Hola! from Santiago, capital and largest city (population 5 million) of Chile with nearly a third of Chile’s entire population.
Santiago
is one of South America’s more modern, clean, and rather cosmopolitan
cities with good transportation, trendy areas, and quite affordable
prices.
Santiago
lacks the rich culture and popular tourist destinations of other South
American cities and is normally a jumping off point for other Chilean
locations.
The wonderful Chilean hospitality in Santiago outshines any normal big city unfriendliness. People all over the city went out of their way to help us and be friendly.
Wayne's New Friends - Santiago, Chile
Pedestrian Shopping Walkways - Santiago, Chile
Chilean Girls - Santiago, Chile
Santiago
was just a quick stopover for us to organize the rest of our adventures
in Chile but we were able to get around a bit and discover some
enjoyable places.
We wandered Santiago's downtown area visiting the
historic Plaza de Armas and Cathedral De Santiago (see photos). We also
walked pedestrian shopping walkways, witnessed a political event, and
had lunch at the Mercado Central famous for its Chilean fish and wine
(see photos).
At night we had a chance to visit Santiago's trendy
neighborhoods of Barrio Paris-Londres and Barrio Bellavista having a
wonderful dinner at the outdoor Patagonia Café (see photos).
Some history...The
Spanish founded Santiago in 1541. Overcoming resistance from the native
Incas, floods and earthquakes, the Spanish Conquistadores prevailed.
Independence from
Political Event - Santiago, Chile
Spain was declared in 1817.
Please
also see our 7 other blog posts for beautiful Chile:
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Beautiful Robinson Crusoe Island - Coral Coast, Fiji
Wayne Playing in Cyclone Mick - Coral Coast, Fiji
Fire Dancers - Robinson Crusoe Island, Fiji
Fiji's Laid Back Attitude
Pat Enjoying the Bedarra Beach Inn - Coral Coast, Fiji
Wayne at Coral Coast, Fiji
Our Hotel Owner's Car Crushed - Cyclone Mick, Fiji
Lovo Dinner Robinson Crusoe Island Fiji
Sharing Kava with the Band Boys - Bedarra Beach Inn, Fiji
Sunset - Coral Coast, Fiji
Our Hotel (Bedarra Beach Inn) - Coral Coast, Fiji
Coral Coast, Fiji (12/10-16/09)
“Bula” (Hello) from Fiji. We love Fiji.
See why we love Fiji below but first, let us tell you about a rare travel experience...
We dropped into the Fiji's Coral Coast to relax after our 3-week driving adventure through New Zealand and relax we did untilCYCLONE MICK HIT FIJI!
Rated ‘only’ a category 2 cyclone (hurricane in theNorthern Hemisphere), Cyclone Mick’s eye passed near Fiji providing up to 50-60 mile-per-hour winds - an unexpected and rather rare Fijian experience. Unlike many others here, we thought this was great fun. With stinging rain whizzing sideways, fun-loving (dumb?) Wayne had to get out into the cyclone (see photo).
Trees all over Fiji were blown over. On our small property alone, 4 trees blew over and a palm tree crushed the owners’ car (see photos). The owner of our inn told us that this was the ‘worst’ (for us, best?) he had seen in 16 years. It made us wonder… if this was only a category 2, what would a category 5 be like?
Fiji with its absolute beautiful ocean and tropical settings with charmingly friendly people making it a laid-back South Pacific paradise where relaxing and enjoying nature is the primary thing to do.
We
got an amazing deal on Fiji's Coral Coast (about $70US/night with an upgrade to the best
suite in the place) at the Bedarra Beach Inn - a small 3-star hotel in
the middle of the Coral Coast on the largest Fijian island (Viti Levu).
We enjoyed a day visit to Robinson Crusoe Island - a rustic ‘resort’ island where overnight guests take cold showers from a bucket… but you can walk on a deserted beach and leave the only footprints until the next high tide.
On Fiji's Robinson Crusoe Island, we took a snorkeling trip to the coral reef, drank kava, walked in the warm water along the beach at sunset, had a lovo dinner (cooked in the ground), and witnessed Fijian fire dancers and walkers (see photos).
On a previous trip to Fiji, we visited the Yasawa Islands on a Blue Lagoon Cruise
- a must once in your lifetime! Along with small small Fijian villages
nestled beneath palm trees, the Yasawa Islands have some of the
loveliest beaches in the South Pacific. Hollywood's remake of the movie The Blue Lagoon was filmed there.
Some information about Fiji...There are 333 Fijian islands with a
total population of less than a million - many living in small villages
and most others living on the largest island (Vita Levu). English is
spoken everywhere. An interesting thing in the
Southern Hemisphere, besides toilets flowing the opposite way, is that the
north is the sunny side and there are a lot more stars out on a clear
night.
Throughout Fiji, even at the upscale resorts, guests and workers come together in the evening and share bowls of kava. Kava relaxes you - as if you need it in Fiji.
Fiji has a large Indian population (about 1/3)
because the British brought them here to work the sugar cane
plantations. The hard working Indians now own a majority of the
businesses and the food here is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine
(a good thing for us - yummy!).
Some history...The first people to inhabit Fiji
came in about 3000 BC in boats crossing the vast ocean. The Fijians warred with each other. After being sited by Dutch explorer Able Tasman in 1643, they warred with Europeans and got the reputation of being cannibals. When the Chief Ratu Seru Cakabau became a Christian in 1854, the Fijian nation became more peaceful. The British
ruled Fiji from 1874 until 1970 when Fiji became an independent republic.
Please
enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning
photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->
Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From aformer Economic professor, experienced traveler
(106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows,
host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape®TV aired on the CW network,
and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel bookPlan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home
reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all
trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure
and romance, safely realize your travel dreamswith comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less
than $100/day for a couple, and much more! Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE
BarrioParis-Londres.JPG "Outdoor Cafe Patagonia in Barrio Paris Londres Santiago Chile")
