First day, tired taxi from airport, met Tommy from Chile and had some tea which he loved because I was English, walked around parque forestal and had a look at central market, took a nap then went to Sky Costanera for sunset, accidentally ordered a ‘completo’ which I thought was a Hot Dog but was the biggest sandwich I’ve ever seen. Had drinks with Alba and this guy from Germany.
Went on the walking tour to the local markets and largest and oldest cemetary in Santiago with the ‘free’ walking tour. Went with Alba and Harry from Leeds who spoke fluent Spanish which was handy. Philipe the guide was awesome. Went to exchange some money to get some Bolivian Bob but proved harder than I thought. Went up Cerro St Cristobal - had to walk because a massive group came and took the last funicular tickets. At the top it was amazing BUT I couldn’t get the cable car as it was closed for maintenance. On the way down I accidentally wandered into a large protest and got tear gassed on the way in, luckily got out of there before they got sprayed with the high pressure water hoses. Chilled in the hostel with Jack and Becky from Surrey and got recommendations for rest of South America, then got some drinks with a couple Brazilians, Bruno and co in the hostel bar.
Headed to Casablanca valley for a self made wine tour and tasting at Bodega RE winery, Ramon gave me a private tour around the place and the wine was fucking incredible,. Im not much of a wine guy but wow. Then managed to somehow get a bus to Valparaiso and ran to get the walking tour of the city. We were part of the largest group they had since 2018 and they were lovely, met Andrew from aus, Camille from canada and Alex from Germany on the tour and grabbed dinner and drinks after before heading back (only just) to Santiago on a bus again with terrible Spanish.Read more
October 17, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C