January 4
Depart from your home city for Santiago, Chile, with an altitude of 1706 feet above sea level and a temperature ranging between 54º F to 85º F in January. This is Santiago’s warmest and driest month with very little precipitation expected.
January 5
Arrive in Santiago and transfer to your hotel in the lovely Providencia area of residential Santiago. Perhaps explore Cerro San Cristobal in the afternoon with your escort. We can walk, ride, or ascend by the funicular which Pope John Paul II used to rise to the top and bless the city on his 1987 visit. (B)
January 6
The tour of Santiago begins with the interesting architecture in the older residential areas and continues on to the Cousiño Palace and many historic buildings before reaching the heart of Santiago. We see “La Moneda” governmental palace, originally designed to be Chile’s mint, the Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, the San Francisco Church, and finally the Santa Lucía Hill, where Santiago was founded in 1541. We will also drive along the Mapocho River and pass by fabulous homes with well-kept gardens and shopping area in the districts of Vitacura, Las Condes and Santa Maria de Manquehue. We will spend some time in Santiago’s best museum, the Pre-Colombian Art Museum. Although many of you have seen the museums in Lima, Cuzco, Quito and Cuenca, some of the artifacts here are incomparable. The best Inca knotted string record, or “quipu” I have ever seen is housed in this museum. We will be taken to the Mercado Central to purchase lunch and make our way back to the hotel on our own or we might opt to pay a visit to the former home of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. He built this home, “La Chascona”, for his mistress, Mathilde Urrutia, and named it after her wild, untameable tresses. Neruda’s wake was held here and his funeral became the first march against the Pinochet regime. It is now the headquarters of the Neruda Foundation. Santiago’s modern subway system and the efficient bus lines will make transportation easy for us. (B)
January 7
After breakfast we motor to the Colchagua Valley, located about 93 miles south of the capital city, Santiago. It is truly blessed when it comes to producing red wines. Warm and naturally dry, with an abundant water supply from the Tinguirrica River, Colchagua is a narrow, agricultural valley beginning at the foot of the Andes and extending west to the Pacific Ocean. The 2,250 acres in the valley offer many different microclimates, soil types, steep hillsides ideal for vineyards and a growing number of wineries that are easily able to produce excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and many good Carmenere and Malbec wines. Chile has become a big league player in the global wine market in recent decades. And no other region stands out as much as the Colchagua Valley.
Your first visit will be to the Viña Montes Winery where you will experience a traditional wine tour with wine tasting. The first activity at this vineyard was in 1987 when two partners ,Aurelio Montes and Douglas Murray, each with long-standing experience in the wine industry and great expectations, were certain they could aid Chile in improving the quality of its wine. Most vintners in Chile were satisfied with the local niche markets they were supplying but none desired to force the leap into making premium wines for larger markets. In 1988, two more partners, Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grande joined the enterprise and provided their own complimentary viewpoints. Thus Viña Montes was officially born , a saga that has made Chile internationally known in 75 countries around the world while providing extensive recognition and acclaim.
Next we continue to Bisquertt Wineries, a family-owned enterprise founded in 1978 by Osvaldo Bisquertt Reveco, where we will enjoy a gourmet Maridaje Luncheon in which each course will be “married” to different wines from the Bisquertt Cellars. After a delicious repast, we will tour the cellars, sample more of their wine, and drive back through the Colchagua Valley to Santigo.(B,L)
January 8
Today we fly to Puerto Montt in the Lake District. On the way to Hotel Solace in Puerto Varas, on the shore of Lake Llanquihue we take a turn through both cities. Puerto Montt is noteworthy for its architecture, fishing and handicrafts. We stop at an overlook for the view, then we visit the Cathedral, Settlers Museum, the pier and the central fountain. We will pass by the Chinquehue and Angelmó areas, where you can taste the delicious products of this beautiful Lake District.
The excursion continues to the beautiful city of Puerto Varas, also known as the City of Roses. Visit its main attractions such as the church, central plaza, downtown gardens and houses built by the German settlers at the beginning of the 20th century. (B)
January 9 
The motorcoach departs early today to arrive at the spectacular waterfalls of Petrohue. Petrohué Falls is not the standard waterfall, but a series of oddly twisting chutes formed by a crystallized black volcanic rock, unaffected by erosion. After a photo opportunity, we board a catamaran for the cruise through the pristine turquoise waters of Lake Todos Los Santos to the forests of Peulla, a small village of 150 inhabitants. While crossing Lake Todos Los Santos, you will see the perfect shape of volcano Osorno, as well as the snow-capped peaks of Thunder Mountain, Calbuco and Cerro Puntiagudo. We have an hour or so after lunch for optional horseback riding, hiking or experiencing the “zip line” through the canopy of the forest! We return the same way we came, with many more opportunities for breathtaking photos, arriving back in Puerto Varas around 7:30 pm. (B)
January 10
We leave the city of Puerto Varas heading towards Pelluco village, which is the starting point of the Carretera Austral, the Southern Highway. On the way, we pass small picturesque towns and enjoy impressive views of the landscape, where you can see thousand year old trees. After a 12 km drive, the highway turns into a narrow and bumpy dirt road that leads us into the cold rainforest of the Alerce Andino Park. South of Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas Chile's rainforest area spreads out; this region is dominated by fast-growing trees, bushes and bamboo that make hiking an adventurous experience. You can experience and admire a rainforest at its best at Alerce Andino Park, and it is also a preserve for the giant Alerce trees (larch - distantly related to sequoia, and sometimes referred to as the “monkey puzzle tree”). This slow-growth tree with beautiful wood is an endangered species and this park is one of its main refuges. Although the Alerce is the dominant tree, the park also has other species typical of Evergreen woods: coigüe, lenga, mañío, tineo, canelo and tepa, among others.
The park boasts around fifty little lagoons hidden throughout the forests and mountains. After an introduction you will start an easy walk through this Valdivian Rainforest heading to Sargazos Lagoon. The group will be divided into small groups of no more than 12 participants, each one lead by a specialized guide. Paths are surrounded by the virgin Alerce forest, which in some places has taken 4,000 years to grow. (B, Box lunch)
January 11-14
Our flight takes us from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas . where we will be transported north to the Explora Lodge in Patagonia at the foot of the fabulous Torres de Paine.
January 15
You will be sorry to say goodbye to the Explora Lodge, but today we motor to Punta Arenas for our flight back to Santiago, where we will be met and transferred to our hotel. (B)
January 16
We have most of the day free as almost all flights leave in the evening. It’s a good day to do that last minute shopping at Blue Stone Designs which specializes in jewelry and household items made from lapis lazuli, or at Los Domenicos, a village set up to market the artisanry from all parts of Chile. You can buy some antique items here, alpaca shawls, silver stirrups or that copper wall-hanging that you have wanted since the first day! Transfer to the airport for your flight home. (B)
January 17
Arrival back at your home airport.
Optional Excursion to Easter Island will depart Sunday, Jan 16 about 8:20 AM arriving 12:10 PM local time in Rapa Nui. Returning Wed, Jan 19 depart Easter Island at 1 PM, arriving 7:45 Pm in Santiago. There will be an overnight in Santiago on Jan 19th and the flight home begins on Jan 20th, ending in your home city on Jan 21st. Everything visited by the others on Jan 16th can be done on Jan 20th by the Easter Island group.
Land Cost in Chile $4399 Airfare within Chile $587 Airfare to Easter Island $897
International airfare is on American Airlines and varies by city of origin. Easter Island land rates TBA.