Sand Queens of Concon

Since our bus ticket return to Santiago was open-ended, we decided to maximize our town-count and get out to Concon. Three towns north of Valparaiso, Concon is going through a phase of intense condo development because some developers picked up on the view. You'd have to be blind not to. 

After making some stray-puppy friends at the dock, we were misdirected to a microbus to Concon that did not take us to our destination. Instead, the driver dropped us on the side of a road, between a cliff and a mountain. We chose mountain and hiked straight up, yet again, hoping to find our destination, this time without a map or pole-markers.

Fortunately, sand dunes are hard to miss. We conquered our way climbing to the top, wardrobe changing as we ascended through this Chilean Arabian Nights landscape. We felt the burn as we dragged our feet up the endless sand-wall until we made it to the peak. 

There, we sat. We made sand angels. We gazed at the ocean and the city and the waves and the mountains. We posed. We probably made the foreign couple on the dune next to us uncomfortable.

No matter. After frolicking our way down, we crossed the street to Chilean Walmart to stock up on some snacks. Foreign grocery stores rock. It's half the same stuff and half bizarre things you'd never find at home. We left with a cookie, diet coke, two kiwis, and a chocolate bar. The kiwis cost about a dime each. Next came guacamole-flavored Doritos purchased in exchange for a wifi password from Subway. That investment was absolutely worthwhile on all accounts. 

Walking another half hour and being honked at by truck drivers all the way (We were wearing gym shorts and hoodies. This was not a good look. Machismo culture knows no bounds.), we checked out four restaurants before choosing the one with the best view and largest crowd (6 people).

The waitress could not have been less interested in serving us - she refused us water without bubbles, never brought bread, and forgot an order and didn't apologize at all. Our grilled salmon was demolished quickly - a melt in your mouth, straight from the ocean slab of goodness.

We successfully wasted two more hours over this salmon, waiting for the sun to get a little lower. We flagged down a cliffside bus back to Vina del Mar, and eventually made it mid-rush-hour and sunset back to the Valparaiso bus station. After waiting an hour for our ride to arrive, I was delighted to watch The Spy Next Door again on board. Kate napped but I couldn't get over the shrill beeping noises the bus made every time the driver hit 100 km. Which was every other second.

Back in Santiago, we were supersleepy and continued to laze around all Saturday, except for a 15-person lunch at home, which Kate will guest-blog about soon.