Oceanviews, Seafood and Digestifs in Viña del Mar

January 5, 2011 ( part II)

Our hotel in Viña del Mar  ( "Vineyard by the Sea") was perched high atop the hills overhooking the Pacific ocean and took its name from the nearby Reloj de Flores ("Flower Clock"), an emblematic symbol of the seaside town. Our taxi ride up to Reloj de Flores B&B was quick and sweaty with three of us jammed in the back seat of the compact car. As it turned out, our arrival to Viña del Mar coincided with one of the warmest days of the season with temperatures in the mid-90's; much warmer than the upper 60's that was forecasted a week earlier.

The Flower Clock

Reloj de Flores B&B was much simpler and compact than the Bonaparte in Santiago, with only ten guest rooms -  basically just a home converted into a hostel (calling it a "B&B" might be a stretch). A friendly older woman served as hostess, as she showed us around to our rooms and spoke to us in nearly perfect English. Mom & Dad's room was by far the nicer of the two. It had a balcony with an unexpected OCEAN VIEW. On the other hand, the room that my brother and I shared only had a window that opened up to the central living area. The place certainly wasn't anything fancy, but it was very homey and comfortable and a great deal too (about half of what we paid for the hotel in Santiago). 

View from my parent's room at Reloj de Flores B&B

Getting ready to walk down the steep hill from our hotel!

It was getting close to to 3pm by this point, and because our little hill-top neighborhood didn't have much to offer in the way of food, we set out down the hill in search of lunch. One of our guidebooks recommended a restaurant close to the casino called Divino Pecado (pecado means "sin" in Spanish, but is very similar to the word meaning "fish" - pescado).  The inside of the restaurant was bright welcoming and our waiter friendly and professional. The only disappointment (well aside for the prices of the menu items), was they they were out of several very delicious-sounding house specialties, such as pumpkin ravioli with shrimp!  As a second choice, I ordered gnocchi with a spicy bolognese sauce, which turned out to be quite tasty. The other downer was that there was no A/C in the restaurant (or any other place in Viña ), so it was a steamy experience. However, our mood was improved when the waiter came by with post-lunch digestif, compliments of the house. We were given a selection of flavors to choose from, so we asked for one of each: araucaria (a type of pine tree found in South America), amaretto, and pisco (grape brandy, typical drink throughout the Andres region of South America). Not the tastiest liquor I've ever tried, but interesting non-the-less. //

Lunch at Divino Pecado

Mom and I with our digestifs. I cropped Dad out of this photo for his own benefit :) - let's just say it wasn't his most flattering photo of the trip; I think the no a/c thing was getting to him at this point in the meal. 

If you look closely, you'll see that the couple sitting at the table next to us also has the Frommer's guide book.  Coincidence that they wound up at the same place we did for lunch? Unlikely