Concha y Toro, Cerro San Cristobal, Pucon

We had a great four days in Santiago, Chile.  The city is huge and impressive.  We were surprised with its cleanliness and found the people to be very kind.  There is a very clean and efficient subway system (complete with large flat screen TVs playing music videos), and many places to eat and drink.  We walked through the older downtown area all the way out to the newer business district (see photos from our last post).  Saturday night we went out to a jazz bar.  We showed up to a packed bar and managed to get great seats up front, complete with a nice group of Venezualans to translate and guide our drink selections.  The music was great and we were wishing Billy could have sat in for a set.  Sunday Dan wanted to see the Eagles play Green Bay so we went to an expat bar to watch the game. They couldn´t get the right channel but a nice American guy lead us to a place down the street and ended up watching the game with us.  He turned out to be from Utica, NY and went to high school with Dan´s good friend Brandon!  He is now living in Chile helping his father start a pomegranate farm.  Small world.  After the Eagles lost Dan thought it would be best to get out of the city and visit the vineyards for our last day in Santiago.

We went to taste some wines at the Concha y Toro vineyards based on advice from a purple toothed Brazilian we met in the hostel.  He knew what he was talking about, it was a great tour.

Sample garden with a variety of vines in foreground, cabernet savignon vines in the background

Young grapes

Dan was in a great mood and wanted to pick some grapes

We were happy to see this sight... a dozen wineglasses full of ice-cold savignon blanc on a hot day.

We went through some of the wine cellars

This is in the original Concha y Toro cellar, later renamed after the Devil who is said to guard the fine wines stored here.

We took the funicular (cable car) up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, a large hill oustide of Santiago 

From the top we were able to see just how big Santiago really is

Looking down the cable track on the way to the bottom.  Two cars are connected by cable and carry each other up and down, passing in the middle with a short segment of double track.

We took an overnight bus to Pucon, Chile which is located at the base of Villerica Volcano.  We were glad to see this well-organized response for potential volcanic activity.  There is also a green-yellow-red light showing the volcanic hazard level of the day.

Despite the smoke fuming from the caldera, the hazard light is green today.

Close-up shot of the volcano

While the volcano is incredible, the other surrounding mountains are also impressive.  The Andes mountains surround the town.  This is the direction we are headed next.  Dan picked up his fishing license today, using an impressive amount of Spanish (and sign language) to do so and also to buy flies.  Fortunately a Parachute Adams is called an Adams Parachuta, which made things a little easier.