LindaP
Senior Insider
We flew Albany to Atlanta to Santiago; and our daughter flew Denver to Dallas to Santiago; and we all met up with our son at the airport around 9 am. First though; we had to pay a reciprocity fee of $160.00 each, good for the life of our passports.
And, going through customs, we decided to declare the almond- pine nut cookies I had made; rather than risk the $250.00 fine for bringing in nuts and not telling them. They let us through after asking why we had checked off yes on the form, AND after Xraying the bags on the way out ( a procedure for everyone).
I was surprised to find that Chile reminded me so much of California. The climate, the wineries, the great fresh fruit and vegetable stands the eucalyptus trees lining the roads, the abundance of wisteria trees, and the town near Vina Del Mar, where our son was living : Valpariso, was like San Francisco; with the hills and steps.
We went to a fishing village: Quintay, and stayed at a coastal town one night; Maitencillo; where we cooked artichokes, clams and Chilean abalone.
We had a winery tour of Matetic in casablanca region, and observed their 20,000 + acres, and tasted their awesome wines.
We explored Santiago, and saw the city from the very top of the W Hotel on their ultra cool outdoor bar.
We went to the National Park in Olmeu, and ran from a tarantula (the photo is from our son's camera, not mine!).
Saw great outdoor markets, snow -covered Andes Mts, ate great sea bass, calamari, hearts of palm and avocado salads, and tried to stay away from all the smokers.
The wall art was amazing as were the sunsets.
Our son may return next year; if so, we hope to return also