More photos from Chile

It's been a lovely trip so far: our ride out from Santiago south to Termas de Chillan was very picturesque. Agriculture is king here, with miles and miles of vineyards, orchards and vegetable farms. The Gran Hotel where we are staying is very upscale, but totally family oriented; so much more so than Valle Nevado. There is one large dining room, which, unfortunately, has entertainment almost every night. The kids like it, but it's not relaxing after a day outside.


Friday evening was "Volcano Night" with a live band, really bad kareoke, and a smoke machine, culminating in a a grand show where all the waiters bring out dozens of flaming volcano-shaped baked alaskas. It was really cool to watch, but more excitement than I needed. Dinner starts at 8 pm, which seems to be when all the Americans eat. Everyone else likes to eat in the middle of the night, which is traditional in hispanic culture. That would be great if I took the time for an afternoon siesta, but the snow has been too nice.



The hotel has a spa, where I enjoyed a full body mud wrap and one of the best facials I have ever had. I got an impressive sunburn despite SPF 25, so the ladies looked at my skin, touching my cheeks and shaking their heads in disapproval (since I don't know many of the spa related words in Spanish, much communication was done through sign language) then my esthetician got to work, putting these wonderful creams and cold compresses on my face until it stopped burning completely! I went from papas fritas to helado in 30 minutes.