1 week in CHILE

Vina del Mare(1hr west of Santiago) is a coastal city with lots of hotels, tourists, beach and stray (not hungry) dogs.
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A week in Chile for a "look see" before heading off catamaran shopping.

It was a last minute decision to stop off in Chile. Original destination was Brazil but I overlooked the need to apply for a visa.

Weather was cold but loved the place. Great people, good culture, inexpensive and a good introduction to Sth America! Happy we went.

We hired a car and went from Santiago to Concepcion (birthplace of my god-daughter), Valparisio and Vina Del Mare.

Streets of Valparisio..twin city of Vina Del Mare. Lots of steep narrow streets and colourful old timber buildings.
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Would have loved to have seen more but we got the idea and will be back one day!

Lots of- tolls, stray dogs, friendly people, vineyards.

Very Little- english spoken, restaurants/takeaways, service stations (when you need them)

Great little fruits stands on most street corners of Concepcion, the 2nd largest city in Chile
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A bit of trivia about Tolls - heading south out of Santiago we went thru 15 tolls in an 1100klm round trip(A$60 costs)... plus.. A$26 worth of tolls in Santiago city limits. Worth every cent though- great roads!

Speed limit 120kmh.