santiago, chile.

mendoza was very fun and relaxing.. we wandered the streets full of cafes and restaurants.. fell asleep to rain drumming on the rooftop.. walked the markets.. and booked a bicycle wine tour.

taking the local bus to the bike rental shop - [which was supposed to take about 20 minutes], and ended up taking almost an hour.. we were unsure of where we were going to end up exactly, [the thought of missing out on wine must have given us an acute sense of direction..] we ended up finding it after getting off a stop too late, and were rushing to get to our first appointment..

the first tour was of a very small bodega.. they produced about 40,000 bottles of wine a year.. we sampled two wines, both quite sweet.. they were the primary producers of church wine in argentina with a long history of passing the business down the family to the next generation. because we started the first tour a little tardy, we were again rushing to our next appointment.. with liquid motivation we pushed on, despite the sweltering heat.. mike's front tire wobbling and on the verge of collapse.. danelle's front tire disintigrating upon arrival.. and mine stuck in between gears and squeaking to no avail.. we somehow managed to be on time, the 5km ride seemingly infinite.

the second bodega was much larger.. they produced something like 260,000 bottles a year.. we lunched on fresh bread, fruit, and cheese.. sampled some fabulous reds.. enjoying this tour far more than the last.. possibly because the rest was much more appreciated.. we called the tour company and they arrived a short time later to 'fix' our miserable bicycles.. not sure whether we would make the third tour in time, we pushed through those 5km in half the time it took us to get there.. we made it with time to spare.. and looking every bit as though we had just hammered through 5km on half-par bikes..

the third tour, the norton bodega, took the cake. we had a private guide, being the only english-speakers in the group.. she was great.. funny, relaxed.. we asked a lot of questions.. she, sampling the wines along with us, talked about the qualities of the wines they produced and the differences between the stainless steel compartments and the oak barrels.. the taste quality was surprisingly substantial.. [of course it comes with a price..] they produced something like a million bottles of year.. crazy standing next to compartments holding thousands of liters of wine at a time..

heading home with 17km under our belts and a couple bottles in our backpacks, we washed up and slept well.. the next day leaving mendoza to santiago. our 6 hour bus turned into 10.. protestors blocking the road a short distance before the chilean border for about half an hour, and the border crossing taking almost 2 hours.. dao, our couchsurfing host, was waiting for our phone call upon arrival.. we taxied over and after some visiting, happily went to bed..

dao is a full-time musician and a full-time couchsurfing host. he has been so fabulous.. our first day in the captial, we did lots of walking.. going to cultural museums.. local food markets.. hiking cerro san cristobal.. we went out dancing that night with some of his friends.. vip hookups.. lots of fun. on saturday we went out to valparaiso and spent the night with some of his friends out there.. more dancing.. lots of walking around the beautiful port city.. the next morning, more sightseeing.. watching his friends band play.. and hanging on the beach all afternoon before busing back to santiago.

chile has the best cuisine thus far.. [argentina being the beef capital, it's not exactly vegetarian paradise..] we have been cooking together, dao sharing his recipes with us.. it's fabulous. today danelle, mike and i had our first day of spanish school.. it's a one week course and i am very excited about it.. i've had verbs and conjugations swirling through my head all day.. which means, time to sign off and get to bed.. class in the mañana!