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Your adventure begins with an overnight flight to Santiago. Dinner and breakfast on board. |
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Upon arrival and after passing though arrival formalities your driver will meet you and escort you to your deluxe hotel located in magnificent gardens in one of Santiago's best residential areas. You have a chance to relax, stroll the gardens and surrounding community before enjoying dinner at your hotel before turning in early for the full days ahead D |
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After breakfast your guide will pick you up for a personalized tour of the city including Moneda Palace, Plaza de Armas. You will drive down Parque Forestal which is modeled on the Champs d'elysees and continue to the bohemian area of Bellavista where you climb San Cristobal Hill for a panoramic view of the city with the Andes providing the backdrop. After a chance to relax over lunch, your driver will pick you up in the late afternoon to view Santiago in its nightly illumination. You will finish the tour in Barrio Bellavista where you will enjoy one of Santiago's best restaurants Mesun Nerudiano named for Pablo Neruda, Santiago's most well known poet. B, L, D |
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The Maipo Valley is the oldest wine-producing valley in Chile, and it lies just South of Santiago extending from the foot of the Andes to the middle of the Central Valley. This valley produces bold Cabernet Sauvignons that have garnered international recognition. Chile's largest and more traditional wineries can be found here, including Concha y Toro, your destination for today. Although Concha y Toro is a publicly listed company with vineyards throughout Chile, it is the Maipo Valley where Don Melchor de Concha y Toro founded his vineyard in 1875. Today the best Cabernet Sauvignon, appropriately named Don Melchor is produced from grapes from the valley. You will enjoy a tour of the vineyards, taste some of the wines and enjoy lunch at La Vacita Echa before returning to the city. This evening you enjoy one of Santiago's typical local restaurants B,L,D |
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After breakfast your driver will pick you up to take you to the airport for your flight over the Pacific to Hanga Roa on Easter Island where you will be met and taken to your hotel. Since this island is the most eastern island of Polynesia its climate is mild and pleasant. Tonight you enjoy dinner at a local restaurant. B, L, D |
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On this full day excursion you will discover the main highlights of the nature and history of Rapa Nui (or Easter Island). Your guide will pick you up at the hotel and drive southeast along the coastal road. On the way there are great views of the coastline made up of black volcanic rock. Easter Island is famous for the carved heads (Moais) apparently staring out to sea. In reality, Moais were intended to stand from the waist up but erosion has buried them deeper in the ground. The vast majority of the over 600 Moais face away from the sea and some surmise that they were placed to overlook various settlements of a population that at one time numbered over 10,000 inhabitants. You will have lunch at Ranu Raraku, the quarry where they were sculpted. After walking up Ranu Raraku volcano you head for a relaxing swim at Anakena Beach. The white sandy breach with coconut palm trees makes this the most Polynesian-looking part of the island. After this break you return to Hanga Roa passing Vaitea, the only eucalyptus forest on the island. B, L, D |
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The morning's excursion takes you to Ahu Akivi and its famous seven Moais. This is the image the world has of Easter Island. One theory is that each one represented a chief and was built by the eighth chief to prove his connection to the others. After lunch you head to Orongo National Park which is thirty minutes from town. Here you will see the circular crater lake. Afterwards you will proceed to the ceremonial village of Orongo, the centre of the bird-man cult, which started when the Rapa Nui people stopped building Moais. You will visit the village and your guide will explain this "new" culture of the island to you and show you the petroglyph images of Tanga Manu (bird man), Make Make (the god that created him and Komari (a fertility symbol). You celebrate your exploration of Rapa Nui at a local restaurant. B, L, D |
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After Breakfast you transfer to the airport for the return flight to Santiago. Your driver meets you at the airport to transfer you to your hotel where you can relax. This evening your driver will take you to dinner at Restaurant Happening, which offers the best meat in town (and excellent fish). B, L, D |
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You have some free time for shopping before your driver arrives to take you to the airport for your return flight. B |
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You arrive back in the United States at breakfast time. |
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