Smoggy Santiago
We spent longer than expected in smoggy Santiago. It´s true that the smog hardly ever lifts but it when it does it´s a breathtaking surprise to see the Andean range so close to the city. There were a couple of evenings where Big Dave and I would rush back to our hotel to have a bottle of vino on the top floor to catch sunset and watch the mountains turn red and orange.
Speaking of vino, we´ve happily quaffed some fantastic stuff worthy of Stephen Knight´s (our wine course instructor in oz) commentary. The carmenere variety is common only to Chile and is a top drop. On our second last day we rushed off to visit Viña Santa Rita on the outskirts of Santiago (Viña Concha y Toro was closed that day which was a bugger as I love their Casillero de Diablo carmenere and cab sav). The manager Marcelo great and squeezed us in on short notice when I called him in the morning although it was quite an adventure to get there on time - a train ride to a tiny village that smelled of fermentation called Buin and then hitch hiked to the vineyard as we couldn´t find any colectivos (taxis which act like buses) going that way.
After our lunch and tour of the vineyard, Marcelo drove us to the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Harvest Party) held by the vineyards in the Maipu Valley which was a lucky chance event for us. We walked around the stalls tasting different wines from the region, munching on antichiquos (different meats pierced through a very long stick with a piece of bread on the end) and empanadas, and slowly became intoxicated. It´s funny that when you´re intoxicated everything seems like a good idea so we ended up buying several bottles of wine, including Santa Rita´s top drop Triple C and the bottle that Marcelo slipped us under the table, not thinking that we were leaving for Argentina the next day and that we had to carry them in our rucksacks. What was also amusing was how we somehow became champion castellon speakers and had great conversations with a sweet local couple. Well, I think we did. We laughed a lot so it must´ve been good as they walked us to the train station and helped us buy our train tickets when the fiesta was over.
A note:
It was quite moving to be inside the main Cathedral in Santiago by chance when the bells started to ring announcing that Pope JP II had passed away.
Another note:
What´s with the all male standup coffee houses with waitresses in slinky outfits. Apparently it´s an institution visited by men all around South America and apparently only provides coffee service, nothing else.
Speaking of vino, we´ve happily quaffed some fantastic stuff worthy of Stephen Knight´s (our wine course instructor in oz) commentary. The carmenere variety is common only to Chile and is a top drop. On our second last day we rushed off to visit Viña Santa Rita on the outskirts of Santiago (Viña Concha y Toro was closed that day which was a bugger as I love their Casillero de Diablo carmenere and cab sav). The manager Marcelo great and squeezed us in on short notice when I called him in the morning although it was quite an adventure to get there on time - a train ride to a tiny village that smelled of fermentation called Buin and then hitch hiked to the vineyard as we couldn´t find any colectivos (taxis which act like buses) going that way.
After our lunch and tour of the vineyard, Marcelo drove us to the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Harvest Party) held by the vineyards in the Maipu Valley which was a lucky chance event for us. We walked around the stalls tasting different wines from the region, munching on antichiquos (different meats pierced through a very long stick with a piece of bread on the end) and empanadas, and slowly became intoxicated. It´s funny that when you´re intoxicated everything seems like a good idea so we ended up buying several bottles of wine, including Santa Rita´s top drop Triple C and the bottle that Marcelo slipped us under the table, not thinking that we were leaving for Argentina the next day and that we had to carry them in our rucksacks. What was also amusing was how we somehow became champion castellon speakers and had great conversations with a sweet local couple. Well, I think we did. We laughed a lot so it must´ve been good as they walked us to the train station and helped us buy our train tickets when the fiesta was over.
A note:
It was quite moving to be inside the main Cathedral in Santiago by chance when the bells started to ring announcing that Pope JP II had passed away.
Another note:
What´s with the all male standup coffee houses with waitresses in slinky outfits. Apparently it´s an institution visited by men all around South America and apparently only provides coffee service, nothing else.
posted by W at 1:28 pm
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