Stress-free Santiago

Sunday, February 6, 2011 - Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sunday, February 6, 2011

• Left Easter Island
• Wake up at 7:30
• Get ready, transfer to airport, something weird going on with people at hostel
• Business check-in line, short security, coffee in the airport café
• 4 hour 40 minute flight, entertainment system really messed up, trying to watch The Switch
• End up moving seats after the meal service, lunch - a lovely salad, gnocchi and some weird fruit flan
• Feeling a bit sad on the plane, not exactly sure why
• Coming into Santiago feels a lot like eight weeks ago except that I’ve already been through the airport, my Spanish is better and I have Chilean pesos
• Luggage takes a while despite the priority tag
• Get the transvip service to Ricardo’s apartment
• He isn’t home yet, so I wait in the lobby for an hour and a half, having a sad moment
• Settle into the apartment, I have my own room!
• He needs towels so we go out, end up eating at Burger King (Taco Bell was closed) so random
• Bed

Sunrise on Easter Island

Monday, February 7, 2011

• Lazy day, tried to book some stuff for Colombia, wrote a bit, researched Spanish schools in Cuzco
• Ricardo (who has the week off work and is going to Buenos Aires on Friday) cooked rice and hot dogs for lunch
• Afternoon excursion for an external hard drive, Ricardo found a place offering a good deal
• Walk through some of downtown and the park
• Stopped for a drink (non-alcoholic) at a cute restaurant in a quaint part of town, ate dinner there too; I got the artichoke and blue cheese (very mild flavor) quiche, delicious
• Ricardo introduces me to the show How I Met Your Mother
• Bed

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 

• Productive morning of writing and research while Ricardo is sleeping
• Rice lunch at Ricardo’s
• Rushing to leave the apartment at 2:50pm to get to Concha y Toro before the 4pm tour
• We arrived slightly after 4pm (three metro lines and a taxi ride later) and were directed to the English tour, which had only one guest
• Tour of the beautiful winery, stunning grounds with a gorgeous mansion, lake and vineyards
• Taste the Trio Reserva, a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Blanc
• Cellar and the famous Devil’s cellar (on which Concha y Toro have named one of their labels), cool audio presentation in the dimly lit cellar
• Taste the Marques de Casa Concha, a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
• Spend a bit of time talking to the other guy on our tour
• Quick stop in the mall nearby so Ricardo can get his keys copied; I tried a Snickers McFlurry
• Back at the apartment I do my laundry downstairs and practice my Spanish while Ricardo cooks dinner
• Eat dinner at 11pm – chicken stuffed with ham and cheese with mashed potatoes; in return for his cooking, I clean the dishes

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

• Wake up at 9:30am since Ricardo and I have decided to go sightseeing at 11am
• Pack up a box of items (including my new external hard drive with all my South America photos) to ship home
• Eat a late breakfast
• By the time we get moving, it is almost 2pm
• Stop at a courier but Ricardo tells them there are glasses in my box (souvenirs from Concha y Toro) and they reply that they don’t ship glass, they also ask to open the box (which is a shoebox wrapped in brown paper); we move on hoping to find another branch that will ship the box
• End up at the main Chilean post office, wait in line, finally get to the front and the woman says they’ll send the glass but they need to open the box; I slowly, slowly remove the brown wrapping and then cut through the tape on the box (since they have more tape but no paper); start unpacking the box and the woman tells us that the glasses need more padding; luckily Ricardo was with me because I never would have gotten through all the Spanish; finally rewrap the package and send (turns out to be cheaper than expected)
• Walk to the old market for lunch
• Find a place to eat; I order a traditional Chilean dish with muscles and baked cheese
• Museum of Memory and Human Rights which documents the Pinochet period in Chile from 1973 – 1989
• Cerro Santa Lucia – cone of rock rising steeply to a height of 70m, walk up on a steep incline and series of stairs; plaque to Darwin; great views of the city from the top where there is a fortress; a couple plazas on the hill
• Walk along the Alameda; I decide to go to the hotel where I spent my first two nights in South America to leave a note for Andy and Ally from the Tucan Tour (with the help of Ricardo since I can’t explain this in Spanish)
• Starts raining so we get the metro back to the apartment instead of walking
• Leftovers for dinner
• Watch a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother
• Pack, bed