Santiago Chile

After travelling over 6000 miles and 12 hours we finally arrived in Santiago and was transferred to the Grand Hyatt Hotel where we had a quick lunch and met the others in our group.  We were then taken on a tour of the city where we visited the Cerro San Cristobal which is a 1000 feet hill above the city.

 



After taking some pictures we visited Bocanariz which is a must if you find yourself in the trendy neighborhood of Lastarria.  This is a wonderful restaurant that has over 300 Chilean wines and very good food.  We were greeted with some of the best Chilean wines and appetizers by Daniela who is the owner. Also we were shown the great wine cellar they have down below.

 

Back to the hotel for a quick change and then off to a local restaurant "Emillio"where we met Emillio as this is his signature restaurant.  Here we were introduced to our first Pisco Sour.

 

  Here is the famous Emilio showing us the perfect way to make a pisco sour and then treating us to a wonderful Peruvian dinner combined with Chilean dishes and wine.

 

A long first day but a real introduction into what Chile has to offer us.

Casablanca Wine Valley

Woke up early and had a wonderful buffet breakfast before leaving for the Casablanca Wine Valley
where we visited The Matetic Vineyard. This is about a 2 hour drive from Santiago. The Matetic family owns the entire Rosario valley Estate which is in the San Antonio area.  This is the cool part of the Casa Blanca and just 20 km from the sea which enables it to benefit from the seabreezes in the afternoon.  There is also a luxurious guesthouse called LaCasona which is a century old estate that has been restored and redesigned.
Here also you will find the Equilibrio Restaurant where I had one of the best shrimp salad as all of their dishes are prepared with the freshest ingredients.  The salad was served with a very good bread and Matetic wine.



 



 

 

 

La Casona has seven large rooms all with a private bathroom and a king bed or 2 single beds.  It is set in a beautiful garden area.  Here you can horseback ride, bicycle, or tour the winery.  This is a perfect location if you would like to spend a couple of nights after your cruise and before you leave out of Santiago.

 

As we travelled thruout the Valley we kept being met by a helicopter.  In the helicopter was a photo team from National Geographic that was in Chile for 6 weeks filming.  They also stopped at some of the wineries.  We hope to see their documentary in January or February.

 

After driving back to Santiago we felt that we learned all about the Chilean wines and enjoyed the beautiful countryside.   

Valle California

Today we got up really early so that we could fly from Santiago to Puerto Montt and then take a charter plane to our accommodations.
 After arriving in Puerto Montt we were met and taken for a brief tour thru the town and then to our charter plane.  We had a plane just for the 11 of us-and flew to Santa Barbara.
Because of a rain storm we were not able to fly to the closest airport for our accommodations.  Therefore we were treated to a lovely lunch at a restaurant right on the ocean.  Then our group split up and 6 of us left for our Patagonia Sur accommodations.  The other 5 stayed for the next van to take them.  After 4 hours we arrived at Valle California only to see our other friends land in a helicopter about 20 minutes after we arrived.  Weather cleared up and they drove about an hour and then an 18 minute helicopter flight to the property.  We were really envious.

When we arrived we were greeted and given handmade slippers (made in the community)
 which we exchanged for our shoes and boots.  In the quincho we only wore those slippers and put our boots in the cubbies outside of the house.  We had so much fun sliding on the wood floors with our new slippers!

 

















Here our accommodations were in  Yurts
 and we had a quincho with a fireplace.

We had a wonderful dinner prepared by our own private chef.  The table was perfectly set.

 

 

 

 

Off to bed in our Yurt!!!!

Valle California in Patagonia Sur

Woke up early to rain but decided to get up and see what was happening.  Left our yurt and went to
breakfast in the Quincho.

 Now the decision if we get to go horseback riding.  It was beautiful and we had so much fun.  The horses were beautiful and very tame.

Came back and relaxed before lunch by the fireplace with a glass of wine.

Great lunch and dinners-- food presentation was great and a full bar.

  

  

We even went river rafting  today which was really fun.  Jim and I shared a kayak and went down the river.  We ended at the hot tub where we could warm up. It was really beautiful on the river.

  

Patagonia Sur

After a hearty breakfast in our quincho we were off to the town of Palena where the Patagonia Sur Foundation is and we were able to learn more about this local community and their customs. Here we met some of the women who had knitted or crocheted our slippers.  We also tried their mate tea and watched them spin the wool.  It was very interesting.

 

After being in the house we were invited out to see their organic gardens in which they produce most of their food.  They actually have greenhouses also as the temperature gets cold and it is very windy as we experienced.  Also on the farm were beautiful horses.

 



We went back to the quincho and had a very nice lunch.  Since the weather had cleared we then did another horseback riding adventure and rode horses to the Argentinan border which tooks us about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  It was really neat because you will see on one sign is Chile and the other one is Argentina.    

 

 



 

 

 

After a long ride we were ready to come back and get ready for dinner.  It was really a fun day.
There were only 6 of us left as the other 7 had left for Melimoyu in the helicopter.  We had a cozy dinner and were honored to have Carlos at the table.  He is the General Manager of Patagonia Sur and gave us a lot of information on the history of the property.  This was a membership only up until the past year. After dinner we sat around the fireplace and sipped our Baileys and then hit the hot tub for a few minutes before bed.  Off in the helicopter to Melimoyu tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 http://patagoniasur.com/subpage.php?sid=23&l=e

Patagonia Sur to Melimoyu

Up for a nice breakfast of omelets, orange juice, toast, fruit, etc.  We were told that we would probably have a window to fly around 11A so we took some last minute pictures, checked our email, packed and was off in the helicopter to the coast which is Melimoyu. After a quick flight (approx 1 hour) we arrived at our cozy Casa Bahía which sits at the edge of the remote Patagonian coastline,
where dramatic fjords and Mt. Melimoyu dominate the landscape, and the marine life is unparalleled. 

We had so much fun in the helicopter and flew low so we could see the scenery.

 



"Casa Bahía" was built by the Machuca family, the first homesteaders in Melimoyu. Newly renovated, it now features six elegant guest rooms, each with an en-suite bathroom. The house is also complimented by a wood-fired hot tub with views of the Melimoyu Bay.



We took a really beautiful hike when we arrived.

We were served a delicious lunch when we came back. Everything was homemade from soups to deserts.

  

Since the days are so long at this time-- not getting dark until around 10:30P we were able to still take another hike and then do some kayaking which was really a lot of fun.  It was cold but we were layered enough that it didn't bother us.  It was beautiful on the river-- so quiet and serene!

There is so many activities to do in the Patagonia Sur Reserves.  Everything from kayaking, fly fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking and nature walks, sea safaris, bird watching, community outreach, rafting and river float trips, and helicopter tours. All of this is operated by the bilingual Expedition Team.  The team includes highly experienced world class eco-guides as well as locals who bring insiders knowledge and the true essence of the place to every trip.  It really was nice to experience both properties and meet the team both places. They all are so kind and by the end of the stay you want to take them home with you.

  

We went back for dinner where they had been barbequing a lamb for most of the day in an outdoor barbeque.  

Dinner was great as always. The lamb was perfect.  Since we were all in the same house we had a really fun time sitting around talking.  It is a perfect place for a large family or friends. Exhausted we went to bed around midnight.   

Puerto Varas

What an interesting today we had today.  We got up and had a very  nice breakfast.  Then, since we weren't leaving until later in the day we had the choice of going out and finding the famous Darwin frogs or else going out in a boat and looking for whales and observing the sea life. Jim chose the frogs and I wanted to see the whales.

Now for the interesting part-- since it was pouing down rain and we still needed to get to the airport (actually just a landing strip) we had to take a 20 minute boat ride and then wait for our private charter to come in.  We had so much fun waiting for the plane-- taking panoramic pictures and hanging
out.

Then we heard the roar of our plane and so excited.

We flew to porto Montt and then drove Puerto Varas which is in the heart of southern Chile and checked into our beautiful Hotel Cumbres Patagonicas which is on the Lake Llanquihue.  Here we had a free night and since it was the day before our anniversary Jim and I chose to walk into town and go to a small little Chilean restaurant where we celebrated 38 years together.

Off to bed and ready for another adventure as we fly from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas.

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

We got up early and had a good breakfast before we departed for the Punta Montt airport.  Here we boarded our LAN air flight to Punta Arenas which is about 850 miles and tooks us about 2 hours.
We were greeted by the Singular Hotel rep who helped us with luggage collection and then transported us the 3 hours to the Singular Hotel.  As we were travelling we were able to see the gauchos shepherding their cattle and sheep.

 Upon arrival to this 5 star property, we were whisked away in a funicular to the hotel's lobby.  Here we were greeted and were escorted to our beautiful rooms.  Our rooms had a complete wall of glass which faced the the water and looked like a painting.
It was one of the most spectacular views I have ever experienced in a hotel room.
The Singular Hotel is a post victorian cold-storage plant built in 1915.  It originally was built to process and export frozen meat to Europe.  The factory was in operation for 70 years, generating work and contributing to the development of the region.  After a long period of neglect, the building was restored to its former industrial grandeur and as a result of the meticulous conservation, was delcared a National Monument in 1996. 

View from my room

Funicular to Lobby

.

 

They have restored the property with the old machines as was. We had a great tour around the property to show us this.

 

 

 

 

After our arrival we met in the cocktail lounge and given an outline of what our schedule would be for the next few days that we were there.

 

 

 

 

 We were finally going to see Torres del Paine the next day.  We had a really lovely dinner in the dining room.  Service was over the top as well as the Chilean wines.

 

 

Torres del Paine Park

TORRES DEL PAINE PARK

Today is the day that we have all been waiting for.  After our full breakfast from eggs to muffins, juices, fruits and great cookies we were off to the park.  We had to  layer and dress for the cold temperatures of the park and glacier.  It is a long drive-- over 4 hours.  We started out and stopped about an hour away for a rest stop.  Here we could buy some warm scarves and also see one of the Chilean borders into Argentina.  After about another 3 hours we stopped and all got out for our hike which was about 2 1/2 hours. 

After our hike we were treated to some hot chocolate which really hit the spot before we proceeded on another hike to the glacier.

 

This was the highlight of our day as we hiked to the glacier in freezy windy conditions-- almost blew us over but it was so beautiful and we were rewarded with drinks served with glacier ice.  Our guides had carried all of the drinks and glasses so we could taste the glacier ice.  What a treat!!!  

 

 



On our back to the hotel we saw the most amazing rainbow

What a great way to end a beautiful day!!!!