California! No sorry, I meant, Chile!

As international teachers, we keep a fairly stocked bucket list of destinations to visit. They usually end up on our list when we hear something slightly interesting about a place and I ask Nolan, “Could we go there?” and Nolan goes, “Yeah, baby.” We have already checked off many of these South American destinations, starting in our first year seeing Brazil for Carnaval, then the next year going to Colombia and, uhhhhhhh, Prague (hi Paige!), then spending time this past summer in Peru with our dearest friend Emily. As winter break approached for this year, Nolan and I wanted to do one more big trip and after toying around between a few ideas, we landed on Chile. While we hadn’t heard all that much about visiting this long and skinny country, we had heard enough to know that it sounded quite interesting! From Santiago to the desert and the beach and wine country, and of course Patagonia, it seemed like an amazing place to spend a few weeks. But, before I get started, I feel like I must address the fact that we skipped Patagonia on this adventure. While we have heard nothing but the best of things, a trip to Patagonia requires a lot of time, money, and specific packing for backpacking, and while that was possible, we wanted to spend so much time in the rest of the country that we decided to skip it and put it on a future trip to Argentina. 

So, the day after our last day of school we headed to the airport to fly out to Santiago. But, that didn’t come without its own hurtle. Our flight out of Quito was an early one, at 7 am. Nolan and I were so excited because this would be my first trip as an official Cope, and our first trip with our new passports! With those passports in hand, we hopped in our uber and started the long 40 minute drive to the airport. While in the car, I thought to myself about how excited I was to use my new passport! One thought led to another which led to another, and, hmmmmm… Nolan and I have visas in Ecuador that allow us to live here long term, and those visas are connected to our old passports. When the passport agents here in Ecuador would go to stamp us out of the country, they would look up my name and passport and come up with nothing! It hit me just as we were pulling up to the airport, we would definitely need to use our old passports to stamp ourselves out of the country… I let Nolan know what I was thinking and we made a game plan. Our first flight of the day was actually domestic, to the coastal city of Guayaquil. So, I stayed at the airport and utilized one of my greatest skills: staring at the gate to make sure the airplane didn’t randomly decide to leave. Nolan went back to our apartment and back just in time for boarding to start. 

While this wasn’t the relaxing start to our winter break that we had imagined, there's nothing like a little travel day blunder to get things exciting! And, once we landed in Guayaquil and went to leave the country through immigration, we did indeed need the old passports (phew!). 

The rest of our travel day, while long, was very smooth, and we landed in Santiago late at night with just enough energy to check in to our hotel and fall asleep.

In my opinion, there is really nothing more exciting than waking up in a new country. Outside of our tiny hotel room, we had no idea what to expect. What would the streets be like in the daytime? How would the people be? Would it feel safe, developed, clean? We were so happy to get out there, especially because it was dead set in the middle of summer. Literally, we spent the summer solstice, December 21st, in Santiago. This meant summer heat! I threw on my shorts and tank top and grabbed a wide brimmed hat, all articles I hadn’t worn since the past summer in California, and felt so excited to take on the city. 

Upon getting breakfast and starting to explore Santiago we realized quite quickly that we were going to like it there. We had slept in because of our extremely late flight, and at 11 am the city still seemed to be waking up. It felt like Spain in the way the people started to come out of their

houses and make their way into the streets so late. Our breakfast was delicious, and cheap, and we soon headed to a famous park that was just by our hotel. The park was set on a hill that had a castle winding its way up to the very top. As we ducked in and out of shade and wandered the paths up and around the hill and castle, I couldn’t escape the feeling that stayed with us through almost all of our trip in Chile: it was summertime, and JUST like California! If you know me, you’d know that there is nothing I love more than a summer’s day in California, and while I of course knew in theory that the Southern Hemisphere experiences opposite seasons, it wasn’t until I felt the dry breeze and the heating sun that I felt it. It was a California’s summer day. While we have spent time in hot places in the “winter months,” those places had always been tropical, a completely different kind of heat than I had grown up with. But, here in Santiago in the middle of December, the morning was cool and then started to heat up gradually until around 3pm, before cooling off into a long evening the way I had only experienced in California. And, let me tell you, I could not have been more thrilled. As we crested the top of the castle, getting our first look of the sprawling city, it was clear that this trip was going to be amazing. 

We spent our time in Santiago in two main ways: walking around the city and eating. While I love to plan out our time spent in different places, with little green flags popping up all over my Google Maps marking all of the spots I wanted to hit, I tend to make one main mistake. 98% of the places I research to go to are places to eat. And Santiago was THE PLACE to do this. In every corner of the city we went to, there were incredible restaurants, hipster cafes, and some of the best markets we have ever been to. We started out in the older part of the city, in an area called Lastarria. This neighborhood is characterized by winding streets, older buildings, and a European-like charm. This is where we were staying as well, and we loved having this as our beautiful introduction to the city. Shortly into our first day we made our way over to the tourist center, here known as the Plaza de Armas. We happened to stumble upon a wonderful (and free!) museum that detailed the history of Santiago, and we enacted our museum protocol: Nolan reads the signs and then explains them to me in ways I find more interesting. It was great to get a bit of history about this city before going on to explore. 

However, after exiting the museum and finding the aforementioned Plaza de Armas, we quickly realized this was not the area for us. While our morning had been spent walking around quaint streets with cafes and locals, we were all of a sudden completely surrounded with hoards of tourists and street performers, with restaurant workers shouting to come try their food and vendors approaching to come push their cheap goods, all on streets that smelled strongly of piss. While this plaza was by far the most famous place to visit in the city, and yes the church was beautiful, we very quickly retreated out of this area and off to another that seemed less touristy and more local. And we quickly found that just about every area in the city except for the highly

touristed plaza was absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful. As we were walking to another neighborhood called Bellavista, we found sprawling parks that were full to the brim with young locals lazing under trees in circles with their friends. There were small cafes that had specialty coffee and tea, bikers riding by, and we were surrounded by gorgeous museums. Also, while making this walk, we realized just how peaceful this city was. In Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, the constant sounds of South America surround you. Honking cars, near-constant traffic, sirens, and loudspeakers are the noises by which we live our lives on a day to day basis. However, here in the capital of Chile, we would approach a crosswalk and all of the cars would stop. There was no honking and no traffic, the cars were driving peacefully by. It was another moment in which we felt like we were back in California (you’ll notice how often I made this connection on our trip). And so, we put on our civilized human hats and would wait at the crosswalks like everyone else, not feeling the need to dash across the street and run for our lives from the coming traffic. 

We continued our walk, heading into Bellavista now where we came across a huge street fair. I was thrilled, and Nolan was going to be a wonderful husband and walk through with me. But, as we approached, I was completely bamboozled! It was a nerd fair! The streets were lined with anime paraphernalia and posters of TV shows, swords and old video games. Nolan was now thrilled, and I, of course, would be a wonderful wife and walk through it with him. 

And, while I wasn’t ecstatic about the nerd fair, it was amazing to see this kind of culture so vibrant and alive in this city. Places like this do not exist in Ecuador, there is no subset of culture the way you would find in a young and vibrant city. While it may not have been my crowd, it was wonderful to look around and see so many people taking advantage of different corners of the city. 

Then, when we thought there was no way our day could get better, we ran across a Taco Bell! What the heck! What is this place? We had to go, get burritos, and feel slightly disappointed but overall in awe of this city that just kept on giving. 

We entered the neighborhood of Bellavista and quickly learned why the Taco Bell and nerd fair were so close. This part of the city had a huge university, and the streets were full to the brim with students, restaurants, and bars. This place was hip! There was a huge market with lots of different kinds of vendors, and we quickly found what we were looking for, a cool brewery with

lots of different beers for Nolan to try. While he spent his time with a beautiful tasting of local beers, I got a Santiago mule, using Pisco as the alcohol! This was extremely exciting, because I adore pisco. If you don’t know (or didn’t read our blog post from Peru) pisco is a type of grape brandy that is well known in both Peru and Chile. The national cocktail of both countries is the Pisco Sour, which (spoiler alert) I would have many of in the coming weeks. But, it was so fun to try it in a mule, and we waited out the hottest part of the day in the most Californian way we could, spending time drinking at a hip brewery. 

After it cooled down we took back off into the streets, but just briefly as our next eating and drinking spot was very close by. We went to a very local Chilean restaurant with seating outside, and couldn’t believe it was 7pm by the time we got there because it was still bright and sunny outside, with the first hints of evening just peeking through. I got my first pisco sour of the trip while Nolan had a beer, along with some local specialities: first, sopapillas which are the Chilean equivalent of chips and salsa. They are spongy pumpkin based breads that come with a side of spicy chunky salsa. Along with those, we got clams covered in cheese and some empanadas. After finishing our dinner, we walked back to Lastarria where we found another street fair, this time a Jessica friendly one, and we marveled at the evening sun that was still hitting the tops of the buildings at 8:30 pm. Next, we walked to a tiny speakeasy where we grabbed a few more drinks (I had the best drink of the entire trip here, a watermelon pisco sour) before heading back to our hotel. 

We spent much of the next two days in the same way. Walking around the beautiful streets, eating delicious food, spending time in different parks, and then eating more food. Seriously, our main problem of our time in Santiago was that we were never hungry enough to keep eating as much as we wanted to. One of our major highlights of this time was taking an Uber to a different part of town, called Providencia. While most of what we had done so far was walkable, this area was quite far away, about a 15 minute drive. It was on this drive where we realized why the streets of Santiago are so peaceful: there is an underground freeway running the length of the city, right along the river. This freeway has exits onto the surface streets just like any normal freeway would, but above ground, it was virtually non-existent. There was no noise from the cars, and no traffic because of how smoothly it ran. As we exited this underground freeway we found ourselves in the middle of an extremely modern city, with blue walled skyscrapers reaching far into the sky. With the overlap of experiencing the incognito freeway and seeing the huge buildings in this area of town, we immediately realized just how modern this city is! Santiago is a place of business, of commerce, it's a place where things work and a city runs as a city should run. 

We of course ate, and then almost immediately, went to another place to eat more! This was when Nolan and I found our favorite place in the entire city. Underground of a huge business building was a modern market called Mercado Urbano Tobalaba. We were greeted into the market by a set of carolers and immediately felt the hip vibe of this place. On the upper floor of the market, there were art galleries, boutiques, recycling centers, and plant shops. There was ample seating everywhere, which is honestly incredibly rare to find in a big city. As we headed down, I swear it was like a heaven created for Nolan and I. The bottom floor was a giant food market with every single one of our favorite things. Just to name a few: a pizza stand, at least 3 coffee shops, a sandwich bar, a vegan restaurant, a pasta shop, an indian food buffet, two sushi

stops, a full Peruvian restaurant, a raclette stand, a croqueta bar, fridges full of artisanal beer, a stand over flowing with wine and cheese, a pastry shop, ice cream, and so much more. We walked around with our jaws on the floor, unable to consider making a decision. We walked around the market two times, marveling at all the food before we both stopped at the same place: the Indian food buffet. It had to be done. And it was magnificent. 

We eventually knew we had to do something other than eat so we decided to make like locals. We found a park to sit in and read our books while all of the thoughts of food continued to swirl in our minds. 

Our last night in Santiago was a special one, since one of our dear friends from Quito, Lorelei, was flying in and we had some time to have dinner together! After “accidently” going back to Mercado Tobalaba for lunch, we headed to Lastarria once again to meet Lorelei for a very fun pisco tasting. On the recommendation from our waiter, we got two flights of pisco, one from Peru and one from Chile. We enjoyed tasting the wide variety of what pisco had to offer, before heading to one last neighborhood that we hadn’t frequented quite yet. We had heard wonderful things about the Little Italy of Santiago and when we arrived, we immediately knew why. While the other parts of this city had been impressive and gorgeous, this neighborhood felt completely separate from the giant city we had been spending our time in. There were tiny restaurants and boutiques, and no building was more than two stories tall. Of course there were parks and people sitting in them, but it very much felt like a local place to hang out. To quote my father, it felt like a classic Redwood City night. 

We spent our time that evening at a brewery where we of course enjoyed more food, beer, and pisco sours. And, because South America really isn’t that big after all, one of our other friends from Quito walked in the door of the brewery! It is always so fun to see a familiar face in such a big city. 

While our stomachs were definitely telling us it was time to leave Santiago, we couldn’t help but feel like we had fully fallen in love with this city. It is by far our favorite city we have ever visited in South America. For its food, parks, people, and modernity, we could not recommend it highly enough. 

But, on to the next! This portion of our trip came highly recommended from everyone we talked to about Chile. It always went, “You’re going to Chile? Then you must be going to the Atacama Desert, right?” So we did! Apparently full of beautiful, natural wonders and otherworldly landscapes, we thought to ourselves, why not? 

There’s two main ways to do the Atacama Desert. Basically everyone who goes stays in the same town, San Pedro de Atacama, and from there there are two ways that you can go exploring. First, you can take tours. Each tour will take you to a different spot where you can enjoy and walk around, and then back to the town where you can take off on another tour. Or, you can rent a car and drive to all of the different spots yourself. Nolan and I had no doubt that we would be taking the second option (we are not very big tour people ourselves). So, we flew in, rented a car, and drove the two hours to San Pedro de Atacama. 

This drive was, literally, straight through the desert. Except for one section that took us up and

over a mountain, it was straight. And, something that I didn’t know would be happening, we were at almost 9,000 feet of elevation! Luckily, Quito sits higher than this so we were all good on the elevation, but it was definitely a shock to be surrounded by a desert, but also volcanoes! The Andes mountain range is the gift that never stops giving. 

We made our way into the little town of San Pedro and immediately loved the vibes. This might be a stupid thing to say, but it was the most desert-y town I’ve ever seen (crazy, right?). Everything was made of sandstone, and was tan and patterned. It was a very cute town that absolutely had nothing on our wonderful AirBnB. While we booked it on AirBnB, it was set up more like a hotel, with about 10 rooms and the cutest kitchen and dining communal area, and lots of space outside to sit and read under the trees. We had 4 days booked in San Pedro, so we started out our time reading and relaxing, and grabbing some food at a local spot for lunch. This was when we started to realize the problem of San Pedro. Clearly, you can tell from the first part of this blog post, that Nolan and I (mostly me and my converted husband) are extreme foodies. And there is nothing that grinds my gears more than overpriced tourist food. And that was exactly what this town was full of. For lunch, there were a few spots that we found off the beaten track that had good options, but just like many local spots in South America, they closed down for dinner, leaving only overpriced gringo restaurants for dinner. Other than that, the town was full of souvenir shops and places to book tours. Overall, the town definitely left much to be desired but that wasn’t why we were there anyway!

The next morning, we set out on our first adventure. About a two hour drive away, we made our way to Piedras Rojas, a gorgeous high altitude lake. Along the way, the first thing we noticed was that there were a ton of donkeys! I feel like donkeys aren’t the most interesting roadside attraction, but one that I was not expecting to see. The second thing we noticed was that there were dust twisters everywhere! At almost any time, you could see one off in the distance. Most of them weren’t very big, and didn’t seem to be causing any destruction at all. But, a few times, we saw ones that were actually a little sizable, and they were such a cool and interesting mystery for us as we made our way. 

This drive was stunning, with huge mountains and volcanoes surrounding the desert. In the last 30 minutes before arriving, we drove up about four thousand feet in elevation, making it to over 11,000 feet. When we crested the last hill and started driving down toward our destination, we

realized just how incredible this place was. A stunning blue lake sat ahead, rimmed with bright white salt, and surrounded by sky-scraping volcanoes. We had already purchased our tickets ahead of time, and were told quickly how this would go. There was a trail around the area that would take us about an hour, where we could see the lake and cool features of the area. The trail was very well laid out so that no one would harm the natural phenomena, and we could take in the sights all around us. This place was gorgeous and we so enjoyed our walk around, but pretty quickly we made it to the end. 

On our drive away from the lake, one of the animals that I was the most excited to see scurried across the road. It was a whole pack of wild vicuñas! Vicuñas are in the llama family, just like alpacas, but they are smaller and aren’t domesticated. They look like a pack of baby llamas, and are so dang cute! After admiring the adorable little vicuñas, we headed to a look out of the lake and had the packed lunch we had made that morning. It was a gorgeous spot to have a meal, and wonderful to be able to take in the sights longer than the time we were given to walk around. After lunch, we jumped back in the car and drove off to another site.

As we arrived at this destination, we realized we had to buy another ticket before entering and walking around their loop. Laguna Chaxa was an otherworldly place, a salt flat with tons of wild flamingos. It was so fun to watch the flamingos, an animal that I would never expect to see in a

desert in the Andes mountains, eating and walking through the salt. This place had more salt than I had ever seen, everything around us was bright white. Another beautiful place, but one that once again only took about an hour. After that, we packed back into the car and drove back to our hotel. 

This may be a good time to mention that this day we spent driving around the desert was actually Christmas Day. And because you are a wonderful and loyal reader to this blog post, I’ll tell you a piece of truth: spending Christmas Day abroad can always be a bit hard for me. While I normally don’t struggle with feelings of homesickness, Christmas has always been different. Nolan and I had the most amazing day exploring Atacama, but it didn’t necessarily feel like Christmas (the desert is not very Christmassy it turns out!). So, for dinner Nolan and I found a nice restaurant where we enjoyed a long Christmas dinner. It was absolutely delicious and felt special to celebrate in our own little way.

The next day we continued on with excursions! We visited another lake where we had to buy another ticket and then could walk around for an hour, but this one was extra special because we could actually swim in the lake! I had always seen in pictures and videos of the Dead Sea in Jordan, this lake was so saturated with salt that we could float effortlessly! This was a first for

Nolan, who says he has never floated ever in his life. It was very fun to float around the blue lagoon with its seemingly bottomless pit. While it was a little chilly, it was such a fun experience. As we got out of the water, we saw immediately that we were completely covered in salt, it was drying on us to the point where you could see it! They had showers on site, and while each person was allowed to shower for only 1 minute, it was a huge help in getting a layer of salt off. However, after we left, it was easy to see that we were still completely covered. While sitting at lunch, I could see it in my hair, and joked that if the food wasn’t good enough I had an endless amount of salt I could add from shaking out my braid. 

After this, I was feeling pretty unmotivated about what we could do next. While we had gone out and seen lots of cool stuff, it very much felt like a cycle of driving to a place, paying an expensive ticket (most places were $15-25 per person), walking around for an hour, and repeat. On top of that, I was completely unmotivated to go to any of the restaurants in town. So, I decided to take the afternoon into my own hands. I walked down to a local grocery store and bought all of the ingredients for delicious quesadillas, along with the makings for pisco sours and wine. We then headed back to our wonderful hotel, where I made use of the beautiful kitchen to cook dinner and make lots and lots of cocktails. 

This night actually ended up being our favorite one yet, because our same friend Lorelei who had met us in Santiago was flying up to the desert with one of her friends from the states! So, I made dinner for everyone and then we did what we had been so excited to do: we drove out into the desert with blankets and wine and went stargazing. We downloaded some apps that showed us the constellations, and enjoyed the best stargazing of my entire life with wonderful friends. We watched shooting stars and the planets swirl around our heads for hours while we layed in the dunes drinking wine. While I am usually not a night owl at all, we stayed out until 2 in the morning looking at the different constellations. One of Nolan and I’s consistent favorites while being in the southern hemisphere is the Southern Cross, a small constellation that you can only see from south of the equator (fun fact, if you can get a clear night in Ecuador, you can actually see the Southern Cross (Southern Hemisphere only) and the Big and Little Dippers (Northern Hemisphere only) at the same time!). Our other favorite of the night was Orion. While I had spent much of my life looking up at Orion’s Belt, I have never had such a clear view of the entire constellation. 

The last day we woke up late from our night stargazing, and headed out on our final excursions of the desert. And, on this last day, they ended up being our favorites. While we still visited two different locations and they still had expensive ticket prices, we could actually walk around and explore these places for hours. We hiked up to the top of a hill where we found a monument

dedicated to the local pre-Incan tribes, and then got to explore La Valle de La Luna. This was definitely the most stunning landscape of our whole time in the desert. The name was very fitting, because it most assuredly felt like we were on the moon. The rock formations and dunes were jaw droppingly beautiful, and Nolan and I had so much fun hiking around and exploring. We were able to drive and walk to the many sights here for hours and it was so fun to get a little exercise and feel like we were actually out and adventuring. 

We eventually had to drive back to the airport to catch a flight to Santiago, but felt so grateful for the last 24 hours we had in the desert. While the whole experience of Atacama didn’t live up to the aforementioned hype (and this is almost solely due to the fact that we hate getting stuck in tourist traps), we were so happy to have found some truly unique sights, and of course, would never forget our night of stargazing in the desert. 

The next part of our trip was by far what I was most excited about from the start. As someone who grew up and turned 21 in California, there is nothing quite like a weekend of wine tasting. By far the classiest way to drink all day for days at a time, I couldn’t wait to see what Chile had to offer in its wine department. Nolan and I picked up another rental car, and after stopping at a Starbucks and feeling very American about that, drove south for two hours into the Colchagua Valley. 

There are many different places where you can go wine tasting in Chile, but we had heard that this area was small and local, which is exactly what we were looking for. Before drinking any wine, we headed to our AirBnB that was a little out of town and, oh my god this was by far the most wonderful AirBnB I have ever stayed at in my life. Surrounded by vineyards sat the most beautiful

tiny home, covered in vines. It felt like we were in Napa Valley (California again!). The house was so cute on the inside, but far more important was the views of the surrounding vineyards and mountains, complete with its own tiny pool. The second we saw this place, I decided that we would be spending as much time here as humanly possible. 

That afternoon we set out on our first wine tasting at a vineyard called Viu Manent. I had actually booked all of these tastings in advance, and this one came highly recommended to us from a variety of people. As we drove up to the vineyard, it was clear that this place was an institution. We checked in for our tour, and started peeking around the old adobe buildings. There was a central courtyard with a grand fountain and the walls were covered in sprawling vines. We soon got started with a tour guide, who let us know that this was supposed to be a group tour but no one else showed up, yay! After giving us a brief history of the vineyard, she led us out to a horse drawn carriage that would be showing us around the grounds.

Pretty quickly into the tour, we realized just how popular this place was. She showed us the restaurant, the hotel, the pool for hotel guests, and oh yeah, the helicopter pads for the fancy people from Santiago who liked to fly down for a little bite to eat at the restaurant (we did not go to the restaurant). We also saw lots and lots of vines at different ages, and started learning about the culture of wine in Chile. One of the fun facts we learned was that historically people in Chile would plant roses at the end of each vine. These roses which were planted in the same soil as the vines could clearly show the health of the soil, and show if there were any diseases in the surrounding plants. Now, they have other ways of measuring the soil's health, but many people still plant roses on the ends to keep up their traditions. 

Our horse drawn carriage eventually pulled back around and we headed to the tasting room for the moment we had been waiting for. Now, I was clearly over the moon excited, but Nolan had never been much of a wine drinker. But, since he is a wonderful husband, he enthusiastically started sipping his tastings, and he ended up loving them! We tried four wines at this winery in a room set for probably about 30 people. The tastings were small but delicious, and it was such a wonderful start to our wine tasting adventure. 

(Nolan here. Ever since turning 21, everyone around me had been giving me Cabernet Sauvignon, and only Cabernet Sauvignon, whenever wine was being served. Turns out that not only is that not a beginner-friendly wine, but there are actually tons of different types! I discovered that while I am still not a huge fan of the Cab Sauv, there are plenty of other wines out there for me to enjoy).  

After buying a bottle, we headed to a grocery store in town because I had become determined to cook all of our meals while we were at our dreamy AirBnB. Before long, I had whipped up salmon, raviolis, and asparagus which we enjoyed while sipping on our wine that we had purchased and watching the long and stunning sunset.

The next day, we slept in and I made breakfast while continuing to enjoy the beautiful scenery. But, we couldn’t laze around too long, there was wine to drink! We headed out on Day 2 of our wine tour, and I have to describe just how wonderful these drives were. One track road wound through vineyards, surrounded by the dry foot hills of the Andes. I threw on all of my favorite summer tunes, we rolled down the windows, and enjoyed the sunny blue skies, tiny towns, charming houses, and rolling hills. Also, at this point, we started noticing some little birds scurrying across the roads in an all too familiar way. Excuse me, Chile, do you also have California Quails? I googled it, and yes, they do! Apparently they had been released there in the 1800s and had completely taken over, because, well, this place is exactly like California.

Since we had visited such an institution of wine the day before, we wanted to also visit a very small winery to see what differences they had in store. And boy was it different! After driving by the place twice and having to call for directions, we eventually found our way to RC Vinedos. We arrived and were greeted in a very small room with no windows, with a table set for three, some wine glasses, and a delicious cheese board. As we sat down, it was definitely one of those “how

did we end up here” moments. It was completely quiet, and we were sitting with the owner of the winery who only spoke Spanish, in a dark and musty room full of barrels. I was immediately a little thrown off, but onto the wine drinking we went. And, with the wine came great conversation all about the winery and his story. Apparently this man owned the winery with his 80 year old father, and the two of them were the leaders of this project. They had four wines to offer, none of which could be bought at any kind of store, they could only be bought directly through the vineyard. His pours were large, more like glasses than tastings, and we soon got into many interesting conversations: about the small versus big wineries in the area, about politics in South America, about his wife who had recently passed away, and many other topics. As we were finishing up with our last glass, he asked us which of the wines was our favorite and poured us another glass before bringing us into the next room where they held the rest of their barrels. Between the barrels in the two rooms we had seen was all of the wine they had to offer. By the end of our tasting, we were over-the-moon with how the tasting had gone. We walked in feeling unsure and awkward, and left feeling very connected to this tiny winery and its owner. It was also a moment that made us feel great about how much we had worked towards our Spanish in the past few years: authentic experiences like these almost always come from conversations in the local language, and it felt amazing to speak at length in another language and come away with such a rich understanding of this place.

After this tasting we had a few hours to kill before our next tasting, so we drove into town to see what we could find. We found a street market that we walked up and down for a while, but in the intense midday heat, we quickly found our way to a highly recommended Italian restaurant. While we had quite literally just finished eating a giant cheese board, what else is there to do but eat more? We ordered some appetizers (trying to keep the eating under control) and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc (Nolan’s new favorite). We sat around enjoying the well-curated, Italian atmosphere before heading out to our last tasting. 

As we drove into this one, we were taken aback by the beautiful views of the old colonial house surrounded by palm trees, vineyards, and a river. As we entered the home and went to check in, they told us that we actually didn’t have our reservation registered in their system. They were so kind from the start, giving us a complimentary glass of rosé while we waited to figure out what

was going on. I pulled up all of the receipts and the payment (we had to pay for all of the tastings in advance) and went inside to show them what we had. Of course, Nolan and I were very nice about the whole thing and just wanted to find a solution that left us both feeling happy and satisfied. But, they took niceness to a whole new level! They were so sorry about the inconvenience that they upgraded our tour to the highest degree, and we left on this private tour immediately. Our amazing tour guide first showed us around the river and the vineyards, explaining their process and the vines that they had. They actually told us something incredibly interesting about one of Chile’s most popular varieties that I would love to share: 

During every single tasting that we had in Chile, the star of the show was always the Carmenere. While I had had many Carmeneres in my time in Ecuador, it is not one that I find very commonly outside of South America. Our wonderful tour guide told us why. Wine is originally from Europe, France and Italy being two of the biggest countries. Back in the 16th century, Spanish colonists started bringing wine over to South America from Europe to cultivate. This climate is extremely agreeable for vines as well, and so they started a huge industry of wine in both Chile and Argentina. They started cultivating many wines, but one of the biggest was the Carmenere, a popular variety in Europe at the time as well. Then, in the 19th century, an insect started destroying vineyards around Europe. This insect seriously took a toll on the much larger wine industry there, and every single Carmenere vine had been completely destroyed. The Europeans believed that this variety had gone extinct. Then, a fancy European wine man was drinking a Chilean red, and noted the distinct black peppery taste of the Carmenere. He traveled all the way over to Chile, and realized that the vines were still alive and well. So, Carmeneres have been reintroduced in Europe and other places I’m sure, but the oldest Carmenere vines can all be found in Chile. 

Storytime over, we headed back into the beautiful house where the owner was there waiting for us. He offered us some delicious local goat cheese, along with a taste of their champagne, a wine they don’t typically make! Then, we sat down in a beautiful room for yet another private wine tasting with our amazing guide. 

By the end of this wine tasting, we couldn’t believe our incredible luck with all three of the wineries we visited. The first was monumental and gorgeous, the second small and intimate, and the third historical and personalized. Tipsy and thrilled at how our time in wine country had gone, we headed back to our AirBnB and did the only respectable thing that we could think to do: we got drunk by the pool in the summer sunshine.

Unfortunately upon awakening with pretty bad wine headaches, we were forced to check out of our amazing home and head onwards on our trip. But, fortunately, we were headed to the beach! We drove another 3 hours all the way out to the coast to the famous city of Valparaiso. While we had been planning this trip, we had heard that Valparaiso was a gorgeous hippy town right on the beach but covered in extremely steep hills, the San Francisco of South America. We had also heard that this city was one of the best to spend New Years in! According to some friends and the internet, this beautiful beach city would erupt in street parties to count down to the New Year, and then we’d be witness to one of the best firework displays in all of South America. It felt like a no-brainer. 

But, upon entering the city, we were immediately surrounded with a level of poverty that we hadn’t seen yet in Chile. The streets were dirty, and the loud and incessant honking we were so used to in Quito was back all around us. There were people everywhere, some yelling at cars and others wandering through the crowded traffic. As we got closer and closer to our AirBnB, the chaos seemed to diminish a bit but the general vibe was still fairly sketchy. Our newest little home, though, was a special one (more on that later). Our host met us on the street and quickly directed us up one of the steepest sets of stairs I’ve ever seen. They went straight up the hillside and as we kept ascending, I kept thinking, “it can’t possibly keep going up, can it?” It did. 

When we finally reached the top, we got our first view of our tiny house on the hill. Literally a small blue box on the outside, it was quite cute and fun on the inside with quirky knick knacks and an amazing loose leaf tea selection. The best part by far was the view: we could see across to the next hill that was also covered in small and colorful houses (if you know the song Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds you’d know it was the only song in my head). 

After settling in and doing a bit of research on where we should visit, we set out into the streets to see what more we could find about this town. We wound down the hill where our house was and back into the flatter area of the city where we were almost immediately met with that feeling of discomfort. There were people everywhere and the streets were filthy. Nolan and I each had an iron grip on our belongings and kept our heads on a swivel. I had found an area that seemed to be pretty touristy and was not a far walk, so we headed in that direction. After walking through two very chaotic intersections, my map led us up onto another hill. Almost immediately, the vibe calmed down. There were less people, and what people there were were clearly families on vacation. The streets were gorgeous here, with old colonial style buildings spruced up with vibrant colors sprouting out of cobblestones. There were ice cream shops and cafes, and everything was beautiful. So, we took a seat at a restaurant to have some dinner and gather our thoughts. Clearly, the things we had heard about this city were a few too many years old, and things had gone downhill. After doing some more dedicated research into the city, we found that, yes, many people found it unsafe. While this hilltop seemed lovely, it was definitely a tourist center, the exact kind of place we usually tried to avoid. But, it also seemed like any more local area would bring around that feeling of unsafety. After more digging, we learned that the hilltops around the city were generally nice, but the lower areas that connected them all and included most public services were where the danger lay. After a tasty dinner, we decided to head back to our tiny house for a chill night while making some more decisions. 

Step one of our new and improved plan was to take a walking tour of the city. While this wasn’t normally our style, we felt like it would be best to follow someone who knew where they were going. While at first, the tour took us right back to where we had been the day before, we eventually circled around into different areas, learning a lot about the history of the city through its art and streets. The tour ended up being a success! One where we learned a lot and helped us to feel more comfortable in a different place. But, we did have to leave the tour a few moments early so that we could get ready for step two. 

As another change of pace, Nolan and I decided to do something different for our New Year’s Eve adventure. We found a very fancy and well renowned restaurant in the city that was doing a set menu for dinner along with an open bar, dancing, and an incredible view of the city's firework display. We dressed up super fancy (or as fancy as we could living out of our backpacks) and headed to the gorgeous venue. 

We were seated just a few seats away from the panoramic city and beach view. The food was amazing, from tuna tartare and bruschetta with iberian ham and oysters to a decadent creamy

seafood sauce over fish and many desserts. We were eating until we were completely stuffed and then we ate just a little bit more. We started with some of the best Pisco Sours of the trip but quickly switched over to Nolan’s new favorite wine (Sauvignon Blanc) and our cups were never empty. As we approached midnight they started up the music and handed out party hats and necklaces. When the clock struck midnight everyone in the restaurant crowded around the balcony to see what was most definitely the best fireworks of my life. Valparaiso is one of four coastal cities in a huge bay, and all of the cities shot off their fireworks’ shows in perfect unison. It was a New Year’s to remember, but it had nothing on the situation we woke up to the next morning. 

Upon awakening from a very strong haze and the vague memory of our return the night before, I replayed our getting home in my head. We walked up the many many stairs, got into the house, drank some water, and while going to sleep I asked Nolan if he was sure to completely lock the door. As he was struggling with the lock, the key broke off inside the lock and we thought, “Well, that’s a problem for tomorrow.”

And a problem it was. After chugging some water we took stock of the situation. The key was completely broken off in the door. There were windows along the whole wall but they were barred. In the tiny house on the hill we had no food and were extremely hungover. We did have my lifestraw water bottle so we were all good on the water front, as well as loose leaf tea and two bottles of wine. We tried getting the key out of the door to no avail. We texted the AirBnB host who, while worried, seemed to think it would be fairly impossible to find any kind of locksmith open (the entire city had gone to bed mere hours ago, and were most definitely hungover, if not still drunk). The situation felt dire pretty quickly, so we called Nolan’s brother Ian and did the only logical thing we could do: poured ourselves glasses of wine. 

Soon after, the neighbor who had the tiny house on the hill next to us came over with her grandson who was going to try to “open the door.” She told us to back up, and he quickly started trying to beat down the door. Now, I’ve definitely seen my fair share of action movies where a hero comes out of nowhere, kicks a door, and it slams open. This is not the way it is to actually beat down a door. He was kicking it as hard as he could for a few minutes. Parts of the door frame were cracking and decorations were falling off the walls. But the door did not budge. Then, he left and came back with what we could only imagine was some kind of battering ram to continue, and still, that door was locked. The kind neighbor basically said sorry, that she would maybe bring us some food, and left. 

At this point, I became determined to get ourselves out of the tiny house on the hill. So, I took another look at the situation we were in, and upon closer inspection, realized that the bars on the windows were screwed on with four large plus head screws. I darted to the kitchen looking for the perfect tiny spoon and, slowly but surely, took the screws out of the bars on the window. We quickly put ourselves together and escaped into the free world. 

We used our newfound freedom to dash to a cafe and order more food at once than I ever have in my life. With full bellies and free spirits we decided to do what every single person in this entire city wanted to do: go to the beach. Our dreams of swimming on New Year’s Day, however, were quickly dashed by traffic and impossible parking but lucky for us there was a town over with huge dunes. We drove out to the looming dooms and sat in the sand overlooking the ocean, which is about as close as you can get to being on the beach without actually being on the beach. On our way home, we stopped at a neighborhood sushi spot that we had recommended to us, and it was one of the most delicious meals we had on the trip. With ultra fresh seafood and creative combinations of rolls, our minds were blown and our stomachs happy upon one last sleep in our tiny house on the hill (while we had been out, the AirBnB host had finally contacted a locksmith and changed the locks, giving us a new key and apologizing profuselyn). 

On what was sadly our final day in Chile, we had planned to spend one last day at the beach but we heard a call that had to be answered. We drove out of the city fairly early (after eating an insane early lunch of a crab jaiba which is basically a massive crab cake and some

succulent and fresh ceviche) and made our way back to stunning Santiago. We had booked a hotel out by the airport to catch an early morning flight, but had to make one last venture into the extraordinary city to eat, yet again, at Mercado Tobalaba and see Wicked in theaters (SO good). 

What came to be known as our Winter Summer Break was one of the highlights of our whole time in South America. Chile is an incredible place, one that ties together cultural norms from both South and North America, with impressive landscapes, respectful culture, and food that makes it hard to stop eating (trust us). We have the most fun and unique memories from this trip, and it definitely didn’t hurt that we spent the heart of winter in the Chilean sunshine. If you can, go to Chile.