Santiago de Chile

  Santiago de Chile, Chile
Monday, May 7, 2007

Santiago de Chile.... is the capital of this REALLY long skinny whinny of a country.

We´d had enough of buses and jeeps to keep us going for a while and the thought of a 24 hour bus journey from San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago just didn´t take our fancy at all. Therefore we did as all well travelled, clever, backpackers do... we jumped on an aeroplane contraption!! Instead of a 24 hour plus bus journey, we touched down in Santiago after an 3 hour flight ... easy squeezy !!!

As Chile was working out so expensive for us we only stayed in Santiago for 2 days... so we didn´t get to see much of the city, suffice to say that the bits that we did see, showed the place to be fairly cool. Our actual reason for coming to Santiago was plain and simple.... to taste wine!

08 "Mike c´`mon..we´ll miss our free glass!"

The wine that we usually drink at home is Concha Y Toro, and guess what wine is made just outside Santiago de Chile... you guessed it clever clogs... Concha Y Toro! We made our way out to the Concha y Toro Vineyard (click here for the history of the place) by public transport, which was real easy (the Santiago underground system is a doddle and the stations are absolutely state of the art and spotlessly clean). We then arranged for oursleves a tour. We were lumped in with a bunch of posh arse beautiful American people, who were all dolled up for their "Chuck and Jennas Big Day Out in the Chilean Vineyard" home movie. So we felt quite at home!!!!!!! NOOOOTT!!

The tour was excellent! We were brought around the vineyard and were shown the process of winemaking. We also got to walk into the cellar of the devil. Now that might not mean much to ye in english but when translated into Spanish it means "Casillero del Diablo".... bet most of you Irish folks recognise that name from all the adverts they run on RTE !!! We then got to taste some of the produce... yeah ... the whole point of the tour! Luckily they saved the best for us and we got to taste (not buy!) the most expensive wine we´ve ever had, at an average cost of €90 a bottle... and by golly it was deeelishous!!!!!

Of course after tasting four more wines, we got what we call at home "The Lip"... the taste of "more". This meant only one thing... FOOD!!! Now, being in a Chilean vineyard you don´t have easy access to a Hill Billys Chicken Bucket or an Unlucky Fried Kitten (Kentucky Fried Chicken), so we went with the next best thing... the vineyards´ own restaurant and tapas! To put it simply.... YUUUUMMMMMYYYY!!!! There really was something special about eating Goats Cheese and Parma Ham in a stunning restaurant in the middle of Chile, South America... Class!!

18 "mmm...yes...the tones are remarkable..mmm!"

So... to the funny bit! We were not the lucky ones who were shuttled from their plush hotels in the city centre to the exclusive vineyard... nope, twas public transport back into town for us. As we exited the luxurious vineyard we spied a bus rattling towards us... but we needed to cross the road... quick....run, run! Sarah managed to get to the other side of the road unscathed. However, the clown that is her husband was hindered by a GIANT cat´s eye in the middle of the road ("Did you see the size of it Sarah?")....... he tripped, did a parachute roll, bounced back up in front of the bus... sprinted to the bus stop and casually stepped onto the bus!! The bus of course would have to be full of people wouldn´t it!! I wonder do people know who Indiana Jones is in Chile... because rolling around on the road in front of buses certainly puts Mike in the same category!! Though perhaps not, as it was on the road in front of a vineyard, which is a place that´s known where people consume alcohol! FLIPPIN EEEJIT!

That was the extent of our time in Santiago de Chile!

Nice town!