Backpacking South America

Packed with world-ranking wineries, the Colchagua Valley of Chile is its most famous wine region. On our recent stop in Santa Cruz, Chile, we spent a couple days enjoying Colchagua, including a day-long tour featuring three of its top wineries. Crisscrossing the valley, we were able to get a sampling of why the Colchagua Valley is so highly regarded internationally.

While not quite as extravagant as our day in Mendoza, we did take in our fair share of beautiful wineries, delicious wines and even made some new friends in the process. Working with the Ruta del Vino office on the main plaza in Santa Cruz (recommended), we were able to arrange three tours and a lunch.

In Chile, it seems that all wineries require a reservation at least 1, but sometimes 2 days in advance – which requires the foresight we often don’t have.  The morning after arranging our visits, our driver, Patricio, showed up at our hostal shortly after 10am and we were off to our first stop, Montgras.

Montgras

Now almost 20 years old, Montgras was the perfect start for our day.  We met our guide and first made our way into the vineyard to learn the differences between the leaves, grapes and bunch structure of the grape varieties.

We had a great stay in Santiago. There are so many things to see and do. As we previously noted, we had a great time visiting with our new friend Stephen and wandering Parque Metropolitano and the Botanical Gardens, and sharing a delicious meal with him two days later.

After our day with Stephen, we spent the next day walking through the old city.  We started by hiking to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia for panoramic views of the city and to explore the hilltop fortress.

We then made our way to the Mapoche train station, which is now a cultural center. Walking around the empty, immense train station was a peculiar feeling – somewhere between a museum and a feeling like you’re the last person on earth.

From there, we wandered to the central market (mostly fish and restaurants) where we had a positively disappointing, overpriced ceviche. Even though everybody says “You don’t want to miss this place”; it’s possible to pass through just for the experience of what they have, but I would definitely recommend passing over the restaurant selection.

Our date with our new friend, Stephen, finally arrived. After spending the afternoon bustling around town trying to find good deals on wine, we settled on 2 Sauvignon Blancs, 1 Carmenere, and a dessert wine. We checked into our hostel (Andes Hostel, comfortable hostel, disorganized staff) to find Stephen already in the midst of preparing a fume for the entire filet of fish he bought at the market that day.

Aside from being a three-star chef, who by the assistance of Julia Child found himself in culinary school and cooking in top restaurants and for famous people around the world, Boy George included, eventually he took the long rode to Croatia and started a catering company, but is once again on the road seeking out his next culinary adventure.  However, this is only half the story.

Carra and I prepped the rooftop patio for cocktail hour and our first two courses and while waiting for our guest Enrique to arrive, we polished off a bottle of white wine used for cooking…can’t let a good thing go to waste.

Our first course was a super fresh Waldorf Salad with substituted fresh figs for raisins. Surprisingly, for the first course, we moved to the Reserva Carmenere, which paired perfectly well with the figs.

Unexpected things happen all the time.  Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not so good.  Our first full day in Santiago, Chile wasn’t going exactly as planned, but it wasn’t way off course.  We wanted to visit the city’s largest and probably most interesting park, Parque Metropolitano.

We tried the day before, but the Funicular (a cable car) to take us to the top of Cerro San Cristobal inside the park, was closed.  So, we tried the next day; while waiting for the Funicular, which was supposed to start service at 10am but was still not open at 11am when we arrived, we sat and chatted waiting to catch a ride to the top.

When it finally opened and started taking passengers, we were collecting our things, when a gentleman started talking to us.  We weren’t sure about his objective, but we went along.  After all, everybody has a story to tell.

The short exchange quickly moved to an actual conversation.  We’re in no rush, let’s hear this guy’s story.  Stephen is a three-star chef who runs a catering business in Croatia, where he calls home right now.

We had to get out of Argentina, but only so we could return with a renewed 90 day tourist visa. Now, we haven’t been here for 90 days yet, but the only other option would be to cross into Bolivia in a few weeks, which would cost us $138 each – the same fee levied against Bolivians entering the US.

Mendoza is so close to Chile, so we decided to take a quick, weekend trip to Valparaiso. Known for its steep hills, graffiti and brightly painted houses, we had a wonderful time exploring many nooks and alleyways that are everywhere in the city.

Valparaiso

We spent one full day wandering the hills of Valparaiso, visiting the eccentric house of Chile’s beloved poet Pablo Neruda, and taking every acsensor (cable cars that ascend some of the steepest hills) we could find.

Check out the Flickr set

Vina del Mar

Our second day was spent in the neighboring city, Vina del Mar. Much newer, flatter and cleaner than Valpo, what it lacked in uniqueness it made up for in comfort. Our main destinations in Vina del Mar were Los Dunas (the dunes) and a recommended empanada stand.