A big serving of Humboldt Pie-Part 1 of 3

After our short visit to Hospital Josefina Martinez with the chronic respiratory illness children, we headed off to our first extended stay away from Santiago.  Our destination - the "twin cities" on the coast about an hour and a half from Santiago by bus - the glitzy beach town of Viña del Mar and the jumbled but highly intriguing port city of Valparaíso.  Our main stay was to be in Viña del Mar so that we can enjoy the beach setting, and so after our rather uneventful bus ride from Santiago to Viña del Mar on Friday, we disembarked at the main terminal and somehow managed to make it on foot to our hotel, which is located on a corner of one of the main plazas of the city.  I would describe our hotel, named Hotel O'Higgins, as certainly a charming blast from the past.  Look at the entrance and tell me that this place ain't old:

They even have old-timey elevators, with actual bellhops needed to run them.  Quite an experience.

Army of Kellis about to paint the town red

 But our trip to Viña most definitely was not about a hotel experience, so one of the first things we did was set out to see the beach, which was about 12 blocks from our hotel.  The walk itself was nice, as we passed quaint tree-lined streets with some interesting sights.

But once we arrived at the beach, we knew instantly what Viña del Mar was all about.  This was Chilean summer vacation epitomized.

There are two main beaches in Viña del Mar - smaller Acapulco and much larger Salinas beach, separated by a pier.  These beaches were backdropped by several impressive high-rise apartment buildings, and you can definitely see the entire bay vista, all the way down to Valparaíso.

We chose to eat dinner on Friday night at one of the many restaurants that surrounded the beach, called Tierra de Fuego.  We chose it because it was perched right at the foot of the beaches and had a spectacular view of the bay and the gorgeous sunset.  The food was delicious, too!

This picture doesn't do justice to all the glittering lights from Valparaíso across the bay

By the way, and this is a first - it was chilly during sunset and we didn't really prepare, thinking that the beach is supposed to be warm.  However, the restaurant was totally prepared - and offered us blankets, which we didn't hesitate to take.

Having adequately filled our bellies and gotten to see some of the sights, including a massive casino where Kelli decided to gamble (and came out on top, too!)...

...we then headed back by taxi to our hotel, to rest up before an exciting day at the beach.  On the way back, we strolled through one of the main squares, which at night turned into a rather Great Gatsby-ish lighting display.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our beach adventure.  Sun, sand, surf... here we come!