D -10

Well, we are counting down... We have our invitations for Russia and visit the embassy on Wednesday (they only function on two half-days per week...)

In the meantime we have just spent the long weekend at the coast in Viña del Mar with Alejandro (Magda's brother) and Laura. We took advantage of the visit to do a bit of sight-seeing. Valparaiso is the old port town, crawling over the narrow coastal plain and up innumerable hillsides. It has been declared an international heritage site by UNESCO. When I first visited over 15 years ago it looked a bit seedy and down-at-heel, but in the last few years there has been a tremendous investment in saving the "typical" old houses. They are built on steep hillsides, usually of corrugated iron and oregon pine (douglas fir) which were brought in (along with the cobble-stones) by ships in ballast during the nitrates boom. From outside they often look insignificant, but when you go in you find yourself in a spacious mansion on two or three floors, with magnificent views over the port. There is a splendid Victorian Anglican church, St Paul's, complete with organ - everything down to the bricks was imported from England, and it could easily be a C19th parish church at home.

Viña is a pleasant residential city, more spacious and orderly, with a host of restaurants, but less character.

We also spent a day motoring up the coast to see the various resorts. These range from the frankly plebeian (Quinteros) to the offensively wealthy (Zapallar)! In the latter we got mixed up in a traffic-jam of huge 4x4 jeeps now fashionable in Chile at the entrance to the restaurant, I am prepared to bet that over half of them had not driven more than 800 m.

We preferred Papudo, last in the line going north, for a more democratic mix; however it has suffered cultural vandalism in the form of two tower-blocks overshadowing a pretty little classical style church built in the first half of the last century.


Sigue la cuenta regresiva... Las invitaciones para Rusia llegaron hoy, y el miércoles iremos a la embajada (sólo funcionan dos media-jornadas por semana...)

Mientras tanto, pasamos el fin de semana largo en Viña del Mar con Alejandro (hermano de la Magda) y Laura. Si quieren leer lo que escribí sobre Valparaiso y la costa de la V Región, tendrán que leer en inglés - no creo que tenga mucho interés para chilenos!!