Paragliding

Check one more thing off the bucket list! Paragliding is awesome!! Iquique, apparently, has the best paragliding in South America. Reason why? Because you jump off the most enormous sand dune/mountain I've ever seen and soar over the entire city until landing peacefully on the beach.

The cliff we jumped off

My tandem buddy, Patricio, told me that we shouldn't be nervous as he likes to go paragliding when he is stressed out to relax. I quickly understood why after overcoming the initial nervousness of LITERALLY RUNNING OFF THE SIDE OF A CLIFF. Once I was sitting in what seems like a swing floating above the city, I was completely relaxed. All the nerves I've been feeling lately about quitting my job, moving to the UK, and going back to school flew out of my head as quickly as the vomit that came out of Jackie midair. Poor thing started getting a little nauseous half way through the flight and gave her tandem partner a little spray of fun in his face. Luckily, Erica and I avoided the motion sickness and landed on the beach stoked on life ready for the next time we have the chance to "parapente" again. SO FUN!!

Colonial Baquedano Street

After we went paragliding, we enjoyed a great seafood lunch at El Wagón. I really am going to miss Chilean fish when I leave this place. We then strolled around the colonial looking Baquedano street before heading to the airport.

Once I have figured out how to make stills out of the video footage from the day, I will post pics. Check back soon!

Vino!!

My parents trip to Chile got off to a great start. We spent the whole day Sunday traipsing around the San Antonio and Casa Blanca valleys wine tasting. Our first stop was Matetic where we were given a private tour of the winery and shown the Ferrari of wine tanks. The vintner taught us all about their process including how they use egg white to remove the solids from the wine as part of the filtration process. Weird.

We went to Casas del Bosque next where I ran into an old friend from High-school, Daniel Martin. The world is too small! We toured the winery there before enjoying an amazing lunch complete with chocolate fondue for desert. Mom was in heaven.

Last stop (and certainly the drunkest) was Indomita where we toured their major production facility and wine cellars before tasting their wines looking over the Chilean hillside.

The Pinot at Casas del Bosque was a winner among all three of us. I also really liked the Syrah at Matetic and the Sauvignon Blanc from both. Indomita was third among all, perhaps because we couldn't taste much by that point in the day...