- Santiago, Chile and environs
- Coyhaique, Patagonia
- Easter Island
- Flooded in San Pedro de Atacama!
After a nearly nine hour flight from Mexico City (blessedly uneventful), we arrived in Santiago. The airport is about ten miles out of the city and luckily we arrived at 6:00 am and got into the city before rush hour began. Our home for our five days in Santiago is in Las Condes, one of the municipalities in Santiago. Apparently, this is a fairly well-to-do area in Santiago and many of the “economic elite” live here. One of the main thoroughfares in the area is Apoquindo Avenue; it’s where much of the commercial activity occurs. Locals call it “Sanhattan.” There are over 500 restaurants in the area. I suspect we aren’t going to put much of a dent in them! There are also some major malls and all varieties of shops that could take up our time, but we have a pretty aggressive agenda to see much of the area.
After a few hours rest, we went to meet our guide for four of our days here. Colin is an interesting guide for us in that he is from the US (Iowa), but married a local and his lived in Chile for many years. Hence, he can see things both as a resident and more dispassionately as an observer. That would come in handy as we were off on a food and culture walking tour of the city. We started out in the Central and Tirso de Molina markets to get a better handle on Chilean foods and the ingredients that create them. As expected, the market is teeming with people and produce — a riot of color and sound. The day (as well as most of the other days!) was hot! (92 degrees). Interestingly, we saw a lot of Haitians and Venezualans working near the market. Until recently, Chile was very welcoming of immigrants from troubled countries, flying them in bay the planeload. That changed recently with the new conservative government that has stemmed the tide and, in fact, is offering people free flights back to where they came. After some refreshment (Mote con HueSillo — a very sweet peach drink with barley), we then went strolled through one of Santiago’s oldest parks (Parque Forestal) on our way to the Bellas Artes barrio, known for the Bella Artes Fine Arts Museum that we hope to get back and visit. We made a quick stop at a local eatery for one of the Chilean craft beers (Kross), along with some chorillana (think cheesesteak meets poutine). We then hiked up Cerro Santa Lucia, a steep hill where the city was founded. After climbing around 350 steps, you are rewarded with panoramic views of the city and all the surrounding mountains. After that workout, stopped at the Gabriela Mistral (GAM). This cultural center is pretty indicative of the history of Santiago — the original building was destroyed by fire, it was taken over as Pinochet’s headquarters during his dictatorship, then became the Ministry of Defense, and ultimately returned to its cultural heritage. We watched some impromptu performances and then strolled over to Barrio Lastarria which is a cool area with lots of boutique shops, restaurants/cafes, and wine stores. Of course, being a food tour, we had to stop for more picoteos (little appetizers) and some local wines. Needless to say, we didn’t need dinner that night — the start of a trend. Anyway, a great start to our visit. Tomorrow we start wine tasting!
One of the big reasons for visiting Chile was to sample the wines from the various regions. The next day, we experienced the first of those — the Maipo Valley. This area is known for its bold, full-bodied reds, enabled by the mountains on all sides (think hot!) and the rocky soil. I had researched some of the boutique wineries in the area, and selected two that I thought would be emblematic. The first was Viña Antiyal, a family winery that was one of Chile’s first organic and biodynamic wineries. The winemaker, Alvaro Espinoza, was the advocate for this type of agriculture and winemaking when everyone else was scaling up using traditional methods. While he was initially laughed at, this approach of farming all components of the vineyards as one component (look it up — https://winefolly.com/review/biodynamic-wine-guide/). Their wines have wine several awards and we tasted their finest — Kuyen and Antiyal. From there, we headed over to a large winery (Santa Rita), but only to look at the owner’s museum of pre-Colonial artifacts (oh, and enjoy a glass of wine!). Since food and wine are a focus of the trip, we stopped at a picada (a typical family-owned restaurant) for lunch and enjoyed a wide variety of dishes. Two things to note about eating at Chilean restaurants — each has their own salsa that they serve with bread (each has been yummy) and they like their sweets! After lunch, we headed to Viña Perez Cruz, another family-owned and run winery that, while larger than Antiyal, is still a small boutique winery. We got a tour from their public relations assistant, Maria, who taught us a lot, kept us entertained, and poured their usual four wines — and then two more (because I guess we kept her entertained!). After a full day on the road, with lots of food consumed along the way, we decided to have a light dinner of bread, cheese, charcuterie and, of course, wine. To pick up those supplies, we made a stop to one of the biggest grocery stores (Jumbo) that I have ever been in. We debated moving in for the rest of the trip because it was blessedly air conditioned and it had pretty much everything you could ever want.
To take a break from the wine tasting, and to get away from the heat, then next day we headed to the coast to visit the beach community of Viña del Mar and then on to the port city of Valparaiso. We certainly got what we wanted (and then some!). The morning coastal fog was in and it was very chilly and windy. Thankfully, there was hot chocolate around for we spectators when friend Ken and Colin frolicked in the surf. The town itself looked a bit like St. Petersburg with lots of high rise condos, restaurants, etc., as well as a casino! But what we really came to see was the UNESCO World Heritage site of Valparaiso. It has always served as Chile’s main seaport and much of the city is still tied to shipping. It is also Chile’s main naval base although today the operate more like the US Coast Guard, monitoring fishing, controlling smuggling, etc. But Valparaiso is all about the hills that surround the port, with the rickety buildings, decorative graffiti, and funky culture. The hills are very steep and most people walk up from the port, taking one of the many ascensors (funiculars) part way up. Thankfully, Colin cut us some slack and had our driver start us near the top and we walked down. The artwork, music, etc. were all amazing and their were lots of funky shops (that we luckily didn’t have time to stop for). Once we arrived at the port, we had lunch at other picada, this one focused on seafood. After picking up a couple of woodblock prints, Deb finally found her idea gift — a felt sculpture of a breaching Orca (it was a sign!). From there, we headed back to Santiago and met some other friends, who we will be with on the next part of our adventure, for dinner.
After our “dry” day, it was time to head back out for wine tasting — this time in the Casablanca Valley. The Casablanca was somewhat late to wine growing and wine production — not until the mid-1980s. It was seen as being too close to the coast and not amenable to growing the Cabernets, Malbecs, and Carmeneres that made the traditional wines of Chile. Instead, it opened up a whole new market for whites (primarily Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay) and cool weather reds (e.g., Pinot Noir). It turned out that the earliest “gamblers” for wine production in the valley were right. We started out at Loma Larga, another family winery that got it’s start when the grandfather of the current owner started bringing back cuttings from Europe to plant in Chile. They were the first in the valley to plant along the bottom of the valley as well as up in the hills — always trying to see what would work. The winery itself is nestled in the hills in the middle of a wooded area. Our guide, Alejandra, was a Level III certified Sommelier, and also quite a character. It is clear that she loves her work! We tasted five wines (two whites and three reds — including the first Cabernet Franc grown in the valley) along with cheese and crackers. From there we headed off to our last stop, Kingston Family Vineyards. When putting the trip together, this was the winery I wanted to visit the most. Both the story of how this mixed Chilean and US-family owned vineyard came to be (long story, but failed gold mining and cheddar cheese making operations and a successful cattle ranching operation provided the base to start the wine making operation) in the wine business and meeting the owner (Courtney) who convinced her family to move in this direction, were all amazing. We toured the facility and then tasted seven of their wines, along with lunch, overlooking the valley. What is different about this winery is that the tour guides are actually interns that come down from the US to spend nine months learning about the industry and Kingston in particular. Our guide, Lydia, was from New York City and was a lot of fun to be with. Anyway, a great day, despite some traffic problems. We ended up having dinner at a Peruvian restaurant where I experienced the difference between a Peruvian and Chilean Pisco Sour!
Our last day was largely one of rest. We ended up going to this great craft market in Pueblocitos Los Dominicos. Chile is known for its minerals and lapis lazuli is always on “someone I know”’s shopping list. Anyway, a relaxing day before we head south and get out of this heat!
This entry was posted in Chile, South America, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
