Santiago Chili

Written By Dan:

We Arrived in Chile Tuesday, and were pleasently suprised by Santiago. We had been told Santiago was a big, dirty, city; but that is not the impression the city left with us. Santiago is a large city, and does have some of the drawbacks of over population, but it does not appear to be extremely dirty. It has a complex highway system built under the city (much like Boston), well kept high rises, and a good social scene. We all found it to be more inviting than Lima, Bogota, or Panama City. I am told the polution is a large problem since the city is surrounded by Mountains. However this is more previlant in the Winter.

We did not have much time in Chile, but we made the most of it. After our meetings yesterday we rented a guided taxi tour which took us to two vineyeards in Casablanca. Casablanca is a valley located between Santiago and Valiparsio. It is known around the world as producing some of the best white wines. I could talk for hours about the wines, but I'll concentrate quickly on the winery tours. The two wineries were quite different. The first, Emilana is an organic vineyard. Totally organic. Llamas cut the grass, chickens eat the worms from the ground, they use only organic fertalizer. It was a small production, and kind of reminded me of the farm.

the second vineyeard was called Indomita. It was a stark contrast from the first. It's large, expansive fields produced millions of bottles of wine each year, and containted a huge production facility. One neat part is the guided tour went through the entire process (the vine, the tanks, the storage, the drinking.....). We sampled a few bottles before, during, and after the tour.

On our trip back I felt like I was missing much of Chile. Kevin spent months in the country, and I was only afforded a few hours. While I think I did my best to see as much as possible in one day, I would like to return to see and do more. Chile offers every type of climate and activity - and can easily be a vacation onto it self. I hope to return one day to see and do more.