Central Chile and Almost Argentina

A worldly Columbian we met in Peru said this of Chile: “It is the best of the South American countries, but my least favorite for travel. There are no – how do you say? – surprises. The showers, they are hot. The buses, they are on time. The toilets, they are working.”

I was relieved to hear this as my mother was coming to visit us in Santiago and bathroom-related surprises are some of her least favorite. And honestly, after a few months enduring some of the “surprises” Peru, Bolivia and the more remote regions of Chile had to offer, this didn’t sound so bad to us either.

Still, after spending some time in Santiago, we began to understand what he meant. You certainly don’t need poor infrastructure to have an interesting travel experience, but with modernity can come cultural changes that make a place feel less novel. To us, Santiago had the pace, prices and some of the perks of a big city, but was missing something you look for in an international experience. We enjoyed it, and could even imagine ourselves living there, lounging in the parks, jogging up Cerro San Cristobol, grabbing daily empanadas, but for a short visit there wasn’t a lot of wow factor.

Luckily we had lots of visitors to the area to help spice things up, starting with my mom, brother Ben and his girlfriend Laney. The Santiago temps were in the 90s so we immediately developed a brilliant schedule of exploring in the morning and enjoying “happy hours” with drinks and snacks during the warmest part of the afternoon.

Kristy making Pisco Sours Peruvian-style.

Enjoying a few bottles in wine country.

The best hh snacks came from the Mercado Central, a market with an amazing selection and tiny, inexpensive typical-Chileno restaurants which we were sad to only discover the last day of the fam visit.

Pastel de Choclo, a baked corn dish with seafood.

We also took a day trip out of the city to the Maipo Valley for a hike in the mountains. Here Mom discovered that one of her trip themes would be “pushing past what you think you’re capable of” as her cruel children took her on 6 mile treks and out for drinks well past her bedtime. Fortunately her new phone tracked her steps so the nightly summary of her accomplishments kept her motivated (if only it tracked wine and Pisco consumption!)

From Santiago we drove to the city of Santa Cruz in the Colchagua Valley, one of Chile’s most important wine regions, famous for its Carménère.  Carménère was wiped out in France in the 19th century but was rediscovered in Chile in the 1990s; it´s virtually the only place in the world that produces large amounts of that variety. Kristy and I have never gotten more out of a wine tasting than a buzz and purple teeth, but Ben and Laney are very knowledgeable about wine so having them with us as we visited the area was really fun (and set us up for success as we continued through the other wine regions in Chile and later in Argentina).

We also got these sweet traditional Chilean cowboy hats, so Colchagua was a win.

From Santa Cruz we drove to Viña del Mar, a coastal town a couple hours west of Santiago. We didn’t do much in Viña besides sleep, but we spent an amazing day in Valparaiso, it’s hilly neighbor to the south. Huge, bright murals adorn just about every wall, building and open surface in Valpo, even on private residences, and they make it a fascinating and beautiful place to wander. Old funiculars provide lifts to the top of a few of the hills and riding one of those was also a cool experience.

Almost as plentiful as the murals (to Kristy and Laney’s delight) were the neighborhood cats. Keep an eye out for “Cats of Valparaiso”, Laney’s coffee table photo book, coming soon.

We were sad to say goodbye to the fam (and the luxury of staying in mom-acceptable accomodations) shortly after Valpo, but we didn’t have long to feel lonely because our friends Maggie, Bre and Melissa showed up the next day. We got to do Santiago and Valpo again with them which was actually pretty nice as we had a better idea of the highlights (por ejemplo, we got snacks at Mercado Central the very first day).

From Valpo our plan was to head across the eastern border into Mendoza for some more wine tasting. We drove slowly up the windy pass through the Andes and paused at the Chilean border to take this triumphant exit photo.

At the border they were selling “completos”, these awful hotdogs with copious amounts of mayo or guacamole that are a Chilean specialty.

“Last chance, Marea!” our friends joked. Once in a moment of very hungry weakness I told my brother that “I could really murder a completo right now” and I had been encouraged to prove it ever since.

I abstained and we drove on to Parque Provincial Aconcagua where we did some hiking and checked out the highest mountain in the western hemisphere.

The day was going so well! We actually left Valpo on time, the drive was traffic-free, the hike was beautiful; naturally something had to go terribly wrong.

After sitting in an hour of border traffic we finally got our passports stamped and were about to drive to freedom when we were asked for our car documentation. We handed over all the rental papers but the customs agent kept asking for a particular document that we didn’t have.

“YOU, can come in, but your car can’t,” he said, as if that would help us take it less personally. We were told that maybe we could get the rental company to fax said document back at the Chilean border but we had better hustle since it closed in less than an hour. Bre got on the phone with the rental company as we sped back toward Chile, but even with our most pathetic pleading we were told it would take a week to get approval to go into Argentina.

Officially rejected, we had to drive all the way back down the pass to the closest Chilean town, Los Andes. Around 10 PM, completely dejected, we found what appeared to be the only open restaurant in town and ate – you guessed it – completos.

Luckily we were traveling with a positive, easygoing bunch, so after weighing our options we decided Mendoza wasn’t in the cards and we headed to the Maipo Valley instead. We rented a sweet cabana on the river and got in some more wine tasting, hiking and a horseback ride.

Hiking at Embalse El Yeso.

Horseback riding in Cascada de Animas.

Strange, abandoned military (?) facilities,

Embalse El Yeso

Enjoying the day’s spoils at the river by the cabin.

So basically, TAKE THAT Argentina.

Already missing both our posses!