Viña is known as a beach resort by Chileans but my guide book warned that tourists tend to find it wanting. Shrewd advice, in my experience. I started off in the main square and walked (in the wrong direction, of course) to my first stop, the Museum of Funk. Ok, not really, the Museo Fonck, a small anthropology and natural history museum. The prime exhibit was outside--a real Easter Island moai.
Inside there were a number of exhibits on the island as well as on the Mapuche--Chile's indigenous people. The second floor was the natural history part, which included, surprisingly enough, some specimens that occur only in Canada, such as the Canadian lynx. The highlights were a stuffed two-headed lamb, looking decidedly equivocal, and a detailed explanation on how to prepare shrunken heads (basically you scoop out the insides and fill with hot sand; rinse and repeat). It was not an interactive exhibit.
Next, in my continuing attempt to try genuine Chilean food, I headed to a shwarma restaurant where I had chicken in a pita. My guide book said it would be good enough to eat off the floor: I'll reserve that honour for my favorite TO felafel resto. The place was for sale (they said they were tired of it) with an offer to teach you how to cook the food. An opportunity for somebody.
I then walked to the Castillo Wulff, a small turreted folly by the water featuring indifferent paintings and where the best features were the glass floor that allowed you to see the waves rush in and out, and the pelicans roosting on the rocks outside.
There was a a decent-looking forested park downtown, but before I had gotten very far into it a security guard warned me that there was a danger of being robbed so I turned around and found my way back to my bus to Valparaiso.
So, sometimes when your guide book says there's no "there there", believe them. Or not.
Back to my quest for food, I finally got to go to Epif, a vegetarian restaurant in my neighbourhood that has been closed for the past two days. A black-bean veggie burger (including a garnish I wouldn't have thought off--green apple), a generous glass of house red, and for dessert a "sueño de chocolate" (chocolate dream)--a slice of chocolate cake/cookie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream.
Tomorrow I leave for La Serena, described as "the thinking man's beach resort". As Groucho Marx might have said, now bring me a thinking man. Or, even better, a thinking woman! The 8-hr bus ride will give me some time to catch up to the affairs of the Misses Bennet, Mr Darcy, and Mr Bingley.
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