Santiago, Chile

---

We enjoyed a half day tour of Santiago yesterday. Interesting sights and an impressive city. From a central viewpoint on the city's tallest hill you can view miles of tall, modern apartment buildings. Not sure if living here would be great though! Long hours and considerable public transport issues despite its excellent Metro (underground) system. Today we visited Aquitania winery in the Maipo valley. A small boutique winery that exports cabernet, camenere and chardonnay products to Europe and the USA. Along with our travelling companions Bronte and Graham (who we met on the ship) we then proceeded to have lunch in a very local cafeteria in an arcade. From the looks we got we don't think they have too many tourists there. In fact Santiago is very much free of tourist effects, eg. no souvenir shops to be found! Then in the afternoon I visited the excellent Museum of Pre-Columbian Art to view many works between 500-2000 years old.

---