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| Wine! |
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| Food! |
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| Penguini! |
As many of you know, I am a "sweeper" and a contest-junkie. While my friends are playing Candy Crush and Farmville at 2a.m. on Facebook, I am often entering sweeps and contests... LOTS of sweeps and contests! And while the downside is I get 1000+ emails a day (and you really Do have to check your email, as that is the ONLY way you are notified if you've won something...), I Can tell you that my hobby has turned out to be one helluvalot more lucrative than Solitaire! I've won a lot of extremely cool things (including a Big Green Egg, some truly fabulous shoes and handbags, and six wonderful trips, including ones to Vietnam and Israel, the latter from the American Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which was THE greatest gift!), as well a Le Crueset casserole and other kitchen stuff for Chef Dan, beautiful clothes and jewelry, makeup and cosmetics, and many other delightful things! I won a totally fabulous 2 week "Ultimate To-Do List" trip to Chile from Hilton Garden Inn on Facebook, having written 150 words on how I wanted to do the Chilean Wine Route with Chef Dan, and this is a Long overdue post about that amazing trip! I have to say that this was THE best Hanukkah present I could possibly have imagined! The night I got the winning email I almost deleted it- all it said was "Winner of the Hilton Garden Inn Contest" and I thought it was a list of who won... But I decided to open it just to see who won, and when I found out it was ME I went bananas! We had guests at the Elkhorn Inn, and I came out of my office screaming "I won! I won!" like a lunatic! Doing the Chilean Wine Route with Dan was a dream, all right, but not one that we ever though about seriously, due to the time and money involved in such a trip. The funny part is that although I usually don't discuss my contest entries with Dan (there are so many! LOL), I actually did ask him if he'd go to Chile if I won this one! (Note: this was a contest, and I almost wrote about taking a dream trip to Alaska, or a cruise to Antarctica... and then I read the fine print rules which were very specific: the trip had to be where there was a Hilton Garden Inn, selected from a list of 10 places- one of which was Santiago, Chile... Bingo! thought I: I'd take Chef Dan to do the Wine Route! A word to the wise for all you contest junkies: read the rules, kids!) Once I received official notification that, yes, I really had won, I returned the signed affidavit immediately, and the flights were booked for us. I then ordered several books on Chile and began to seriously "Google", research, and plan our trip. We went in December, which is freezing cold in West Virginia, but summer-warm in Chile, and that made it even More delightful! A lot of the joy of a trip for me is in the planning of it, discovering all sorts of interesting and cool "off-the-beaten-path" things to do, and emailing people around the world, and I also get a great deal of pleasure writing and blogging about it afterwords, which enables me to relive the trip again and again! Thanks to the internet and email, I was able to find out about a lot of truly unique and fun things to do that I wouldn't otherwise have known about, and all the people I emailed in Chile were super helpful and friendly, and got back to me immediately! The trip win included RT flights to Santiago, two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn there, $2000 in VISA gift cards (for those Wine Trail tours...), and a camera! This is serious "bucket list" stuff, and we were not going to fly for 20 hours(!) to spend 2 nights in Santiago, LOL, so we added some additional money, rented a car, and spent two weeks in Chile- I only wish we had been able to spend at least three!
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| Vino Volo at the airport! |
Dan and I started our trip in Santiago, with the two-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport that was part of the prize package. The concierge had been Very helpful to me when I first started planning our trip and emailed the hotel, and we had a lovely stay; we did our first Official Chilean Pisco Tasting in the bar at the Hilton! After 20 hours in transit (3 flights and 9+ hours of layovers, softened by really good sushi, and flights of wine at Vino Volo at the Dulles airport...), we arrived in Santiago in the morning. After paying the $130 per person "reciprocity fee"(!) at the airport, we took the Hilton's free shuttle bus to the hotel and I spent the morning basking in the 90-degree sun on their balcony. In the late afternoon Dan and I took a cab to Santiago's Central Market and strolled around downtown Santiago. We had a Mote con Huesillo, the cooling summer drink of Chile, made with peaches and wheat, window-shopped, had wine at a cafe at Plaza des Armes, and a nice little dinner (yummy ceviche!) in a small restaurant near the Market to end our first lovely day in Chile!
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| Santiago, Chile! |
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| Chef Dan and I in Santiago! |
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| Enjoying our first Pisco Sours at the Hilton Garden Inn! |
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| Santiago |
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| A lovely welcome gift at the Hilton Garden Inn! |
We took two wine tours with Uncorked Wine Tours Chile to start off our 2 week "wine and foodie trip", and were very pleased with them. We did their tours of both large and small wineries in the Aconcagua and Maipo wine regions, and especially liked the first one in Aconcagua, with Patricia (ask for her- she's great!), as we were able to learn to taste, blend, and bottle our own wine at the Vina San Esteban winery. That was such a great (and delicious!) learning experience- and so much fun- that we Highly recommend it to anyone starting out on a Wine Trip through Chile! We enjoyed empanadas and wine in the sunshine out by the vineyards, and then went to Vina Errazuriz, where we had a tour, followed by a delicious lunch on their beautiful patio facing the terraced vineyards, and a wine tasting. The next day we had tours and tastings at three wineries in Maipo Valley: Bodega Aquitania, the only winery to survive the 2010 earthquake intact, thanks to their unique all-wood architecture, Vina Perez Cruz, and the Santa Rita Winery, where we had another delicious wine-paired lunch.
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| Stainless Steel Wine Tanks... |
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| Learning to blend wine! |
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| Blending... |
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| Blending wine... |
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| Creating a wine masterpiece! |
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| Bottling! |
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| In the vineyards! |
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| In the vineyards... |
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| Lunch at the winery... |
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| In the cellars... |
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| Wine tanks... |
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| Wine tasting! |
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| Wines we have tasted! |
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| Dinner at Borago |
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| Fabulous Dinner at Borago... |
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| Dinner at Borago... |
Private wine tours in Chile are not cheap, and I contacted several companies, all of which offered excellent-sounding trips. I chose Uncorked based on their email correspondence with me and online reviews, although there were several others, including Santiago Adventures, which also had great wine tours. We didn't want to do private tours, and would have happily joined a small group, but as it was only the two of us, joining with others wasn't an option with any of the wine tour companies I contacted. The lunches at the wineries were excellent, and we highly recommend eating at any of the wineries you go to. Most private wine tours will run at least $250.00/pp per day, but these are full-day tours with fine lunches, and well worth it. As you do need reservations at most wineries, unless you speak Spanish it may be difficult to make your own reservations and get driving directions, and with a driver you are free to truly enjoy all the wine (and Chilean wineries don't stint on the wine at their tastings!), and not worry about driving home!
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| Wines we tasted... |
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| Wine Wax art I loved... |
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| Wine tasting! |
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| In the vineyards... |
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| Driving thru Chilean Wine Country... |
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| Lunch at the Winery |
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| Wines we tasted... |
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| The vineyards of Chile... |
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| Stainless Steel Wine Tanks |
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| We Love Chile! |
We also took Enotour Chile’s “Santiago Wine Bar Route” tour one evening, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Again, I was hoping we’d be able to join with others, as it’s more fun that way (not to mention cheaper...), but as it was just the two of us, a private tour was the only option, and Enotour was the only company I could find offering such a tour. We started out having a bottle of fine Chilean wine up on San Cristobal Hill overlooking Santiago at sunset, and it was wonderful: elegant and romantic! The drive up the hill, with all the bicyclists coming up and down, was amazing, too! (There's also a tram up to the top, which looked like fun!) Then we went to two chic Santiago wine bars: Baco and Bocanariz, had wine tastings, and enjoyed some yummy tapas, including excellent hams (especially the llama ham!) and THE best oysters I’ve ever had in my life! While not inexpensive (a little less than $200/pp), a tour like this was really the only way for us to experience this side of Santiago, as we had limited time, and no hip Santiagan friends to tell us which wine bars to go to, and what wines or specialties to order! We highly recommend this tour, and Enotour had a number of other great-sounding wine and food tours that I wish we’d had the time to do as well!
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| Santiago Murals |
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| Santiago Murals |
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| Santiago Mural |
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| Santiago Market |
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| Wine at the top of Santiago at sunset! |
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| THE best oysters- and wine!!! |
Chef Dan and I had a unique and delicious "Chile Discovery"
dinner at Borago in Santiago, one of THE top-rated restaurants in the world!
Borago, the creation of Chef Rodolfo Guzman, is truly a trip thru Chile's food, culture, art, and geography, through a series of delicious (and exquisitely beautiful) small plates and
wines- all the foods and wines are Chilean, as are
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| Tapas and wine on the Wine Bar Route... |
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the serving plates and
presentation concepts- even the bottled water was Patagonian rainwater! The
restaurant is elegant and the service was relaxed and totally charming; we were
told the background and story of each dish (which is extremely important) in
English :-) We both wished some of the dishes had been a bit larger as they
were so delicious, but we were full by the time we finished dinner! The restaurant gave Chef Dan and I a lot of ideas for things to do at our inn in West Virginia, and we highly recommend this restaurant for "foodies", and those
truly interested in Chile food, wine, geography, and culture, and in having a
unique, as well as delicious and aesthetically pleasing (and romantic) dining
experience! Note that it is not inexpensive, but it’s not “insane”: the
complete "discovery" dinner, including wines and tip, cost us approx. $220, and they do accept
US credit cards. (Note that if you're looking for an
all-you-can-eat bargain cafeteria you will NOT be happy here!) Borago is on the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants: https://www.theworlds50best.com/the-list/21-30/Borago.html For photos of some of their amazing dishes, see: http://www.starchefs.com/cook/photos/chef-rodolfo-guzman-borago-santiago-chile
For our next two nights in Santiago we stayed at the Hotel Loreto in the fun Barrio
Bellavista neighborhood and really enjoyed it- it's in a great location where almost everything was
within walking distance, and the area has great wall mural street
art, lots of cafes, bars, markets, music, and the lovely "Patio Bellavista" for
outdoor dining and boutiques! Note that at the Hotel Loreto (we got a great
deal on Expedia), as in every place we stayed in Chile with the
exception of the Hilton Garden Inn, we had a shower, not a bathtub! The staff was extremely nice, and our
guest room had a lovely little balcony that overlooked a garden
courtyard; we were very happy with it. We'd definitely return there if
we’re lucky enough to get back to Santiago! (And as there was so much we didn't have time to do, I'm hoping we will!) Patio Bellavista was fun- very much like Bryant Park in Manhattan! We shopped the cute boutiques (We both fell in love with the sweet little lapis lazuli penguins; I got two tiny ones I'd love to somehow turn into jewelry, and Dan got a lapis penguin wine-stopper!), and had a nice lunch and dinner (more great Peruvian-style ceviche, and a delish Chilean corn meal and beef casserole) in their outdoor cafes.
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On a recommendation from one of the lodgings I'd emailed, we arranged to rent a car from Rosselot, the Chilean car rental company, at the Santiago Airport, and they were GREAT! Rosselot was THE best car rental experience overseas we've EVER had, and a very good deal: the small Kia manual car we rented cost us $450.00 for 9 days. There were no extra charges, no "surprises" when we returned the car, and no "funny business" with being blackmailed into signing blank credit card forms like Europacar/Sixt did to us- no problems at all! When I emailed them to inquire about a rental they responded immediately, and in excellent English, and everything went smooth as silk! By contrast, the "famous" car rental companies, such as Avis and Hertz, were NOT cooperative, were more expensive, and made it clear that they didn't want our business. And you know what? They didn't get it! Advice for renting a car overseas: Email the hotel concierges at the places you will be staying and ask for their recommendations; and if at all possible, use local companies! Hubs is comfortable driving stick (manual), and as gas is expensive in Chile we wanted a small car that would get good gas mileage, so we chose the cheapest car they had- a little Kia- and it was fine! It cost us about $50 to fill the tank each time (we used our US credit/debit card at all the gas stations), and there were frequent tolls on the major highways; each one was about $5. Santiago's freeway has an "automatic toll", too, and we had an "Easy Pass"-type box attached to the car that dinged every few minutes as we drove the highway. But as we were only in Santiago to drive out of it in the beginning and back into it at the end of our stay, it wound up costing us only about $20.
Chile is VERY long- basically thousands of miles of coastline!- and when I started planning this trip I rapidly discovered that the driving distances are incredible! As a result, with only 13 nights (I wish we'd made the trip 3 weeks long instead of 2!), we could only really stay in the center of the country, which is where most of the wine valleys are; getting up to the deserts of the north and south to Patagonia and Easter Island will have to wait for another trip win!
After 4 nights in Santiago, we picked up our car at the airport and headed north to see the penguins! This was something both Dan and I were very excited about, as the Humboldt Penguin Reserve off Punta de Choros was the only place within a reasonable driving distance where we could see penguins- which neither of us had ever seen in the wild! Our intention was to spend the night in Pisco El Qui and do some pisco tastings at the distilleries along the way, but the driving time turned out to be a LOT longer than I'd calculated, and the distilleries all closed at 6pm! At sunset we found ourselves in La Serena, and wound up having a lovely dinner at Tololo Beach- a place I found in Frommer's Guide to Chile as we were driving, and which, happily, was one of the only beach restaurants open- it not being yet "the season". Frommer's described Totolo Beach as an inexpensive beach "toes in the sand" restaurant with good food, leading me to believe it was basically a seafood shack- which would have been fine- but it turned out to be a beautiful and elegant restaurant with a lovely outside patio on the beach, complete with wicker sofas and white umbrellas in the sand- THE perfect place to have romantic sunset drinks and a delicious seafood dinner! The restaurant is obviously a favorite of the local business men and women who filled the dining room; we were the only tourists! Chef Dan treated himself to a 5-year old Gold Pisco, and we sipped it like you would a good scotch; I had a Pisco Sour, and, as usual, we had excellent Chilean wine with our entrees; we wound up buying a bottle of wine, and got to take the unfinished bottle with us!
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| Leaving Santiago... |
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| Chilean wine county... |
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| Going through the mountain tunnel... |
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| Chilean desert... |
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| Railfanning Chile! |
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| Dinner on Tololo Beach... |
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| Tololo Beach |
After dinner we continued the drive north to Punta de Choros, as I was convinced (unlike Dan...) that we'd find one of Chile's famous "Love Motels" to spend the night at along the way. Nope! We wound up arriving at Cabanas Amarilis, in Punta de Choros, after midnight, and a day ahead of schedule, totally exhausted (and a little stunned from encountering wild horses in the middle of the road as we drove into town in pitch-black darkness...), and we were SO happy (and amazed, frankly!) to find that the lovely, charming lady who owns the cabins (Sylvia) was able to give us our cabin a night early- and seemed genuinely happy to see us, even at midnight! I found Cabanas Amarilis in Frommer’s Guide to Chile, and emailed them for a reservation, and although the email sent back to me was in Spanish, I could understand about 80% of it, and was reassured that we did, indeed, have a reservation! As it turned out, we were Very glad we came that night, as we were able to get a good night’s sleep and have breakfast before taking the fishing boat out to the Humboldt Penguin Reserve- which was GREAT! We got to see the Humboldt Penguins, sea lions, pelicans, other sea birds nesting on the rocks, and even dolphins, which playfully danced around our little boat and gave us quite a show! (Our only regret is that we couldn't understand 90% of what our fisherman guide was explaining; we would have Loved a tour in English- but we were the only Americans on the tour!) Sylvia walked us to the boat dock (where Dan helped her release a small sea bird she had rescued), and helped us get tickets (we were the only non-Spanish speaking tourists), and later that afternoon walked us around town and the beach, and recommended restaurants, showing us everything the area has to offer. We were there in December, not in “the season” (which starts in January), when the little beach town is apparently packed to the rafters; it was very quiet, peaceful, and romantic... Everything was walking distance from our cabin, and we had yummy fish and seafood meals in the two little restaurants that were open: super-fresh grilled and fried fish and abalone, with, yes, more great Chilean wine! Our cute little cabin was lovely, surrounded by flowering plants and shells, Sylvia’s breakfasts were delish, and we were totally happy there! We would definitely go back, and highly recommend it!
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| Cabanas Amarilis |
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| Sylvia and Dan rescue a bird! |
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| On the boat to see the penguini! |
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| PENGUINI! |
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| Penguini! |
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| Penguini! |
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| Punta de Choros |
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| Punta de Choros |
After our two nights in Punta de Choros, we got off the main highway and headed south along the coast to Valparaiso, a UNESCO World Heritage Site city. Coming down the winding mountain road from Punta in the morning made us both Really glad Dan had driven it at night in the dark when we couldn't see enough to be freaked out! We drove south along the coast, driving thru Rincon, with its terraced apartments overlooking the sea, and Vina del Mar, and it was so beautiful that I literally started crying- I felt SO lucky to be in this beautiful place with the man I love more than anything! We got to Valparaiso in the late afternoon and had a lot of "fun" trying to find our lodging; Valparaiso is all about Hills - lots and lots and lots of Crazy Hills- think San Francisco squared... and just because you're on Artilleria Street at the Bottom of the hill doesn't mean that the address you want on Artilleria Street on Top of the hill is anywhere near! We stayed at the Yellow House Bed-and-Breakfast (on TOP of the hill! LOL) for 3 nights; our guest room had a glass wall of windows on an AMAZING view of the port that I will never forget! Australian Martin and his
Chilean wife and staff were charming and helpful, and the breakfasts were lovely; we highly recommend this B-and-B if you're lucky enough to be in Valpo!
I found the Yellow House through my email correspondence with Boris at Cooking Classes Chile (right across from the Yellow House), which I'd seen written up on the blog The Travel Chica...
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| On the road to Valpo... |
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| The road to Valpo... |
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| VALPARAISO!!! |
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| Valpo at night... |
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| View from our room at the Yellow House |
We had a GREAT great day with Cooking Classes Chile, including a walking tour through unique Valparaiso neighborhoods with great architecture and wonderful wall murals, riding several of the extremely cool antique funiculars up and down the mountain, taking the bus and metro (just like real Valparaisians! LOL), shopping (and tasting!) at the Historic Seaport's fish/seafood market, shopping at the veggie market, a fun, group lunch with live Valpo guitar music, and an excellent cooking class with Chef Andreas to top it all off! If you've only one day to spend in Valpo, this is the way to spend it! We had a great time preparing a number of Chilean dishes (razor clams baked in their shells with butter, cheese, and cream; empanaditas, a classic Chilean baked crab casserole, and pears poached in red wine), and learning to make Pisco Sours, and then enjoyed the 'fruits of our labors' with Chilean wine! The fish market beach, with people feeding the happy sea lions and pelicans, was a total surprise and amazing fun; the atmosphere was great, with all the colorful fishing boats, and the fresh seafood and fish were fabulous delish! We got to taste excellent, fresh urchin and ceviche, too, and buy crab and clams for our cooking class!
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| Morning coffee with kitty! |
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| From the tram window... |
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| The train, from the tram... |
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| Valparaiso... |
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| Taking the metro... |
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| Valpo Fish Market |
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| Tasting sea urchin in the market! |
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| Valpo market |
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| Valparaiso |
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| The famous Valparaiso Murals... |
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| Valpo murals and kids... |
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| Valpo |
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| Valpo Tram - going up! |
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| Valpo Mural |
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| Chef Dan at work... |
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| Razor Clams! |
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| Making Pisco Sours... |
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| Baked Crab... |
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| Stuffing Razor Clams... |
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| Chef Dan makes Empanaditas! |
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| Empanaditas! |
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| Desert! |
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| Wine-Poached Pears |
Because we were repeatedly advised that pickpockets are such a problem in Valparaiso that we should absolutely not to carry a purse or even a wallet, we used our PortaPockets on waist straps under our clothes while in Valparaiso and they worked great! (Freed up our hands to carry stuff, too!) PortaPockets are different sized pockets that attach with Velcro or belt loops to adjustable wrist, leg or waist belts, and they hold just about anything you'd want to carry, from cash and credit cards to glasses or a digital camera! We've used our PortaPockets on either arm or waist straps doing everything from sailing to horseback riding to jet skiing to ATVing, and they have turned out to be THE BEST travel item we've Ever purchased!
After navigating the winding, 75-degree-incline streets of Valparaiso on our way up to the Yellow House (Dan was fine with it, but I had moments when not being able to see the street beneath our car freaked me out a bit!), we happily parked our rental car in front of the B-and-B and didn't go near it for 3 days! Martin recommended
several very good local restaurants that we could walk to from the Yellow House, including Casa Quatro Vientos, where we had our first dinner in Valparaiso: a delicious, romantic, and elegant dinner of Chilean dishes (I had delicious octopus ceviche and that classic Chilean baked crab casserole), excellent Chilean wine, and a breathtaking view! The service was charming and gracious, and we loved the Chef's Tasting Desert of fruit flans and sorbet. The other place he recommended was Cafe Postal, and our last night in Valparaiso we enjoyed empanadas and a bottle of Chilean Chardonnay up on their rooftop with that "million dollar view" of the port!
Martin also arranged a great day
tour for us with Michael, the "German Pirate of Valparaiso", who took us for
tastings at two fine Casablanca Valley wineries, the William Cole Winery and Casa del Bosque, and for a delish seafood lunch at a picturesque
fishing village where I got to indulge myself again on razor clams baked in cream and cheese! The highlight of the day was meeting the German Pirate's delightful retired engineer friend at his beautiful home in Quintero overlooking the sea, and getting to visit his private museum- especially his incredible collection of working model trains and boats he built that physically illustrate Chilean history!
The final, wonderful stop on our 13-night trip was 4 nights at Mapuyampay, a lovely "Gastronomic Resort" about 2.5 hours south of Santiago. We found it through one of my posts on the TripAdvisor Chile Forum, and we loved it so much that although we had only booked 3 nights, we wound up staying for 4! Created by international chef and wine expert Ruth Van Waerebeek, and her husband, Vicente Escobar, Mapuyampay is a beautiful, romantic oasis in the Chilean countryside at the foot of the Andes. The Chilean wine-pairing cooking class dinner that started our stay was a highlight, and the dishes were so delicious that Chef Dan added several of them to the menu at our historic inn in West Virginia! We truly enjoyed our time there, our lovely, romantic guest room decorated with African art from their travels, their splendid puppies who won our hearts, and the truly delicious food: house-made gravlax and ice creams, a scrumptious grilled pork loin with a spicy quince-Merken glaze with a yummy, fresh pea puree with cream and nutmeg (that is now on the Elkhorn Inn's Menu), tuna ceviche in paper-thin cucumber rolls (and yes, I bought Chef Dan a Mandoline so he can make it at the Elkhorn Inn!), served with a spicy Asian dipping sauce, a Passion Fruit Souffle... all accompanied by excellent Chilean wines, of course!
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| Chile... |
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| Buying strawberries.... |
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| On the way to Mapuyampay... |
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| Roadside shrine... |
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| Cooking at Mapuyampay |
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| Cooking with Chef Ruth |
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| Cooking at Mapuyampay |
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| Dan, grilling with Vicente |
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| Dinner at Mapuyampay |
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| Pork Loin with Quince-Merken Glaze |
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| Our guest room at Mapuyampay |
Ruth recommended places we should go, such as to the fascinating and world-class Colchagua Museum in Santa Cruz (and gave us excellent directions!), and arranged wine tastings for us at nearby Colchagua Valley wineries Montes and Miguel Torres...
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| At the Santa Cruz Museum |
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| Chilean vineyards... |
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| At the Santa Cruz Museum |
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| Mine Rescue Exhibition |
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| Vina Montes |
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| Vina Montes |
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| Vina Montes |
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| At Cardoen's Automobile Museum |
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| Cardoen's Automobile Museum |
We stopped at a Chilean supermarket to buy "foodie" things to take home, including quince paste, Merken, the Chilean hot pepper spice mixture, canned seafood, and palm honey- MUCH cheaper than at the airport! We then went to the nearby Vina San Pedro Winery, where Dan finally found his Reisling! After our visit to the Museum in Santa Cruz we decided to go to Cardoen's Automobile Museum in Lolol, which we Thought must be right nearby... Not! The museum had just opened and it's pretty amazing- the "Back to the Future" DeLorean is one of the exhibits, and the curator told us that Cardoen has 6 warehouses full of cars that have yet to be cataloged! An arms dealer who is evidently persona non grata in a number of countries, he's been using his billions to buy extraordinary collections connected to Chile's history, and has created a world-class museum of Chilean history and culture in Santa Cruz- and in the process literally put his city on the map! The Santa Cruz museum, has, among other things, incredible collections of ancient Chilean archaeological artifacts and jewelry, carriages, the Chilean Mine Rescue exhibition, and a steam train by the restored train station! (It also has a lovely gift shop where I got a beautiful belt and a bottle of Boldo Leaf Liqueur, a Chilean specialty that I had to try!)
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| THE Back To The Future DeLorean! |
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| Vino San Pedro wine tasting |
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| Vino San Pedro wine tasting |
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| Mapuyampay's gardens |
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| Mapuyampay |
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| Elisse, dressed for the Chilean countryside... |
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| Cuban rum! |
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| Feeding the goats with Chef Ruth at Mapuyampay |
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| With Chef Ruth at Mapuyampay |
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| At Mapuyampay- playing with their puppies... |
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| Dinner at Mapuyampay |
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| At Diaz Guerrero |
Ruth also arranged for us to do a superb olive oil tasting at the boutique olive oil crafter Diaz Guerrero, that was an incredible eye (and nose) opener- it totally rocked Chef Dan's taste-buds- and mine! Diaz Guerrero makes small batches of medal-winning olive oil from three varieties of olives that they grow there: Arbequina, Frantoio, and Picual. We not only got to learn what makes a great olive oil, but to distinguish, in a "blind" tasting, using blue-colored glasses, between good and bad oils! We learned the technique of tasting olive oil by sucking the oil back into your throat, and just enough to be dangerous, LOL, and to be able to do olive oil tastings for out guests at the Elkhorn Inn! We also brought back some of their special olive oils that are not yet available in the USA!
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| At Diaz Guerrero |
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| In the Diaz Guerrero olive groves... |
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| At Diaz Guerrero |
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| Tasting olive oils at Diaz Guerrero |
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| At Diaz Guerrero |
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| Lunch on the road! |
Ruth also arranged for us to go horseback riding around the beautiful vineyards and through the nearby village, which was a fun adventure! We got to walk, and we got to trot, and we got to gallop... and let's just say that my experience on a prancing Chilean rodeo horse Totally humbled me as a horsewoman! LOL Our days at Mapuyampay were wonderful and we would love to return there; we Highly recommend this beautiful place, and the lovely, talented couple who created it!
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| Riding around the vineyards... |
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| Elisse on her Chilean Rodeo Horse... |
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| A view from my prancing, Chilean Rodeo Horse... |
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| Prancing by the Chilean vineyards... |
The day of our flight back to the USA we left Mapuyampay and drove back to Santiago, at Ruth's suggestion stopping at Jumbo, Chile's answer to Wal-Mart, which is also filled with crap from China, LOL, to buy, yes, another suitcase- to hold all the wine and food we'd purchased! When we got to the airport we did an epic re-packing, artfully wrapping 39 glass bottles of wine and olive oil(!), plus all the foodie things we'd bought, including the Merken, quince paste, and cans of palm honey and seafood, in plastic bags and our clothing, and then praying it would all arrive home intact! And it did- see the photo below! (It took 4 days, however, as Beckley WV's airport lacks a reliable taxi service...) It's my belief that everyone has at least one talent... and mine is apparently wrapping glass bottles in my clothing. ;-)
We had a last couple of Pisco Sours (in Pepsi cups, LOL) at the airport bar, called, quite appropriately, The Last Pisco Sour, and then flew our 20 hours of flights back to West Virginia... whereupon Chef Dan added our new, delicious Chilean dishes to the Elkhorn Inn's Menu for our guests!
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| The Last Pisco Sour... |
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| The Chilean wine and olive oil all made it home to WV! |
Have you been to Chile? What were the things you did (or ate or drank) there that you enjoyed the most?
Tell me in the Comments!
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