6/30/18 – 7/9/18
Itinerary:
- Santiago, Chile (1 night)
- Mendoza, Argentina (2 nights)
- Valparaiso, Chile (1 night)
- San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (4 nights)
This was a special trip for us because we were traveling with Ningwei’s parents and his 7 year old little sister. Ningwei’s dad had been wanting to go to Chile for a while, so when Ningwei happened to find business class tickets for $1k pp to Santiago, he knew this would be the perfect family trip for the Fourth of July holiday. We spent a day in Santiago, then Ningwei and I broke off from the family for a couple of days to tour wineries in Mendoza, Argentina, a short 1hr flight away. The food and wine there were amazing and extremely good value due to the economic crisis in Argentina (bad for them, good for us greedy American tourists).
After two days, we regrouped in Santiago and took a rental car down to Valparaiso, a coastal town known for its long windy roads (think San Francisco), mural artworks, and seafood. We spent a day and a half there, then drove back to the Santiago airport to catch a 2.5 hour flight to Calama, in northern Chile. There, we spent four nights in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama, which was such a surreal experience.
Atacama is one of the highest and driest deserts in the world, meaning that the temperature changes dramatically from night to day. It also makes it one of the best places for star gazing. At night, the sky lights up with literally billions of stars, and you can see the Milky Way and bright shiny planets with only the naked eye. It is one of the most breathtaking views we’ve ever seen. There is also an intense variety of geography in Atacama, including volcanoes, highlands, valleys, salt flats and lakes, so there was no shortage of activities.
In summary, our trip was a combination of business class flying, fine dining, (a lot of) wine drinking, wildlife watching, and hiking for incredible breathtaking views of Chile. We surely will have to come back again to go to Patagonia during the summer time, but there is no shortage of things to do in the northern part of Chile.
Flight Review:
New York City JFK to Mexico City MEX– AeroMexico
Mexico City MEX to Santiago SCL – AeroMexico
We flew business class from New York, US to Santiago, Chile on AeroMexico. Delta owns a 49% stake in AeroMexico and our flights from JFK departed from Delta’s home terminal, terminal 4. The quality of our AeroMexico flights were significantly different. The first leg from JFK to MEX was on an aging 737-800 with traditional recliner business seats. However, we were pleasantly surprised by an equipment swap from a 787-8 to a newly minted 787-9 with reverse herringbone seats in business. Needless to say, the family had a fantastic time riding on the second leg of the flights.
Hotel Reviews:
Four Points by Sheraton – Santiago, Chile
For the first night in Santiago, we booked two rooms at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel, located in the Providencia district. Due to Ningwei’s SPG Platinum status, we got complimentary drink tickets to use at the hotel bar. Being in Chile, we had to get Pisco sours – a super sweet drink that consists of Pisco, a grape-based liquor, sour mix, and egg white to create a foamy top. Yum!
The one bedroom hotel room was quite spacious, especially relative to the double bed hotel room. Not sure what was up with the huge disparity, maybe it had something to do with it being in the corner. Each room had a complimentary dessert pie and homemade watermelon juice waiting for us on the table.
Park Hyatt Mendoza – Mendoza, Argentina
For our two night excursion to Argentina, Ningwei booked us at the Park Hyatt Mendoza. The hotel was relatively cheap when he booked it – just $140USD a night. We got a complimentary upgrade to the Diplomat suite due to Ningwei’s Hyatt Globalist status, along with complimentary breakfast and a wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier.
The Diplomat suite consisted of a large living room area, a powder room, and a master bedroom. The hotel also provided for us a bottle of wine, some fruits, and Argentinian cookies.
The hotel has a casino attached to it, where you can go not just to gamble, but also exchange your USD to Argentinian pesos. They also had live music and food. We tried our hand at the black jack table, since the minimum bet was 50 pesos (~$2USD), but we still somehow lost all our money within a short amount of time.
Breakfast took place in the restaurant next to the front lobby. It was a decent sized buffet, but not as impressive as some of the other Park Hyatt breakfasts. You could request an omelet or a cappuccino, but there was no a la carte menu.
We booked our sommelier wine tasting for the second night, right after our wine tour (yay lots of drinking!). There is a really cool and secluded bar in the back of the hotel. Our sommelier, Alexander, guided us through three wines – a sparkling, a Syrah, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. He was very passionate and knowledgeable about the background and history behind each of the wines, all from different regions within Mendoza. We also talked to him about his background – he’s originally from Seattle, WA, but moved down to Argentina with his half-Argentinian wife after graduating college. They toured around for a bit in Buenos Aires, but ultimately decided to settle down in Mendoza. He learned to love wine in Mendoza, got his sommelier certification, and then started climbing the ladder, first working at a couple of restaurants. He had just been the Park Hyatt sommelier for a year and a half now. It’s always so interesting to learn about the stories behind US expats, and Alex’s was no exception.
Ancar Lodge – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Ancar Lodge has five cabins, and the property is tucked away in a relatively secluded area of San Pedro. We reserved one cabin for the five of us. It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. There also is a porch with an outdoor dining set. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a refrigerator, a gas stove, and cooking appliances.
The property has a pool with a lounging area, outdoor grills, a firebrick oven, and several hammocks. There also are resident cats – one of them even let themselves into our cabin at night and laid in our laps! I am a big cat lover, so obviously I was thrilled about having a pet cat for the night.
Service was very friendly, and there was someone at the front desk around the clock, in case you had questions or needed to leave the gated area. The only one downside was that when it came to check out, the hotel charged us the 19% VAT fee, which is supposed to only be applicable to Chilean residents. We tried to argue with them that foreigners are excluded from this fee, but they insisted that the only way they would be able to take off this fee was if we paid in cash. That was obviously very annoying, but because they spoke minimal English and we spoke minimal Spanish, there wasn’t much else we could say about the matter. Otherwise, it was a very nice property, especially since we were traveling with 5 people.
Restaurant Reviews:
La Biferia, Santiago, Chile
I made a reservation for this restaurant the day before we arrived in Santiago, because I knew we would want to have Chilean steak for the first night. The restaurant almost seemed French, with its outdoor patio seating, dimmed lighting and wooden tables. The kitchen was half exposed so that you could see the cooks cooking the steaks, with the occasional tall flame spiking up from the hot temperature of the grill. They also had an extensive wine menu.
The food was amazing and cooked to exactly the right degree. I have had good steak in the US and abroad before, and this was definitely up there. The meat barely required much seasoning, it was just that fresh and naturally tasty. The sides were also fantastic and perfect proportions for sharing with the whole family. Definitely would recommend La Biferia to anyone traveling in Santiago.
Barrica 94, Santiago, Chile
We actually got lucky with a longer than anticipated layover in Santiago on our way back from the Atacama Desert. Seeing that we still needed to buy some (more) wine to bring back to the US, we headed out to the Providencia region of the city via taxi. We bought four bottles of Chilean wine at a shop called Santiago Wine Club (open on Sundays, very important), then grabbed dinner at this restaurant called Barrica 94. It’s located in a very busy but sleek restaurant/shopping area, but seems to be one of the few traditional Chilean restaurants. We ordered a local red Carmenere wine; shrimps served Pil Pil style (in boiling oil and butter); a rib-eye steak; and Pastel del Choclo, a corn pie with beef, tomatoes, olives, and sweet onions. Great food with a nice balcony view.
La Lucia, Mendoza, Argentina
The Park Hyatt Mendoza front desk recommended we try La Lucia for Argentinian steak, which also was conveniently located just a block away from the hotel. The street is full of nice restaurants, including pizza, Italian, seafood, etc. We entered the restaurant and immediately on the right, there is a large window for viewing the charcoal grill, with meats and vegetables cooking in progress. We ordered the Entrecote (similar to a rib eye cut) and the Parilla, a platter of grilled meats and sausages. We also ordered empanadas and creamed spinach as sides. Lastly, we had a local Malbec half bottle of wine to share.
Azafran, Mendoza, Argentina
I had made a reservation in advance for our second night in Mendoza, knowing that the Argentinian seafood restaurant was quite popular. There is a cool wine cellar in the front of the restaurant, and if you choose to order a whole bottle, you can hand pick the bottle from the wine cellar yourself. The restaurant has a bohemian feel to it, which is a good sign that this is going to be one of those really good hipster restaurants. We ordered the Patagonian shrimp to start, and then he ordered the trout while I had the salmon raviolini. Ningwei also got a sparkling wine while I got a red wine [insert more details]. The food was artistically done and tasty, not to mention relatively cheap due to Argentinian prices (about $60USD for everything). They even gave us an ice cream and fudge cake dessert to celebrate Ningwei’s birthday. Definitely would recommend anyone to check out this restaurant if they’re looking for a fun, unconventional take on seafood.
Cafe Vinilo, Valparaíso, Chile
We ate in this cute cafe for dinner on our one night in Valparaíso. The owner lived in the UK for ten years, so we talked with him quite a bit. We ordered the cuttlefish and swordfish ceviche; fish nuggets; quinoa croquettes; swordfish steak; tuna steak; and slow cooked short rib. They also had an extensive pisco sour menu. We’d definitely recommend the seafood and croquettes.
Adobe, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
We ate here for dinner on our last night in Atacama. They serve primarily traditional Chilean cuisine and some Milanese dishes as well. The restaurant has an open fire pit in the center and low lighting throughout the area, so it has a really rustic ambiance to it. We ordered the pichanga, a large dish to share that is a meaty mix of barbequed beef, pork, chicken, sausage, and grilled vegetables with French fries on top. We also got the tuna tartare with sopapillas, the Roquefort steak, and of course, pisco sours to drink.
Recommended Activities:
Santiago, Chile:
Cerro San Cristobal – Take the gondola ride/Telefornica up for some great views of Santiago against the Andes Mountains. At the top, you can visit the church and the giant statue dedicated to Santa Maria. Cheap entrance fee tickets – about $6USD pp for going up and down the mountain. You can also hike up for free; it is supposedly a 1 hour hike to the top.
Santiago National Zoo – If you take the cable car/Fornica down to get to the east side of Cerro San Cristobal, the entrance for the National Zoo is located at the last stop. Would definitely recommend going to the zoo if you have kids – the entrance fee is about $3USD for kids, $5USD for adults. I especially appreciated the native Chilean exhibits, many of which highlighted the colorful birds that reside in this vast country.
- Wine tasting at Casa del Bosque – Casa del Bosque is a beautiful winery just an hour outside of Santiago. We had rented a car and stopped there on our way to Valparaiso. Unfortunately, we missed the winery tour, but managed to make it to the wine sampling. They gave us to sample four wines – a Chardonnay, a Pinot Grigio, a Pinot Noir, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Given the property’s beauty and the knowledgeable guides, I can imagine that the winery must be extremely popular during the summertime.
Mendoza, Argentina:
Wine tour – We chose an 8 hour bus wine tour through Viator (Mendoza Wine Tour with Lunch). It was about $150USD pp and included stops at three wineries, the Pasrai Olive Oil production center, and lunch. The group consisted of both English and Spanish speaking tourists. We were brought to wineries in the Luján de Cuyo region, but there are tours that go to the other winery regions as well. Because it was winter time, the wineries weren’t as picturesque, but the wines we sampled were still good. We sampled a lot of Malbecs, which is what Mendoza is most well known for. We would recommend going on a bus tour to check out the different wineries, especially during the winter, versus biking, which was an option we were considering at one point.
Valparaiso, Chile:
Walk to Plaza Cerena – Valparaiso is filled with colorful murals from head to toe. The windy roads and steep hills were deeply reminiscent of San Francisco. We walked to Plaza Cerena, taking the Fornica up part of the way. At the top, there is a picturesque view of the city, albeit a little bit anticlimactic after such a long hike.
Atacama Desert, Chile
La Valle de La Luna – One of the must see sites in the Atacama Desert. We rented a car throughout our time in the desert, but you can also take a tourist bus if you are traveling solo or with only one other person. Regardless, it is a very short trip from San Pedro. The name, the Moon Valley, is attributed to its ragged rocky formations and vast sand dunes. There are a decent number of places to hike, including salt caves and tall ridges that oversee the whole valley. Ningwei’s little sister in particular liked climbing the salt cave – it gets very narrow and very dark in some parts, so make sure you bring a phone or a flashlight! We would recommend coming here around 2 or 3 pm, give yourself a couple of hours to hike around, then watch the sun set in the park. Go to the viewing point for sunset. The sky fades to hues of pink and blue, which reflects off all the rock and sand and makes for the most gorgeous backdrop.
San Pedro de Atacama – Our lodging was in a secluded part of town, but the main street was still within easy walking distance. Main Street is pretty fun, albeit touristy. You can find a variety of markets, restaurants, bars, and tourist agencies. It’s interesting to walk through though, especially the markets. We bought some beautiful blankets and little trinkets to bring back home. It’s also fun to check out the town in general, and the volcano in the backdrop makes the place extra unique.
Astrology Tour – There are a lot of different astrology tours to choose from. I would not necessarily recommend the one that we went on, but it is a good idea to go compare prices with multiple tour agencies on the street. We specifically went for a tour that focused more on actual astrology versus constellations, but it’s really all a matter of preference. For reference, our tour was 18,000 pesos pp for a 30 min in-depth explanation of the stars; snacks and hot drinks; a photo-op with a professional night photographer; and four telescopes for 9 people to share for about an hour of star gazing. Make sure you bundle up as it does get really cold at night in the desert!
Las Piedras Rojas – This was a difficult drive from San Pedro de Atacama, but the views were worthwhile. We passed through beautiful, iron red rock formations and crystal blue lakes. It was pretty windy and cold when we visited, so we couldn’t do much but watch and take photos from the comfort of our car. At one point, we thought we saw llamas, but later we were told that they were actually vicunas, a relative of the llama.
Laguna Chuxa – Even though the National Flamingo Reserve encompasses a large area, Laguna Chuxa is one of the few places where you are guaranteed to see wild flamingoes. The tourist center has a comprehensive display about how flamingos live and what they eat. The beta-carotenes in the sea monkeys and brine shrimp they eat gives flamingoes their pink hue. Laguna Chuxa was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Atacama. There were hundreds of bright pink flamingoes feeding and swimming in the salt lake. While the walk way for tourists is kept a certain distance away from the flamingoes, you can still get some pretty good action shots of the birds, provided your camera has a good zoom. This is the perfect destination for sunset, as the pink sky complements the flamingoes, and the water is perfectly reflective.
Salar de Baltinache – From what I understand, Salar de Baltinache is newer compared to some of the other salt lakes. It is a collection of seven different salt lakes, and you can walk around all them in about 25 minutes. You can swim in the first and the seventh lake, but we chose to only swim in the seventh one as it was the saltiest and therefore the most buoyant. Given that it was winter time, the water was quite freezing, but we eventually sucked it up, and the swim was well worth it. We were able to float with zero effort, and actually it was a struggle to try to swim because our butts kept floating above water. There is a shower facility at the entrance where you can rinse off the salt after you’re done swimming.
Hope you enjoyed reading about our Chile trip! It was definitely fun writing all of this down and sharing it with you all. 🙂 We are also open to suggestions about the format of our blog, so if you think this post was too lengthy or just about right, let us know.
Food and Miles 