Wednesday 18th July

Another driving day to reach Santiago (de Chile). We followed the coast road and the desert landscape soon changed to a more green and pleasant environment. As we reached the valley in which Santiago is situated it is more fertile and there are many fruit trees, including orange and lemon groves, growing in this farming area. We arrived at our hotel in the centre of Santiago at about 4.30 and found ourselves in a modern, cosmopolitan city.

Thursday 19th July

This morning we took a stroll around the city, which is fringed on one side by snow-capped mountains and unfortunately mostly cloudy. Of course our main task today was to take a wine tour! After lunch we were driven for about one hour out of town to the Maipo Valley, the home of Concha y Toro (the biggest wine producer in Chile) and the "Devil's Cellar" (Castillero del Diablo), where we enjoyed a tour of the winery and tasted a few good wines, including a 1989 Don Melchor which is one of the premium wines for this area. Unfortunately we have to drag ourselves away to get back on the road to Pucon tomorrow!