Hitting the Pacific Coast

Chile is basically a 2600 mile long serpent of land stretching along South America's Pacific coast.  Despite the length, it is quite narrow.  The average width of Chile is about 100 miles, and at its widest it is only 220 miles.  So no matter where you are in Chile you can get to the sea in a few hours.

With Amy's folks here we thought it was the perfect time to take a trip to Vina del Mar, which is the closest beach resort to Santiago, and see the ocean.

Vina del Mar is about an hour and a half west of Santiago and has some wonderful views of the rocky coast.

Our hotel was perched out on the waterfront and from our balcony the sunsets (enhanced with a little vino and pisco) were very pretty.

Dennis and Lisa had never set foot in the Pacific Ocean and we got that straightened out right when we arrived.

The water is described by the locals as "fresco" but perhaps a better word would be freezing.  That didn't deter George and Viv from plunging right in.

We had a great trip and hope to head back to the coast soon to see Valparaiso which is actually connected by subway to Vina, but we may wait until the water warms up to merely bone chilling.