SOUTH AMERICA 2024 : CHILEAN WINE REGIONS

Sunday 11 February

Delays and chaos at the Alamo car hire counter but we were finally on our way.  Chile's Maipo wine region is on the southern outskirts of Santiago.

We popped into Concha y Toro, Chile's biggest and very commercial wine producer. Their Casillero del Diablo is the Chilean plonk we've had so much of in the UK and Singapore. 

Santa Rita is a bit like Boscendal; with garden picnics, a good restaurant and a posh hotel.

We were warned it would be very busy on a Sunday but it wasn't. Chile  has a 0.0% blood alcohol limit for drivers which is really annoying when you'd rather not pre-book wine tours. It's so easy to just turn up at a South African winery without reservations. 

We drove to Santa Cruz, the centre of the Colchagua wine region. Let's face it, it's no Franschoek! We slept in a wine barrel at Hotel Cava Colchagua; which was great fun. We enjoyed a bottle of Sav Blanc at the pool and then tasted a very good Carmenere with dinner. Carmenere is an old French grape; now Chile's signature red varietal. 

Monday 12 February

We visited two Colchagua wineries; Vui Manent and Montes, which was voted in the top 10 wineries to visit in the world. 

We started driving south on Route 5, the Panamerican Highway. Wine and fruit is grown along this route all the way to Chillan. 

We noticed lots of roadside restaurants as we drove, so we stopped for lunch. The place was very busy with local Chilean

 holiday makers.(The schools only go back from the summer break in late February.) We ordered in Spanish and ended up with huge portions of grilled chicken and pork ribs served with fries and rice!

We decided to overnight at Salto del Laja, a waterfall complex near Los Angeles. The area was overcrowded with day trippers. Hotel Salto del Laja is a rather down at heel resort but we have a perfect view of the falls from our room.

SOUTH AMERICA 2024 : SANTIAGO CHILE

Thursday 8 February

Quito to Santiago

A full day of travel from Ecuador to Chile; a long layover in Guanguil and a time change meant we arrived at Hotel Sommelier Boutique in Santiago at about 11pm.

Friday 9 February

Central Santiago feels a lot like downtown Johannesburg in the 70s/80s but more up to date.. like Joburg could be/should be today. I'm not sure how else to describe the familiar sense of the place we both had.

Santiago is not packed with tourist sites so we decided to take it easy and catch up on some travel admin that seems to pile up so quickly if you don't attend to it daily. 

In Plaza Los Almas we happened upon the funeral of ex president Sébastien Pinera. 

Santiago has a strange coffee culture - "Coffee with Legs." These are regular coffee bars but the serving girls are very skimpily dressed. Neil enjoyed it but on both occasions I was the only woman customer in the place!

We visited the Mercado Centrale with all the fish stalls and touristy restaurants but opted

to have lunch with the locals at a downtown snack bar. 

In the evening we strolled over to the Lastarria area; full of bars and restaurants and alternative street sellers who spread there homemade goods and second hand clothes out on the pavements.

We had excellent pisco cocktails and interesting food at Chipe Libre. We were entertained for hours by our barman. It's always a good idea to sit at the bar if you want to engage with others. 

The weather was so balmy, we just had to stop at Mulato for a glass of Chilean wine on the way back to the hotel. 

Saturday 10 February

A slow start again doing some research for the rest of our trip.  We are picking up a car tomorrow and roadtripping to Northern Patagonia with no reservations yet.. just the way we like it. 

More city wanderings, more "coffee with legs" and the signature hot dog of Chile - Completos Italianos - a hotdog smothered in mayo and avo!

Tonight we ubered over to Las Vacas Gordas ( The Fat Cows ) because Neil felt like steak. Very good!

And then a glass of bubbly at Liguria to end off the evening.

SOUTH AMERICA 2024 : GALAPAGOS PART 3

Tuesday 6 February

Our morning excursion was to South Plaza Island. Wonderful bird watching again as well as plenty of sightings of sea lions and iguanas.

There is currently a drought in the Galapagos and you can see how dry it is. Only two islands have a fresh water source and the locals have to rely on desalination for water. All drinking water is brought in from the mainland.

We have really enjoyed sitting on the upper deck on the boat. Today some frigate birds followed us for ages. 

After a special Ecuadorian lunch, we did more deep water snorkelling. The sea was a little colder but the visibility was great and the fish life so varied. In the afternoon we visited Santa Cruz Island with it's lovely beach.

Tonight the boat sailed across an expanse of open ocean to St.Cristobal Island. We rocked and rolled about for a few hours while in bed, feeling mildly seasick.

Wednesday 7 February

Once again we were unable to go ashore, this time on Lobos due to a bird flu outbreak on the island. Lots of boobies and frigates and plenty of sea lions to see from the zodiac.

To minimise the impact of tourists on the islands, the park authorities (the "government" as our guide Hernan calls them) grant each boat permissions and strict times for visits to islands and snorkelling spots. 

We spent a few hours in Puerto B. Moreno including lunch at a Japanese/Ecuadorian fusion restaurant before heading to the airport for the flight back to Quito. Tonight we overnight at an airport hotel before our flights to Chile.