Bike n Wine

With my amigos M and J still here the obvious next phase of their visit had to involve some Chilean wine. Why not try to incorporate two things that really shouldn't be combined...drinking wine and riding a bike? Well, that's what the tour company La Bicicleta Verde has done, and today we took advantage of their ingenuity and my day without classes and headed down to the Maipo Valley to visit 3 private vineyards on bike around the Paine area. Don't worry, we wore helmets and they saved the drinking for the end of the tour, where we enjoyed a delicious wine tasting with cheese, crackers, and snacks with Mario at Vina Huelquen and then headed off to a restaurant to eat a typical Chilean lunch and drink the rest of the wine from the earlier vineyards.

As you can see from the photos, it wasn't a "typical" day weather-wise around Santiago. Along with many other places around the world, we have been experiencing strange weather patterns and cooler temps. Today was a bit cloudy with a chance of rain (it's very unusual to have any rain this time of year) but as the afternoon went on the skies cleared a bit and we had a beautiful day for our tour!

Let the games begin!

Lookin' good grapes

Check out those cool helmets

Water run-off from the Andes, no shortage around here

We stumbled upon some huasos, cowboys training horses for the rodeo

Skies are clearing a bit

Check out the dynamic duo

Why are these glasses empty?

Our adorable little friend. The owner told me it'd cost me some pesos to take her picture since she's so famous. :) At some point I offered him English lessons in exchange for bottles of wine...

The evidence, and some friends we met today. She grew up in the same town in the Chicago area as J...small world!

Santa is still lingering around. He must have gotten his own bicicleta verde for Christmas!?!