After a few days in Santiago, we rented a car and explored a few different regions within a couple hours drive of the capital. While in Santiago, it seemed that not many people spoke English. Once outside of Santiago, it seemed that absolutely no one spoke English with the exception of tour guides, and a couple of people who owned the properties we stayed at. We loved it. We were amazed how well we could communicate with the very little Spanish we know. When we speak, we must sound incredibly stupid, not using complete sentences, mixing up gender and verb conjugations, but somehow we are generally understood. In many of these places, there are few tourists, and even fewer gringo tourists, so we stood out and we felt it. Most everyone was very friendly and spoke slowly to us to help us understand.
Cajon Del Maipo
Our first stop was in an area called Cajon del Maipo, where we stayed one night in a cabin. We had wanted to do a hike in the national park near there, but couldn’t because the only road into the park was closed due to snow. Instead we decided to drive to a scenic lake (technically a reservoir) to take some pictures. As we were driving there, the road turned from pavement, to dirt. The potholes in the road could almost swallow our tiny economy class rental car. The mini ravines cut through the road by water runoff had to be navigated carefully. I had to shift to first gear a couple times to get the underpowered vehicle up the steep hills. We steered clear of the edge of the road that was crumbling down the side of the cliff. We forded a stream running across the road. We kept climbing in elevation, and when the road became covered with a slick icing of snow, we decided to park and continue on foot to the El Yeso reservoir. This reservoir is at almost 10,000 feet above sea level and supplies Santiago with most of its drinking water. After a short walk, we were rewarded with spectacular views and a few pics to take home. I am glad we parked the car where we did, as it is listed as one of the world’s most dangerous roads (http://www.dangerousroads.org/south-america/chile/5281-embalse-el-yeso.html).
The ice and snow at El Yeso made for some nice photos.
Notice the road to my right. We figured it was best to leave it to 4x4s.
Santa Cruz
The people of Chile have been producing wine ever since the Spanish settled here. However, it was produced primarily for domestic consumption until the 1980’s. It is now the world’s fifth largest wine exporter. I think I must have had some bad South American wine at one point in my life, because I used to steer clear of it. I associated South America with Malbec which I had always found too “earthy”, a nice way of saying it tastes like dirt. However, I stand corrected. Like most things in life, one shouldn’t judge something based solely on a category, especially food and drink. Saying you don’t like Chilean wine is like saying you don’t like Thai food. First, quality varies greatly, but more importantly, it is too broad of a label to make such a judgement. We had some great, and very inexpensive, Malbec in Argentina. In Chile, we toured the Colchugua wine region around Santa Cruz. This area is known for its Carménère a variety I was not familiar with. At one point in time, this variety of grape was thought to be extinct since all of the vines in France were wiped out by the Phylloxera plague in 1867. It wasn’t until 1994 that a French wine researcher was visiting Chile discovered that many of the vines that were thought to be Merlot were actually Carménère. The Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot from this area are fantastic. We did tours and tastings at three different vineyards, and had one of the best meals we’ve eaten in a very long time at one of them. The next time you are picking up a bottle of vino tinto (red wine), don’t pass over the Argentinian or Chilean bottles because they are cheap.
The Fall after the harvest is a beautiful time to visit vineyards.
I caught Jesslyn sneaking a taste from the tank during a tour.
La Campana National Park
After Santa Cruz, we headed to a cabin just outside of La Campana National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve once visited by Charles Darwin. Main road from the nearest village to the cabin was beautiful with the colors of Fall covering the trees and the grape vines, and and with orchards full of ripe oranges. After the main road ended, we once again had to navigate a terribly maintained dirt roads, but it was worth the damage to the underside of the rental car. The cabin was in a beautiful, quiet area. We did a long hike to an abandoned quartz mine through a palm forest. The Chilean Wine Palms are the girthiest palm trees I’ve ever seen, having trunks up to five feet in diameter. In the past, the sap from these trees was boiled down to a sweet syrup which was called palm honey. It was strange to see palm trees growing in the mountains along side of cacti. It was a very relaxing and scenic area to spend a few nights. As mentioned on the yesterday’s food blog, the closest village is where we found fresh baked bread at a tiny little shack of a store. Also in town, we stopped at the local fruit and vegetable market and picked up local peppers, onions, spinach, and mushrooms to make dinner, as well as some apples. There was no English being spoken in these places.
The first time I have seen cacti next to palm trees.
The cacti made for interesting subjects.
Valparaíso
We ended our Santiago area tour with a short stay in the port town of Valparaíso, a once a thriving, wealthy city due to its location. Ships traveling between Europe and the west coast of the US stopped here to re-supply, and wealthy merchants built extravagant homes and hotels. It was in the perfect location for the ships making the long journey around the tip of South America, Cape Horn (BTW, that is where the saying “around the Horn” comes from). After the Panama Canal was completed in 1914 this business in Valparaíso disappeared. In addition to a small, modern shipping port, and an important Naval base, what remains now are the aging remains decorated with colorful street art. Valparaíso has some noticeable similarities to La Boca in Buenos Aires. The people are known as “portenos” (people of the port) and the buildings are colorfully painted and make liberal use of corrugated metal. Luckily, this time we had someone to tell us the parts of town that were safe to wander and those that were not. Valpo also reminded us of some of the hilly seaside towns in Italy like those in Cinque Terre and the Amalfi coast because of the colorful houses pouring down the steep hills into the sea. The town has a tangled web of narrow streets making driving a nightmare. It is however very walkable due to the 12 funiculars linking the downtown area with the more residential hilltops. A lift only costs 15 cents. The first funicular built in 1883 uses steam power and is still in operation. I don’t know exactly where the line between graffiti and street art lies, but Valpo has its share of both. While some of the street art is done secretly and technically illegally, some of it is commissioned by the owners of the buildings, and some murals are even labeled with official plaques and appear on maps of the city. Besides making the city streets pop with color, the vibrant street art actually deters the ugly graffiti and tagging. A blank wall would soon be covered with the talentless spray painted scribble, but perhaps out of respect, you don’t see it on top of the impressive murals. We did two different free walking tours, took a short boat ride around the harbor, and ate some good food. Just an hour and fifteen minute drive from Santiago, if you ever find yourself in Chile, Valparaíso is absolutely worth a visit.
One of the many colorful hills.
One of our favorite examples of street art.
- Jake
PS: All of the photos have been uploaded. You can find the links on our photo page. You will also find the pics from Atacama, the most photogenic area we've been to in a long time. The blog for Atacama is coming soon!