Vina del Mar

Tere, her mother, and Teresita journeyed out to meet us in Valparaiso today.  We drove around the old town, taking in the coloured buildings and graffiti, and stopped at the cemetery where (until the 1850s) anyone who wasn't Chilean and died in these parts had to be buried.  There was a huge ex-pat population here, mainly Scottish but also a lot of Germans, who sailed in and decided to stay.

From there we drove up the coast on Chile's equivalent of Highway 1 to Vina Del Mar.  It's a seaside resort town, quiet now in the Southern Hemisphere's winter but bustling in summer.  A lot of Santiagans have second homes or apartments here.  We ate today's catch at a gorgeous seafood restaurant before the two Teresitas (which gets confusing) kindly drove us back to the big city.

If you're not Chilean then you're apparently a dissident.

The place is huge.

Dead people: morbid.

Not the most traditional place for a family photo, but you know...

Wounded at Waterloo!  Impressive.

Woo, a local Somerset boy!  And they didn't even have Skype in those days.

Final look back at Valparaiso.

Hannah in the seafood restaurant.

Teresita enjoys herself ringing the ship's bell.

Outside, more seafood connoisseurs.

On the beach.

The Pacific, no more pacific than it is in California.