Loving Chile

After missing our flight and spending the day in the Buenos Aires airport we finally made it to the W Santiago around midnight. We got up early (or what we thought was early) and headed out to see Santiago. It wasn't until we got down into the subway that noticed we were an hour behind, we had thought it was 9 and was actually 10. Of course after losing 12 hours in the airport and now we had lost another hour because it was daylight savings in Chile last night ... What are the odds. So we immediately headed to the top of San Cristobal hill, which was fabulous. We got really lucky that it had rained last Thursday, which cleared away a lot of the smog, and the views were amazing.

After that we checked out the central market and Plaza de Armas. The market was a little slow because it was a Sunday morning, we're hoping to check it out later in the week when we're back in Santiago.

We are currently in the Colchagua Valley, the Napa Valley of Chile. On our way in to town we stopped at the Casa Silva Vineyard, it was gorgeous. The Vineyard has a Polo Field and they told us that during the polo season you can eat lunch and watch a polo game. We're here during winter so it's pretty empty. There us only one restaurant open in the whole town tonight. Will booked us a room at a coo, hacienda that was turned into a hotel. We thought we were the only guests staying there but met another couple at a wine tasting tonight that was also staying there so we aren't alone.

Right now we are sitting at a bar (part of the only open restaurant) drinking Pisco Sours with some Argentinians we met at our wine tasting, who were also looking for something to do tonight. Should be fun! We have a big day of wine tasting tomorrow so you might not hear from us till Tuesday when we get to Vina Del Mar.

The view from San Cristobal hill overlooking the Andes. If we had planned better (and had more room in our luggage) we would have driven an hour and gone skiing, next time :)



The view of the Virgen de la Immaculada Concepcion.


The view from San Cristobal hill overlooking Santiago.


Our first wine tasting at Casa Silva. We ended up buying a bottle of the 2006 Carmenere which is the highest rated Carmenere in the world. We'll be drinking that on a special occasion, or at the airport if we can't get it home.


Our Carmenere purchase.


Our hotel, TerraVina, is on it's own vineyard.



Off to finish my Pisco sour and have dinner with the Argentinians and the other couple staying at our hotel (he's English living in Madrid, and his girlfriend is Venezuelan living in Santiago).

Adios