Chile (& Argentina) - Day 6

Today we drove to Argentina and back (that's not something you get to say every day, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity).  Today was our last full day in Chile, so we tried to pack in as much as we could.  We got going very early and drive northeast from Santiago.  Our destinations were the Cristo Redentor de los Andes statue and the Laguna Inca.  It took us over 3 hours of driving on winding mountain roads (paved and dirt) to reach the Cristo, which is at about 13,000 feet on the border between Chile and Argentina.  It is so far off the beaten path, we were able to move back and forth across the border without dealing with immigration.  (Although we did get some help from some very nice people with Chilean border patrol who made sure we didn't get stuck outside the border).  We were the only people up there and it was gorgeous.  Mount Aconcagua, the tallest mountain outside is Asia (approx. 23,000 feet) was right across from us.

After hiking around by the monument a bit  (not much - hiking at 13,000 feet gets very tiring very quickly.  And it was cold.) we headed back down the mountain. On our way we stopped at Laguna Inca, a beautiful mountain lake by a major ski resort called Portillo.  A bit further down the mountain we stopped at a little roadside stand for a nice lunch if empanadas.  We were both excited to try the street food here, and these did not disappoint.

We headed back to Santiago and caught the walking tour we missed on Monday.  We saw many of the big sites and heard more about Chilean history and culture.

When the tour was done we just walked back to our neighborhood by going through all of the parks that line the river. We were looking for a place to grab a bite to eat, but everything here closes for NYE.  We are staying right off of one of the city's biggest streets and everything (except for Starbucks) was closed.  Luckily the restaurant right across from our B&B was just opening for a special NYE menu (which meant more expensive and limited because all the markets were closed).  But it was still a really good meal.  We shared two dishes: salmon with a mixed seafood "salsa" on top & pureed potatoes and a steak with a pino (shredded beef, onion, and garlic) topping & roasted potatoes.

There are going to be fireworks tonight at 10 and midnight. We might make it to 10; we will definitely not be making it to 12.  Happy New Year!

Chile - Day 5

Our main event for today was cooking class. We met our guide/teacher/chef along with the rest of our "class" outside of Santiago's historic Mercado Central.  For the first part of the day, our guide took us through all of Santiago's different markets where we purchased the food we would use later in our cooking.  This included everything from beef, seafood, and chicken to the fruits and vegetables. 

We then went back to kitchen where we helped to prepare a 4-course meal of traditional chilean foods. We learned to make sopapillas with Chilean salsa, seafood and cheese empanadas, choclo (like a Chilean shepherd's pie, but with a corn puree crust on top), and a desert that had mini pies with manjate (like dulce de leche), meringue, and fresh fruit.  It was very fun and the food was fantastic.

After that we hiked to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, which is one of the bigger "hills" in the middle of Santiago. It was a great hike and had fantastic views of the city.

Chile - Day 4

Today was the most relaxing day of the trip.  We started with a tour of a vineyard and winery called Vina San Esteban about an hour north of Santiago.  We were the only people there for the tour in English, so we ended up getting a private tour which was very nice.

After that we traveled an hour to the coast to the city of Vina del Mar where we spent a relaxing afternoon enjoying the gorgeous beaches.

The final stop was in Concon, just up the coast from Vina del Mar. There we took in the sunset from on top of the town's massive sand dunes.

We ended our day with leftover empanadas from last night's dinner on our porch.

Chile - Day 3

We had another great day today.  We started our day by driving about 90 km southeast from Santiago to the oceanside town of Isla Negra.  The famous Nobel prize winning poet, statesman, and collector of random things Pablo Neruda had one of his three houses there. It was interesting to learn more about his life and Chilean history.  The house itself was also "interesting."  It reminded me of an understated House on the Rock, but with a much better location. 

From Isla Negra we took a scenic drive up the cost to the port city of Valparaiso.  Valparaiso is Chile's second largest city, but it is quite a bit smaller than Santiago.  But despite this, it feels more like you would expect a big city to feel. For its size, Santiago seems calm and laid back. It has wide streets and seems to be very clean and orderly. Valparaiso is not. It is hectic, crowded, and a little bit rougher around the edges.  This probably has to do with geography.  Valparaiso is built on a small sliver of land surrounding a bay (much of which was created by humans filing in the shallows) and the 46  surrounding hills.  To get up and down the hills you can either take stairs or one of the century+ old funiculars.

From there we drove back to Santiago for dinner. We ate at a place near our B&B where we split two "tablas" of traditional chilean food. One was called "tierra" (land) and the other was "mar" (sea).  It was another tasty meal.

Chile - Day 2

It was another fantastic day, but I'm exhausted and I hate typing on my phone so this will be short.

Today we took a really nice hike at the Monumento Natural El Morado.  The trail was just under 10 miles and followed a river up a canyon to the glacier where it begins.  It was a gorgeous hike, perfect weather, and for most of it we had the trail to ourselves.  The mountains are stunning to say the least.

After hiking we came back to Santiago and got cleaned up for dinner. Tonight we ate at Giaratotio, a restaurant on the 16th floor of a building in the downtown area that rotates 360 degrees while you eat.  The views were fantastic - it's incredible how big this city is and the mountains are stunning. The dinner itself was also really good.  No appetizers tonight, but we did both stick with seafood.  I had "truncha gaucha," which is trout stuffed with lobster meat, and a side of sautéed seasonal vegetables.  Mine was very good, but Amy's was amazing. She had grilled sea bass with capers and it might have been the best fish either of us have ever had.  Her meal also cane with a "crab cake" but only the crab part of that description was true.  It was actually just a bowl of crab meat baked with cheese with two crab "tweezers" (pinchers/claws - I shouldn't make fun of the very helpful English menus) on top.  Also very tasty.

Tomorrow it's off to the coast to tour one of Pablo Neruda's houses and then on to Valparaiso for more sightseeing. And I predict seafood will be happening as well.

Chile - Day 1

We arrived in Santiago at 12:30 pm local time after flying all night from Toronto. Amy gave me the window so I was able to see the lights of the eastern seaboard of the U.S., Nassau, and eastern Cuba as we headed south - pretty incredible views.  And although it was quite cloudy as the sun rose, I was able to catch my first glimpse of the Andes as we flew over Peru.  Coming into Santiago, the clouds blocked most of the view.  However, we saw glimpses of the mountains in the distance and the sand dunes along the coast at Concon (which we will explore on Thursday).

The flight ended up landing almost 30 minutes late and it took forever to get our bags. Immigration and customs were a breeze, but, as seems to be the case every time we travel, getting our rental car took forever.  Once we finally got it, we drove into town to find our bed & breakfast (more of a glorified hostel).  Driving in a new place is always interesting, but so far driving here doesn't seem too terrible.

Because of the late arrival of our flight and our time spent in one of the upper rings if hell - I mean renting a car - we missed the 3:00 pm walking tour of Santiago we had hoped to do.  So instead we got ourselves situated, got cleaned up, and headed out to explore the area on our own. We took a nice long walk through a number of parks (including a really neat sculpture park we week need to explore some more) along the Mapocho River, which cuts through the middle of town.  

We showed up for our 8:00 pm dinner reservations at an amazing restaurant called "Aqui Esta Coco" and were one of only two couples there.  Apparently dinner here starts a bit later than in the States (the other couple also ended up being Americans).  We split a ridiculous seafood appetizer that had mussels, lobster claws, scallops, shrimp, octopus, smoked salmon, and the most amazing whitefish ceviche.  For our dinners, Amy had "Land and Sea," which had a crawfish on top of a perfectly cooked piece of salmon on top of the biggest asparagus I've ever seen, all covered in a tasty jus. She also had her first glass of Chilean wine which, based on the giggling after dinner, was very tasty as well. For my meal, l had Conger eel sautéed with onions and tomatoes on top of fries.  It was also really good. 

Now, it's an early night to bed so we can rest up and get ready for our first hike tomorrow.