After crying the blues in Argentina I arrived in Santiago Chile. I don’t quit know how to explain it but the vibe was different and my spirits were immediately lifted. The first full day there I met a woman on the elevator from Texas and we made plans for dinner. She had been living in Chile for a while and made me try the local favorite, a Pisco Sour. As it turns out, it taste very much like a whiskey sour, one of my go to drinks, after wine of course…so I was happy. We ended up staying out until 2:30 am…a ridiculous hour for me, but we had fun.
The next day I met my good friend Mandy at the airport and we began our cold, wet week in Chile. I cannot think of a better person to have been with, because irregardless of the awful weather we had for the whole week, there was no whining and we just carried on with our travels. She got me out of the funk I had experienced in Argentina so I am eternally grateful. We had an apartment in Santiago as our home base for the week and made for good traveling companions. We walked for miles in Santiago going to the Fine Art Museum, Flea Markets, the Pre Columbian Art Museum and just wandering around in the city.
Mandy, being the brilliant woman she is, always seemed to know where we were and totally mastered the metro and bus system…I, being directionally challenged and tired of planning, was more than willing to abuse her expertise. We left Santiago and headed to Valparaiso for 2 days. The bad weather followed us there and decided to intensify:( Garrett had suggested this beautiful small town on the coast because of all it’s cool murals. It did not disappoint…the murals in the city were fantastic! We meandered through the narrow streets and enjoyed all the art on display covering the buildings. We actually had a late night out and it was fun to watch Mandy conversing in Espanol…she gets quite animated:) The next morning we walked down to the coast line. It was cold, windy and raining. The waves were crashing on the sand, sending the spray 4 stories high. We took cover and sought warmth in a mall, only to find the dangerous waves being displayed on the tv screens. Our timing, as usual…perfect:(
Back in Santiago we saw some more sights and then went to the winery, Concha y Toro. It was really fun and nice to see a winery in which we both had drank the wine before…mainly, Casillero del Diablo:) The tour included a trip to their wine cellar where they locked us in and put on a halloween style production…fun and hokey:)
I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with Mandy…thanks for meeting me chica! We went when we needed to but also knew when to chill. Not a pun on the weather or the country:) A few comments on Chile:
1) The people are awesome and good looking:)
2) The weather totally sucked and both Mandy and I agreed it would be nice to one day return in their summer.
3) The Chilean flag looks very similar to the Texas flag with only a slight variation…Chile had theirs 19 years sooner…sorry Texas…this time you lose:)
4) The art murals are amazing!
From Chile…Even cold and rain can’t dampen a great country!