Chile Part 1 – March 19 to April 1

Chile is a really long country. In fact, it’s the longest country in the world – over 2,500 miles north to south. We flew from Cartagena – through Bogota – to Santiago. It took about 6 hours to fly from Bogota to Santiago which is located in central Chile.

First impressions of Santiago are that it’s a really nice big city. Over 7,000,000 people live here. That’s about 40% of the total Chilean population. Lots of parks, nice buildings and tons of young people. So many that at times it feels kind of like a huge college campus.

Our main reason for coming here was to visit Natalie. Honestly, Santiago would not have made our destination list if she (and three friends) were not going to be teaching English here. But now that we’ve arrived, I’m really glad we made the trip and, of course, it was so good to see Natalie. When you are gone from home for a long time, it feels really great to see family.

There was a bit of a mix-up when we arrived at Hotel Cumbres Lastarria at around 11:30pm.  They were overbooked so they sent us to another hotel around the corner. These types of mix-ups can work out really badly, but in this case we ended up at The Singular Hotel (https://thesingular.com/en/hotel/santiago) which was awesome. Very Four Seasons like and a great place to spend the first few days in Chile. The Lastarria neighborhood is one of the coolest corners of Santiago. Lots of restaurants and bars as well as street musicians and vendors selling cool “genuine” (maybe made in China) Chilean handicrafts. A fun place to walk around.

The next day, Natalie and Friends (Grupo Natalie) met us for drinks at the Singular rooftop bar and then we made our way to the Movistar Arena to see the Gorillaz. I knew very little about them, but they put on an incredible show and the Santiago fans were as passionate as any I’d ever seen. We started with some really bad seats (that I’d bought on the internet in Manhattan Beach) but got super lucky and snuck into a section right by the side of the stage. The Gorillaz are like an EDM band mixed with rap, reggae, R&B and even a twinge of country. All accompanied by awesome animation on the big screen behind them. One of the very best – and fun – shows I have ever seen.

After a couple of nights in Santiago, we headed to Valparaiso – a seaside city and probably the most important port in Chile. It’s historic quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s known for a really cool artistic/bohemian village built on steep hillsides covered with windy cobblestone streets. It’s a bit like a San Francisco that never grew up. There are great bars and restaurants with magnificent views and colorful murals painted all over the city walls.

We rented a car and drove here. Stayed at a place called Casa Galos Hotel & Lofts (http://www.casagalos.cl) which is a fantastic place to stay if you ever find yourself in Valparaiso. Big rooms – and if you get Room 5 – a great view of the hills and ocean. And less than $200 per night. It’s also got a great rooftop deck with couches and table. Most people go up there for the awesome view. However, for me it was the only place where I could get good enough Wi-Fi to watch NCAA basketball tournament games. Grupo Natalie met us here and we had a great time walking the cobblestone streets and having dinner at Cafe Turri (http://www.turri.cl/new/default.asp).

Another great place to rest weary feet and get cocktails with an excellent view of the hills and harbor is the Hotel Fauna Restaurant (https://faunahotel.cl/language/en/the-restaurant/).

I got a bit over served there one night and lost my sunglasses. It’s that kind of town.

We stayed 4 nights in Valparaiso – probably one too long. The neighboring town – Viña Del Mar – is a really nice beach city with some cool restaurants. A bit more upscale, but even so, three nights would be plenty.

Next stop for us was the Colchagua Valley – where some of Chile’s best red wines are made.  The drive on very nice roads took about three hours. The landscape looks a lot like Southern California. Dry hills dotted with chaparral. We stayed at the Posada Colchagua (http://www.posadacolchagua.com), a very clean 8 room B&B (priced at $125 per night) which was a great base for exploring the various wineries and the nearby city of Santa Cruz.

Our first stop in the valley was Rayuela, the restaurant at Viu Manent (http://viumanent.cl).  The lunch of lamb chops, shrimp and garlic mashed potatoes was superb. The winery tour – which involves a trip in a horse drawn wagon through the vines – is pretty great too.

Next up was Casa Lapostolle (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g303682-d2037915-Reviews-Clos_Apalta_Lapostolle-Santa_Cruz_O_Higgins_Region.html). The ancestors of the current Lapostolle owners invented Gran Marnier and currently also own Chateau Sancerre in the Loire Valley – so they seem to know their way around the alcohol biz. The architecture – and the vineyard which covers the neighboring hillsides and valley – are stunning. If you ever make it to Colchagua, a tour of Casa Lapostolle is a must. Also notable, their 2005 Clos Apalta was judged by Wine Spectator as the number one wine in the world in 2008 (http://www.winespectator.com/wssaccess/show/id/40806).

Afterwards, we headed over to Vina Montes (https://www.monteswines.com/tour.php#titulo3) for lunch at their Fuegos de Apalta restaurant. Food is grilled over open flame in Chef Francis Mallman’s kitchen (we understand that he is pretty famous). Regardless, the lunch was amazing. I had the Purple Angel carmenere wine with my rib eye and pizza.  So, so good. I would come back to Chile just to eat there again.

While at Viña Montes, we got a tip from the owner of Colchagua Valley Wine Tours that a place called Viña Vik had just re-opened its restaurant and was doing tours (http://www.vik.cl/en/) – BTW, you should really check out the video at this website. So the next day we took the one hour drive and were truly amazed. This relatively new winery is the brainchild of Norwegian internet entrepreneur, Alexander Vik. In 2004 he sent a research team to find the best place on the continent of South America to grow red grapes. After taking thousands of soil samples he selected the Millahue Valley in Chile for his winery, restaurant and hotel.

The hotel – which is uber-expensive for those guests that can find it – is covered in sheets of titanium and looks like a space ship. The wine making facility is also ultra-modern and is dedicated to making their icon wine, Vik – which is really good! We had another incredible lunch and then proceeded to a tour and tasting at this over-the-top winery.

Overall, the Colchagua Valley is a great place to visit. Not nearly as polished as Napa, but the main attractions are very nice, the landscape is beautiful, and the wine is far better than most California wine snobs would expect. We had a case of the 2013 Viña Vik shipped back to Manhattan Beach so we will test that out under more scientific conditions at a later date.

After four days of eating great food and drinking great wine, we headed back to Santiago to re-group, continue planning the upcoming European phase of our adventure – and start a sorely needed fitness program.