Arriving in Viña

I’ve made it back to South America to beautiful Viña del Mar where the eighth season of the Latin American Poker Tour gets going once again tomorrow with the start of the $2,500 Main Event.

The journey down was smooth, although as often happens for me with red-eyes I failed to get much rest at all sitting upright in my seat for the eight-and-a-half-hour flight. That meant spending much of the morning and afternoon in a bit of a daze as I unpacked and readied for the next several days here -- and fighting fatigue a little as well tonight as I pen this post.

I did get out during the late afternoon and early evening, however, to wander up and down the coast-facing Ave Peru walkway.

Just perfect weather here -- right at 72°F with the sun out and a light breeze. A t-shirt is fine. The clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages competed with the seagulls’ whines overhead as I walked. There were many children laughingly bouncing around the slides and monkeybars in the playground situated nearly within the shadow of the Enjoy Viña del Mar Casino. A jazz trio plus a female lead was playing live music right beside them with a large crowd gathered to listen, adding still more to the scene’s very pleasant soundtrack.

Oh yeah, and the dogs were out, too. Like always.

Eventually made it over to the Enjoy to reunite with a few LAPT folks then go with Reinaldo for a nice, leisurely dinner at a place called Entre Masas located just a couple of blocks away. They’re known for their empanadas, but we instead split a couple of dishes filled with assorted meats, veggies, cheeses, olives, and more.

Have to shut it down for now as I need to try to grab some extra rest, including making up for the hours I lost thanks to traveling eastward a couple of time zones. More to come.