Day 2 in Santiago

Mr I don't need an alarm clock because he always wakes up early and we had gone to bed at 9pm, slept in until 8.30am. You might think oh well it is a holiday so breakfast is until 10am so what is the worry? Well we were booked on a 9 hour tour of Santiago and Concha y Toro winery. That is still enough time for me but Craig always allows one hour to shower get dressed and eat breakfast. Not today! We showered grabbed our things went down to breakfast and packed our breakfast to go from the kitchen and met the lovely Patricia our tour guide. She gave me a hell of a fright at about 10pm last night as she phoned me as I was starting to doze off and Craig was well gone. No way was I expecting a phone call from anyone at our hotel in Santiago. Never mind it is good Intrepid had at least got our tour booked as they had not organised our transfer from the airport yesterday.

We set off in a taxi with Francisco driving and an Englishman called Mr Webster. Patricia announced that it is Monday today so the museums are all closed. Craig was most pleased. I thought a scientist like him might like them but I must say there is only so many museums you can look at it. So we went to govt square my name for the Square where all the Ministries and the Presidents Residence all were. I took photos of Craig and some building and my first selfie which I thought was pretty ugly. We then went for coffee in a Legs Cafe. This is a pretty disgusting practice! Chile had a curfew in the 70s and 80s when Mr Pinochet (which sounds like penis head) was in power. This meant no one could be out on the street from 10pm until 7am and prohibition of alcohol was enforced in the first 4 years too. The men had no where to congregate and nowhere to meet women and were not allowed to drink alcohol thus the coffee shops were developed during the day and the waitresses were to wear incredibly short skirts to satisfy men's need for meeting women. The men used to get in trouble with their women for going there so they started serving aerated mineral water to help cover up the smell of coffee on their breath. The coffee bars are still in action and everyone stands at the bar and the girls still have very short skirts with their gstrings showing through their tight clingy skirts. After such an experience we headed off to the city square which used to be the armoury square prior to Chilean Independence. This housed the Cathedral of the virgin Mary. There were three virgins on it one was from France and one from Italy on the roof looking over the square and one inside the Santa Maria of Chile. This was our first church experience which I said to Craig can be like his shopping expedition down one side and back up the other without stopping. In some ways it brought back memories of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament that is now in ruins. It alcoves off to the side and it had big dome ceilings and pulpits that you have to walk up the stairs to get to the pulpit. It was beautiful and it was lovely for a quick look.

We also looked at the politically incorrect monument to the indigenous people that showed the heads being chopped off. Apparently the Spanish used to pay people to bring a decapitated native!

Lapislazuli is a semi precious stone that is a beautiful blue that is mined in Chile but it has nearly been exhausted in Chile so soon it will only be mined from Afghanistan. We went to a lapislazuli factory and saw how the stones were cut using lots of water. Then the silver being crafted. They use only 945 silver with the lapislazuli rather than the 425 that turns black over time. Craig bought me some cute Chile art silver earrings with little pieces of Chile stones in them. Our Chile souvenir and I have them on and I tried to take a selfie but it was too bad to post. It is very hard to take a picture of your own ear! I took the earring off and took a photo of it.

There is hill in Santiago with a lookout but it was hard to see Santiago for the volcanic ashes.

The next journey was to Concha y Toro and that was interesting but was more for a tourist who hasn't been to a winery and not so interested in wine making. We tried sauvignon blanc which we think the Marlborough Savy is better and ten we tried the Sauvignon Cabernet Shiraz which was most delicious and the Camenere which we had mistaken yesterday for the Shiraz.

There is a myth that the devil lives in the cellar at Castilero del Diablo and this is the entrance to the cellar. They have a surround sound and movie seen to scare the tourists. Ho Hum!