Bailey and I said our farewells to Negra at Puerto Varas and took an overnight bus to Santiago. When Bailey and I arrived in Santiago, we checked our big backpacks at the bus station and jumped on a bus to Algorrobo, a town on the coast 2 hours east of Santiago. Algorrobo is home to the world's largest swimming pool!!
The pool is one kilometer long, covers 20 acres, is 115 ft deep at its deepest point, and holds 66 million gallons of water! I really want to go and swim down and back in the pool. It's a salt water pool right next to the ocean that uses a computer-controlled suction and filtration system to draw in ocean water from one side and pump it out on the other side. The pool is so big that you can kayak and sail on it!
It has been a goal of mine to swim in the pool, and I was really looking forward to the trip. I had been trying unsuccessfully to get information about the pool online. The pool is part of an exclusive resort called San Alfonso del Mar, and the limited information I could find mentioned having to rent an apartment or condo for the night in order to use the pool. I wanted to call and see if acquiring a day pass was possible, but I could not find a phone number online for the resort (I searched for days).
So Bailey and I took on the challenge of hunting down the pool and trying to get a look and hopefully a swim. We arrived in Algorrobo, driving along the coast and watching the turquoise ocean water pound against the yellow sand and black rocks against a clear blue sky with bright warm sunshine. A perfect day for a 2 km swim!
However, Algorrobo was deserted... literally. There was hardly a soul in sight. The beaches were empty, the restaurants along the shore closed. When we arrived at San Alfonso del Mar resort, the parking lots were empty and the pool empty... empty of people though, not water! So we got passed the gate and tracked down a lady at reception, who promptly (and rudely) told us that the pool was closed for cleaning for the next five days, and besides, we have to rent an apartment to be able to use the pool (but we had to wait five days anyway). So...no swimming in the pool. I asked for a business card and phone number and told them that their website was not functioning or we would've just called instead of showing up in person. Jerks.
So... big bummer about the pool, but Bailey and I made the most of the trip by hanging out on the beach and strolling through the city before jumping on the bus back to Santiago where Carlos greeted us with some piscolas :) I'll tell ya, Chileans solve all problems with Pisco ;)
The next day Bailey and I went to Cerro San Cristobal, which is a big hill in the middle of Santiago. It's a strenuous hike to the top, so instead we chose to take the ascensor to the top. At the top is an outdoor church and altar, with a statue of Mary at the very top, arms stretched over Santiago. It was a neat experience to be up on the mountain overlooking Santiago (the smog was terribly thick though, and you couldn't see a lot the city, much less the Andes Mountains surrounding it). We ended the trip by buying some postcards and tacky tourist souvenirs at Bellavista, eating ice cream, and having lunch at an outdoor cafe. Yay for a touristy day!
We met up with Carlos when he got off work that afternoon and, together with his brother Christopher, we drove to the Concha Y Toro vineyard for a wine tour! Concha Y Toro is the largest wine exporter in Chile. We toured the vineyard, sampled some grapes right off the vine (they were really sweet!), and walked through the warehouse where the barrels of wine are stored for years! Seeing the temperature-controlled warehouse was by far my favorite part. I love being an IE! We even got to go down into the underground cellar to see where the famous Castillero del Diablo wine is stored during its fermenting process. We sampled some of the wine, and my favorite was the white wine called Trio which is a blend of three different grapes. We got to keep our wine glasses, and I bought a bottle of Late Harvest dessert wine. On our way back to Carlos's house, we had our last empanadas of the trip for dinner.
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