Santiago, Chile (Capital)

Plaza de Armas - Santiago, Chile

Mercado Central - Santiago, Chile

Chilean Lunch - Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile (Capital) (1/14-15/2010) - Hola! from Santiago, capital and largest city (population 5 million) of Chile with nearly a third of Chile’s entire population.

Santiago is one of South America’s more modern, clean, and rather cosmopolitan cities with good transportation, trendy areas, and quite affordable prices. Santiago lacks the rich culture and popular tourist destinations of other South American cities and is normally a jumping off point for other Chilean locations. 

The wonderful Chilean hospitality in Santiago outshines any normal big city unfriendliness. People all over the city went out of their way to help us and be friendly.

Wayne's New Friends - Santiago, Chile

Pedestrian Shopping Walkways - Santiago, Chile

Chilean Girls - Santiago, Chile

Santiago was just a quick stopover for us to organize the rest of our adventures in Chile but we were able to get around a bit and discover some enjoyable places. We wandered Santiago's downtown area visiting the historic Plaza de Armas and Cathedral De Santiago (see photos). We also walked pedestrian shopping walkways, witnessed a political event, and had lunch at the Mercado Central famous for its Chilean fish and wine (see photos). 

At night we had a chance to visit Santiago's trendy neighborhoods of Barrio Paris-Londres and Barrio Bellavista having a wonderful dinner at the outdoor Patagonia Café (see photos).

Some history... The Spanish founded Santiago in 1541. Overcoming resistance from the native Incas, floods and earthquakes, the Spanish Conquistadores prevailed. Independence from

Political Event - Santiago, Chile

Spain was declared in 1817.

Please also see our 7 other blog posts for beautiful Chile:

Chile Pucon Lake District

Chile Puerto Montt Patagonia

Chile Punta Arenas Strait of Magellan

Outdoor Cafe (Patagonia)
in Barrio Paris-Londres - Santiago, Chile

Chile Santa Cruz Colchagua Valley Wine Country

Chile Strait of Magellan Cape Horn Chilean Fjords Darwin Beagel Channels

Chile Valparaiso

Chile Vina del Mar

Street Performers - Santiago, Chile

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Coral Coast, Fiji

Beautiful Robinson Crusoe Island - Coral Coast, Fiji

Wayne Playing in Cyclone Mick - Coral Coast, Fiji

Fire Dancers - Robinson Crusoe Island, Fiji

Fiji's Laid Back Attitude

Pat Enjoying the Bedarra Beach Inn, Fiji

Wayne at Coral Coast, Fiji

Our Hotel Owner's Car Crushed - Cyclone Mick, Fiji

Lovo Dinner - Robinson Crusoe Island, Fiji

Having Kava with the Band Boys
- Bedarra Beach Inn, Fiji

Sunset - Coral Coast, Fiji

Our Hotel (Bedarra Beach Inn) - Coral Coast, Fiji

Coral Coast, Fiji (12/10-16/09) - “Bula” (Hello) from Fiji. We love Fiji.

See why below but first, let us tell you abort a rare travel experience...

We dropped into the Figi's Coral Coast to relax after our 3-week driving adventure through New Zealand and relax we did until CYCLONE MICK HIT FIJI! 

Rated ‘only’ a category 2 cyclone (hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere), Cyclone Mick’s eye passed near Fiji providing up to 50-60 mile-per-hour winds - an unexpected and rather rare Fiji experience. Unlike many others here, we thought this was great fun. With stinging rain whizzing sideways, fun-loving (dumb?) Wayne had to get out into the cyclone (see photo).

Trees all over Fiji were blown over. On our small property alone, 4 trees blew over and a palm tree crushed the owners’ car (see photos). The owner of our inn told us that this was the ‘worst’ (for us, best?) he had seen in 16 years. It made us wonder… if this was only a category 2, what would a category 5 be like?

Fiji with its absolute beautiful ocean and tropical settings with charmingly friendly people making it a laid-back South Pacific paradise where relaxing and enjoying nature is the primary thing to do. We got an amazing deal on the Coral Coast (about $70US/night with an upgrade to the best suite in the place) at the Bedarra Beach Inn - a small 3-star hotel in the middle of the Coral Coast on the largest Fijian island (Viti Levu).

We enjoyed a day visit to Robinson Crusoe Island - a rustic ‘resort’ island where overnight guests take cold showers from a bucket… but you can walk on a deserted beach and leave the only footprints until the next high tide. On Robinson Crusoe Island, we took a snorkeling trip to the coral reef, drank kava, walked in the warm water beach at sunset, had a lovo dinner (cooked in the ground), and witnessed Fijian fire dancers and walkers (see photos).

On a previous trip to Fiji, we visited the Yasawa Islands on a Blue Lagoon Cruise - a must once in your lifetime! Along with small small Fijian villages nestled beneath palm trees, the Yasawa Islands have some of the loveliest beaches in the South Pacific. Hollywood's remake of the movie The Blue Lagoon was filmed here.

Some information about Fiji... There are 333 Fijian islands with a total population of less than a million - many living in small villages and most others living on the largest island (Vita Levu). An interesting thing in the Southern Hemisphere, besides toilets flowing the opposite way, is the north is the sunny side and there are a lot more stars out on a clear night.

Some history... The first people to inhabit Fiji came in about 3000 BC in boats crossing the vast ocean. The British ruled Fiji from 1874 until 1970 when Fiji became a republic. English is spoken everywhere. Fiji has a large Indian population (about 1/3) because the British brought them here to work the sugar cane plantations. The hard working Indians now own a majority of the businesses and the food here is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine (a good thing - yummy!).

For free travel tips and cost-saving bargains:
- Like us on our Facebook travel page
- Follow us on Twitter: Follow @wdunlap

Treat yourself and see many more photos (some winners of awards) of our worldwide travel adventures - click on our travel photo file: www.flickr.com/photos/unhooknow/sets.

Contact us to Arrange an inspirational and informative Plan Your Escape™ travel seminar for your organization about great travel tips, unique bargain-finding strategies, easy-to-use trip planning tools, and interesting stories.

From a travel TV host (Plan Your Escape™), travel columnist for the Huffington Post, and experience travelers (100 countries), our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book “Plan Your Escape™, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home” reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more! – for additional information and sign up for free travel tips and bargains, go to www.PlanYourEscapeNow.com