April 2 Day 46
We got up and headed to the tours4tips Santiago version, which we were happy to find out actually existed! We had an English speaking guide and the tour was really good, focusing on the Santiago that the citizens see rather than the main tourist attractions (that tour was the 3 pm one). We had a Venezuelan guide who was animated and informative and a small group of American, Australian and German tourists besides us.
We went to the central market, which only had fish stalls and tout-heavy restaurants but he pointed out good restaurants and told us that the central area with high ceilings and nice metalwork which was made in England contained the most overpriced places.
The day before we were told that for fruits and veggies we had to use the few stalls outside the fish market. Today we crossed the street to the busy market which had everything and went on for 6 city blocks. We were told to put our backpacks onto our fronts and hide our jewelry but the place was more busy than threatening. There were lines of restaurants, much better fruit and veggies than we saw yesterday, a Peruvian area with special peppers and potatoes and great smelling herb vendors. Our guide told us about several local foods and drinks and gave suggestions as to the best places to find them.
On the way out our guide bought everyone XXX, fried cornbread with spicy salsa which was filling and tasty. He then organized everyone onto the subway and we went to the graveyard, which covered 22 football fields. We saw the stacks of condo graves, looked at the absurdly extravagant mausoleums in the shape of the Alhambra and Egyptian temples and the children's area, which was full of toys and party decorations. We went to Salvador Allende's tomb and had a long description of Chilean politics. Our guide conceded that nothing is black and white and short descriptions leave out complicated details but we felt he was a little hard on socialism since he had fred from Venezuela 5 years ago.
We also went by a grave of little Conchita (?), who apparently had died innocently and so was considered a vector to god and was a major spot for prayers and thanks. Our guide then told us that it was all a lie, the grave was of an adult woman but someone working at the cemetery made up the story and set up an offering can which he emptied for himself. He was caught after several years of doing this but the legend persisted so the site is still full of offerings.
We said goodbye to our guide and our group and headed to the Concha Y Toro vineyard, which sounded like a simple trip in our guidebook but turned out to be a marathon. We headed to a stop close to the end of the subway system and looked for a shuttle bus that was impossible to find. Eventually we asked a sidewalk vendor who called someone and got the van to come for us. We purchased a bar of chocolate and almonds from him for his trouble.
The van came and we were the only ones on the 15 minute ride to the winery. We made it in time for the last English tour of the day with our guide JC. He was another Venezuelan and had only been working as a guide for a month and was very entertaining and personable. He gave the history of the winery and led us in three tastings, which were positioned at various spots along then tour.
The vine garden was interesting as they had a circular setup with all of the grapes they use available for tasting off the vine. behind this were rows from an actual vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes but he told us that 75% of their production was from Chile, 20% from Argentina and 5% from California. He also said that they were a top 10 winery in the world for total production.
We got to see some equipment and some cool cellars, one of which had a fun but hard to see multimedia presentation about the history and legend of the winery. Meg has asked me to copy these quotes from the literature:
"At Concha Y Toro we learned about development of the vines including the story of the extinct carmenera grape that died in Europe during the plague and was rediscovered in Chile falsely as a malbec vine.
We visited the ancient cellars including the Casillero Del Diablo which is devil's cellar and heard the legend about satan protecting the cellar from thieves and earthquakes. "
We ended up in the wine shop which featured their best wines (the stuff I had been picking up in the supermarkets was nowhere to be found). We got 3 bottles of pretty good stuff and headed out. We're used to Canadian wineries with free tours and tastings, but we paid $32 each for teh tour and 3 tastings so again, Chile is no bargain.
We had to wait 45 minutes for the shuttle, again the only ones using it, before our long subway ride home. They whole thing was 4 tiring hours long and we figured it wasn't worth it. On the subway ride back, a young woman stated playing loud music through a speaker. She then gave a long speech, danced around the subway car in an amateurish way, gave another speech and then went around collecting money. She must have picked her route well as later on she would have had no room to move in the subway cars as we got closer to the city centre.
We walked a different way home and checked out a restaurant we were considering for our next night's dinner. It was a sprawling place at the back of a children's arcade inside an old monastery. It was closed on a night it was supposed to be open but the arcade was buzzing with a little ferris wheel, video games, funhouse mirrors, foozball and even air hockey!
We got home tired and microwaved our dinner and wanted to turn out brains off. Luckily, we found The Rock's Skyscaper movie with Spanish subtitles which required no thought at all.
We got up and headed to the tours4tips Santiago version, which we were happy to find out actually existed! We had an English speaking guide and the tour was really good, focusing on the Santiago that the citizens see rather than the main tourist attractions (that tour was the 3 pm one). We had a Venezuelan guide who was animated and informative and a small group of American, Australian and German tourists besides us.
We went to the central market, which only had fish stalls and tout-heavy restaurants but he pointed out good restaurants and told us that the central area with high ceilings and nice metalwork which was made in England contained the most overpriced places.
The day before we were told that for fruits and veggies we had to use the few stalls outside the fish market. Today we crossed the street to the busy market which had everything and went on for 6 city blocks. We were told to put our backpacks onto our fronts and hide our jewelry but the place was more busy than threatening. There were lines of restaurants, much better fruit and veggies than we saw yesterday, a Peruvian area with special peppers and potatoes and great smelling herb vendors. Our guide told us about several local foods and drinks and gave suggestions as to the best places to find them.
On the way out our guide bought everyone XXX, fried cornbread with spicy salsa which was filling and tasty. He then organized everyone onto the subway and we went to the graveyard, which covered 22 football fields. We saw the stacks of condo graves, looked at the absurdly extravagant mausoleums in the shape of the Alhambra and Egyptian temples and the children's area, which was full of toys and party decorations. We went to Salvador Allende's tomb and had a long description of Chilean politics. Our guide conceded that nothing is black and white and short descriptions leave out complicated details but we felt he was a little hard on socialism since he had fred from Venezuela 5 years ago.
We also went by a grave of little Conchita (?), who apparently had died innocently and so was considered a vector to god and was a major spot for prayers and thanks. Our guide then told us that it was all a lie, the grave was of an adult woman but someone working at the cemetery made up the story and set up an offering can which he emptied for himself. He was caught after several years of doing this but the legend persisted so the site is still full of offerings.
We said goodbye to our guide and our group and headed to the Concha Y Toro vineyard, which sounded like a simple trip in our guidebook but turned out to be a marathon. We headed to a stop close to the end of the subway system and looked for a shuttle bus that was impossible to find. Eventually we asked a sidewalk vendor who called someone and got the van to come for us. We purchased a bar of chocolate and almonds from him for his trouble.
The van came and we were the only ones on the 15 minute ride to the winery. We made it in time for the last English tour of the day with our guide JC. He was another Venezuelan and had only been working as a guide for a month and was very entertaining and personable. He gave the history of the winery and led us in three tastings, which were positioned at various spots along then tour.
The vine garden was interesting as they had a circular setup with all of the grapes they use available for tasting off the vine. behind this were rows from an actual vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes but he told us that 75% of their production was from Chile, 20% from Argentina and 5% from California. He also said that they were a top 10 winery in the world for total production.
We got to see some equipment and some cool cellars, one of which had a fun but hard to see multimedia presentation about the history and legend of the winery. Meg has asked me to copy these quotes from the literature:
"At Concha Y Toro we learned about development of the vines including the story of the extinct carmenera grape that died in Europe during the plague and was rediscovered in Chile falsely as a malbec vine.
We visited the ancient cellars including the Casillero Del Diablo which is devil's cellar and heard the legend about satan protecting the cellar from thieves and earthquakes. "
We ended up in the wine shop which featured their best wines (the stuff I had been picking up in the supermarkets was nowhere to be found). We got 3 bottles of pretty good stuff and headed out. We're used to Canadian wineries with free tours and tastings, but we paid $32 each for teh tour and 3 tastings so again, Chile is no bargain.
We had to wait 45 minutes for the shuttle, again the only ones using it, before our long subway ride home. They whole thing was 4 tiring hours long and we figured it wasn't worth it. On the subway ride back, a young woman stated playing loud music through a speaker. She then gave a long speech, danced around the subway car in an amateurish way, gave another speech and then went around collecting money. She must have picked her route well as later on she would have had no room to move in the subway cars as we got closer to the city centre.
We walked a different way home and checked out a restaurant we were considering for our next night's dinner. It was a sprawling place at the back of a children's arcade inside an old monastery. It was closed on a night it was supposed to be open but the arcade was buzzing with a little ferris wheel, video games, funhouse mirrors, foozball and even air hockey!
We got home tired and microwaved our dinner and wanted to turn out brains off. Luckily, we found The Rock's Skyscaper movie with Spanish subtitles which required no thought at all.
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| The "budget" cemetery condos that go on for blocks. |
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| Meg with our guide enjoying some of the good stuff. |
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| Distorted but happy. |
Interesting post!
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