Chile

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Well it is now the start of May and I´m in Rio .. and I´m getting so behind on writing this damn blog.

I spent 8 days in Santiago before Mum & Dad arrived. I went to school for the week and also went out to visit Vina Ventisquero vineyards a couple of hours out of Santiago. I used to sell the Ventisquero wines when i was in HK. They sent a driver to collect me .. then the chief winemaker took me round the vineyards, and then we sat and tried about 10 of their wines before lunch. I had a really nice day out there. At the weekend I visited Isla De Maipo where they were having their vendimia (harvest celebration) .. and tried a few wines and then went for a tour round De Martino vineyards.

Mum & Dad arrived in Santiago on 10th April. We spent a couple of nights in santiago, then down to visit some more vineyards, then to Vina del Mar .. which is on the coast about 1 1/2 hours from Santiago. We had a nice day at Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar before heading back to Santiago for another night.

Next stop was Puerto Varas for a couple of nights. We flew down to Puerto Montt from Santiago and then went to Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas is set on a beautiful lake .. with two volcanoes towering over them. Volcano Osorno looks like Mount Fuji in Japna .. it´s perfectly shaped with a snow capped peak. One day we went up the volcano and you get incredible views ove the surrounding countryside. After 2 nights in Puerto Varas we took the 3 lake crossing (3 boats and a couple of buses) across to Bariloche in Argentina.

Seemed to spend a lot of time eating and drinking with Mum & dad .. so my month of healthiness in Ecuador flew well and truely out of the window! I enjoyed Chile .. but was really, really looking forward to Argentina!

3rd April -Santiago ....

I arrived in Chile this morning after an overnight flight from Quito. I´d hardly slept and was looking forward to getting into bed at my hostel .. except when I got to my hostel there was noone up to let me in!! It was 6 in the morning. I found another hotel nearby and crashed out.

This afternoon I moved into the hostel that I had booked and then went for a wander round Santiago. In fact I´m absolutely knackered after walking round for abour 3 or 4 hours. Santiago seems OK. Its nothing special as a city. It´s got some nice colonial buildings and lots of grim modern buildings too. It´s got some nice parks and plenty of decent restaurants. I went to a nice restaurant late this afternoon for a late lunch/early dinner. As I hadn´t been drinking for a month .. after 1 beer and 1 glass of wine I felt quite merry!! My spanish definitely improved after the wine!! Tomorrow I start at a language school here for a week.

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Photos

Hairdo of the holiday
Not windy then....

With the family
On our way to Argentina

Vineyards
yawn .. nice wines though!!!

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