Yesterday was spent travelling from Mendoza to Valparaiso and crossing the border again which always takes quite a long time. Some of the views from the bus were pretty impressive.

I’m staying in a great B&B in Valparaiso and when I arrived I met the other people staying there – a couple from Germany (Marcus and Carin), a couple from Portugal (Alfonzo and Carina) and Jerry from USA. The owner, Rene is a lovely guy too and quite a character.

Shortly after I arrived Rene made Pisco Sours for us all (they tasted so much better than when I tried to make them) and I went for dinner with Alfonzo, Carina and Jerry. The food was good but not great.

This morning Rene served a delicious breakfast and then Alfonzo, Carina and I went to visit Isla de Negra to see the house of Pablo Neruda. He was a poet, a diplomat and a politician and had significant influence on the history of Chile. It was thought he was poisoned by the Pinochet regime but he also had pancreatic cancer at the time he died . He won the Nobel peace prize for his poetry.

The house was amazing and his collections of various artifacts were really good to see. The location of the house right by the sea and the way it was made out of natural stone really made it blend into the surroundings.

Following the tour of the house we went to the Indomita winery in Casablanca for lunch and also to buy so.e bottles of wine for this evening’s BBQ. The views were amazing and the food and wine were delicious.

Following lunch we drove to another winery, Casas del Bosque, for wine tasting and a tour. This was classed as a medium sized winery which produces around a million bottles of wine each year. I’ve got to say, I still prefer the Malbec!

We drove back to Valparaiso (I say we but Alfonzo did all the driving) and I took this photo from the car:

This evening we had a communal BBQ – beautifully cooked by Rene, with potatoes and tomato salad. Along with some wine from the Indomita vineyard it was a perfect evening. I tried the carmenere which is a specific Chilean wine but it was average rather than great.

It was a really good evening and we all chatted and got along really well.