Quintay

¡Hola amigos! So Thursday night I was reading my guidebook and it mentioned a cool beach about 30 minutes south of Valparaíso near a town called Quintay. My guidebook said it was nearly deserted in the winter and well worth the visit. I talked to a couple people about going, and a girl in my program named Amanda agreed to go with me. We met up at the ISA office Friday morning and headed off to catch a colectivo which my trusty guidebook said were available behind the bus station on Calle 12 de Febrero. We found the street and asked a driver where we could catch a colectivo to Quintay. He said there wasn´t one, but offered to drive us there for 40 dollars one way. We said no thanks, (but thought "we may be gringos but we're not morons") and kept looking. Farther up the street we found the colectivo we were looking for, paid our 3 dollars each, and piled in. In case I haven't talked about colectivos, they are a type of "collective taxi" that run a specific route; like a bus for four. In this particular case, however, since the drive is long (30 minutes) the colectivo won't run unless all the seats are filled or someone pays for the empty seats. Turns out when we showed up there were already three people waiting for the colectivo to fill; a grandmother and her grandson, and some guy. So when I say we piled in, I mean we piled in. I sat squeezed in the middle with the grandmother and grandson on one side and Amanda on the other. The drive was very pretty, and we really felt off the beaten track. At times, the road was dirt and very poorly maintained.

The colectivo dropped off the other passengers in the town, but we continued heading toward the ocean. When the colectivo stopped we stepped out of the car and straight into a quaint fishing village in New England. Granted I've never been to New England, but the point is that this could not have felt less like Chile, or the southern hemisphere, or the sprawling city we had left only 30 minutes past. We were standing in a small cove with a small sandy beach bordered by rocky shores on either side. The air was crisp, clean, and salty, and for the first time in a month I felt like I was living within minutes of the ocean. The change from the hustle of Viña and Valparaíso was incredible. Had I been wearing a watch, I would have checked it to see if it was still running. Not that I would have cared; needing to know the time felt like a thing of the distant past. On the beach were 10 or so small fishing boats where bent old fishermen mended their nets or tended to the day's catch. Others simply watched, or talked, or stood in silence watching the waves crash on the beach. Nestled aroud the bay were a handful of restaurants, any of which looked (and smelled) phenomenal.

The place I really wanted to see was a nearby beach called "Playa Chica" which my guidebook said was a 15 minute walk away. We headed up the road and got confused, so we asked a guy for directions and followed his directions up to the carabinero station. A carabinero came out and talked with us briefly, and he pointed us on our way. We passed through a fence onto private property, and into a manicured pine forest. (It was kind of surreal and we couldn't figure out who owned the land or why there were pine trees growing in perfect rows.) A short walk later we came out of the trees and were met with a gorgeous view. The land dropped away beneath us for about 100 feet and below we could see a beautiful rocky shoreline with small patches of sand snuck in between. Large turquoise waves were crashing into the rocks and we could see the spray from our perch. A short scramble down the hill and we were walking along the shoreline of a completely deserted beach. We rock-hopped out onto an outcrop and watched as wave after wave crashed onto the rocks sending spray 30 feet into the air. It was amazing. We walked around for about one hour, and then headed back up the hill. We called a colectivo, paid for the empty seats (we would still be waiting otherwise) and headed back to Valparaíso. I didn't bring my camera, but I will definetly return to Playa Chica, and next time I will take photos.

Hope all is well at home.

ya me voy
Andrius