Wine Tasting, Santiago, and Home

After five days on land and sixteen at sea, we were coming to the end of our epic South American and Antarctic adventure, but we figured we'd end on a high note, so we booked a disembarkation excursion to one of the vineyards in the famous Maipo Valley outside Santiago. One of the perks to booking the excursion through the cruise, was that they took care of our four suitcases for the day while we got to go sightseeing. 

The vineyard was beautiful, and the views started right when we drove up.

We had time to walk around and get a coffee before our tour started.

It was the Santa Rita Winery, and they still had carefully maintained the original house.

We started our tour underground in what used to be the main wine cellar.

Vivian was almost done with her book, so every time we stopped to listen to our guide, she tried to find a place to sit and read.  It was a bit challenging in the dark cellar, so she stayed towards the entrance.

Next we moved on to the more modern equipment.  This time she found a little nook, and Elena went to see what she was reading.

Then, it was time for the wine tasting.  They took us to a lovely garden.

We got to keep our tasting glasses too, which was a nice touch.  The girls decided to have a Frosted Flake tasting while we were busy with the wine, although once they discovered there were crackers at our table, they came to visit quite a few times.

Then they served lunch, of course accompanied by a couple different types of wine.

Jeff decided to add to his collection of Elena eating pasta photos.

After lunch, he went out into the garden to take pictures of some of the beautiful flowers.

Then, it was back on the bus for a city tour.  Parts of the city were really lovely, but we also drove through the downtown area where you could see the wooden boards covering broken windows, the results of months of protests and rioting.  Most of the statues were covered in spray paint as well.

Our final stop was the biggest city park. We drove all the way to the top of the hill and then got out to walk around and take some pictures.

By that point we were pretty tired and ready to head to the airport.  We still had quite a bit of time before either one of our flights, so we found a good steak restaurant and set up shop.  We learned that the Santiago airport is woefully under equipped for the amount of  people that go through it, especially when a cruise ship is in town.  The best option would have been Latam, which is the Chilean airline.  Avianca shared a counter with a couple other airlines, so we couldn't check in for the first few hours we were in the airport, but once we could, the line wasn't long.  That was much better than the U.S. options, where all the people flying back to the U.S. stood in line for HOURS waiting for the counter to open.  

Luckily, we weren't in a hurry, the food at the restaurant was good, and when we asked if there was any place to plug in our devices, they gave us portable batteries to plug things into, so we sat there happily for several hours, before going through and getting on our flight.  It was a midnight flight, but I had made sure we got seats that reclined, so we all got some rest in. Mr. Nelson was there to pick us up when we arrived, and we got to watch the sunrise on our way home.

It was a nice way to be welcomed home after such a long trip.