Cachagua

The cueca accompanied us two weekends ago on our micro trip through small, colorful, beachfront towns along the Pacific coast. An empanada vendor selling seafood empanadas boarded the micro. The smell was so tempting that Eva and I indulged ourselves in the best empanada we have tried thus far, but unfortunately, the smell of crab and seafood didn’t complement Tim’s motion sickness well.

We were on our way to Cachagua, which shares the reputation with neighboring Zapallar of being a popular vacation spot for Chile’s rich. Both towns are approximately an hour and a half north of Viña del Mar. Cachagua boasts a bird reserve that is home to Humboldt penguins, among other species. The reserve is slightly off the mainland on the Isla de Cachagua, and because it is protected, the beach on the mainland is as close as it gets, but you can still see the birds quite well. We got off the bus on the main road and followed a dusty dirt road to a beautiful beach. Unfortunately, we did not have any binoculars, and we were only able to positively identify one Humboldt penguin: it had been swept ashore, dead. The penguin was quite small, measuring approximately a foot and a half in length.

Along the Cachagua shore, a well-kept stone path traces a rocky terrain, framed by immaculate houses with ornate gardens. We walked for 3 hours and enjoyed the 15-20 foot waves and solitude. Small foot bridges ease crossing more difficult terrain. Tsunami evacuation route signs serve as a constant reminder that Chile has suffered several large earthquakes in the past 150 years that have severely damaged Chile’s economy.

We made our way to the main road again and hailed the next passing bus by doing the Chilean bus hail (basically, it consists of pointing your pointer finger towards the middle of the road and motioning up and down a few times) . This bus took us to Zapallar, which also has an incredible cove beach. There we enjoyed a late seafood lunch at a restaurant 20 meters from the sea beach before making our way back to Viña del Mar.