Javs and I made a quick stop north of Zapallar at a cool cemetery located right on the coast before heading south to Vina del Mar. Javs’ cousin, Moira (who lent us the car), told us it was worth the trip and it totally was. Grave sites were packed, one on top of the other and all completely covered with flowers. And the graves extended all the way to the rocky cliffs and gorgeous views of the ocean.
It’s impossible to describe the contrast between the sleepy little town I’d just spent my first days in Chile visiting and the sprawl I witnessed as we drove into Vina del Mar. The Chilean hills come right up to the ocean and are covered in houses of every color imaginable; yellow, orange, green , blue; there were people coming and going and traffic! It felt like leaving Charlottesville and entering New York City.
Hotel San Martin told us we were a bit early for check-in, but we wanted lunch anyway so Javier asked about Diego’s Pizza, a spot he remembered from his childhood visits. I kid you not, it was across the street from our hotel. And delicious! (I was skeptical of childhood Javier’s memory of ‘good’ pizza) 
Then we checked in to another great room with an ocean view J I was desperate for water so we made a quick trip to the store and ended up with a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers for a little picnic on our balcony. That night we drove just north of Vina to a restaurant, Aqui Jaime for a seafood feast.
We were up early the next morning determined to find Pablo Neruda’s house (we’d tried on the way to dinner the night before and…well failed.) We learned why the next morning, we had to park and walk up what felt like 500+ steps to get to that part of the city. The views alone made the climb worth it, but Neruda’s house was also really cool. He was kind of quirky and loved the ocean, boats, stained glass doors and concocting specialty drinks.
In the afternoon we met up with the other Cabezas in town from DC for a lovely lunch at Tia Marta’s house. I had met Marta on her visit to DC. She had been working hard with Jody to pull off our Vina reception so it was good to visit a bit with her. It was such a sunny day, that Javier and I snuck in a quick trip to the beach before visiting and planning (for the reception) with family that night. At the beach we made a new friend. Stray dogs are everywhere in Vina, but they’re all so well feed and good looking, it was hard for this American not to bring one home. This el perro decided our spot on the beach was superior to all others and practically shared my towel with me…
It was another early morning, not because of the reception that day, but because of my stubborn determined husband. Here’s where I tell a little story on my Javs. First let me say, I was completely impressed with his Spanish. He has always downplayed his knowledge to me and others that ask, but he really stepped it up while we were in Chile. We came across few English speakers and he had no trouble leading us through. I was impressed. But there was one important word that apparently evaded his vocabulary up to this point: stoplight. Since our arrival in Vina he had been trying to find this fish market he remembered seeing as a kid. He knew I’d love seeing the fisherman bring their catch in and had asked countless Chileans how to get to it. All of whom gave us directions, explaining that is was pretty hard to miss. We couldn’t find it. Finally Javier asked some of the family and learned that there was actually a stoplight where we needed to turn off the main road to get to the market. ‘Ahhhh, that’s what that word means….’ Apparently all of our direction givers had already been telling us about the stoplight, but poor Javs didn’t know the word….Armed with our new vocabulary we headed out early to catch the fisherman coming in off their boats. The market was AWESOME: fish still flopping about, purple crabs, and huge sea lions as close as arms’ length. Totally worth the struggle it was to find the place.
The reception that afternoon was at the Naval Club. Jody and Marta worked so hard and the result was truly wonderful. Jody had thoughtfully printed and placed the Neruda poem we had read at the wedding (in Spanish) at each person’s seat. She had also brought Monticello book marks and Fleurir chocolates as Thank You gifts for our guests. It made a really beautiful bridge from our US celebration to this one in Vina. It was so nice to meet and see so much family. Everyone seemed very pleased that we had made the trip and happy to host us the next time we were in Chile. After the reception we continued the celebration at Marta’s, visiting with cousins Javier hadn’t seen in many years. We drove to Santiago that night to see Javier’s Tia Lilette and Tio Sergio. I had never met Lilette (Moira’s mom) so it was very nice to meet Fernando’s other sibling. She was incredibly quick and funny and spoke perfect English. After our short visit we went to Tio Sergio’s for an early (by Chilean standards) lunch before our flight to Pucon. It was really wonderful to get to spend time with this incredibly warm and welcoming family. I felt a little more like a Cabezas as we headed south to Pucon!
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| Cabezas kids with Tio Sergio |
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| Moira was our Guardian Angel :) |
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