South America 2010

Made it home, safe and sound!

We had a fabulous trip! Thanks for following along! Cheers

Last Day in Santiago

We are having a fabulous last day of our trip! The weather couldn’t be better as the smog was washed away by the overnight rain so we are enjoying the spectacular views of the mountains!

We went to the zoo which was actually quite good! They had a lot of unique animals and is one the side of a mountain so you get a workout in too! Our favs were the white tiger, the lions, the polar bear, and the many different kinds of monkeys.

We over budgetted a little so we are enjoying our last Chilean beers and empanadas!

Our ten hour flight to Toronto awaits and then it’s into Halifax! Looking forward to seeing family and friends.

Ciao south America!

Valparaiso/Vina de Mer

We went to the Pacific coast for a couple of days while in Chile. We took a bus to a port town called Valparaiso. It is a town built on the sides of the mountains and very colourful! We stayed at a great hostel and got a city outline from the owner which was sweet. We took the local rollercoaster, I mean bus, through the hills to see the city. Then we saw the coast, took a private boat trip to see the harbour and sea lions. The boat driver pulled right up to a bouy, where they were suntanning and harrased them into growling at us. the boat trip was really fun, we couldn’t take the large boat because we were literaly the only tourist in the city. we had the boat to ourselves. They are so big and adults are pretty darn ugly. Got a few good pictures. After that we rode on one of the many vaniculars (elevator that goes up on a slant) , and walked around the city. You really get a taste of the working class life in Valparaiso.

The next day we bused to the next town down the coast.. Vina de Mer. Such a drastic difference! It is high class, gorgeous beaches, and tons of shopping. We enjoyed walking the streets and tried some Chilean food. We walked back to valparaiso along the coast which was beautiful but we were so tired by the end of the walk.

Our last day we explored a little more and rode in one of the cities escalators. It was really cool; you enter, then walk under a mountain and ride up. This avoids having to walk up the mountain to your home. Beautiful view at the top and now we understand why there are so many of these throughout the city. Then we made it back to Santiago and chilled out since it was a little bit overcast.

Vina Concha y Toro - Wine Tasting

We decided to go on a wine tasting tour today as we are in Chile.  We took public transportation to save us about $100US and it wasn´t too long of a journey.  About an hour and a half outside of city center is the Concha y Toro winery.  It is the largest winery in Chile and one of the top ten wines in the world. The area was so gorgeous. We got a tour of the grounds, over 22 hectares of gardens, over 200 hectares of grapes, and then all the on-site facilities.  We learned a lot about making wine and why Chile is such a great place to harvest the grapes.

We learned the myth behind the castillo de diablo… known as the Devil´s Cellar.  The owner stored some of his best wine in his cellar to age.  He noticed that it kept going missing.  The town was very religious so he spread the rumour that the devil lived in the cellar and would go down at night and make scary sounds.  His plan worked, no wine was stolen and that is why the wine  is named castillo de diablo. 

Then we got to taste their second best wine while exploring the grounds. Afterwards, we paid a bit extra to do some exclusive tasting.  We basically got a one on one lesson about wine, the aromas, sensations, and taste.  We learned a lot and got to enjoy some great wine. We got a souvenir glass as well. Our first wine glasses and cheese tray :) Now we can have wine sampling nights once we are both done traveling haha!

Surprise, surprise, another great day! We are off to the coast tomorrow for a couple of days.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!