“Domestic Flight”
Easter Island was our entry door into South America, technically. As Easter Island is Chilean territory, we were taking a “local” flight to Santiago de Chile. We were looking into renting an apartment via Airbnb. It didn’t take us long to realise that after our South Pacific trip the prices in South America are much lower than we were used to during the past 1-2 months. We found an apartment in the city center of Santiago for USD 40. As Chile is still considered as one of the better developed countries in South America, the prices we were facing must be on a higher scale compared to the rest of South America. So, for our wallet this was much needed.
Santiago de Chile
As we arrived we decided to take a taxi toour apartment. This time we didn’t have to organize SIM cards or cash as we were able to use the same as in Easter Island and the currency and the phone providers were the same.
After a 30min drive we arrived at our apartment which was in a big apartment building just next to the Manuel Montt station. The flat wasperfect as we had our own kitchen, living room and bed room which made it feel like home. We had our own balcony with a great view and the supermarket was located just around the corner.
Adjusting to another climate and language
Well, all nice and good but we realized quite fast that we arrived in South America at winter time. It was cold. Our jackets which we used the last time on our track to Mount Kinabalu were needed again. Our long-time friends, the flip flops were sent back to our backpacks and proper pants were required. Summer time was definitely over especially after we have seen snow for the first time since January ’18 from our apartment balcony.
Language was another life changer. I mean it is known that travelling through South America is impossible without being able to speak Spanish. Here Alisha came into the game. She was already refreshing her Spanish during our travelling time in Asia, Australia and the South Pacific but know we were facing the reality. I was more than happy to have Alisha with me as she was able to communicate with the taxi drivers, hosts, waiters and all other communication channels which are needed daily. I knew it but as soon as the reality hits me and I was not even able to communicate with the cashier, I realized that without Alisha’s help it will be difficult.
The life in Santiago de Chile
The city was busy, and we were able to see the high pace the city is running on. It was the first big city experience for us since Australia or Japan. We had to adjust to it first.
We were cooking at home mainly. This changed after we went for the first time to a lunch meeting with Alisha’s school friends where we paid for a 3-course lunch as less as USD 7 / person. This changed our cooking schedule and as we still had breakfast in-housem we mainly went out for the other meals.
We spent a lot of the time with Alisha’s school friends during our week in Santiago which was a welcomed change. We experienced the daily business life in the capital Santiago as well as the night life and we really enjoyed our time in Santiago.
Before we went to Valparaiso on the upcoming weekend, we went on a day trip to the Maipo valley, specifically tothe Undurraga winery.
Undurraga winery
The trip started after lunch with the target to visit the Undurraga winery. It is one of the oldest wineries in Chile.
First, there was a tour through the vineyard. The tour was in Spanish as it was organized from the Spanish school Alisha was participating. Besides a few tourists from North America, the main tourists of the group came from Brazil. It was an interesting tour but not that much to see as it was winter time and fare away from harvest time. Anyway, the size of vineyard and the grape variety was quite impressive.
After an extensive tour, we moved to the essential wine tasting. We tried a variety of white and red wines like the Sibaris Gran Reserva Carmenere, Terroir Hunter Sauvignon Blanc Lo Abarca or a Late Harvest Reserva Especial. It was a great tasting and to be honest the reason why we came to Undurraga.
We decided that this was definitely not our last wine tasting/tour.
Valparaiso
Valparaiso is a major city, seaport, and educational center just 120km northwest of Santiago de Chile. Therefore, we decided to take the bus where we were able to choose between Pullman or Tur Bus. We took Tur Bus and took a scheduled bus after lunch time on a Saturday from the Tur Bus terminal in Santiago. After a 2-hour bus ride we arrived in Valparaiso center. We took an Uber to our Airbnb stay at General Mackenna 288 a bit up the hill.
Our Airbnb stay was a Loft a bit uphill and we had an awesome view over the harbour and the colorful buildings further uphill of ours. We really enjoyed our stay as it was well furnished.
It was feeling a bit colder in Valparaiso, but this didn’t hold us back to go to explore the architectural sites of Valparaiso. We started to walk up to the Avenida Alemania, which means nothing else than German street, is the only flat street. We walked across the village and visited the museum of Pablo Neruda. Our next target was a ride with the “elevator cabin” Ascensor Baron. It brought us from the flat land up to the observation deck Mirador Baron.
We enjoyed the time at our stay and the sightseeing walks through Valparaiso, but we were also actively looking for further wine tours. Unfortunately, they were all advertised from Santiago and we were not able to find one starting from Valparaiso even as it is actually closer to the wine valleys.
However, we anyway had to go back to Santiago as Valparaiso is not really an option to fly out. We booked a busticket back to Santiago on Tuesday. At the same time, we were looking for another wine tour.
Back in Santiago
We rented another Airbnb apartment inSantiago, this time closer to Bellavista and the Bustamante park called Edificio City Go. We found another wine tour organized by Ride de Vuelta.
The next day we got picked up at around 9am for our sparkling wine tour in the Casablanca valley. We wanted to try something new.
Our guide Mick picked us up from our apartment. We’ve got told that we are the only one for that day and therefore we had technically a private tour. Mick was a really funny guy and we had good talks during our ride to the Casablanca valley. As we arrived, we started with vine yard Emiliana. Emiliana is characterized by producing only organic and biodynamic wines. It is one of the most famous wineries and therefore a must on the list. We started off again with a vineyard tour first and the tasting got served in their building where you had a great view over the vineyards. We got a cheese platter which was exactly aligned to the selected wines. We got a taste of their wine line Coyam, Adobe and Novas. As we were officially on a sparkling wine tour, Alisha & I also got their sparkling wine, the Organicbrut N.V. to test. It was delicious and everything was well explained. Food & wine, best combination that exists ????
Our next stop at the Vinamar vineyard was just next door. As we enter from the main street, we see a white building surrounded by a huge garden and vineyards. Itis a famous place for sparkling wines. We tried three different brutes, a rose, brut and extra brut. In addition, Vinamar was our lunch stop. We were the only one at the vineyard at the beginning. So, we had the whole terrace on the first-floor restaurant just for us. What a view, great food with a glass of wine. We really enjoyed it, Mick had a good hand with the picks and the timing.
After our great lunch at Vinamar, we were heading a bit more north to the vineyard Casas de Bosque. As we arrived, it was quite busy. Nevertheless, Mick took us along the vineyard and stopped in the middle of the vineyard and set up a picnic. Our third wine tasting of the day. We tried the Brut Nature Metodo in combination with a few snacks prepared by Mick.
The day wasn’t over yet, Mick had another surprise for us. This time it was a wine boutique called Bodegas Re. Bodegas Re is a small family vineyard, it characterised by its innovative uniqueness. It follows the concept on reinvention, revolutionising the way they make wines and rebirth of ancient techniques and respect for traditions and nature. Our last tasting was a speciality of their creation, a Re Noir Blanc de Noir Nature. The murky wine was served with a food platter and a special aged cheese. Again, a perfect combination which complemented each other.
After four vineyards, tasting more than 15 wines and I would say with a slight buzz, we were heading back to Santiago. It was an awesome tour with an even greater tour guide Mick. We can highly recommend him if you ever plan to go on a vine tour when you are in Santiago de Chile.
Time for a decision
After an awesome time in Chile with a lot of wine and getting to know a lot of new people, it was time for the next step.
Not mentioned so far is that we both started actively looking for jobs as our return to Switzerland came closer. Now, something happened that we both thought will not happen that fast and brought us into an uncomfortable situation as we had to come up with adecision.
More about that on our next blog.
Cheers,
Ueli
Gallery Santiago de Chile & Region
