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Kevin and Joannie on tour
When we arrived here we noticed that there was a bus stop
near the campsite. Given the horrors of
driving around here we decided to stay here for four nights in total and try
and use public transport. The landlady
gave us the number and colour of the bus to catch. The entrance to the campsite is next to a big restaurant - Donde la cuca and a hotel where you can rent rooms by the hour - like Japanese Love Hotels.We waved down the first bus
and the driver asked where we were going. We said Vina centro and he shook his
head.A bit puzzled we got off. A few minutes later another bus came. Again we said Vina Centro and he said he didn’t
go there. So Joan just said Cualquiera –
whatever - and we got on. The bus skirted around the
outskirts of town. Then the bus stopped
and the bus driver told us to catch a bus from the stop opposite. We had no idea where we were but Google maps
suggested we were quite a way from the centre of town. We must have looked perplexed as when we
crossed the road to the bus stop – a bus pulled up and a young lad asked where
we wanted to go. We said Centro and he waved us to get on. He told us to get off at the Marina
Mall. We found our way to the beach and
began to orientate ourselves with our out of date guidebook. Again a girl must have realised what we were
trying to do and pointed to where we were.
The front at Vina is mainly high rise flats. The restaurants tend to be south on Avenida
San Martin. The promenade was full of
stalls selling food, crafts and things for the beach. For a weekday it was quite busy but nowhere
near as crowded as last night. There
were some very good sand sculptures on the beach.
After, we headed inland to look for a restaurant. Yet again the heat was sweltering and it was
great when we could find shade. We found
our way to the restaurant district. We
asked at one place if they could do vegetarian and were told that all the meals
came with meat. Our fall back position in any country is to find an Italian so
this was done. Joan ordered a large
Pisco Sour – most welcome. Kevin chose a
Calzone Vegetariano for dinner. It came
and looked delicious, but when he cut it open there were some thinly sliced
pieces of ham in it! It was quickly sent
back with apologies from the waiter.
After dinner we found a supermarket to buy bread and fruit. We weren’t up to locating the right bus home
so we took a taxi which is never the cheapest option in Chile. The taxi driver asked us lots of questions on
the way, particularly about Sherwood Forest.
In the end we were glad to get home.
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