| Chilean Special Journeys: Itinerary |
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INCREDIBLE CHILE
IN-DEPTH TOUR Day 01 – Thursday - Leave USA enroute to
Chile. Day 02 – Friday - SANTIAGO This afternoon we will take a less conventional tour of life in the capital. We explore several different neighborhoods to see the environments and lifestyles of different economic classes here. We’ll enjoy a glimpse into daily life, at everything from street-side, fruit filled pushcarts to stupendous supermarkets easily rivaling any in the USA. We will also visit Pueblo los Dominicos, a former convent now housing the largest collection of arts and handicrafts from the entire country. By tonight you will have a fine feeling for the daily lives of Chileans as well as of an entirely pleasant country to live in and visit! At tonight´s introductory dinner, get to know your fellow travelers while enjoying an introduction to quality Chilean cuisine featuring fine wines. OVERNIGHT: HOTEL PLAZA BOSQUE PARK & SUITES, (3 NIGHTS): (D) Day 3 – Saturday - SANTIAGO OVERNIGHT: HOTEL PLAZA BOSQUE PARK & SUITES: (B) Day 4 – Sunday - SANTIAGO – COLCHAGUA
VALLEY By late morning we will be exploring the quaint town of Santa Cruz in the heart of Colchagua’s wine country. You can stroll its shady main plaza surrounded by artisan shops and inviting courtyard restaurants. After we have stretched our legs we’ll step into the unique Cardoen Museum. A brainchild of one of Chile’s wealthiest citizens, the museum features an impressive, world-class collection of everything from Wisconsin fossils, to pre-Columbian art, to Chile’s original constitution, to a fully restored train station with train, to reconstructed Mammoths, and jewelry from the gamut of South America’s history. The breadth, depth and quality of the exhibits will astound you. After lunch we complete our exploration of the valley with a visit to a superb winery. Vina Montes produces superb wines, exported global, in their thoroughly modern, gravity based, feng-shui, production facility. We’ll learn about the many stages of the wine production process and enjoy tasting their excellent final product. On our return to Santiago we’ll have a new perspective of the character and importance of this vital region of Chile. OVERNIGHT: HOTEL PLAZA BOSQUE PARK & SUITES: (B) Day 5 – Monday - SANTIAGO – SAN PEDRO
DE ATACAMA After settling into your hotel, your guide will lead you around the village providing a hands-on introduction to the local culture. The village is full of cafes, artisan shops, a local market, a 400 year old church and a superb archaeological museum outlining 10,000 years of well preserved tradition. This is a fascinating place with a lost-in-time feel, yet friendly and accessible. OVERNIGHT: ALTIPLANICO, (3 NIGHTS): (B,L,D) Day 6 – Tuesday - SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA This morning we will explore the remnants of ancient cultures in the neighborhood of the village and learn about the ancient, highly successful, agricultural communities that thrived in this desert producing corn and alfalfa. The land divisions and social structures created in this agricultural era still define local culture today. Also still in use are the stone wall structures which serve as solar collectors used for daytime collection and night time re-radiation of solar energy. We end our morning at the archaeological sight of Tulor, an entire village rising from the sand dunes, testimony to the eons of cultures preceding us. This afternoon we will explore the sceneries of the nearby Valle de Luna and Valle de Muerte with their salt canyons, dunes, strange Aeolian formations and lunar scenery. Many of the pictures you may have seen of San Pedro were taken in this beautiful, unforgiving environment. In the late afternoon enjoy a special treat, the sunset experienced from a great vantage point in the nearby desert. The ebbing light beautifully highlights the surrounding vistas of vast salt flats, high dunes, arroyos and the snow capped volcanic backdrops. OVERNIGHT: ALTIPLANICO: (B) Day 7 – Wednesday - SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA This morning is free to enjoy quaint San Pedro on your own. By this point you will have a clear idea what you would like to revisit here: the extensive museum, people and llama watching from cafes, exercising, resting, shopping for traditional handicraft products… An afternoon tour explores some of the mysteries of the desert including the awe inspiring Atacama salt flats that stretch over 75 kilometers. NASA tested the Mars Rover here! In this blanched jumble of salt crystals live three species of colorful wading birds, two types of flamingoes and an advocet. Further along, past dozens of now empty Incan farming terraces, lies the village of Toconao. Life here revolves around a tiny stream that is carefully controlled by generational rights and a system of tiny sluices feeding family owned garden plots. Llamas usually outnumber automobiles on these streets. This is also an excellent place to watch local artisans at work as well as purchase fine weavings and carvings. OVERNIGHT: ALTIPLANICO: (B) Day 8 – Thursday - SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA - SANTIAGO – SOUTHERN LAKE DISTRICT Today you are transported into a completely different world of scenic splendor. An early morning flight to Santiago connects to your southbound flight to Temuco in the famed Chilean Lake District. Here clear mountain lakes are rimmed by snowcapped mountains including numerous volcanic cones. This combination of a peaceful pastoral charm and the Teutonic heritage of the locals resembles Switzerland. The coastal fjords recall Norway and primeval rainforests of Alerce, a redwood relative, are uniquely alluring. We will drive through the attractive verdant breadbasket of the Lake District to arrive at the resort town of Pucon for lunch. Nestled along the banks of beautiful Lake Villarica, Pucon is Chile’s most famous inland resort area. Happily you will miss the high season throngs. Pucon is an up-market adventure center that features not only a full range of lake activities but rafting and kayaking on raging Andean streams, hiking including volcano treks, mountain climbing, mountain biking, lake and stream fishing, winter snow sports and a variety of hot springs, (termas) resorts. Overlooking Pucon is a magnificent snow capped, steaming, active volcano! On arrival there will be an orientation tour of the town before checking in to the historic lakefront Grand Hotel Pucon. The hotel was constructed by the state owned railroad company (ONZA) in the days before limited budgets. Now it sits anachronistically on the central beach of Lago Villarrica displaying its ancient parapets, grand salons, parquet floors, ornate ceilings and wide staircases. You have the remainder of the afternoon to explore this wonderful place OVERNIGHT: GRAN HOTEL PUCON: (B) Day 9 – Friday - LAKE DISTRICT - PUCON - PUERTO VARAS A late morning start gives you a few more hours to enjoy Pucon. We have a special treat for our first stop today. We will visit a traditional Mapuche farming family. They will welcome us warmly into their self-sufficient existence and share the fruits of their harvest inside a traditional Ruka. We will have the chance to explore their farm, eat traditional dishes of their own produce, and speak with globally savvy, yet locally self sufficient Mapuches. After this light lunch we are ready to nap through the scenery along the Pan-American highway enroute to Puerto Varas where you will settle into your hotel overlooking Lago Llanquihue. All rooms face the lake and the perfectly conical Osorno Volcano. Relax and enjoy the beauty of this truly world class setting. We will include dinner tonight at one of the excellent local restaurants. In the small German cafes fresh salmon is less expensive than chicken and exotic shellfish, including abalone, are commonly found on menus. OVERNIGHT: HOTEL CABANAS DEL LAGO, (2 NIGHTS): (B, L, D) Day 10 - Saturday - PUERTO VARAS This morning will serve as an introduction to the area and local culture. The area was settled in the 1860’s by German settlers welcomed by Chile in an effort to occupy the Lake District before the Argentineans could. German surnames, architecture, foods and language keep this heritage intact. We will visit the impressive Petrohue Waterfalls and volcanic geology at the foot of Osorno Volcano. A visit to the German settlers museum provides insight into the well preserved and well presented past. Along the way we will stop for locally made cheeses, breads, jams or whatever we find. We will return to Puerto Varas in time for lunch and to give everyone a free afternoon to continue exploring the charming, compact village on your own. Artisan shops featuring local chocolates, wood carvings and rustic textiles abound. OVERNIGHT: HOTEL CABANAS DEL LAGO: (B, L) Day 11 – Sunday - LAKE DISTRICT – CHILOE
ISLAND Chiloe is a special mystical place, the last bastion loyal to the Spanish monarchists. The island is renown for its still living mythology seen in the statues of local deities and the profusion of ornate wooden churches. Many of the indigenous residents still practice subsistence farming, tilling the land and pulling wooden wheeled carts with oxen. Chiloe offers luxuriant, temperate vegetation, the pastoral charm of Scotland and a wealth of bounty from the sea. Touring today on Chiloe will include countryside and seascape attractions. You may share the eternal beaches with local fishermen and ox carts. This afternoon we will explore the ancient port of Ancud. This was once an important port for the Spanish in their attempt to maintain control of Chile. The local markets and lifestyle have not appeared to change much in the interim. We will acquire a feel for life on this far, history laden corner. Our hotel here is the best on the island and the most modest of our trip, but where else can you sleep in a building of log construction located on the site of an early Spanish fortress atop a sunset facing coastal bluff ? Here you sleep guarded by now silent cannons! OVERNIGHT: HOSTERIA ANCUD , (2 NIGHTS): (B, D) Day 12 – Monday - CHILOE ISLAND Early this morning depart Ancud to explore the even more remote side of island life. From the local market place at Dalcahue, a five minute ferry ride will transfer you to remote Achao Island. Tiny rustic farms with hand woven bramble fences and elaborately patterned shingles contrast with modern aquaculture operations in the inlets. Enjoy panoramic vistas over the archipelago patchwork. Chile excels in many varieties of wild and farm raised aquaculture and is now second only to Norway in salmon export volume. Continue on to Curacao de Velez, renowned for its high quality, elaborate hand-made homes, to Achao with its beautifully renovated Jesuit cathedral and then to Chiloe´s capital Castro. Along the way we have free time to explore and we’ll include lunch (more fresh seafood anyone?) at a local place. After lunch we visit the bright pink and yellow cathedral constructed entirely of tiny strips of wood, pass through a traditional town plaza, perhaps stopping at a small two room museum. Your tour ends at the pier-side craft market where a wide variety of authentic local knit wear, rugs and locally carved wooden crafts are available. Along the way we will see a variety of edible seaweeds, fishes, cheeses and oversized vegetables all farmed and harvested by hand. The system of measurement here is the Talmud (about half a bushel) unchanged since the days of the Spanish monarchy. On the outskirts of town we can see the largest collection of ´palofitos´ on the island. These are houses built on stilts over the estuaries, originally as a means of avoiding land taxes. There may be a chance to visit a couple of friendly locals who still build beautiful fishing boats completely by hand without plans. By tonight you will have experienced a broad cross section of the myriad lifestyles that define Chiloe. OVERNIGHT: HOSTERIA ANCUD , (2 NIGHTS): (B, L) Day 13 – Tuesday - CHILOE – SANTIAGO - MAITENCILLO This morning we transfer back to the mainland and the Puerto Montt airport
for our short flight back to Santiago. On arrival in Santiago we
travel northwest towards the coast. In late afternoon we arrive at the small coastal village of Maitencillo. Marbella, our resort, is inside a golf course atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific, a healthy twenty minute walk (or two dollar cab ride!) from the beach. Maitencillo is a delightful place to explore tiny cafes, fish markets and impressive beaches stretching as far as the eye can see. Or you can simply relax with the sea breezes on your terrace, or with a swim, or a massage…. OVERNIGHT: MARBELLA RESORT, (2 NIGHTS): (B, Snack on plane) Day 14 – Wednesday - VALPARAISO – VINA DEL MAR This morning a guided tour transports you back in time to explore the
history of Chile´s first town. Valparaiso is also a UNESCO
Heritage Site and Chile´s oldest port. It features clusters
of eclectic architecture and rambling barrios spread across forty five
bay-side hills which still today are serviced by fifteen 19th century
cable-pulled ´funiculars´. Later your tour passes through Vina del Mar, ´city of gardens´ with its grand old casino, high-end commercial districts and flashy beach culture featuring South Americans at play. We will pass through this cosmopolitan bustle before returning to the evening sunset at our quiet resort. Tonight we bid adios to each other and our guide at our farewell dinner. OVERNIGHT: MARBELLA RESORT: (B, D) Day 15 – Saturday - MAITENCILLO – SANTIAGO Today we have the luxury of a slow start and lots of free time. Our morning is at leisure to relax, pack, get a great massage or take a final stroll on the beach. We will continue up the Pacific coast, visiting the small villages enroute: Cachagua, Zapallar, Papudo. Each village has an entirely different feeling and organization, blending full time locals with summer and weekend folk from Santiago. There will be time to walk some beaches, see a penguin colony, inspect the bastion of Chile’s upper class summer residences, enjoy lots of stunning scenery and sea-air as well as a lunch overlooking the water. Finally we will find ourselves back on the PanAmerican taking us directly
to the airport in time for a leisurely check in for overnight flights
back to the USA. Those with continuing arrangements for extensions
to Patagonia or Easter Island will be able to connect with their flights
as well. We wish that you will take back not only gifts for those
at home, but a broader, deeper appreciation for the rich history, stable
society and stunning natural diversity that is Chile.
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