Santiago de Chile

Chile » Santiago de Chile

After an awesome ending in Mendoza, we were ready to enter the next country - CHILE!

People recommended us to take the bus to Santiago during the day, since the views are unbelievable... So we crossed the Andes from Argentina to Chile and it was a great ride! Beautiful!

We met Matias and Michelle - our hosts in Santiago - and went out to try the Chilean beers, and a local 'snack', namely french fries with cheese, beef, sausage, and egg. Interesting... and pretty good to beer actually! :)

We spent two whole days in Santiago, walking for hours... to see as much as possible and just enjoy the city. It is a huge city, with a lot of people, but it doesn't have the 'bigcity - pressure'. Except when they protest :) , which apparently is pretty usual in Santiago. We actually experienced one, first from the window (and considered to stay at home:) ), and later from a long distance (from the viewpoint), and in the end, where it got a bit messy, and we had to run away form the police and the tear gas they were trowing - now that is a "local experience", in the middle of everything. But we survived, and our eyes did too, so we ran through it, and hided in the local fish market, and later in the fruit market. Perfect lunch and a small break in the walking/running :)

With the help of the international signs and pointing fingers, we managed to get a local lunch. We were determined to try something that Michelle recommended the day before, which we dont remember the name of, but it was some beef and chicken, together with onion and a mass of corn, baked in the oven (see picture no. 56). Good and a really cool experience! We walked for another couple of hours, to the squares, to Santa Lucia hill, and on the main walking streets. We managed to get a picture of the city life of Santiago :)

We also managed to get to one of the wineries outside the city. We picked the most famous one (and very touristic), because we both were drinking that wine back home - Casillero del Diablo. Im sure most of you guys know it as well ! What we did on this winery which was different from others was that we tried the actual grapes! They are huuuuge, and they have all kinds of wine... and we had the luck to go back after the original tour, with another guide, and get even more samples and information! We also went down to the famous wine cellar in the basement (Casillero del Diablo - the devils cellar). An interesing thing nowadays is that they keep the finest wine in there, because of the earth quakes - it is the only place where the wine is safe!

As and ending of our stay in Santiago, we shared a bottle of wine with M&Ms (Michelle and Matias)!! THANK YOU GUYS for everything! See you again in Europe!!! :) :)