I’m sitting in the departure lounge with half-a-dozen people from our tour – an unusual experience for me as I usually travel on my own. Road Scholar booked a bunch of us on the same flight to Dallas (overnight), whence we go our separate ways. The airport is completely modern with shops selling at extraordinarily high prices. A bar of chocolate I bought in the grocery store for 790 pesos here costs 5900 pesos ($12)! A bottle of water costs 1800 pesos ($3.50) or $4 in US currency. This morning we left the hotel at 9:30, eventually to arrive home in Calgary at 1:45 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, about 40 hours. I’m happy that our last day has had activities and was not just a travel day. We drove out of the main part of Santiago, seeing ... read more

5:10 p.m. We are on the bus finishing our trip today after a splendid lunch at Matetic Vineyards that lasted until almost 4:30! We had a late start this morning (sleep-in, hooray!), and drove about an hour through the coastal mountains. They are old, low, rounded and covered in scrubby bush and trees. We travelled through the Casablanca Valley, a winegrowing region, into the St Anthony Valley, which was thought to be unsuitable for wine production until the Matetic Vineyards (Jugoslav-Coatian owner) proved otherwise. Our delightful Matetic guide, Marielena, explained that this 1999 farm was completely organic, as evidenced by the booming noise cannons scaring away the birds. All the vineyards were on the slopes of the valley. Matetic also grows many fruit trees and is experimenting with blueberries. Additionally they raise cattle and llamas. The ... read more

12:20 p.m. I am sitting at the port as the others go on a tour of the harbourto see the city. Although the sea is very calm, for me just seeing boats bob is enough to make me queasy. All around me, people are whiling away time for whatever reasons. Everyone watched a two-year-old boy try to catch pigeons, which is one of the funniest sights anywhere. The sun is shining. A cool breeze puffs every few seconds. Behind the plaza is a street that Pablo warned me is very dangerous. This tourist area is a long plaza edged by a short line of craft shops with the worst souvenirs ever. On both sides of the plaza are cargo ships and on the horizon is a breakwater near what might be a military ship. The navy ... read more

All the beauty of yesterday was severely interrupted at 5:15 this morning by the sudden onslaught of traveller’s diarrhea. Deciding between then and 8:00 breakfast time that it was not caused by an excess of vine-ripened grapes (probably caused by what was on the unwashed grapes), I took Cipro antibiotic. That was immediately effective, and I ate a modest fruit-free breakfast. Our first event today was a glimpse of Chilean rodeo on a small ranch. Pablo emphasized that rodeo in Chile is not a big professional competition as in the US, but rather a community activity still strongly based on ranching traditions. We walked a short way to overlook a “medialuna”, the rodeo ground roughly shaped as half a circle. Two huaso (we call them cowboys but never in Chile) entered the medialuna dressed in flat ... read more

4:25 p.m. We have been sitting on the bus at Chilean immigration control since 3:45. We were warned of a multi-hour wait because of how tightly they check, particularly for absolutely anything resembling a fruit, vegetable or meat product unless it is pickled in a jar or can. Plus, the luggage is x-rayed, including hand luggage. Our group responsibly brought activities for waiting on the bus, so all is calm. I don’t mind the wait, because we have spent the last seven hours riding through the fabled Andes in perfect, sunny weather! We left Mendoza City at 9:30 this morning, leaving behind vineyards for dry scrub. As we began climbing into the Andes Plata Range, I was surprised at how friable was the rock – almost un-pressed sedimentary rock. The further we went, the more... read more