Mendoza

Hi everyone,

So finally I am on my own. My first stop was Mendoza, Argentina. For a wine lover this city is a paradise as there lots of vineyards. Furthermore you can do rafting and hike a lot but the city itself is not very impressive. 

I meet 2 Germans here with whom I went to Potrerillos   ,a lake surrounded by mountains but sadly you are not able to get at the other more interesting looking side and when you go there you need to spend there 5 hours as there is only a few buses back to Mendoza. 

Furthermore we went to the winery Lopez. The tour and tasting at Lopez are for free but I personally do not like their wine as much as I liked the ones in Macul. 

Last but not least there is a huge park which I visited but nothing special to be honest. 

All in all if you are not a wine lover you can skip Mendoza or if you want to go here 1-2 days are enough. I used the additional time to plan my route. 

See you soon!

Hannes

Viña Cousiño Macul

Buenas 

Yesterday has been my last day in Santiago. Next stop will be Mendoza and then I will be traveling south. In other words from now on I will be traveling alone. 

I went to the Cousiño Macul winery, which is very close to the city, on Friday and enjoyed an individual tour as well as a great wine tasting. My tour guide Sarah has been able to tell me lots about wine and the history of this specific winery. Definitely recommendable!

Old engine used to fill up wine

Wine "libery" used to study wines of every crop year from all around the world

My tour guide Sarah 

Now it is time to say goodbye to Santiago. 

Many thanks to my Chilean family for welcoming me and giving me an insight in the Chilean life. I enjoyed my time in Santiago and I will be coming back!

Adíos!

Chilean National Fest

Hi everyone,

Has been some time since my last entry and there is much to tell. Between getting to know my Chilean family I visited some places in Santiago as well as San Francisco de Mostazal, San José de Maipo, Rancagua and Machali. 

In Santiago I visited Santa Lucia, San Cristóbal and Felipe's university. Santa Lucia and San Cristóbal are both hills with a terrific view. Some Chileans told me that the view is better after a day of rain but even if it did not rain it is worth a trip, especially Santa Lucia. 

Santa Maria (San Cristóbal)

San Cristóbal 

You don't need to walk to San Cristóbal if you are lazy 😉

Santa Lucia 

Once more Santa Lucia

It has been a full week as there has been the Chilean Fest (official holiday is the 18. of September but it is actually a week full of family time and parties). There are many attractions, games, Fondas and one of Chile's national sports:flying kites 

Sometimes less successful 





Trying to ride a wild horse (challenge is to try to grab the head with your legs)

On of the riders who got hurt once he had been thrown of the horse

Some Family time: 

Titanic (Felipe is Rose)

And of course partying. Every day has been unique:

Limo Ride to the club- hitchhiking in Chile

Uni Party; Location: a bullfighting arena

Fonda (the Chilean Fair)

Bull riding (club Kamikaze)

To sum up I had lots of fun and I did not have any time to plan my further travel which I will need to do the next couple of days as it is time to start the next chapter. 

¡Hasta pronto!

Hannes

Valparaiso & Viña Del Mar

Hi everyone, 

After I hurt myself playing soccer I had to take a break but all good again 😅👍🏻

Soon there will be the Chilean Fest (18. Sep) and after that Fest I will start traveling south. Therefore I did my first trips to see the city center of Santiago (pictures to follow) and other places in the middle of Chile besides Santiago (Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar). 

Valparaiso was once wealthy and glorious (if anyone is interested in the city's history read it by yourself 😁). Nowadays many building have suffered.

Valparaiso has 42 hills 

View at the port


Base of the Chilean Marine


Once the biggest stock exchange Southamerikas (today the roof is partly broken)

Luckily the city reinvents itself. Many Graffiti create an aura that I did not see at any other city so far and which makes it worth traveling to Valparaiso. 

I am not a fan of the tagging but I do like graffitis. I received a great insight from my tour guide Danny (tour guide from FreetourValparaiso -  link http://www.freetourvalparaiso.cl/when_where.html) who has many friends in the scene and I understood that many paintings try to tell a message. In my option it is a good way to make boring ugly places special. 

Furthermore I did a boat tour to see the port (cute compared to Hamburg) and drove according to my tour guide with the oldest bus in the world

If they hadn't moved once I would have thought they are dead

Afterwards I took a bus to Viña Del Mar which is only 10 minutes away from Valparaiso. To be honest it did not impress me that much which is maybe my own fault as I did not do a tour and was not prepared enough to know which places to go to. 

Palacio Rioja

Unfortunately I was sitting in the bus while trying to take a picture of the flower clock...

I think there are more beautiful places to go to in Viña Del Mar but I did not have more time. 

Ciao 

Hannes