Roll out the barrel.

From vineyards to the Virgin Mary to street vendors, these last two days have been a lot of fun. Yesterday Steph, Laura and I went to Viña Undurraga, which was our first small adventure outside of Santiago. We got to the bus terminal and after being slightly overwhelmed by all of the bus companies, we found exactly what we needed and ended up paying about $3 for a round trip to Talagante. We forgot to ask to be left at the tourist entrance to the vineyard so we got dropped off at the gate for the workers and had to hike it along the highway to get to the visitor’s entrance. We got there just before 1 pm, because according to my book there were tours at 1 and 3:30. Not to my knowledge my book is a little out-of-date and the tours are now at 2:30 and 4. Needless to say, we hung out inside the gate of the vineyard, getting hungrier by the minute (only to discover later that there is a grocery store literally 200 meters away) until the starting of the tour, and had fun exploring, making Samantha Brown videos and snapping cheesy photos.
We originally wanted to do the tour in Spanish so we could practice a little, but the tour guide came over to us beforehand and asked if we wanted to do it in English (and he strongly recommended it). So, we did, and we ended up being the only three people on the tour. And we did not even have to pay more for our own personal tour guide! Que rico! The tour included a tour of the grounds of the viña, which was the first Chilean vineyard to export wine and sits on about 300 hectares of land in the foothills of the Andes, a tour through the mini museum and the aging rooms for the barrels.
Of course there was a tasting afterward (which was not the best idea on a stomach that had not seen food in 7 hours) and although Italian wine boasts its delicacy, the four wines we tried were exquisite. We made our way back to the bus and enjoyed the cramped space and burning hot sun the whole 40 minutes back to the bus terminal.

I came home, not to Mama Maria, but to Barbara, my host mom’s niece, and her 3-year-old, Esperanza who was a little girl with quite the attitude. She let me color in her Mickey Mouse coloring book with her and after they left I spent the night recovering from a long, hot day.
Today we did a little Santiago sightseeing. The three of us went to Cerro San Cristobal, which is a tourist hot spot that boasts an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of a mountain, as well as an unbeatable view of Santiago. We rode a funicular up and meandered around a while, even though the afternoon was only drawing hotter by the minute. After descending the mount and entering back into the extremely visible Santiago smog, we searched the streets for a cheap, yet reliable restaurant for lunch and cheap is exactly what we found. After much pain-staking decision-making, we decided on a little place with a sandwich board displaying the dishes of the day out front. We sat down and within 30 seconds the waitress brought us salads, fresh peach and melon juices, and we ordered our meals. Luckily there were only three dishes to choose from so this made the process relatively “easy.” After being served a three-course, hearty lunch we were scared to see the bill, just because we are all watching our expenses and this was quite the meal. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that each person racked up a bill of about $4.75! Not only was the food good, but also the service was impeccable. We will return sooner rather than later.

We then walked over a disgustingly brown river and through a gorgeous park to the police station to get our visas registered, only to discover that it had closed an hour and fifteen minutes ago. We then made our way to the bus station and bought tickets for our first expedition! Within minutes we were able to book bus tickets to Valdivia, a southern coastal city, where we will be spending the next three days. We came back to my place and after booking a hostel, I was able to enjoy a nice, much barked at by stray dogs, jog in the evening sun and came back to a delicious dinner that had been waiting for me since lunch. Mama Maria really fits the bill for the Chilean hospitality, and I know for a fact that I will not go hungry anytime soon while in Santiago. I’ll be back on Sunday, pray for safe travels! Nos vemos!