Blogs from Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 5

Tuesday, my fourth day in Chile, was one of the most beautiful days I have ever spent. We had signed up with ilovechiletours.com, for their Andes Mountains Gem Route tour, which included a visit to the Concha y Toro Vineyard, and then a visit to Embalse El Yeso in Cajon del Maipo. Once again, it was a very nice experience with only my friend and I, our guide Fran, and our driver Gabriel, on this trip. Both Fran and Gabriel were young and fun, and very enthusiastic. We immediately developed a rapport with both of them. I guess the advantage of being the only guests on the trip, plus the fact that it's a new and small company and their services are very personal, and their interest in our enjoyment very genuine. I had already been ... read more

My second day in Chile, Sunday, we decided to visit the historical neighborhood of Barrio Lastarria, which is a very popular tourist hub packed with cafes, restaurants, and eye catching street art. We reached the “Alameda” (Avenida Liberador Bernardo O’Higgins) by Metro via the Universidad Catolica metro station. The Metro wasn not too crowded on a Saturday, and it is certainly a very quick and efficient way to get around. It is certainly helpful not to have to try to find parking, which is always difficult and expensive. Our first stop was GAM, or the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, and the two exhibits it was hosting. Built in 1972, it was originally a convention center, and since 2010 it has been a cultural center open to the public, devoted to promoting performing arts and music. When ... read more

What an existential title right? It was either this, or my second idea for a title was how the f*ck does electricity work anyway, because really, I have no idea. But I figured, I really wanted to hook those deep thinkers in the crowd, or maybe just the philosophy majors. So relating to that title of the post, an important event of the last few weeks was…cue “Celebrate Good Times” from Kool and the Gang…our shipment arrived from Canada! And I have to say, as much as I loved that little leather white couch being our only piece of furniture in our living room, man is it great to have our stuff. About a week and a half ago our things made it through customs and came to our house. Many thanks to Steph and her ... read more

We spent today with our friends and locals, Pakita and Emanuel whom we met in Vietnam three years ago. Emanuel had to work in the morning so Pakita came out and met us 10:30am at our apartment. As the museums are closed on Mondays, we were keen to visit the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and the nearby Monseda Palace. Our timing was perfect as there was a large crowd gathered at the rear of the Palace for the Changing of the Guard and we got there just as they were starting. It was very entertaining as there was a brass band playing music including a tune my father use to always whistle or hum. When that finished we walked around to the front of the Palace for a look and then went into the Cultural ... read more

Everyone probably remembers when they were a kid, they would play that game Marco Polo in the pool, and the one kid would shut their eyes (hey, no peaking!) and try to catch the other kids by locating their voices. And every once in a while they would yell “fish out of water” and if you were out of the pool, you would automatically become “it”…well, this was my first week at work and I can say that I pretty much felt like the kid running around on the pooldeck, hoping no one would yell “fish out of water” while I was out of the pool…except that in this case I wasn’t allowed to get back in the pool at any time, and had maybe lost my bathing suit, and the whole ordeal was kinda terrifying ... read more