After over a year of living in Santiago, much of the newness and novelty has worn off. Sure, there are still the intermittent reminders that we’re “not in Kansas anymore”, but overall, Santiago has really started to feel like home. So, during two recent visits from my parents and my friend Jenn, it was refreshing to get to experience so many of the places and things that have become routine to us through fresh eyes.
During their visits, we split our time between exploring Santiago, and trips to many of the beautiful surrounding regions. For the most part, we visited places we had been before, but had entirely new experiences as we got to share this beautiful country with people we love.
As we welcomed them into our apartment, we were reminded how lucky we are to have a view of the Andes mountains just outside our window. We spent many a morning sipping coffee on our patio as the sun came up, and many evenings strolling over to nearby Parque Araucano to take in the day and watch the sun sink down in the evening. From sunrise to sunset, we enjoyed blue skies and plenty of sunshine, a regular occurrence in Santiago for the majority of the year. Their enjoyment of this day to day beauty helped us appreciate it all the more, and was a good reminder not to take the little things for granted.
We took a few of our favorite day trips to the Cajon del Maipo and the quirky port city of Valparaiso. In the Cajon, we drove out to the expansive Embalse el Yeso where we walked along the water’s edge and breathed in the crisp, clean mountain air. While only a couple hours from Santiago, it’s easy to feel you’ve been transported far away.
In stark contrast to the natural beauty in the Canyon, the streets of Valparaiso are colorfully decorated by street art and bustling with people. These day trips were a reminder of how incredible it is to live in a city situated between one of the world’s most iconic mountain ranges and the Pacific ocean, with wine country in between.
On the way home from Valparaiso, we took advantage of one of many wine valleys surrounding Santiago, the costal Casablanca valley. With my parents, we took a tour of the Organic winery Emiliana, where all manner of animals roam free and grapes are harvested in accordance with the cycles of the moon. With Jenn we stopped on the other side of Ruta 5, where we toured the beautiful Casas del Bosque vineyard.
While we’re far from wine experts, living in Santiago has spoiled us with access to a huge variety of affordable, delicious wines and it was fun to be able to share the spoils with our guests over dinner in our apartment.
With my parents, we ventured further to the north, first stopping to enjoy a day on the beach in Zapallar. While Chile has miles and miles of coastline and beautiful beaches, we love Zapallar for its rugged, rocky coast. There are some enormous rock formations just down from the main beach where you can climb out and marvel at the expanse of the Pacific ocean. Head over here for more about Zapallar and neighboring Cachagua.
After a night’s sleep in the small beachfront town of Papudo (where accommodations are much easier to come by than in Zapallar), we headed further north to the picturesque, sun drenched Valle de Elqui. Here, we enjoyed relaxation in a beautiful villa, against a backdrop completely unique to any other we have encountered in Chile. The valley extends inland from the beach city of La Serena, and is blanketed in grape vines, mostly used to make Chile’s favorite liquor, Pisco. During our stay, we sampled the local spirit and took a tour of Mistral Distillery. After touring the grounds, we had a tasting and watched a charmingly cheesy video narrated by a grape who told the tale of his harrowing journey from his birth on the grape vine all the way to our Pisco glasses.
During our stay, we based ourselves in the small town of Pisco Equi. After a good experience during our first trip here last June, we again rented a cabana from Cabanas Elquimista. Unlike our last visit, though, we were able to take full advantage of the sunny valley days beside the pool.
Another highlight of the trip was the incredible night sky over the dry, clear valley. We spent each night stretched out on lawn chairs just marveling at how bright and clear the milky way shone above us.
On our second night in town, we made a trip further into the valley to the small town of Alcohuaz, where we visited the small Nomade Observatory. While there are many observatories in this area that offer tours, and I’m sure all are wonderful, I would highly recommend Nomade. The owners, Jorge and Anita, branched off of larger operations in the area to start their own observatory where they aim to give “a more human experience”.
After a bit of a bumpy drive, we were greeted by a campfire where our tour started. After a brief introduction, we walked around and behind a large circular wall to the open air observatory, where we were seated in rows of cushioned benches, and given blankets, warm tea and cake. Here, Jorge and Anita shared their knowledge and passion for the night sky, using a laser pointer to show us some of the key markers of the southern sky, before allowing us to take turns looking through the telescope to see all manner of far off stars, and a close up shot of the moon. It was easily one of the best experiences of the trip, and a night that was all the more special being shared with my mom and dad.
We also got the pleasure of being tour guides in our own home town of Santiago. We explored our favorite neighborhoods, Barrio Italia and Lastarria, sampled some of our favorite local restaurants and took in views of the city from above on Santiago’s urban hiking trails.
While their visits seemed to fly by, and it’s always hard to say goodbye again, both trips left us with some incredible memories and a fresh outlook on this country we get to call home for now.