Travel - Santiago / Vinha del Mar

Pisco Sours

June 23 2007

I am so glad every country has a national drink. Brazil has Caipirinhas, Argentina has mate (OK, non-alcoholic), and Chile has the pisco sour. It keeps ordering in bars so simple; everyone is having one – or a beer. Like checking out all the top Mai Tais in Honolulu, we kept hopping from one place to another, rating them as we went.

We were staying in the Providencia district of Santiago, which was the closest one of the cities one could call charming.

While a river flows right through Santiago, it is apparently so polluted nothing can survive in it, but they are working on it as part of a three/four year plan.

The weather (again, it is now officially winter) was diabolical. Had one lovely morning, after a heavy rain, so the pollution cloud was almost gone, giving a majestic view of the mountains. The one day I was looking forward to fishing, was a cold, windy day, all day. Had hoped to take the cable cars/trams in Valparaiso, but it was just too cold and damp. Vinha del Mar had beach, surf, sea lions, but not enough clear weather to try for sea bass. Closest I came to one was with a fork. Lunch was superb, as the rain pelted down on the windows. It is June and I am trying to warm up by a fire in this castle-like restaurant. On the way back to Santiago, it started to snow – an event our guide could not remember ever happening. So much for global warming in South America. He said it was probably El Nina.