It had been a brutally cold winter so Stu and I were happy to enjoy a brief respite in the sunny summer climes of Chile. This was our third visit to South America's skinniest nation, though it was the first time we travelled to Easter Island/Rapa Nui with its enigmatic stone Moai, and to the central coastal region with its excellent vineyards and scenic seascapes. We were enthralled by the feats of skill at the annual Tapati Festival on Rapa Nui in addition to hiking around the island and lounging on its beautiful beaches. On the mainland we stayed in a boutique hotel in charming Valparaiso and at an esteemed Rosario Valley organic winery, visited Pablo Neruda's domiciles, admired street art, spotted birds in Las Campanas National Park, explored picturesque seaside villages and ate and drank very well.
SANTIAGO
We began our journey in Santiago, arriving very early on an overnight flight. We headed straight to The Singular, a modern boutique hotel in the historic Lastarria neighborhood, a cobblestoned enclave close to the grandiose Plaza de Armas, wooded Santa Lucia Hill, museums and upscale restaurants. Our room was attractive and well provisioned, the public spaces were gorgeous and the people were lovely. After freshening up it was a short stroll to the Pre-Columbian Art Museum. We’d visited it during our last trip to Chile, however, it had been renovated since then, so we wanted to see the improvements. It was superb before and now it’s even better. The collection, which spans the Americas, is outstanding and is wonderfully displayed and annotated. When we told the woman at the admissions desk that we were returning visitors she was so pleased that she gave us a special booklet describing one of the temporary exhibits. After enjoying the museum, we grabbed a quick lunch in its airy café, which was perfect, especially since there was a group of students playing Vivaldi on string instruments in the corridor outside the museum, so we enjoyed a concert along with our simple and tasty sandwiches.
We spent some time soaking up the street life on touristy Jose Victorino Lastarria Street, adjacent to the hotel, before heading to the lobby to meet with our tattooed young guide, Gonzalo, from STGO de Chile Street Art Tours. A few weeks before we left I’d read about the tours in NatGeo Traveler magazine and arranged for them to pick us up at The Singular. Although street art can be found all over town, there are 3 major sections with notable murals. We started by hopping in a car to reach the Open Sky Museum (Museo a Cielo Abierto) in the working class San Miguel neighborhood (barrio), which we toured on foot. Gonzalo, an artist himself and exceptional guide, described the social, political, historical, mythical and religious themes in the art, and provided background about the artists and artist collectives that created these colorful, insightful and stunning artworks. Although we enjoyed all of them, perhaps our favorite was “Chinita” by Barilla, an eloquent painting of a girl in a traditional dress called a Chinita facing a black void, a poignant and powerful statement about child abuse.
We next drove to the Yungay neighborhood where the art wasn’t quite as monumental, but still compelling and highly political, and finished in Bella Vista, a more commercial barrio with many interesting portraits as well as worker-themed paintings. This was one of the best interpretive art tours we’ve ever taken and we highly recommend booking with STGO de Chile Street Art Tours.
We had booked dinner at the Singular since it was convenient. Fortunately it’s an excellent restaurant. It was a balmy evening and we sat in the outdoor patio and savored the weather, atmosphere and food. Dining outdoors in February is a major pleasure for us. Breakfast the next morning had good variety and was equally delicious.
RAPA NUI/EASTER ISLAND
It’s just under 5 hours flight time from Santiago to Easter Island, which is isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean over 3,500 km/2,100 miles from the South American continent and more than 1,200 mi./1,900 km to the nearest inhabited island to the east, Pitcairn. We landed in the island’s capitol city, Hanga Roa, a seaside town which accounts for the majority of the island’s population of about 7,000 people, most of whom are of Polynesian descent from islands as far away as New Zealand, who began migrating to the island from about 800 AD, along with those of Chilean ancestry after Chile annexed the island in the late 19th C. Rapa Nui is famous for its monolithic stone statues though it’s worth exploring the island beyond the Moai. The name of Easter Island was bestowed by a Dutch explorer named Jacob Roggeveen, who landed on the island on Easter Sunday in 1722, although the Dutch never settled there.
It was a short drive to the Explora lodge which we would use as our base for a week spent hiking, visiting important archaeological sites and participating in the island festivities. Every year the locals compete in various athletic, cultural and artistic contests during the 2 week Rapa Nui Tapati Festival featuring body painting, carving, horse, foot and boat races, singing, dancing, parades, handicrafts, costume-making, agricultural exhibitions and more. One of the most dangerous and fascinating sports is Haka Pei, which involves men sliding down a steep hill on a sled constructed from banana tree trunks at speeds that can reach 80km/50mi. per hour, dressed only in body paint and a skimpy loincloth. Unfortunately it was cancelled this year because conditions on the mountain would have accelerated the speed beyond what was considered prudent. We were lucky to have visited during the first week of Tapati so we could see some of the festivities, though it might be preferable to come during the second week since the King and Queen are crowned at the end of the festival and there’s a lively parade that showcases creative bodypainting. The Festival did not originate as a tourist attraction, and though there were plenty of visitors, it’s clear that this is a major event for the locals. It is undoubtedly the busiest time of the year to visit Rapa Nui, yet except at the evening pageants, it never felt crowded, even at the popular Moai sites, and on some hikes we didn’t run into any other visitors.
The Explora Lodge is gorgeous with simple, elegant style and spectacular views of the sea and surrounding landscape. The food was delicious accompanied by some good Chilean wines. At Explora you work with a guide each evening to map out the next day’s activities and are assigned to a small group of fellow travelers for these explorations. We stayed with the same 4 European travelers for all of our excursions, an older married couple and a father and son. You can plan some of your own excursions as well and they’ll arrange transportation. During the festival there was a transport service to Hanga Roa in the evenings and we also attended some competitions during the day, watching men and women in traditional dress in a foot race, called Aka Venga, carrying stems of bananas weighing over 40 lbs/20 kgs. suspended from a yoke on their shoulders, and agile young men body surfing on a totora float, Haka Honu, which is more difficult than it sounds. We greatly enjoyed the pageantry in the evenings with the elaborate costumes and lively singing and dancing. There were 2 couples competing to be King and Queen of Rapa Nui, demonstrating a variety of traditional skills. It didn’t hurt that they were all exceedingly fit and attractive. The winners represent the island for the whole year and travel the world. We rooted for our favorite couple, Kimi and Vai, though we later learned that their opponents, Koro & Wai, had won the contest.
We spent a week on the island and it wasn’t too much time because even though the island is only about 24.6 km/15.3 mi. long by 12.3 km/7.6 mi. wide, there’s plenty to see and do. In fact I would have liked to just spend a day or two at the beach swimming in the ocean, which was crystal clear with an ideal temperature and gentle waves. The main swimming beach, Anakena, wasn’t crowded, had soft clean sand and there were cafés and amenities nearby. It was a fun place to mingle with locals and visitors. The Explora team arranged for us to use changing facilities at one of the businesses near the beach while we were there.
The afternoon that we arrived on the island, we had a light lunch and headed out with a guide on a short, easy hike to the beach on view from the Explora called Aka Hana. Here we encountered our first Moai. They were relatively smaller ones that hadn’t been restored, so most were lying broken upon the ground. Created by Polynesian settlers from around 1200 – 1500 AD, we learned that during great tribal battles in the late 18th C the Moai were toppled, and though there are over 900 throughout the island, only about 50 have been restored and re-erected on the ceremonial basalt platforms called Ahus. Our guides said that this is due to lack of funds for the restoration work. Of the 887 identified Moai, 288 had been standing on ahus, 92 were en route to an ahu when they fell and 397 are still in the quarry at Rano Raraku where they were carved from the porous volcanic tuff stone found there, including El Gigante, the largest, though incomplete, which would have stood 21.6 m/70.8 ft. high and weighed 270 tons. The smallest is only 1.13 m/3.7 ft. tall, though they average about 4 m/13 ft. and a hefty 13 tons. A small number of Moai were carved from basalt, or trachyte or red scoria, though red scoria was more often used to create the topknots, called Pukao, that crown statues with special status. While they look like hats, we were told that they more likely represent hair.
We had different guides for almost every excursion and all seemed to have different information about the Moai. What we learned definitively is that no one really knows why they were created, or how they were moved around the island, or why they were destroyed, since there was no written and scant oral history, though there are many theories, some more plausible than others. The Moai are thought to have represented and to honor ancient ancestors and chiefs who could communicate with the spirit world, therefore the Ahus were sacred ceremonial sites. Moai heads tilt towards the sky and it’s surmised that the Rapa Nui believed that they gained mystical power from the stars. Almost all of the Moai erected on ahus are facing inland even when situated near the shoreline. The theory is that the ancestors were protecting the inhabitants of the villages that they oversee. The only exception is the group of 7 Moai at Ahu Akivi who face the sea, although the site is located inland on the slopes of Maunga Terevaka volcano. It’s the most sacred site on the island and it’s thought that these 7 may represent the 7 original explorers who found the island for King Hotu Matu’a, who was possibly from the Marquesas and who first colonized it.
What most surprised us is that even though the Moai share common characteristics, such as outsized heads, prominent broad noses, square chins, and elongated ears, they don’t all look exactly alike, so it’s probable that they represent different individuals. Archaeological evidence suggests that the deep eye slits once contained eyes fashioned from white coral with either black obsidian or red scoria pupils. Only one Moai exists with the original eyes intact and it is found in the historical and archaeological museum in Hanga Roa, though reproductions of the eyes have been added to the Moai at Ahu Tahai in Hanga Roa, to give visitors an idea of what the statues must have looked like in their original state.
Early versions of the Moai were smaller with more rounded heads and human forms, similar to statues found on Pitcairn and the Tahitian islands, and it’s likely that the increasing size of the statues represented tribes trying to outdo each other in demonstrating greater power and status. It’s generally supposed that the devastating deforestation of the island, the cause of which is also largely unexplained, resulted in massive resource shortages that set the once peacefully co-existing tribes against each other. The emergence of the birdman culture (more about that later) may have caused these tribes to destroy the Moai which represented the previous religious, cultural and social order. Among the more interesting theories were about how these massive sculptures were moved many miles from the quarry where they were carved and set up on the ahus. Legends speak of the Moai walking across the land and a group of scientists was successful in replicating this by attaching ropes to 3 sides of the statues and shifting them side to side in a walking type of motion. From a distance it might have appeared as if they walked on their own. But no one really knows how they were erected and moved since other scientists have been successful using different methods to move them. Another common misconception is that the Moai are only heads, and while you will find Moai with only head and shoulders visible, in these cases, their bodies are normally buried beneath the earth.
The first night after dinner in a dining room with large glass windows overlooking the sea, we went to town to see the festival and were treated to a lively dancing contest between the competing teams with flamboyant costumes and movement that was a mashup of graceful Polynesian steps and overtly sensual Latin moves. This was preceded by the presentation of the King and Queen candidates where they recited stories, made elaborate string designs and described how their beautiful costumers were made. They spoke in the local language but aside from the stories, we got the gist due to the accompanying gestures.
There are 3 volcanoes on the island and the next morning we went to Ranu Kau crater and Orongo village, an important site in the birdman culture. The site is gorgeous with sweeping views of the sea and 3 small offshore islands. Each year contestants swam to Motu Nui, a nesting colony, to steal the egg of a sooty tern. The first man to bring an egg back intact would be crowned Tangata Manu and he and his clan would rule the island for a year until the next contest. This task was harder than it may sound since after reaching shore, the contestants had to scale a steep stony cliff carrying the egg without breaking it. During the period of the contest the inhabitants lived underground in stone huts at Orongo village, which were not used during the rest of the year. We hiked around the rim of the volcano and viewed the remains of Orongo before heading back to the lodge for lunch. Our guide, Tavi, told us that the best preserved Moai have petroglyphs carved on their backs, and while we saw some remnants of these carvings, the finest example resides in the British Museum in London. Another guide told us subsequently that these carvings represented tattoos. The cult of the birdman died out after Christian missionaries settled on the island in the 1860’s.
In the afternoon we watched lithe young men in the totora surfing contest. Whoever makes it closest to shore without falling off the totora float wins. While enjoying the sport and the atmosphere of the event, we spotted a couple of large green sea turtles hunting in the shallow waters of the bay near where we were sitting.
Sunrise at Ahu Tongariki is a popular, though again, not especially crowded, event and we arose early to catch this spectacle. We didn’t have guides for this visit, but the lodge arranged transportation in a local taxi and provided us with passes to the site. This is the largest ceremonial site on the island with 15 Moai standing on an enormous ahu in a beautiful setting between a beach, Poike volcano, the oldest of the 3, and Rano Raraku volcano. We were told that there had originally been 18 Moai here, but a huge tsunami in 1960 washed 3 away and damaged the remaining statues. The ahu’s axis is oriented toward the rising sun of the summer solstice and measures 200 m/656 ft. The Moai face inland and the sun rises behind the statues, silhouetting them. It’s incredibly dramatic. While not the tallest, the heaviest standing Moai at 86 tons is at Tongariki, and his towering companions range from 5.6 – 8.7 m/18-28 ft tall. We returned to Tongariki with a guide a couple of days later in the afternoon and also viewed the Moai from above while visiting the quarry at the extinct Rano Raraku volcano that afternoon.
After breakfast we joined our group for a long hike along the shore to Anakena beach. We passed an old fishing village where we found a shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary in local Rapa Nui style. Though no one lives there anymore, our guide, Lily, advised that locals come to fish and stay in the huts overnight. Lily had been the Queen of Tapati in 2012 and was as lovely as you’d expect for a former queen, often wearing a flower behind her ear, though not the most informative guide. When we arrived at Anakena beach, we found 5 Moai nearby and 1 standing alone a bit further away. It’s a spectacular setting and after exploring the site on our own, we were treated to a refreshing swim in the ocean. We wanted to stay a bit longer, but had to accede to the will of the group and head back to Explora.
After lunch we visited the quarry at Rano Raraku. This is a must-see site on Rapa Nui and was where we encountered the most visitors, but compared to tourist sites in other countries, it was relatively uncrowded and there was no wait to tour the site. At the quarry we got to see the different styles of Moai as they evolved over the centuries. There were half buried Moai, standing Moai and others lying in various stages of completion. It’s a highly scenic area, though from this perspective the lack of trees on the island is readily apparent. Sunscreen is a must since there’s very little shade. Our brawny guide, Mea Mea, told us that he has competed in the Haka Pei and placed 4th. A short walk from the quarry brought us to a lagoon in an extinct crater with totora reeds growing along its shore. This is where the reeds are sourced to build the totora floats used in the race we had watched. After a delicious dinner that evening we hung out in the lounge with Terry and Shen, an amiable couple we’d met the day we arrived, and enjoyed cocktails and conversation.
The following day we started off at Ahu Akivi, the sacred site of the 7 Moai who face the sea. It’s a beautiful and peaceful setting. Afterwards we hiked in a lava field to explore lava tube caves. The first cave we encountered had an avocado tree growing in it. We descended into the second tube we found, which featured a few petroglyphs. The tube exit was through a fig tree, and our guide, Chris, picked some figs for us to snack on. The last tube that we explored was at the edge of a cliff and involved a tight squeeze and steep descent, then opened into a cave with 2 passages, both leading to openings in the cliff face that overlooked the sea and rocks below.
We took the van to Hanga Roa to look at the Moai positioned near the harbor at Ahu Tahai, including the one with the restored coral eyes. These are meant to be a tourist exhibit, probably for cruise ship passengers who want to catch a glimpse of a Moai and explore the town without taking any farther excursions. That afternoon we revisited the 15 Moai at Ahu Tangariki. Our guide, Hanga, shared theories about cannibalism among the tribes during the warring period after deforestation, though this practice is disputed.
That evening the Explora put on a small show featuring native musicians (including Mea Mea on guitar) and female dancers. All day long they cooked chicken wrapped in banana leaves in a big pit in the traditional way and served a small taste of that along with fire roasted sweet potato and banana cake. The chicken was tender with a savory smoky taste.
Our next excursion was a full day hike through the middle of the island accompanied by Tavi. We started at Ahu Akivi, headed north and then cut east to Anakena Beach. On the way we discovered a few caves and entered two of them. One had a variety of petroglyphs including a face that might represent Make-Make, a fertility god of the bird-man cult who is credited with creating humanity. Three different varieties of fern are growing wild in the cave. Other caves were smaller with 2 separate narrow openings, which would have afforded a safe place to hide and escape from during times of conflict. We passed the unusual Ahu Poe Poe, a burial cairn near the water’s edge that is shaped like the prow of a boat and perhaps meant to emulate the European sailing ships that visited the island, or the large canoes that the Polynesian ancestors arrived in. From there we generally followed the coastline, stopping for a picnic lunch of sandwiches and small brownies. We had time for a too-brief swim at Anakena before heading back to the lodge for an early dinner since we wanted to see the sunset from Ahu Tahai and then enjoy the performances at the Festival.
On our last full day on Rapa Nui we went to see the Aka Venga (banana race) but had time before it started to wander around town and watch fishermen in a small harbor filleting large red fish with huge eyes, aptly named Big-Eyes. We stationed ourselves at the end point of the race so we could watch the victorious runners cross the finish line. Family, friends and a small number of tourists gathered around to congratulate the winners. The costumes were exotic, many decked out with feathers, and some racers also painted their bodies with earth-toned designs. The winner of the older men’s race is a great athlete who had won major competitions 15 times when he was younger. We were thrilled to spot one of our guides, Chris, in the young men’s race, and cheered him on. He came in second, but almost literally by a nose, it was so close. His wife and daughter were there to celebrate with him. Wai, who was later crowned Queen of Tapati, was also in the race but didn’t place.
After the races we stayed in town and visited the museum. It would be more helpful to start your visit at the museum because it provides a coherent timeline of the history, geology and culture of the island. The sites you visit make more sense with this background information. Since our tours weren’t in any chronological order, and we got inconsistent information from the guides, we had to piece together a view as best we could. The museum is small but well laid out and annotated and contains some interesting artifacts. We would have liked a bit more time in it.
In the afternoon we went to Puna Pau, the red scoria quarry which was the source of most of the Pukao on the Moai. Our guide, Ricky, told us that in ancient times each clan oversaw a territory with sea access and the island’s center was a common area. Each also had an Ahu with Moai for prestige and protection. We also learned that Anakena, the only sandy beach, was where the King lived. In 1862, Peruvians enslaved about a thousand Rapa Nui to work in Peru including the King. The arrival of Christian missionaries around that time further impacted the culture. In 1903 Williamson, Balfour & Co., a Scottish-Chilean company, took a 50 year lease on the land to use for sheep farming and confined the remaining Rapa Nui to Hanga Roa.
The next site we visited, Ahu Huri a Urenga, was among the most interesting with a unique 4 armed Moai. Restored in 1972, the Moai was erected in its original location in an inland field. It’s posited that it’s 4 hands are meant to represent the 4 seasons and its orientation aligns with the sunrise during the winter solstice, seeming to confirm its astronomical significance. Given the importance of the seasons and calendar in agriculture, its location in a field lends some credibility to this theory. There’s a crematorium behind the Ahu, so it appears to have also featured in funerary rituals, and Ricky told us that ceremonies are still performed at this site during the solstice.
We drove to the coast and walked to Ahu Hanga Poukura, a site with 5 Moai face down and half buried near the unrestored Ahu along with some Pukao scattered on the ground. Ricky advised that this was the site of a commoner clan. There is an interpretive center at this site which featured replicas of chicken coops, straw huts and round stone structures called manavai. We arrived just after the center closed so we weren’t able to get near the Moai or the exhibits and viewed them from behind the fence. Our final dinner was especially tasty with scallop tartare to start, tender and flavorful beef filet accompanied by sweet potatoes and a nice glass of Carignan and finished perfectly with chocolate ice cream.
The next morning we skipped a hike to the tallest peak on the island and just relaxed until it was time for a light lunch and transportation to the airport for our flight back to Santiago. The flight was an hour late, and it had already been scheduled to arrive late in the evening, and we had a long drive to Valparaiso, arriving after midnight. The fellow at the front desk of our hotel, Palacio Astoreca, was kind and helpful, so we checked in quickly and crashed, though not before admiring the nighttime views from our room.
VALPARAISO
Valparaiso, a busy seaport built on 42 hills, is an intriguing town, charming and ugly at the same time. The Palacio Astoreca is a handsome boutique hotel in a former palace high on a hill which retains loads of historical character. Our room was comfortable and spacious with large windows and a terrace with fantastic views of the town, a small square and the harbor beyond. They served a terrific breakfast and were kind enough to prepare a good one for us on the morning that we had to leave early before the regular breakfast time.
On our first day we took a city and street art tour with our guide, Yevgenia. We started out at La Sebastiana, one of the 3 houses owned by the Nobel Prize winning poet, Pablo Neruda, that are now operated as museums. It’s a large house with 5 floors situated on a hill, crammed with art, furniture and memorabilia, with widespread views of the bay. He owned the house, which he renovated and decorated extensively to suit his eccentric taste, from 1961 until his death in 1973. It’s a self-guided audio tour which fills in a lot of Neruda’s background and life, including his work as a diplomat, and showcases some of his writing, including the poem La Sebastiana which he wrote to commemorate the inauguration of the house. He was a great admirer of the American poet, Walt Whitman, whose portrait is prominently displayed.
From there we walked over to Poet’s Park, a small square which features bronze statues of Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca and Gabriela Mistral. A large colorful mural nearby is dedicated to Mistral and displays some of her poetry. While walking to the funicular, we were lucky to witness bike racers practicing jumps for a tournament sponsored by Red Bull that was scheduled later that day. As we stood in the crowd, Day-Glo clothed bikers hurtled up ramps and sailed over cars mere feet away from us. It was enthralling.
We rode the funicular uphill and went to see St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican church built in 1858, the oldest non-Catholic church in South America, now both a World Heritage site and National Monument. It’s a simple yet beautiful church with a vaulted wood ceiling, stunning stained glass windows and a magnificent organ gifted by the British expat community in Valparaiso in 1902 that is dedicated to Queen Victoria. The stained glass triptych behind the altar depicts the life of the church’s patron, St. Paul. The church’s acoustics are renowned so we were very fortunate to arrive just before the start of a concert and stayed to enjoy the melodic tones of the organ’s 1604 pipes accompanied by a choir with the voices of angels.
We walked around Plaza Sotomayor and the imposing Armada de Chile headquarters, browsed in a local market, and then made our way uphill again to view more street art before we settled down to a wonderful lunch at Paste e Vino, a deservedly popular restaurant, and our favorite in Valpo. Our tour was over but we invited Yevgenia to join us and were seated at a perfect table on their outdoor balcony overlooking the harbor. The weather was glorious, the food was delicious, I discovered a wonderful wine that I’ve unfortunately been unsuccessful in finding stateside, and we enjoyed chatting about life in Chile.
We liked Yevgenia, although she added no value at all to the street art tour, basically showing us some murals and telling us where we could find others, with a minimal amount of info about the art and artists. Had we known that STGO de Chile Street Art Tours also runs tours in Valparaiso we would have arranged the street art tour with them. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around looking at mural art and on a whim popped into the Museo Mirador Lukas which displays the satirical illustrations of Renzo Pecchenino, professionally known as Lukas. As we neared our hotel we stopped to appreciate the talents of a family of dancing drummers in a plaza in front of the Palacio Baburizza museum. That evening we dined at the hotel’s restaurant, Alegre. The atmosphere was lovely, service was attentive and the food was good but not notable.
We had to arise very early the next morning to meet our guide, Michel, and our driver, Sergio (the same who drove us here from the airport) for a visit to Las Campanas National Park. Michel is an ornithologist who teaches at the university in Santiago and he’s exceedingly knowledgeable and interesting. It’s a long drive to the park and the roads into it are a bit rough, so a 4 wheel drive would be advised (which we didn’t have). We walked along the trails and spotted lots of birds, among them adult and juvenile Harris hawks, long-tailed meadowlark, austral blackbirds, Chilean flicker, striped woodpecker, black-chested buzzard, white-throated tapaculo, moustached turco, rufous collared sparrows and California quails. The best was a tiny Austral Pygmy Owl, an adorable brown and white raptor. It was perched in a tree surveilling the scene when it decided to fly right over us to a tree on the opposite side of the trail. We continued watching it until it flew back to the original branch, buzzing me on the way. It flew right at me and was so close I felt the whoosh from its wings as it passed overhead. We didn’t see any mammals though we observed a brilliant Liolaemus lizard with a green spotted head, yellow-green throat and blue spotted body running up and down a tree trunk. We had expected to spend all day in the park, however, our agency failed to advise us to pack a lunch, so we had to drive out of the park to find a place to eat. The park is in a rural area, but Sergio, asked around and we ended up discovering a tiny, adorable sandwich shack on a busy road where a woman prepared grilled sandwiches and empanadas. There were a few seats outdoors where we sat to enjoy them. It turned out to be one of our favorite lunches, the sandwiches were fresh and delicious. However, after lunch it would have taken too long to drive back to the park so we headed back to town. That evening we had dinner at Café Turri, a short walk from our hotel up and down hill. This was another place with an outdoor terrace, good views and decent food.
On our last day in Valparaiso, we didn’t have to head out quite so early, so we met Michel and Sergio after a relaxing breakfast. Today we visited some prime wildlife areas along the coast. The day started out foggy and grey, but it didn’t spoil our excursion. We drove through chichi Vina del Mar with its white casino, high rise buildings and red-and-green flower clock and made our first stop at Renaca, a maritime reserve. On the rocks just offshore we spotted a mammoth male sea lion with his harem of females and adorable pups. The pinnipeds shared the rocks with a wide variety of sea birds: black and white American oystercatchers with bright red bills, drab Blackish oystercatchers, Neotropic cormorants with their long graceful necks, Red-legged cormorants with a splash of red at the base of their bills as well as legs, Guanay cormorants with black and white penguin-like coloring, white-headed Brown pelicans, Peruvian boobies, snow white with brown and white wings, Ruddy turnstones, black and white with rufous patches on the wings, statuesque black and white Kelp gulls with their mottled brown juveniles, Snowy egrets and stealthy Black-crowned night herons. But our absolute favorites were the resplendent Inca terns, a unique species with dark grey bodies, black heads, blood-red bills and legs, a curled white feather “moustache” and an egg-yolk-yellow cheek patch. These agile fliers plunge dive for fish and practice elaborate courtship rituals. This was such a fabulous site that we hated to move on, but there was much more to see.
We continued to the Parque Ecologico La Isla in Concon, a nature reserve in a lovely wetland that attracts over 70 species of migratory and native birds. The first birds we noticed were yellow-winged blackbirds, similar to the red-winged and bi-color winged blackbirds we see back home. As we walked around the park Michel pointed out the aptly named Greater yellowlegs, whimbrels, waders with long down-curved bills, Great blue herons, White-backed stilts with long rose-colored legs, Long-tailed meadowlarks, Rufous-tailed plantcutters, white-throated Diuca finch, Chilean mockingbirds, flat-headed Southern lapwings and more American oystercatchers.
We stopped by a pond across the road from a huge refinery, an unlikely birdwatching place, that nevertheless the oil company had set aside as a bird refuge. It was a desolate area, but the pond was teeming with waterfowl. Fences were set up to protect the site, so we got as close as we could. There were cormorants, stilts and several species of ducks, including the Yellow-billed pintail, Red shovelers with black-spotted rufous bodies and wings and broad bills, and Chiloe wigeons with beautiful iridescent head feathers. There were also White-winged coots with bright yellow bills and frontal shields. Their name seems inappropriate since they’re largely black. The white feathers are on the underside of their wings and only visible when the wings are spread. But the winner in all-around adorableness were the White-tufted grebes, with a fan of white feathers behind the eyes adorning their black heads.
We worked up an appetite with all of the bird watching, so Sergio recommended stopping at El Chiringuito in the seaside town of Zapaller. Michel and Sergio joined us and we shared platters of fresh, tasty seafood within steps of the crashing surf.
Our tour was not supposed to include the Magellanic penguin colony at Los Pinguinos beach, but Michel knew we were penguin enthusiasts, and may have felt as if we’d been short-changed the day before, so we got to visit that location as well. It’s a much more touristy place than the others we visited, but it was a beautiful beach, and it’s always a huge pleasure to see penguins in their natural habitat. We also got a good look at a Thorn-tailed rayadito, a small bird with lovely coloring.
And as if that was not enough, we made one more stop on the way back to our hotel in a small town where we found more whimbrels, coots and White-tufted grebes along with 4 Great grebes, 2 adults and 2 juveniles, swimming in the river. While not as cute as their White-tufted cousins, the adult grebes were handsome, with black crests and rufous patches on their necks and tails, although the juveniles were plainer.
I’m so glad that I had requested a naturalist guide for the national park and beach town tours. The shore excursion especially was fantastic, but only because we had Michel. I don’t think it would have been very interesting without the bird watching. We returned fairly late but had time to freshen up before dinner at La Concepcion, a nice restaurant overlooking the water with good but not great food. You get the theme here, Valparaiso is not a big foodie town and the same types of dishes are offered in most places.
CENTRAL VALLEY VINEYARDS
The next morning Sergio came to drive us into wine country. We were very happy to have the same driver for all of our time on the mainland, and especially Sergio since he was not only a good driver, but delightful. We had originally planned to drive ourselves, which I recommend since we’d done it before in Chile and the roads are generally good, but the long night drive to Valparaiso convinced us otherwise, and it was probably a good choice this time. However, we were very surprised to find that we also had a guide. We didn’t think we needed one for this part of the trip, and for the most part we didn’t.
CASAS del BOSQUE
Our guide, Marie, was an American expat, who’d been living in Chile for many years and who turned out to be helpful at some times but not others. We were visiting Casas del Bosque, a renowned winery in the Casablanca Valley, but arrived sooner than expected. Marie suggested that we visit her favorite winery nearby called Bodegas RE. We didn’t have time for a tour, but she showed us around the modern attractive facility. One of the more interesting aspects of this winery is that they store wine in huge clay pots before transferring them to oak barrels. They also create unusual varietal blends such as syrah and pinot noir or chardonnay and pinot noir, which they call syranoir and chardonnoir, though of course chardonnay and pinot noir are commonly blended in champagne. They also bottle fruit liqueurs, which looked tempting. We sat at the wine bar and the fellow conducting the tastings gave me a taste of chardonnoir and cabergnan (cabernet sauvignon and carignan), but surprisingly didn’t charge us for the tasting. I found them interesting, though these probably weren’t the best vintages.
We were still a bit early for our tour at Casas del Bosque, so we wandered around their beautiful estate and lounged outdoors enjoying the sunny, mild weather until it was time. The young Brazilian woman, Manu, who took us on the tour was excellent! We’ve toured many wineries and she actually gave us information that we’d never heard before about the wine making process that is common around the world. Apparently egg whites are often used to remove solids from the wine, which means that many wines might not be suitable for vegans. Wineries are becoming more sensitive to this and can use clay or other non-animal substances as well. Unfortunately the group we had joined for the tour had small children who were disruptive and made it hard to hear the guide at times, not something we’ve experienced before at a winery. I’m sure that the poor kids were bored senseless. After the tour we went to the sleek glass-walled tasting room where I sampled their very fine Sauvignon Blanc Gran Riserva, Reserve Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah.
Coincidentally the day that we visited Casas del Bosque was Valentine’s Day, so their restaurant, Tanino, was exceedingly busy. The weather was glorious but they claimed that our reservation didn’t stipulate a table on the outdoor patio, so they were going to stick us indoors even though we had reserved many months in advance. While we were on the winery tour Marie managed to convince management to give us a table outside. Due to the poor placement I suspect that they brought one out and fit it into a walkway, however, we were very grateful to be seated outdoors, so we didn’t care very much about that. It’s a good thing that we were seated outdoors because the service was horrendous, I had no napkin or bread plate or utensils initially and it took quite a while to get them. We were served our first course 70 minutes after we sat down, so at least we were enjoying the weather and views while waiting. The food wasn’t as good as we’d hoped, but still tasty and the wines are very good. Perhaps they do better on less hectic days. This was the one time we were grateful to have Marie along with us.
MATETIC
After lunch we headed to the Rosario Valley and Matetic Vineyards, a highly esteemed organic and biodynamic viticulturist. We spent 3 nights in La Casona, the 10 room lodge on the estate. This is a seriously gorgeous winery and we loved our stay there! The team at the winery is delightful. The main office, a cozy lounge offering sofas, a pool table, honor bar and coffee machine, and the guest rooms, are in a single-story U shaped building enclosing a central courtyard beautifully landscaped with flowers and 2 towering palm trees. There's a beautiful pool nearby with lounge chairs, shaded day beds and a covered bar area with seating. The entire residence was surrounded by fields of grape vines on gently sloping hills. The guest rooms are named after wine grape varietals and we were pleased to have requested Sauvignon Blanc. It was at one end of the U, so we had 2 outdoor patios with wonderful views and a bit more privacy than other rooms. One afternoon while lounging on our patio we spotted a wary grey fox trotting by and that just made our day. During a van tour of the property, our excellent guide, Pablo, told us that foxes are important allies in reducing the rabbit and rodent population and protecting crops.
The estate tour started with the history of Matetic at the original Coralillo winery, which is now abandoned, and continued past Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay vineyards, groves of trees laden with almonds, walnuts, avocados, blueberries, cherries, olives and apples and fields of green beans, quinoa and hay were planted as well. We spied huasos on horses herding beef cattle and were delighted by grazing sweet-faced alpacas. Pablo also took us on a hike to the top of 1,322 ft/433 m Alto Bahamondes hill with far-ranging views. The skies weren’t clear enough to see both the Andes and Pacific, as they claim, however, the views were expansive nonetheless. To our surprise Pablo pulled a half bottle of Coralillo Sauvignon Blanc from his backpack for a toast at the summit. The climb was not difficult if you're relatively fit, and on the way Pablo pointed out birds and described native vegetation. He dropped us off at the lodge and after cleaning up we had an excellent lunch on the outdoor patio of Equilibrio restaurant. Equilibrio is housed in a round building with a tejas tile roof and floor to ceiling windows in a picturesque setting adjacent to a pond where swans and other waterfowl glided by. It’s usually only open for lunch, although on Valentine’s Day dinner was served there as well. The prix fixe lunch started with hors d’oeuvres of shrimp and goat cheese & tomato skewers. I sipped a juicy Coralillo Sauvignon Blanc with shrimp and scallops and an intense Coralillo Syrah with a savory lamb shank. Stu enjoyed meat empanadas and pasta stuffed with crab in a creamy sauce.
That afternoon we went on a cellar tour with 5 jovial Brits. The bodega, situated high on a hill with views across the estate, was modern and stunning. Our guide was highly personable, the tour was enlightening, including information about the modern and innovative methods of pest control they use, and the wine tasting was terrific. We tasted 4 wines from the premium EQ line, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. After the formal tasting, our guide left us to relax on the outdoor patio overlooking the vines and enjoy the wine with cheese and crackers until we were ready for the driver to take us back to the lodge.
We took breakfasts and dinners at Matetic. These meals were served in a small dining room that shared space with El Emporio shop and wine bar, which we reached via a pretty path lined with a flowering bower and bushes. We enjoyed bird watching in the early morning on our way to breakfast. Large barrels placed throughout the property reinforced the wine country aesthetic. With dinner you had a choice of Corallilo wines included, or you could pay a supplement to substitute a premium wine, such as the EQ Pinot Noir which I did on our last evening. The food was variable, sometimes very good and sometimes less satisfying, though the excellent wines compensated. The breakfasts weren’t the best of the trip, but they were still good and included plenty of fresh fruit including cherries.
ISLA NEGRA
On our second day in the wine valley, Stu and I met with Marie and Sergio again for a tour to Pablo Neruda’s seaside house in Isla Negra, which we highly recommend. The house and grounds are much more interesting than La Sebastiana in Valparaiso, though we’re glad to have seen that also for contrast. It’s also an audio self-guided tour and started with a film from which we learned even more about Pablo Neruda. While there were maritime elements to the décor at La Sebastiana, the nautical motif was predominant in this house with its low ceilings and narrow rooms overloaded with fascinating and eclectic artifacts. Neruda was a dedicated collector and among the numerous treasures we found a room with wooden ship figureheads, ships in bottles, compasses and other sailor’s instruments, and a replica of the Rapa Nui Madonna. Ever creative, when a door from a shipwreck washed up on the beach beneath the hill that the house is perched upon, Neruda salvaged it and fashioned a desk from it. There are breathtaking sea views from various vantage points throughout the house and grounds. We visited the bedroom where Neruda passed away and the gravesite on the property where he and his third wife are interred. There’s also an imposing steam locomotive in the yard along with sonorous brass bells and whimsical sculptures. There’s a café with outdoor seating if you want to catch a bite while admiring a view of the coastline.
After Isla Negra we were supposed to explore the nearby beach towns, however the weather was foggy and chilly so we took a short walk along the beach but didn’t linger. Marie recommended lunch at a very nice beachfront restaurant called Caleuche, named for a myth from the southern island of Chiloé. We invited Marie to join us and shared local appetizer specialties, razor clams with parmesan and camarones pil-pil (shrimp in a spicy chili sauce) along with a luscious full-bodied Chilean Chardonnay. For mains I had a perfectly cooked swordfish with avocado, Stu had salmon with rice and Marie had fried fish with spicy mashed potatoes.
Since we were nearby, we stopped to pay tribute at the home of Nicanor Parra, an adored 103-year old poet, mathematician and physicist who had recently passed away. Memorials, notes, illustrations, copies of his poems and flowers were hung on the white picket fence and posts outside his modest Las Cruces home. The residence is private and not open to admirers so we did not enter.
SANTA RITA
On our final day in Chile, we had a leisurely breakfast and time to relax before joining Sergio and Yevgenia for the drive to Santa Rita Vineyard which is located in the foothills of Alto Jahuel, a short distance from Santiago.
The thing we liked most about Santa Rita was their Andean museum which we visited before lunch. They have fascinating pre-Columbian artifacts such as ancient wooden Moai from Rapa Nui called Moai Kava Kava, and archaeological treasures from the Arica, San Pedro, Diaguita, Lambayeque and Mapuche cultures, that included ceramics, wickerwork, masks, musical instruments, jewelry, 6th C burial urns, textiles, maces with faces, bone harpoons and gold objects, as well as 19th C silver objects. We toured that on our own and could have used more time to explore.
Lunch was very disappointing. Although I had specifically asked that our menu be a la carte, we were presented a set menu that was apparently prepaid. Yevgenia wasn’t anywhere to be found to help us remedy this. We were allowed a couple of choices but I knew it wasn’t the full menu since I saw a couple next to us eating food that looked much better and that wasn’t on our menu. We got the same menu as a large bus group sitting near us. Service was terrible and the food was only passable. At least the wines were good, but I would have preferred to choose the wines and order higher quality ones.
After lunch we joined a small group for an estate and cellar tour with wine tasting. The tour was interesting and worthwhile since the property is attractive, the winery has a very rich and colorful history and our guide was informative. The tasting did not meet expectations though. After the tour our guide sat us at a table in the wine cellar and presented us with wooden boards with cheeses, meats and condiments and told us we could keep them as well as one of the wine glasses from the tasting. Very nice. Then she poured the wines and we tasted them, all were very good. We sampled the 2014 Triple C, a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and carmenere, the 2013 Pehue Carmenere which spends 20 months in French oak and the 2013 Casa Real, their premium cabernet sauvignon. Unlike at Matetic, here we had a couple sips of wine and bites of food and then the guide was rushing us out so that we could visit the gift shop before it closed. The other people on the tour were all staying at the winery, so they packed up the food and some leftover wine to take with them, but we were headed to the airport, so we couldn’t bring that along, and I wasn’t going to chug the wine to keep a glass. I found it very annoying, particularly since we had no interest in the gift shop.
The drive to the airport was uneventful and we arrived early so we hung out in the lounge until our flight. It wasn’t the best ending to the trip, but overall we had a wonderful time.
HOTELS
THE SINGULAR LASTARRIA – SANTIAGO
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Stu and I have only visited Santiago 3 times, so we're not experts on the hotel scene, however, The Singular was the best hotel that we tried in this city. The public spaces are stylish and comfortable and we found the team to be delightful, very friendly and helpful. Breakfast was excellent, lots of variety and high quality items. We also had dinner at their restaurant and found it to be equally excellent. We especially enjoyed the lamb shoulder for 2. Service was attentive and charming. We sat on their small outdoor patio so that was an additional benefit.
We booked a Singular room and expected a single King bed and had to settle for twin double beds instead. Aside from that, the room was fairly spacious and very attractive and it was quiet for sleeping. There was no view to speak of, just the street. The bathroom had good fixtures although lighting was inadequate, I found it difficult to apply makeup and Stu thought it was an issue when shaving. WiFi was good and there's a large safe that can easily hold laptops and other valuables. We had a look at the rooftop bar to check out the views. It was handsome, but we didn't spend any time there to comment further. We loved the neighborhood. We could easily walk to the Plaza de Armas and to the superb museum of Pre-Columbian art and there's a quaint street nearby, Jose Victorino Lastarria Street, with shops and cool looking restaurants, though we weren't there long enough to try any of the restaurants.
EXPLORA RAPA NUI – EASTER ISLAND
The Explora Lodge is gorgeous with simple, elegant style and spectacular views of the sea and surrounding landscape. The food was delicious accompanied by some good Chilean wines. Our room was all wood and light with a large bedroom featuring a king-sized bed, a round table with chairs, and a curved window seat beneath a bay of large windows framing sea views. There was a large closet with ample storage and a very spacious bathroom with dual sinks, a toilet and bidet stall, a jetted tub, a shower with strong water pressure, a makeup mirror, quality toiletries and very good lighting. We were at the far end of the row of rooms, so it was a bit of a walk to the common areas, however it was very private and quiet. Explora provides refillable water bottles, walking sticks and healthy snacks for hikes and there’s a small shop to buy any important items you might have forgotten, or just souvenirs. There’s a nice bar and cozy lounge near the restaurant. It’s an all-inclusive model with activities, food and wine and airport transportation incorporated in the cost. The excursions are organized so that you can see the most important sites during your stay, though the longer the visit the more you can experience. We also stayed at Explora lodges in Torres del Paine and the Atacama desert. Our favorite was the one in the Atacama.
PALACIO ASTORECA – VALPARAISO
RECOMMENDED
We spent 4 nights at Palacio Astoreca and were very pleased. It's in a lovely historical building in an excellent neighborhood up the hill within walking distance to loads of restaurants. The restaurant in the hotel is quite good as well, particularly the breakfasts which offered a good selection of high quality foods to eat, including an omelet station, an excellent variety of fresh fruit and very good coffee. The team at the hotel, and especially those at the front desk were delightful, always smiling, helpful and friendly. When we needed to leave early one morning they prepared us a terrific breakfast so we didn't have to go hungry. The public spaces were lovely and the whole place oozes charm and character. Our room was on the top floor with a good sized terrace furnished with comfortable chairs overlooking the harbor and surrounding streets. The room was spacious with a comfortable bed and though the bathroom was a bit small it had a large shower. There wasn't air conditioning but the open windows kept us cool and it was quite chilly at night so we usually closed them. Most nights the neighborhood was very quiet and we slept peacefully, though on Saturday night it can get a bit raucous in the street until the wee hours. There might not be a better choice in town.
LA CASONA AT MATETIC – ROSARIO VALLEY
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Our room, Sauvignon Blanc, featured country elegant decor, a comfy king bed with night tables, a desk, chairs and table, French doors out to the patios, and a large armoire. Hanging space could be improved but it was adequate for our stay and there were ample drawers and shelves and a safe large enough for electronics and other valuables. The green and white check tiled bathroom was enormous with a large jetted tub/shower combo, dual sinks, a chair, ample space on the vanity for personal items, a good hairdryer, large mirror, big soft towels, plush robes and slippers and good quality toiletries. Water pressure in the shower was excellent and the Wi-Fi was fast and reliable. It was very peaceful overnight, and we slept soundly, though we found that we could clearly hear the people talking in the room next door earlier in the day. There's a beautiful pool nearby with lounge chairs, shaded day beds and a covered bar area with seating. The office is in the same building as the guest rooms along with bathrooms and a lovely lounge with sofas, a pool table, honor bar and coffee machine. The property is extensive and there are various tours on offer including bicycle excursions. Don’t miss the cellar tour and wine tasting. While staying here we visited other wineries in the area and also visited Pablo Neruda's home at Isla Negra,which is well worth the time. It's very helpful to have a car to get around unless you have other transportation. As for food, breakfast was good enough but not anything special. Dinners were variable, some dishes very good and others only passable, though the wines were always excellent. The best meal we had was the lunch at Equilibrio. We found the team to be helpful and cordial.