke English. He tried to start the car too - no success. I asked if he would phone the hire company for us which he did. The answer was that you have to always put the clutch in when you start the car even if it is not in gear!!! We were delighted that it was such an easy solution to the problem. We have never come across this type of situation with a car before! After that excitement we drove to Vina del Mar a huge seaside resort. We discovered first hand the excitements of driving in a Chilean town. There is lots of traffic and nowhere to park, but in the end found somewhere that was being guarded by a young man. We found a lovely restaurant for lunch with sea views and people bungee jumping from a crane to the sea. We also found lots of pelicans who were bathing in the river water behind a sand barrier that led to the sea. We had a walk around this area and found pelicans on the rocks and apparently living on this building which is a hotel and restaurant! We found the castle 
Wulff which had been built by an industrialist around 100 years ago. We were able to visit it for free and the architecture is most unusual, all with wonderful sea views. A house that I could enjoy living in!
2 comments:
You're having far too much fun, it has to stop. Hope you don't have too much of that sort of fun with the car though.
Today I have done 14,239 steps!! Am I proud or am I proud (and exhausted)! Now you know who anonymous is. Hope you're still having fun.
Post a Comment