Santiago

How long does it take to read a few books about wine and become an “expert” on the subject? Then, the only thing you have to do is drive around the country and do some free wine-tasting tours for a “guide” you are writing. They will be more than happy to offer free wine to get a good review.

Stop at restaurants between vineyards (eat for free for that restaurant “guide” you are writing too) and then sleep in hotels in nearby towns (again, for that “guide” you are writing). It takes a year to do the tour, and as you revise the books every year, you can do the same round again. Even if your guides are not successful, who cares? By the time they realize your scam, you probably had a few good years out of this. It’s a win-win situation.

Anyway, back to the trip… it was good, although a bit pricey for our daily budget. (I’m worried that we will have to break even on the budget with our food expenses in China; very scary thought). We still don’t know much about wine, but we understood a bit about the process of making it.

This is our last night in Santiago, and I am still trying to find a fault in this city.

For tomorrow, we have a choice to go to the seaside in a touristy area (Valparaíso) or to the mountain (Cajon Del Maipo), which is normally a skiing resort, but it is late spring here, so we don’t expect to see any snow.

We are thinking in favour of the ecotourism chilling in the mountains, but we haven’t decided yet. You will find out in the next message. Until then, I need to sober up from the nine different glasses of wine I’ve tasted… (actually, it feels like 99?)