Day 22 - Return to Santiago

Again a very early morning as we are up by 8:30. At 9:00 we are over to Sully and Charles for breakfast. And an excellent breakfast it was. We get some information from Sully on our up coming trip to Valparaiso.

After breakfast we head out for a short walk down by the Laguna, along the walk there are a n multitude of black necked swan, coots and herons. We are back at the farm to say goodbye and then we are on our way for the 6 hour drive back to Santiago. For the return trip we take the coastal highway for something different.

Some notable coastal views along the way, and some excellent road side stands sell salt, fruits and vegetables. The salt is sea salt which the locals produce from evaporation pools along the coastal estuaries. As we move more inland, we stopped and picked up some strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes. We stopped for lunch at an ocean side town, Pichumallie, and then back on the road. We arrive back in Santiago at dusk.

It is now time to eat again and Rick has a nice tenderloin for the bar b que. Before we can eat, Rick has set out a test for us, we are to take Rick's car and go and pick up Jeremy, Rick's youngest son for dinner. It is a test which we undertook with some trepidation, thank goodness driving in Santiago is similar to Canada and nothing like the driving in Lima. Rick draws us a map which is good as long as you don't make any mistakes. Unfortunately for us we turn the wrong way as we exit Rick's condo, so much for the map. We have the general idea where we are heading and after some bumbling we are able to make it onto the main highway heading north. We make one more error, this one we correct quickly with a U turn and we are at Miriam and Jeremy's. The return voyage was easy as we now had a "local" on board.

Jeremy is Rick and Miriam's youngest son, who the last time we had seen him was 12 years old. He has grown into a fine young man. We arrived back at Rick's having completed the 30 min. return trip in just under 45 mins. Not bad for two people just in the country 3 days.

Dinner was excellent, got caught up on the world of Santiago from the point of view of a 16 year and off to bed at 11.

Photo notes
1) off for morning walk
2) Julie overlooking Laguna Torrca
3) Swans and Coots on Laguna
4) Black necked swans
5) View of Chile's Pacific coast
6) Salt ponds - note piles of salt ready for sale
7) Fishermen selling the morning catch - beach at Pic
8) View from our lunch restaurant