Chilean wine country: a little slice of paradise

After spending a few more days in Pucon, enjoying the hotsprings and volcanoes, we decided it was time to head for wine country.

Los Pozzones Hotsprings about 30km outside of Pucon that we rode to.

Chris and Sarah on top of the Villarica Volcano

We took the overnight bus from Pucon to a little town called San Fernando. Arriving at 6 in the morning, we put our bikes back together on the side of the panamerican highway and started cycling towards the Colchagua valley, one of Chile's most famous wine regions.

Our first stop was the Viu Manet viña.

Then we headed to Las Niñas viña.

We soon realized that it was much more economical to buy entire bottles of wine and drink them, rather than to pay to taste them all. Unfortunately, this makes cycling a little more difficult!

Near the end of the day, we were cycling by this house with a pool and, on a whim (and a few bottles of wine) decided to ask if we could swim in it. It's the kind of thing you would never do in Canada but somehow, in South America, it seems like the people would be offended if you wanted to ask but didn't.

We met Christian, who is studying human rights at the university in Santiago and was just on his summer break.

The next morning, we decided that our strategy from the day before wasn't so smart, so we did wine tasting the way you're supposed to. At the Estampa viña, we were introduced to their range of wines by Soledad, one of the owners of the winery. She had cycled the Carretera Austral previously and was really excited for us that we were on bicycles.

Of course, she invited us to stop and swim in the pool of one of her family's houses, about 30km down the road.

They had really beautiful dogs, who drank out of the pool on hot days.

We also got a tour of the property, including these little earthen structures that they use to make "carbon", which are like briquettes for the ubiquitous "asados", or barbeques, that happen here. They fill this little dome with wood and heat it by underground fire for two weeks until it all turns into little chunks of black carbon.

The next day, we arrived in Pichilemu, on the Pacific coast and met up with Christian who had invited us to stay in another of his parents' houses. I guess wine country is where the sort of people live who have multiple houses!

It was Chris' last night in the country, so we were finally convinced to go out dancing. We have so far been considered quite un-fun for leaving social events by 1 or 2am, but actually managed to stay up until the bar closed at 6am. It was pretty fun, and people here really know how to dance!

The next morning, we bussed into Santiago and got to work packing Chris' bike for the plane ride. It was a Sunday and very few things were open, so we had to piece together a box from four smaller kids bike boxes.

It was sad to say 'goodbye' again to Chris, but she keeps turning up in different parts of the world, so maybe I won't have to wait too too long to see her again.

Sarah had a few more days in Santiago, so we quickly set to work seeing all there was to see.

Sarah dancing salsa.

Public displays of affection are also a huge part of the culture. Most people live with their parents until they are married, so the parks are full of young people making out!

Phillipe, the guy we are couchsurfing with, is a huge cyclist, so he introduced us to the bike paths and took us up the Cerro San Cristobal, a little mountain in the middle of the city.

The view from there of Santiago was really stunning.

It's really interesting being in a city, not just as a traveller, but knowing I will be coming back to live here for four months while Nelson goes to school. I've been scoping out good neighbourhoods to live in and have already found my favourite vegetarian restaurant.

Today I'm off to Valparaiso, where I will spend the holidays. Apparently, after Rio de Janeiro, Valparaiso is the best place in latin america to spend New Years Eve. In the five days leading up to it, there is a 'cultural carnaval' happening - music,concerts, movies, parades, photography, poetry, and theater - much of it in the streets and for free.