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| Santiago Base |
Mon 28/04/03 |
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Checked out of Hostal Sucre and walked to the Inca Pallay store where I managed to get a copy of my purchase receipt for the stolen carpet and from there hopped on a minibus to the airport. Had to pay the horrendous international departure fee of US$25 before being able to board the Lan Chile flight to Arica - Iquique and Santiago, reaching the latter at around 5pm local time (same as Bolivia).
After checking into the Hostel Bellavista, which to my surprise did have the single room available, went out and bought some beers before settling in with the hostal crowd for a night in.
| A Rather Boring Day |
Tue 29/04/03 |
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Spent most of the day sorting out my finances, updating my site and putting some more content on Bolivia online before wandering around Bellavista and getting some of my clothes washed. (The laundry did a horrendous job and non of the stuff actually seemed clean)
In the evening met up with Daniel and his wife Pamela at a in restaurant called Mucca, in Providencia which had previously been recommended to me by Kevin, a freelance reporter writing for FHM on restaurants and bars all over the place. La Mucca turned out to be quite stylish and very classy, leaving me with an underdressed feel, owing to my limited selection of garments in the travel wardrobe - never mind. Had some good food and wine before heading home.
| Errands and Wine |
Wed 30/04/03 |
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After some prior internet research went out and bought a new mini mouse at the Casa Royal store on Av. O'Higgings 825, as the one from Kensington had been playing up a little bit lately. Then paid the largest bookstore a visit to get a guide on Chilean wine and the Lonely Planet for Mexico, the latter turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so only got the very informative wine guide 2003.
Met up with Daniel in the evening who showed me the "El Mundo del Vino" boutique in Las Condes (Av. Isidora Goyenechea 2931 - Ph: 02 244 8888 - Las Condes / Santiago), an awe inspiring wine store with an incredible selection of Chilean and international wines (they even had De Trafford my favourite from South Africa!). Still startled and in awe I then proceeded to the local gym where I worked out with Daniel and Pamela, followed by a nice meal at their apartment.
By the time I caught a taxi back to Bellavista I was pretty tired and drunk but the massive crowds out in the streets of Bellavista on this pre-holiday night inspired me to check out some more nightlife and after some wandering around I ended up going to "El Cerro" a techno club with a rare live theatre performance.
| Cajon de Maipu |
Thu 1/05/03 |
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After the long night out I tried to sleep in but only managed to get a couple of hours before rolling out of bed to meet Daniel for a day trip to the Cajon de Maipu (the alternative day trip to some vineyards fell through as none of them were open on May 1st).
First visited an area where Daniel had grown up and then stopped by a school friend of Pamela's in the Maipu valley, where we all were very warmly received. From there Daniel and I drove up to a ski area called Lagunillal, briefly marveling at restaurant called Casa Bosque which style reminded me slightly of a Gaudi building, on the way back.
Spent the evening cooking for Daniel his wife and a couple of his friends at my request, as I had missed being able to do some cooking.
| Stuff Around Town |
Wed 30/04/03 |
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Started the day by picking up my Mexico guidebook in town, before heading back to Bellavista for lunch at the Mesón Nuridiano
Restaurant. Decided to go for an after dinner walk up the San Cristobal Mountain, which I recognised from my previous visit to Santiago, once at the top.
Took the ferrocaril train back down and made my way out towards Las Condes to the Mundo del Vino boutique to find out about wine courses, sadly none of which coincided with my next stay in Santiago at the end of May 03.
After being fairly unsuccessful in obtaining information about airpasses in Brazil, I headed back to the hostal, picked up my backpack and made my way to the Airport for the evening flight to Mexico City on the surprisingly good Aero Mexico airline.
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Mucca
Calle Italia 830 - Providencia / Santiago
Nicely styled bar area
good food, hip crowd
Good selection of wines,
intl. Italian-Chilean cuisine. |
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Cerro
Chucre Manzu, Galpon 6 - Bellavista
Large warehouse disco
Techno and Trance music
Live performances
somewhat pricey. |
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El Mesón Nerudiano
Dominicana 35, Bellavista - Ph:(02)7371542
Comfortable & stylish interior,
good service yet somewhat pricey
Chilean / international food. |
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Bellavista Hostel
0184 Dardignac, Bellavista - Ph:(02)7328737
The place to stay in Santiago
Excellent location, great breakfast,
friendly staff and owner, safe,
rooftop terrace, place to feel at home. |
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| Bar / Restaurant Mucca |
Opera |
Monumento Carrabinieros de Chile |
Arbol en Parque General Bustamente |
Universidad de Chile |
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| Mundano Restaurant |
Estaction de Ski Lagunillal |
Casa Bosque |
Es Meson Nerudiano |
Virgen San Cristobal |
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| Vista del Cerro San Cristobal |
El Mundo del Vino |
Atardecer Las Condes |
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| More Santiago |
Wed - Tue 21-27/05/03 |
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Arrived in the evening from Mexico City and went straight to my second home here, Hostel Bellavista, where I practically spent the following week doing hardly anything apart from hanging around and working on the internet. This quite unexciting time is best summarised as "just living" in Santiago.
During the first night there it rained and after clearing during the course of the morning revealing through the unpolluted air a magnificiently snow covered cordillera as a backdrop to Santiago - truly quite beautiful.
Met up with Daniel on Thursday night to see the Matrix - Reloaded, which I very much enjoyed and decided to go and see it another time at a later stage as some of the dialogues were slightly hard to follow. (good business model if everyone thinks like this) Also bought some nice bottles of wine in my favourite "El Mundo del Vino" store which I shipped home together with some clothes and stuff that I thought unnecessary during my travels in Brazil.
On my last day in Chile visited the Almaviva wineyard on the outskirts of Santiago (take bus No. 100 or 39 from the centre), which is a jointventure of Mouton Rothschild and Concha y Torro, producing only two types of wine, one ultra-premium (Almaviva - cabernet sauvignon / cabernet franc / carmenere) and one premium wine (to be released this year for the first time). On my last night went out for some wine with Daniel, Pamela and Gonzalo (the sympathetic hostel owner) and felt quite sad and melancholic about leaving, which I don't think I have felt this strongly about any other city I had stayed in during my travels...
In short - I am fascinated by Santiago and like Chile as a country. It is one of those rare places outside of Europe where I would want to live and work for a while. It's location with the mountains and coast both within a short distance coupled with the good weather in the summer, the excellent nightlife, clean and safe city centre with lots of architecturally interesting buildings and historic sights and of course the fantastic and plentiful wine all make for an exceptional set of features not often found in one place. If only the Chileans would speak a version of Castellano which I could understand! The country in general with its incredibly varied climate and natural attractions has pretty much everything that you could ask for: Hyper-dry dessert landscape, volcanoes and salt lakes in the North to rugged snow capped granite massifs in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the very South, with a piece of Antarctica and some tiny islands in the Pacific thrown in as extras treats.
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| Almaviva - Building |
Almaviva - Wineyard |
Almaviva - Building |
Almaviva - Interior |
Almaviva - Barrel Store |
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| Almaviva - Barrel Store |
Almaviva - Bottling Plant |
Almaviva - Buling in front of Cordillera |
Plaza de Armas - Noche |
Bye bye Santiago - Airport |
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