Gliding above Santiago

My birthday was last Monday, and in order to bring in 27 properly, Eric really outdid himself. Although I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in Buenos Aires last year over my birthday weekend, we opted to stay local this year and spend the weekend in Santiago. What an amazing decision! After spending two weeks working in Viña del Mar, I returned home on Friday night to celebrate a belated Valentine´s Day dinner at Ky Restobar. The thai food was great, for Chilean thai food.

Our plans for the next day were a mystery to me. Eric came by around 1 PM and told me to pack a bag with good walking shoes, a bathing suit and towel, plenty of sunscreen, and a jacket in case I got cold. Since it is about 85°F in Santiago right now, I was a bit confused how I could possibly get cold anywhere, but I obeyed his orders excited for what was to come. Minutes later we were in a taxi on our way to an undisclosed location. Upon arrival, my greatest hopes came true. I have been seeing gliders soaring above Santiago for the past year wishing that I could be in the backseat of such a plane. My off-hand comments about my desire to go gliding did not go unnoticed! Eric planned a funfilled day of soaring above Santiago.


Ready to glide!

While waiting for the pilot to arrive, we toured the small airport and took pictures with a few of the planes. An instructor gave us a brief lesson on what the different dials meant, strapped me into the backseat of the plane, and we were off! A tow plane dragged the two-person glider up into the air, and within minutes we were free - sailing through the sky 1.5 km above Santiago. The air was surprisingly clear for Santiago, and the view of the city was incredible. I hadn't realized how big the sprawling city of Santiago was until I was looking at it from above. The pilot passed the controls to me a few times to let me fly the plane. What a rush! After about 45 minutes in the air, it was time to come down and let Eric take his turn at flying with the birds.

Santiago from the sky

Happy birthday to me!!


Ready to be towed into the air

Zapallar

What a weekend! Saturday morning, I woke up around 10 with no plans for the entire weekend. Looking forward to the freedom of doing whatever I want, I got on the phone to see what my friends were up to. Todd was heading to Zapallar, a beach 2 hours from Santiago, 45 minutes later, so I thought – why not?! In no time, I was on my way to the beach with three friends with plans to stay just for the day. Plans were the one thing I was avoiding this weekend though, so of course that had to change!

View from Chiringuito, Zapallar, Chile

We stopped for lunch at a great place on the coast called Chiringuito to enjoy some of the local seafood. The view from the deck of the restaurant reminded me of a photograph of the Amalfi Coast. We ended up staying the night in Zapallar at this amazing old mansion overlooking the water that is owned by a famous Chilean polo player. He hosted a big party sponsored by Johnny Walker that had passed appetizers and an open bar. Sunday morning, the owner of the house invited us to his polo match at the Cachagua Polo Grounds – where they had another open bar!

Polo Match

 I laid off the champagne this time though, because Carol, Neelie and I were going to keep the spontaneity going by scuba diving after the game. Diving in Chile was a box on my bucket list that I needed to check off. Check it off I did! The visibility wasn’t great and the water was coooooooooooold! I am glad I got to do it, especially at the low price of $80, but I don’t need to go back into 12°C water again to look at the fishies that I enjoy eating so much in Chile. We saw some really cool starfish and rock shrimp. The dive master reached out and let one of them creep up onto my fingers.  What started out as a lazy weekend with nothing planned turned into quite the adventure!