¡Santiago, Valparaiso and Colonia!

ENGLISH
4th Stop on my Journey was Santiago de Chile. Since i choose to stay two additional nights, i managed to get a good look around in Santiago. I managed to do two 'tours for tips', one covering the fish and vegetable market and the cemetery and a second one covering the historical city center.

To my delight Couchsurfing 'hang out' appears to work quite well in Chile. In Argentina, I tried to arrange meetings to walk around in groups and get to know the city, but the guys preferred one-on-one meetings with a romantic character, which wasn't my intention. In Chile, Couchsurfing is a good tool to meet people besides free walking tours.

Using hang out, I met an Irish guy with whom I made a small hike to 'San Cristobal' and a day trip to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. Valparaiso is about the size of Freiburg and reminded me a bit of Nice due to its hill and seaside. The many colorful houses reminded me of Cinque Terre in Italy. The city is cluttered with graffiti and quite busy. Viña del Mar, on the other hand, made you forget the big city rush while walking on its beach promenade.

Chile's street food is quite simple. First, there is the 'completo', which is basically a hot dog with lots of tomatoes and avocados. Avocados are relatively cheap here. The second dish is called 'chorrillana' and consists of a huge portion of French fries mixed with onion, pepper, meat, and sausage slices, although the exact composition may vary.
Supposedly, Chile is famous for its seafood due to its coast, but I didn't try the Chilean version of 'ceviche'.

I was really impressed with Chilean wine. The 'Carménère' grape, which was believed to be extinct in Europe due to a plague, was rediscovered in Chile. Even as a wine novice, I could taste its fruity notes and full-bodied flavor. It is said to be similar to Merlot. Other national drinks are 'terremoto' and pisco sour.
Terremoto consists of half a liter of wine ('pipeño') and pineapple ice cream. The name comes from the multiple earthquakes that occur in Chile. They say that after drinking one terremoto, you'll feel an earthquake of magnitude 7, after the second one, an earthquake of magnitude 8, and the third one, called 'blue terremoto', brings a tsunami. The Chileans probably stole the brandy 'pisco' from Peru, but they would never admit it.

I am currently in Buenos Aires for a few days. Today, I took a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. Uruguay is a fascinating country. It is basically a small replica of Argentina with similar traditions, but it is safer, more peaceful, and more advanced, especially when it comes to topics like abortion or drug legalization. Colonia itself is protected by UNESCO. Due to the constant power shifts between Spain and Portugal in its history, it is the only town that combines both styles.

On Thursday, my journey will continue to Ushuaia.

Hasta luego
Dory

P.S. For those who don't speak English or German. Here you can translate the text to Spanish: https://en.pons.com/text-translation