Hiking and Concha y Toro

Im trying to decide if Im still buzzed from the wine I had earlier. Im on the fence.

Today has been a bit exhausting, although I think Im just exhausted from this trip as a whole and Im about ready to head home. We started off our day with a hike up a mountain south of Santiago in a small town that was popular a long time ago for the silver mining industry. After snowboarding yesterday, the hike was not the first thing I wanted to do but the effort was rewarded with a beautiful waterfall at the end and an encounter with their pet puma, Willow. Luckily, Willow was caged and caused us no harm except for a few squeals when he launched himself at the cage wall when trying to attack a nearby dog.

Speaking of dogs, a quick sidenote - on the first day in Santiago, we learned that there are a large number of stray dogs in the country. The government takes care of them and gives them shots so that they are completely safe and free to roam the city and towns. In fact, they have been very clean, friendly and fun to have around. It makes me want a little pup of my own even more.

Anyway, after our small taste of the great outdoors we headed to a nearby restaurant made out of cypress trees that were bent and molded. Imagine the Hansel and Gretel house except much bigger. Or maybe even something similar to Gaudi stuff in Barcelona. It was very cool looking. After a delicious lunch and a half bottle of wine (that comes standard with every meal, unlike water which you have to special order), we went to our second winery Concha y Toro.

Concha y Toro is the largest winery in Chile and is probably familiar to people in the US. It was tourist central and not the kind of winery I particularly like. We were only able to try 2 wines for free - a crappy carmenere and a $100 bottle cab sauvignon, neither of which inspired us to purchase them. I was unimpressed with the winery and the experience and am happy with the two free wine glasses I received. (I was only supposed to get one but fandangled myself one more.)

Tomorrow I plan to go to a local wine store tomorrow with some folks to pick up some good stuff. I also plan to finally get some shopping in, but have no idea what I might find. This one girl on my trip is on a mission to get a good pair of boots. Since its nearing the end of their winter here, I hear they are on sale. If I happen to stumble across a good pair, who am I to resist? :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final chapter of this Chilean adventure...