Santiago de Chile

View of Santiago from San Cristóbal Hill

Mendigo, bronce. Bellas artes

We spent our first three days in Santiago living in the Bella Vista district. Our hostel was just steps away from the San Cristóbal Hill. We explored the nearby hill, a few of the surrounding neighborhoods and of course made a stop at Bellas Artes. An early positive was adjusting to the new currency and forgetting about the filthy Argentine peso. The bills in Argentina had a similar feel to a well used kleenex.

Bike & Wine. Viña Cousiño Macul

We bid farewell to Bella Vista and crossed the chocolaty Mapocho River in search of new digs in the downtown. We were upgrading for the arrival of big brother Jeremy. Neither of us was a bit upset about ending our string of dorm stays and our apartment set-up turned out to be perfect for three.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Jeremy arrived without incident and a day later we were pedalling through the Cousiño Macul Vinyard, examining the vines and tasting the wine along the way. We had arrived via metro and taxi and bicicleta verde had our slick single speeds ready to go. 

After parking the bikes we headed down to the underground cellar for our second tasting. The picture shows only half of the impressive structure that was constructed around 1877. After completing the subterranean component of our tour we ascended the stone stairway back into daylight. Our final stop was back in the wine shop where we enjoyed the final tasting and the best of  what Cousiño Macul had to offer.

Menu

We were all eager to see some sights so we elected to take part in a city walking tour of Santiago. Our guide, Franco was phenomenal due to his sense of humor and his brutal honesty regarding the way of life in Santiago. We got a good look around at our starting point, Plaza de Armas and many of the important monuments and buildings that surround it. We stopped frequently and learned a little bit about the strange history and tough times during the recent and controversial dictatorship. After getting our fill of heavy Chilean history we made our way to Lastarria which is the main bohemian neighborhood and the cultural hub in Santiago.  

Living the destination!

Jeremy wanted to "live the destination" so after our lengthy tour we made our way to Gallindo in an effort to dismiss our hunger. We all selected a different typical dish to get a taste of what Chile had to offer. We agreed that Cindy had selected the most delicious but they were all worthy of eating. A mountainous portion of pastel de choclo or corn pie was the last to fall. Pisco sour and beer where the beverages of choice.