A Place Both Wonderful and Strange – Tash & Ricki's Career Break Travels

Forgive the lack of puns or cheesy personality in this blog post name, but a last minute change to the content has left me short of titular inspiration!

After all the excitement of the desert and Bolivian altiplano, it was time to get back to the city. Having only got a taster of Santiago during our first weekend in Chile, we were glad to have another opportunity to check the capital out again, this time for longer.

In order to learn more about Chile’s tumultuous political past, we visited the Museo de la Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights). With a large focus on the 1973 coup and ensuing dictatorship, it was a sobering account of human rights violations in the country. It was also saddening (although not surprising) to read that Britain’s conservative government in the 1970s elected not to take in political refugees despite the atrocities they faced in their home country.

A generally more uplifting museum was La Chascona, once home to Pablo Neruda. Neruda is Chile’s most famed writer, who won the Nobel prize for literature. The medal is still displayed in the house and it was cool to see one in person. You can’t take photos here, but we really enjoyed venturing around the home which is split across multiple levels and buildings.

The highlight was the living room where a tree had been allowed to grow up through the centre of the room, and once would have had views towards the Andes. A sprawling Santiago skyline now blocks this. To future proof picturesque views, Neruda should perhaps have taken his architect’s advice and had some windows oriented to the adjacent cerro San Cristobal.

While back in the area, we made our return to this park so that we could try out the cable car mentioned in my first Chilean blog post. As expected, it was a fun ride with great views and a surprising speed.

The week spent in Santiago also included quite an important date in the diary – my birthday! After a rather dull Monday birthday at work last year, it was very pleasing to have my 34th spent at leisure.

While trying to find a vineyard tour, I stumbled across one well-rated operator who runs a joint vineyard and Valparaíso day trip. We knew we wanted to visit Valparaíso one day, so it would be an excellent time saver to do both in one day, and not have to worry about spending my birthday panicking over local buses!

Gonzalo was a one man band and somewhat uniquely to other daytrips we’ve been on, he is quite relaxed about the schedule. He lets his guests choose how many wineries they want to go to, how much time to spend in Valparaíso, what sort of food to eat and I’m sure would have tried to accommodate any specific stop requests we had.

I’m not entirely sure though how that works when the guests have differing opinions on the above. Thankfully we were sharing the trip with a trio of Canadian friends with similar tastes to ourselves, who were starting to dry out from their time at Lollapalooza music festival. With majority power in the vehicle, I blame them for all decisions of the day. Frankly I’m surprised I remember enough to be able to write the blog!

Surely though you can get away with an 11am winery tour and tasting if it’s your birthday. We kicked things off at Veramonte, which has some of the most beautiful bottle labelling I’ve seen (click images to enlarge).

Our guide showed us around the facility where all stages were in operation, as well as the grounds, explaining the different organic methods used to grow and maintain the crops.

The guide was so knowledgeable that we were surprised when Gonzalo asked how he had been, explaining that it was only his first week. It did possibly explain some of the casual behaviours as we’d been shown around. I’ve done a few winery tours and don’t think I’ve ever been offered to taste the grapes off the vines or other crops growing. Any future reductions in yield will perhaps be directly traceable back to this newcomer’s first weeks on the job.

As we had our wine tasting, there was also some discussion of Chilean slang and something to do with the word “once”/”eleven”. Gonzalo’s eyebrows just about disappeared into his hairline, and both of them refused to elaborate. He was a great guide though and I do hope his character isn’t squeezed out of him to toe the company line – “there is a Spanish flag at the front of the property because a Spanish company bought the vineyard last year. Not because we like them”.

As for the tasting itself, this was as delicious as you’d expect. We were able to try four of the varieties produced at Veramonte, with some accompanying snacks. Maybe it was the relatively early hour of the day, or more likely the speed our group was moving at, but I could definitely feel it going to my head by the time we stood up. 

Appetites probably more than whetted, the consensus was we would like to visit one other winery before heading on to Valparaíso. So Gonzalo took us to Emiliana Organic Winery. He also provided the dangerous advice that tastings weren’t great value, and that it was far better to buy a whole bottle and split it amongst us. Our new Canadian friends interpreted this as a whole bottle each.

Emiliana was a really relaxed place, and they were happy to let us wander around glass in hand. This time our “tour” was self-guided, and comprised only the paddock outside, where we made some toothsome acquaintances. Wine and al pacas, what more could you want?

Somehow we got through all three bottles before it was time to move on. I felt quite flattered when Mac (or maybe it was Mark) commented they were glad they had ended up with us on their tour instead of some fuddy duddys (or words to that effect). I don’t think the feeling was mutual for our livers.

Valparaíso was a chance to slow down and get back on an even keel. Well, maybe not entirely even. This port side city is built into the hillside so there are plenty of climbs, as well as a staggering amount of street art.

Ricki and I were really curious to see what it was like, as at one point in time, our plan had actually been to stay in Valparaíso for a month. A lot of reports of petty crime and no-go zones/times for tourists put us off though, as we didn’t want to feel like we were living with a curfew.

It definitely felt a lot grittier than Santiago. Together with the grey and cooler weather the day had brought, we got a proper harbour-side feel. It also reminded me the tiniest bit of my hometown – if climate change and the Nu-Art festival continue to expand, perhaps Aberdeen will become the Valparaíso of Scotland!

After a seafood lunch, we headed up to the higher neighbourhoods to get a good view. Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t on foot – the Chileans love a funicular! Perhaps when we get back, we can campaign for Fife Council to install one up Townhill Road? It certainly makes things easier.

Much of the remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering back down the decorated streets. In a way, the dreary weather was perfect for letting the bright colours of the walls stand out.

It was also interesting to take in the different styles of buildings scattered around.

We did end the day as we started, by popping into the bar and letting Gonzalo order us a random assortment of cocktails. Happily mine ended up being my favourite type – spicy and refreshing – although I have no idea what it was. I hadn’t realised until Ricki told me when we got back, but as a birthday gift (or maybe out of guilt for leading us astray!), the Canadians had paid for drinks at the second winery and this bar. So guys, if you happen to somehow be reading, thank you!

All in all, it was a fun day which involved a lot of my favourite things and enjoyable company, and I felt truly grateful yet again for our travels. It also put to bed any FOMO about whether we should have stuck to our original plan of a month in Valparaíso. I’m sure we only scratched the surface of it, but we definitely felt like our single afternoon was sufficient.

And that pretty much rounded off our adventures in Chile. It’s a really fantastic country and we already hope to go back some day. There is much more we’d like to see, for example Patagonia and Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

But we were also excited to make tracks and see somewhere new. Time for a hop across the border to Argentina. Rather than fly straight to the capital of Buenos Aires, and based on some enthusiastic online suggestions, we chose instead to get a bus to Mendoza, situated just on the other side of the Andes from Santiago.

This of course provides for one of the more scenic bus journeys we’ve ever been on. We’d managed to get our tickets purchased early enough that we were able to get the sought-after top deck, front seats. Sadly the windows could have done with a clean, but we were still able to appreciate the amazing views.

The sun behind the glass did have the effect of turning our seats into a moving conservatory though, so combined with our 5am start, we dozed off a few more times than we had intended! Thankfully we were awake for one of the key moments of the journey, the traversal of the 27 uphill switchbacks towards the border (click to enlarge images). 

And even more thankfully, the border itself took 30/45 minutes to clear, including having documentation checked and baggage unloaded, scanned and reloaded. It also allowed for a few minutes where Ricki had to explain that we weren’t smuggling any dodgy goods across the border, the suspicious looking vacuum packs simply contained medical supplies. I’m sure this may not be the last time we are challenged on this front.

We had read that waits of up to 2 hours can be expected, and indeed the expedited process shaved about 1.5 hours off our total scheduled journey time. I’m quite glad we took the recommendation to book the first bus of the day, as that may have played into our favour. 

And so the landscape turned from steep mountains to flat, luscious vineyards. Despite my boozy birthday, we weren’t through with those, so there are more vineyards to report on next time!

Tash’s Treats

As well as above, I have some non-alcoholic beverages to report on too!

First up, one which also doubles as a snack as well as thirst quencher – Mote con huesillo. There are many vendors selling these at the Cerro San Cristobal and on the streets of Santiago. It’s syrupy peach juice with some dried peaches and fresh husked wheat berries.

And available on a more commercial scale, produced by Coca-Cola, is Inca Cola. It’s a fizzy yellow soft drink which isn’t a bad alternative if you are looking for Irn Bru in South America, just perhaps a little milder in taste.