Our South American journey began in Chile, so that we could buy a van in Santiago. We landed there, and then immediately went to Concón. We rented a car at the airport and then Conrado drove us to the ocean! I promptly fell asleep, being the helpful copilot that I am.

We got to the Airbnb we had rented, which was a few blocks away from the beach. We dropped off our stuff, and tried to pay for the room. Ha! That was our first introduction to the many times we have had difficulty paying with a credit card. Their card machine wasn’t working, and because it was a holiday the banks were closed and we didn’t have any Chilean pesos—only USD. Thankfully they were fine with it, and told us we could figure it out later.

We headed down to the beach, ready to touch the water. Awoooo but it was COLD water! The first day we only dipped our feet in, Conrado hadn’t been exaggerating when he said the ocean was freezing in Chile!

The sand was black and sparkly, like it had mica in it. There was also an incredibly strong wind, which made it not quite so relaxing as other beaches I’ve been to.

We walked on the beach for a while, then headed to the bike/walking path. It winds along the road, giving pedestrians and bikers plenty of space without cars. We saw tons of birds, mostly pelicans and seagulls.

They were so close to us, and all over the place!

That night, we had our first taste of Chilean food. Unfortunately, we weren’t big fans of it. Throughout our time in Chile we were disappointed many times by the gastronomy. We tried “chupe” which the waitress assured us was a delicious typical meal. It was presented in a bowl as an unappetizing grayish paste. The texture was somewhere between a gruel and an overcooked oatmeal…with seafood. We were not impressed. I had merluza “a lo pobre” which was grilled fish on top of french fries with a not fully cooked egg on top. It was bland and the runny egg white on top of the fish really didn’t call to me. We hurriedly drank the lukewarm beer and tragic pisco sour and headed off to bed.

The next day we rented surfboards and finally got our full bodies in the ocean. With wetsuits and booties, it should be noted. Brrr that water is cold! The waves were small but considering we hadn’t been on a surfboard in almost a year, they were a good reintroduction. The vibe was very chill and everyone was super nice. We didn’t see any territorialism or aggression, which was refreshing. After the surf sesh we headed back to take warm showers. Later we walked around the town, enjoying this lovely park.

The next day we headed to the Dunes of Concón. They weren’t far from us, and were worth the stop. It was pretty funny—we parked at the grocery store at the base of them, which was a hub of commercialization. Then we crossed the street and hiked up the dunes—they are just abruptly there, and feel so strange rising out of the modernity they are surrounded by. Chile was pretty dirty, with lots of trash, and the dunes were no exception. There were beautiful flowers growing, and the dunes themselves were gorgeous, but it was such a shame to see the cigarette butts, plastic bags and empty coca cola bottles all over the place.

The contrast between the ancient and the new

These beautiful flowers were all over the dunes

Once our shoes were thoroughly filled with sand, we headed back down to the car. It was time for us to head back to Santiago, so we reluctantly left the coastline and headed back to the big city.

Concón, Chile—a mellow surf town.

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