Bucalemu

There's something quite pleasant about out of season seaside towns. Bucalemu, over the dusty hill from Pichilemu, is more of a street. The owner of the place where we ate filled us with cheer by telling us that people regularly die on the dusty road. As this was the only way back, it didn't exactly aid digestion. It took me a large chocolate ice cream on a stick to calm down.

The Road to Bucalemu

Over the hill from Pichilemu, via a twisty dust covered road, is Bucalemu. If you're ever thinking of a camel trip across the Gobi, then this road would be a good place to see if you're up to it. As The Diminutive One's motor has no air-con, you face the choice of either cooking yourself up microwave-style with the windows wound up, or opening them and choking yourself half to death. We chose to alternate between the two.

On The Beach

Unlike last time, when I got burnt so badly that I glowed for a week, Pichilemu treated me better this time round. The fellas with the truck were collecting seaweed, which people, who are ill in the head, eat. Maria tells me they used to give it to kids to suck, presumably if they didn't like them.

Sitting on The Fence in Pichilemu

Aint no sittin on the fence in Pichilemu.

Yerbas Buenas

Apart from being a "well-preserved colonial village", the one thing I shall always remember about Yerbas Buenas (translated by the Dimminutive One as "The Good Weeds", which I'm sure would attract a certain kind of visitor) was the drunk chap in the street. He was sat alongside a parked car, inspecting the peeling go-faster stripes. This wouldn't have been such an issue if he´d chosen the pavement side of the vehicle. This rather badly thought out decision saw him positioned in the middle of the road. As you can see from the pictures, heavy traffic isn't a problem, although he was running the risk of getting a squashed hand from a passing tractor.
It was worth noting that it was only about 11 in the morning, so he'd clearly made an early start to the day. You could hear him singing within a four block radius, and we both burst out laughing when suddenly, breaking off from the wailing, he cordially greeted a passer by with a fairly formal "Buenas Dias Señor!".

Huilquilemu - Villa Cultural (complete with Last Supper)

A few miles east of Talca, there's a large, old colonial pile, that is now stuffed full of religious gumpf. The place looks a bit like the original curator was ousted half way through his plan to have a fairly standard museum. A few days after completeing the period drawing room, complete with grand piano and period furniture, said curator was sacked, only to be replaced by a Catholic nut. Said nut demanded, and promptly got, a lifesize model of the last supper, complete with spooky lighing (operated by dimmer switch), in the back bedroom. He, or she, then set about rounding up whatever freako Catholo paintings and crosses he/she could find, threw in a cafe (closed on Saturdays forgodsake), and called it Villa Cultural Huilquilemu. As a back yard they've got a selection of trees from around the world, all lumped together in a garden. Best place for trees.

Linares Plaza

Linares, about 4 hours south of Santiago, has a nice Plaza. Look at the pictures.






The lovely Hotel Turismo, where we served a 12 hour sentence, had all the grace and charm of a Soviet era Novosibirsk young offenders institute.

Fonda, La Reina Sept 07

It's that time of year again, the fiestas patrias. This is the time of year that the whole country is covered in the national flag, and people eat 4 cows each over a 4 day period. In order to celebrate in an authentic way we went to a couple of fondas, this one in La Reina seemed geared towards horse type people. All the stalls were manned by sour faced men in hats. We watched two men on horses chase a cow in a circle. The odds seemed slightly stacked in favour of the two men and two horses, rather than the cow.

The Diminutive One celebrated the love of all things Chilean by devouring meat. I did begin to worry about the welfare of the animals in the petting zoo.

Fish Lunch in Algarobo

After a relaxing time out in the sticks, at a parcela, we all headed for Algarobo, for a fish lunch. As my Nan used to say, we had a nice walk on the prom.