Santiago de Chile - Part II

Day 5 : Nothing much!

After a three day trip to Valparaíso we came back to Santiago at around midday and did nothing. Well we did watch "Mike & Molly" and "Two and a Half Men": two episodes of each.

Day 6 : Museums and a movie

Sundays in Santiago are free museum day and therefore we went to visit some of them. There was the Museum for Visual Arts and an interesting photo exposition on Chile. We were surprised to realise that most of these pieces do not belong to the museums but to the curators of the museums who lend them from time to time.

We went to the movies that afternoon to watch "Violeta Parra se fue en los Cielos" meaning "Violeta Parra went away in the skies". This lady who died in 1967 at the age of 50 is one of the most prolific artists in Chilean history. She was a fantastic singer but also a poet and a sculptor. And her paintings and tapisseries were exposed in the Louvre. (Violeta Parra site in Spanish)

The magic number!



It is actually refreshing

After that we went to a very nice park which is on a hill where we had a "Mote con Huesillo" which is an ice cold sweet peach juice with wheat germs and an actual peach in it. It was refreshing (and filling because of the germs) but because it was so sweet you needed to drink another half liter of water afterwards.

When we returned home we were very hungry and we went to a Kentucky Fried Chicken to use some discount vouchers we had received in town. We got a two-for-one crispy twist classico menu with fries and drinks. It was fine but I obviously needed to get another Zinger after that.

Day 7 : Concha y Toro wine tour

The wine shop

One of the world´s most well known and recognisable wine brands is "Concha y Toro". All the legends that surround this wine and the well inspired logo made this "New World Wine" join the very select and very prestigious "Club des Vins de Marques".

Concha y Toro is the second biggest wine maker in the world (second to Gato in the USA). They have huge vineyards in Chile but also in Argentina (for connoisseurs or amateurs alike, they bought Trivento) and in Napa Valley, California.

Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon in this part

They went public on the Chilean stock market in 1933 and  in the 90´s were the first wine company in the world to be floated onto the New York Stock Exchange. They produce a huge amount of wine, affordable easy to drink reds and whites but also more elaborate, limited edition reserve wines. It´s no surprise that one of the most prestigious French houses wanted to associate themselves with this brand: Bordeaux´s Grand Cru Baron de Rothchild has started a joint venture with their Chilean counterpart to produce a truly exceptional wine.

This is where it all started

This is where the magic happens with time and the right conditions



Official co-branded merchandise

And that´s not all, it's only befitting for one of the most well known wines in the world to partner with one of the most prestigious football clubs in the world: Manchester United FC. Concha y Toro through their wine Casillero del Diablo is now the official wine of ManU. Sir Alex Ferguson's love affair with wine was surely not unrelated to the inception of this partnership. And also how convenient for a wine called Casillero del Diablo (The Devil´s Cellar) to be the official wine of the Red Devil's. ManU website on Concha y Toro. Only very recently a few legends of Manchester United flew to Chile to officialise this partnership: Red Devils in their Cellar



Luis on the left ans Josue on the right

When we left there we went to the central market to have some very good sea food. There amongst the usual touting and calling to eat in their restaurants, we decided to sit at one where the guy seemed nice. His name was Josue and he was from Haiti. We chatted away in English, Spanish and French but I could not keep up when he switched to Portuguese and German. We sat down and ordered fried fish in batter and a fish soup, more a thick paste actually. It was very good and of course the Pisco sour (on the house) added to the flavours. Then Luis (Josue's boss) came to check on us. He was a very nice man in his late 50's. He asked us where we came from and where we lived ... he obviously spoke the 5 languages Joshue spoke but he certainly surprised us when he started to converse with Roxana in Romanian!!! He explained that he had travelled to Europe and lived in Bucharest in the 70´s to learn Romanian. How amazing is that.



My two new best friends

After this delicious meal and saying warm goodbyes to Joshue and Luis, we went to a local rundown bar that is a must do if you are an alcohol deprived tourists (which of course we're not). They invented a drink here in that bar that is now "merrily" consumed in the whole of Chile and we hear across the border in Argentina. It is called a "Terremoto" which means "Earthquake". And that, it is! This drink is a pint of some apple brandy they`ve got here in Chile, mixed with another bitter alcohol called Pernet and in which a ball of pineapple ice cream is added! We shared one of those between us two while sitting at a table with two locals. They obviously had started earlier and we witnessed first hand what 2 pints of this beverage does to people. Judging on their state and their temporary "speech impediments", Cyclone, Tornado or Tsunami would have been other appropriate names for that drink!

Anyway we managed to get back home in one piece and prepare our bags for the Easter Island where we´ll spend 6 days. We're looking forward to that eee-normouly!

If you got that far in this post you might like to see some more of Santiago de Chile