Back to the mainland and Santiago, Chile….we are here for a couple days before we are back on the road heading south again…Never thought I would ever be standing in the middle of Santiago, but here we are!!!….It’s amazing what a little time and a Visa card can get you!!

Santiago de Chile is the capital and economic centre of Chile. With its many museums, theaters, restaurants, bars and other entertainment and cultural opportunities, it is also the political and cultural center of the country. The metropolitan area has about seven million inhabitants. The climate is cold and rainy in the winter.  It only snows up in the Andes, which are an hour and a half from the city.   Temperatures at night fall to around 0ºC.  and it gets progressively hotter towards the summer.  Summers are fairly dry although you may experience some humidity at times.  The temperature can reach as high as 35ºC. It is springtime now so the temps are pretty moderate, highs about 22 and lows to 12 and mostly cloudy with some sunny periods, perfect for touring the city….enough with the weather report…we really only had a couple of days in the city, so we really got to it in the morning…10 am, meet by the big Chilean flag in the center of town for a walking tour of the city…10am rolls around, no guide…10:30, still no guide…luckily the brochure we had for the tour included a map of the actual tour, so off we went doing our own solo walking tour…FYI, we weren’t the only ones waiting for the tour so it wasn’t a mistake on our part…the tour guys just didn’t show!!!…we spent about 3hrs walking about the city visiting various prominent sites, the only thing missing was the commentary!! It actually was a great way to see the city at our own pace and there was usually some info explaining the different sites, so a guide really wasn’t needed, just a map…

When you go to Chile, as when you go to the Okanagan, one thing you must do is a winery tour!!! The next (and last) day we hopped on a bus one hour south of Santiago towards Concha Y Toro winery, the second largest producer of wine in the world (second to E&J Gallo). The Concha y Toro Vineyard was founded by Don Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro and his wife, Emiliana Subercaseaux, in 1883. To start the winery, he brought grape varieties from the Bordeaux region in France.The grapes that he brought were: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, and Carmenère. The vineyard was incorporated as a stock company in 1923 and shares were sold in the Santiago stock market. Concha y Toro began exporting wine in March 1933 to the port of Rotterdam, Holland. In 1950, the winery began to acquire more vineyards and also began the process of adapting its business to new markets and meeting a higher demand. We spent about 2hrs at the winery touring their facilities with several samples along along the (in my opinion, not enough samples!!) then back on the bus back to Santiago…..

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after sucking back a few samples (including a 1996 cab sav that was outstanding!!), we were back on the bus to Santiago…actually, to catch another bus, this time to leave the city and head south to Puerto Varas which is located 10 hrs (by bus) from Santiago located on the shores of one of South America’s largest lakes….10 hrs on a bus???? not exactly what I’m used to, but i’m willing to give it a shot…..