Santiago Chile

Our journey began with flights from Phoenix to Houston (2 ½ hours) and from Houston to Santiago (9 ½) on United.  Wonderfully boring and uneventful flights; the kind we all want.  Margo, who swears she can sleep anytime, anyplace, proved that was possible once again as she was able to sleep on the flight from Houston to Santiago.  Mark was awake the entire trip helping the pilot fly the plane.

Upon arrival in Santiago we were pleasantly welcomed by representatives from Seabourn, the cruise line on which we are traveling.  It was wonderfully helpful for them to meet us as soon as we came out of passport control, and escort us to get our luggage (which they already had waiting for us) and through customs.  Then off with our driver to take us to the Ritz Carlton in the Las Condes district of Santiago.

Our first impression of Santiago included the majestic Andes Mountains , the beautiful flowers, and the proud/happy people.  We saw this pride everywhere we went.  Margo took a short walk around the hotel (2 blocks in each direction) but didn’t want to venture too far lest she get lost. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur because we were both tired.

Saturday morning started off with some incredible Peruvian coffee in the hotel restaurant. After breakfast, Mark introverted while Margo walked about a mile to the Costanera building, which at 64 stories is the tallest building in South America.  After a quick shopping trip through the mall to get a couple of necessities, she rode the elevator to get amazing views from the 61st and 62nd floors.  It was a beautiful view, and there were informative signs to let you know at what you were seeing.  She found herself a little dizzy on the 62nd floor which was open to the sky with full glass walls for a 360-view.

As most of you know Margo is directionally challenged. When she asked for directions from the hotel she was told “walk 10 blocks then look up. You will see it. Just walk towards it”. He was right. Once there she realized she did not know how to find her way back!  We had reservations for a 1:30 wine tour, so she was motivated to get back on time.  Thanks to a Facebook post about her dilemma, son-in-law Dave said that while she was connected to Wi-Fi she could get directions on her phone, and then even when she was no longer connected to Wi-Fi, the directions would still work to get her back to hotel.  It worked, and thankfully, she made it back in plenty of time to enjoy the wine tour.

We departed about 1:45 for an hour drive north to the Santa Rita vineyard. If you haven’t tried Santa Rita wine, we highly recommend it. Their 1989 Casa Real was named a “wine legend” by Decanter Magazine.  Unfortunately, we were not able to taste because there are only 12 bottles remaining that they will only sell as a full case for $1,500 US dollars per bottle! We thought of our friends (Ken and Mary Ann, Chuck and Karen, Mark G. etc.) who would enjoy and appreciate the amazing wine with us but at last we decided to leave the bottles for some other lucky person to purchase.  

The tour was the most informative wine tour we have ever taken, where we learned more about wine and wine making than we had at any other vineyard. The wine we did taste, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet, and a grape that is unique to Chile, Carmenere, were excellent! 

Tomorrow we go to San Antonio to board our ship.  Thankfully, Mark called Sprint and was told to leave our phones in airplane mode to avoid exorbitant charges from the cruise line.  The Sprint representative said they see several thousand-dollar bills all the time from people who unwittingly use cell service on the ship.  We will continue to post as we have Internet access.