Day 11. The last hurrah.

He said: today, we go home. But first, we have some last few things on our checklist.

We had to repack our luggage, to try to balance out our weights, so that we didn't go over the limits. That took a couple minutes. Check.

Then, we went downstairs for the buffet breakfast. We had 15 minutes before our guide showed up. So, it was pretty much pastry, bread and coffee. Check.

Our guide and driver then took us out, 40 km south of Santiago City, to the Concha y Toro winery for a wine tour. We went through a tour of the grounds, saw the vineyards, and tasted a very nice Chardonnay (today's photo). Only a very light oak taste (a distaste I seem to have acquired from Rachel), but lots of light fruit flavours without being overly sweet. Next up was a tour of the aging cellars. During the tour, they turned out the lights and told us the story of the Devil's Cellar. The original owner, Don XYZ, noticed some of his best aging stock go missing. He suspected locals stealing the wine, so he circulated a legend about El Diablo residing within the cellar. The wine suddenly stopped vanishing. And then we went upstairs to taste a very nice Carménère, from the Casillero del Diablo itself. Very rich tastes of dark chocolate and quite earthy. I liked it a lot. Check.

Next on the list was a short detour for lunch, at a place around the corner. We decided to order the Wagyu Beef Tenderloin. Very good, but it didn't quite live up to the reputation or the price. We also had (what we thought was) our last Pisco Sour - a national drink of Chile. Pisco is basically Chilean grappa, but made from a very specific grape. Check.

After lunch, we were left with a few hours to wander Santiago, take some pictures, and just explore. Unfortunately, we had no map, no idea where we were going, or really any sort of clue. I was fascinated by some buildings we saw that had green walls - entire residential apartment buildings with exterior walls covered with soil and greenery. So, wander we did. Check.

We walked back to the hotel to gather our luggage, and wait for our ride to the Santiago airport. No problems there, and we stopped for a (really) final Pisco Sour at the airport. Boarding was painless, and we settled in for a 10-hour flight home to Toronto. Check.

And then we were in Canada. We got our car, grabbed a Tim Horton's, and drove home. Check.

Final note: I loved our honeymoon trip. I can honestly say it has been the best trip I've ever had. I'd love to have stayed longer, but I was starting to miss my son, my dog, and all my family and friends.