Easter Report

Our weekend summed up in one picture- fresh fish on the coast of Chile.

This is obviously not the two of us fishing, but I thought it was a fairly interesting shot. I tried to climb out on those rocks, but didn't get nearly as far. They were actually in the middle of trying to real in a larger fish, hence the team work to that the actual fisher in this shot wouldn't fall over into the rocks and ocean.

J had off 3 days for Easter weekend, and he did some arranging of things to allow us to go to Con Con, a fishing/tourist town on the coast of Chile, about 2 hours west of Santiago. We stayed in a cabin...not nice enough to call it a full blown apartment, but had electricity, a bathroom, beds and dining area. At first we were a little surprised by the conditions of where we were staying, and then we decided to just relax and have a fun weekend.

Our cabins were at the top of a hill. One block away were many, many, many stairs leading down to the beach and ocean. After venturing down the first time, we decided that we would only go down if we were going to stay down for a while. That was to make the trip back up the many, many, many stairs worth it.

C loved playing and walking around in the sand, but would cry as the water touched her, mostly because it was fairly chilly water. Despite the cold water, the days were fairly nice and sunny, and there were lots of families out on the beach playing, building sand creations, and running around in the water.

Since we knew she wouldn't want to play in the water, we splurged the 1,000 pesos (really only like $2) on the sand pail, which she loved to play with while doing her famous people watching.

Outside our cabins there was a large grassy area, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Luckily there were lots of other families in surrounding cabins, and C was able to make some friends with other little kids her age. She and this little girl even gave hugs and kisses to each other at the end of one night! She would also chase around this huge dog, (part Malamute, part ???) that was old and not at all bothered by her.

Our second day there we decided to be adventurous and found a local bus to take us to a more touristy area, Renaca. There we wandered the streets and shops, walked the beach and ate very authentic Chilean lunches. I had what they call Corn cake, but it's really more like a cornbread topped pot pie. J had the equivalent of a steak, french fries and eggs. We again splurged on a plate of fresh veggies: tomato, avocado, and palm hearts, (as pictured below).

Mostly we just tried to take it easy and enjoy the down time together as a family.

C I know was very grateful for time to spend outside in a different atmosphere and to have some kids to play with. We were grateful to be able to have some slow time.

Playa Amarilla en Con Con

On the way there and back we rode with one of J's colleagues and his wife. They own one of the cabins and were our hook-up. They were kind enough to take good care of us getting there and back and seeing lots of different parts of Chile on the way, including a breathtaking view of the Andes from atop a mountain range in western Chile. (Unfortunately, C was having a minor lack of sleep breakdown, so no picture was taken.) They also had us over for lunch one day, and to play games the next night. Thanks go to the Kings for helping us have an exceptionally unique Easter and birthday for J!