Santiago de Chile

We took a bus from La Serena to Santiago. The landscape got steadily greener, though still pretty desert-like, as we went south. As soon as we turned inland from the coast road, however, it also started getting hotter. Our bus driver seemed to think no one needed the fans running, so we all cooked as we drove along. Toasty.

We arrived a little late, but had plenty of time to cool off and shower before heading east along the Metro to meet up with Rodrigo and his wife for dinner, mead, and wine. We had a great time. The mead was really good despite its young age (only 18 months), and we also enjoyed the Chilean Carmenere. We were sent away with a bottle from Argentina, which we plan on drinking with New Year's Eve dinner.

Rachel arrived early the next morning. After breakfast, we met up with Rachel's friend-of-a-friend who lives in Santiago for some touristing around the city. We visited a museum, took the Funicular up to a viewpoint of the city, went to the Mercado Central for lunch, and saw some of the other sights. For dinner we found Las Vacas Gordas and got some excellent meat and a bottle of Carmenere/Syrah. In the morning was our bus to Mendoza, Argentina.