Another day in Santiago

¡Hola amigos! Today we had more sightseeing in Santiago. First, we got on a giant tour bus and drove to a winery, Viña Cousiño-Macul. The winery was started in 1856 (i think) by a family who made wine for communion. Eventually, two brothers of the family travelled to France and brought back European grapes: Merlot, Cabernet, Piñot, etc. With these they began to produce and sell wine both in Chile and to export, and were very successful. When all the european grapes were infected by pathogens years later, the Europeans were forced to buy their grapes back from the Chileans, who had the only uninfected strains in the world. The company is still owned and run by the family to this day, and the wine can be purchased in 42 countries worldwide. The number one purchaser is the United States, so i suggest you look for Cousiño-Macul in your local wine shop.

After the winery tour, we visited the house of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet of the 1970´s, who died around the time when Pinochet seized control of the government from Salvador Allende. (Neruda´s death was unrelated to the takeover; he had prostate cancer.) His house was very creative, and was fashioned after a boat, because of Pablo´s fascination with the sea. For instance, one of the floors is intentionally warped to simulate walking on board a ship. Also, he had a stream running through his house. The house was built in Santiago for his mistress, Matilde, whom he was deeply in love with, and eventually married. He had two other houses, one in Isla Negra and another which is in Valparaíso.

Although I´m having a great time, I can´t wait to get out of "sightseeing-tourist" mode and get settled in with my host family. Tomorrow is our last day in Santiago, and we leave at 3 pm for Valparaíso to meet our host families. I am very excited. I have to leave for another orientation meeting (this one is titled "school and dating" so it should be more interesting). Hope all is well.

ya me voy
ANdrew