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The day of the flight to Chile was a weird one, and one that we will probably never experience again. Because we were flying from GMT+10 to GMT-10 and crossing the date line, we took off at 6pm, had an 11 hour flight then landed the same day at 1pm. This meant that 1st May for us was 44 hours.
We found our hostel in Santiago, which was in the quarter known as Bellavista. Very "boho" the reviews call it. We headed straight for the nearby mountain, and went up it on the funicular, which looked like a 60 degree angle to us!! We made it to the top where there were panoramic views of the city, and you could just make out the Andes (Santiago is very smoggy) which tower over the city.
After a couple of local beers, (which are called Kunstmann) we headed back to the bottom and had a drink in a bar called Otro Sitio, which is apparently one of the best bars in the world.
The following day, we walked around the old centre and had a coffee on the plaza. After an hour of wandering, we headed off due to the Labour day marches, which were about to start.
Apparently the best way to see the city was aboard the tourist bus, so we jumped on and started the tour. After 2 minutes we got off to look at the presidential palace. The Police presence was amazing, as was the number of people adorned in "tank tops". Yes, people love tank tops in Santiago.
Back on the bus and taking in the sights, we went to the biggest Mall in Latin America, to book a trip for the following day.
Our trip was the "tren del Vino", an old (1920´s) steam train, which takes you to Santa Cruz. The journey was fabulous, as we were in the restaurant car with the local wine expert. On the way, we "tested" 5 different wines and passed numerous vineyards, most of which were turning red since it is Autumn.
On arrival (and rather tipsy) we went to the MontGras vineyard, where we learnmt about the various types of grape used, the production process, and yet another tasting session. The highlight was walking around the vineyard, being able to pick the grapes and taste them.
We then went on to a museum, the most important in Latin America, which amazingly was a private collection. There was everything from fossils and ancient skeletons to Steam trains and cars.
When we got back to Santiago, we had dinner in Otro Sitio and then got ready for the next phase of our journey. Buenos Aires.
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