August 2007    Chile and Argentina    From Lima, we flew to Santiago where we rented a car and toured the towns and wine country of the Central Valley.  We had a tour operator set up accommodations and visits with the wineries, as reservations are required at the wineries.  It was an enjoyable experience as we had a private tour and tasting at each winery.  The meals in the small towns of Chile were delicious, and included delicious cazuelas (a type of stew) and empanadas.  The views of the snow-capped Andes wherever we went (the country is only 150 miles wide!)  were beautiful.  It was winter season but we lucked out with fairly mild sunny days.  Afterwards, we enjoyed visiting the modern city of Santiago.  From Santiago, we caught a bus for a 7 hour ride over the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina, another famous wine growing region.

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enjoying Montes winery
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one of our favorite wineries, Montes!

 

Mendoza is a very beautiful town with lots of trees.  We hopped on a local bus to visit Maipu, where we had memorable lunch in the country at Casa de Campo and walked to the nearby winery.  From Mendoza, we took an overnight bus to Buenos Aires.  The buses we traveled on were very comfortable, and most long distance buses have semi and full "camas" or beds.  We stayed at the delightful 1890 B&B in San Telmo, which is known as the tango and antiques district of the city.  We enjoyed this cosmopolitan city with its European architecture.  Some of the sites we visited included the Eva Peron museum, the modern arts museum, and the Japanese gardens where we had a delicious sushi lunch.  We enjoyed watching the tango performs in the streets, but especially enjoyed the singing and dancing at the famous Cafe Tortoni . 

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me and Edward Scissorhands

 

 

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tango in the street

 

We took a short flight from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls, located on the border of Argentina and Brazil.  There are 27 waterfalls at Iguazu and the sights and sounds were stunning.  The site is well planned, with many trails above and below the falls.  During our stay, we visited a local man of German descent who lived in the countryside with his family and sold orchids.  We purchased ten small orchids from him.  He and his son were happy to receive guests who admired their collection. 

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This part of our trip came to an end.  We enjoyed every moment of our visit and we will have some very fond memories of Peru, Chile and Argentina. 

 

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