Valparaiso, Viña del Mar

Valparaiso or "Valpo" as Chileans call it, is a beautiful city on the coast west of Santiago. Valpo has a bohemian flair with small shops and restaurants. The history of Valpo has been marked by catastrophes (mayor earthquakes have occured here). Valparaiso played an important role in the second half of the 19th century when ships travelling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans used its port for a stopover. The city's port lost its importance after the opening of the Panama Canal. Nowadays Valpo has been rediscovered by artists and tourists which are giving it a new role. The historic center has been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage in 2003. Valpo is also famous because Pablo Neruda (literature novel price winner) lived here. Not far away from Valpo is Viña del Mar o "Viña", Santiago's beach town. A quite nice beach offering a playground to stressed Santiageños.

Mendoza

From Santiago we took an 8 hour bus to Mendoza, crossing the Andes and the frontier to Argentina. The journey crossing the Andes is spectacular with some dramatic sceneray of some of the highest mountains in South America. The greater region around Mendoza is famous for its vinyards most of which are situated around Maipú. From Mendoza you can go trekking (not far away from Mendoza you can climb the Aconcagua, South America's highest peak with its 6.962m) or (as we did) rent a bike to visit wineries where you can do wine tastings.

Santiago de Chile

Santiago is Chile's political, economic and cultural center. Santiago has a lot to offer and resembles a European city. Santiago has some 6 million inhabitants and lots of nice but pricy restaurants. We stayed there for two nights, enjoyed some good food and excellent wine.