Apr Friday the 13th..and home

The Toronto-Calgary leg is not premium economy but at least it is just 2 seats. We snooze a bit more and in no time are at the gate in Calgary right on time. Fortunately Lloyd has come into the airport to meet our plane when he could not reach us - so we see his smiling face as soon as we emerge from the gate.

  There is not that much snow really...

  Next day, a mini blizzard is forecast, we are snowed in again with 4 new inches of the white stuff. Toronto and the east are hit with a far bigger ice storm, trees down, many planes cancelled. Dodged that bullet too. 

  My car won’t start so Ted’s first job is to find a new battery and install it. Fortunately his is driving well, for me to go to the live from the MET opera at Chinook Centre cinema Saturday morning. I’ve slept well Friday so I manage to stay awake through the 3.5 hour Luisa Miller opera.

  And now I am going down with the airport air cold! Sheesh.

Our contract with the snow removal company finishes Apr 15 so on Monday, it’s out with the shovel for Ted to get out of our driveway.

  Welcome back to Calgary spring! Hahaha

Apr 12 Santiago and home via Toronto

Why do we have to leave? The weather is perfect, we are completely at home in this city, and it’s gonna snow in Calgary again.

  Coincidentally, I receive an email from Alastair French who has found one of y letters from 1982 to his parents talking about the terrible winter in Calgary, minus 30 for 2 months and still snow. So it’s obviously not unusual...

  We don’t fly til later so it’s off to the classy Costanera Centre, huge shopping mall at the base of San-hattan’s tallest building. Lunch is a seafood crepe and last maracuya fruit frappe (passionfruit, ah!)

  Back to pack, we have acquired enough stuff for another case but amazingly, we get it all into two small cases, two carry ons, two backpacks and a couple of totes. Well done Ted!

  WE relax on the patio ti the taxi arrives at 4:30. WE are allowing plenty of time due to the baggage handling strike, but it doesn’t affect us and checkin and security, etc. are amazingly simple and we have lots of time to spare to read at the gate. The Latham checkin area is deserted, I guess it is domestic travel that has been affected. 

  Air Canada’s Dreamliner is almost full and we have comfortable double window/aisle seats for the 10+hour flight to Toronto. AC have changed our flight, however, from leaving at 7:10 to 8am. Just as well as we would not have made the 7:10. But I email Lloyd who is picking us up in Calgary from the cell phone waiting area.

  Slight glitch - I go to replace the  Chile SIM card with the Telus SIM card. It appears I have thrown away the Telus one and kept the Argentinian one. So no cell phone.

Apr 11 One last winery...Cousino Macun

There is one last winery, Cousio Macun, 3rd oldest in Chile, that we have not yet visited so we decide to take the metro and cab down there. We catch a tour in English and one last tasting. It’s a lovely old estate, now run by the 6th generation of same Italian owners. Part of it is now a historic monument but also an interesting museum of ancient wine making equipment. Also on our tour a nice young English couple touring around the world on a budget, Zoe and Sean. The 4 of us enjoy the interesting tour and tasting afterwards. Our great host/sommelier Giuseppi (Joe) adds a Syrah pour to the 4 nice wines. We then pay 10k (C$20) for ONE tasting of their awards winning Lot $160/bottle!) which is deemed pretty super by the 4 of us as we sip the red nectar.

  We stop off en route home at the nice tapas bar for gazpacho and a fine chorizo tortilla (niece Hannah has got us hooked on these.)

  I download a book from my local library. Doncha love this technological age. Reading for the long journey home tomorrow.

Apr 10 Still some shopping?

Despite his loathing of shopping, Ted opts to return to the art shop in Bellavista to buy the sweet little ceramic Indian child playing a flute. I like it too. The young lady watching the store then was almost in tears when we arrived the other day and after hugs and sympathetic sounds, calmed down. When we return, we are greeted like long lost relatives. She is happy with her sale. Another refugee from Venezuela making her way in Chile.

  WE are up and out early to catch the charging of the guard, with mounted guards, trumpets and the like. The web site says it happens every other day, even days in April. Not! It’s tomorrow! But we head down underground to a wonderful art museum with a nice collection of contemporary Hispanic art.

  There’s a media flurry outside one of the government offices, a strike of airline people is due to start today, not sure if that’s involved, but maybe it affects the usual schedule. Who knows?

  We enjoy a long walk back along the green park in th3e centre of the city along the river (stream really but flowing fast). 

  Back at our fav fish market resto Ricardos we have one last free pisco from them with the excellent corvina (sea bass) , salads and cheap but good white wine. 

  At our local metro station I go into the Paris department store and find another microfiber top, it will be a delight not to wear the one I have worn for a week now! Still cheaper than MEC prices at home. And now that I inspect the label it is “designed” in Chile, he has in China!

  We see there is a 6.2 earthquake today in La Serena - dodged that bullet by 13 days.

  Not hungry enough for another meal, we finish off Jamon Serrano, cheese, crackers, fresh figs, chocolate cookies, chocolate and some of the pisco, white wine and beer we have accumulated and must  dispose of before Friday! Hardly anyone else here ever uses the nice sitting areas in the garden patios. 

Tipping and Taxes

 Although tipping is regarded as an extra in most countries, it is not expected at all in much of Argentina. In Chile it’s a whole other story. Every restaurant automatically adds the 10% to your biIl and the waiter then looks you straight in the eye and says “propina?” (“Tip”) Woe unto he who says no, but you can in fact just pay the tip in cash and not put it on your credit card. Sometimes they requested that.

  At the hotel in the Colchagua Valley this week, we had a first experience when Ted was told on settling the bill that they suggested automatically adding a 10% tip. He was rather flabbergasted and simply agreed, as we had had exemplary service from all the staff there. When breakfasts are included, you have no way of knowing the cost of leaving a tip. But the whole bill??? Cheeky I say.

  Chilean currency is all in huge numbers but the easy way for us is to drop the last three zeros and double it, i.e. 25,000 is C$50. But most places charge in US dollars.

  There is a 19% tax on hotels and many services in Chile BUT if you are foreign and pay in US dollars, it is waived. Therefore every time we check into a hotel (and we have had 17 different beds on this trip!) they photocopy our passport, retain our passport numbers in a big register which we have to sign, and also copy our police immigration papers too. Very thorough thee Chilean taxmen.Tipping and TAxes

Earthquakes

We are in the land of the big 2010 memories. Some wineries lost their whole supply, many homes were devastated but Chile has recovered well from that awful crisis. New wineries are built into rocky hillsides, multi story building are reinforced to withstand enormous forces. But we were surprised to read today of a 6.2 quake in LaSerena. We dodged that by 13 days. Many of the hotels, public buildings, places we visit have escape routes, safe havens clearly marked in case you need them. In some hotels they stated stand under the doorway and Ted always first checked the escape route anywhere we stayed. 

Infrastructure and growth problems..

 Talking of the sewers, sidewalks and roads are also a total mess everywhere. The highways are very well kept and we paid a lot of tolls so presumably that helps. But get off the main roads and into towns and it’s a whole different story,  as vendors set up temporary shop on the sidewalks, getting moved on by the carabinere if they are illegal. 

  In LaSerena our host John told us they have a huge problem with immigrants from Haiti, who have brought a big drug problem to his city. Apparently large numbers of Haitians were given legal status, a lump sum cash payment and are now infiltrating anywhere they can. 

  We also found a lot of the labor force is from Venezuela. Obviously that country is going to hell in a handbasket at a rate of knots and lovely young people keen to work and make their mark are entering Chile and finding lots of work. 

  Mention you are from Canada, and they are effusive about who they know who has managed to get there, what a heavenly place it is, safe, beautiful, clean. Yup, we are lucky that’s for sure.

And the dogs...

 Everywhere stray and barking dogs. Dog poo everywhere. But surprisingly, people also babying their pet dogs. Why doesn’t someone round up all these strays and get rid of them??? I guess lots of animal lovers would balk at this but it’s a huge problem here and no sign of relief. How do you know when there are dead? They all lie around looking like they are. The way they run out in the road, more of them should be dead.

  There are lots and lots of vultures everywhere in Chile. Maybe they are getting the problem under control? I think the condor is a type of vulture, let’s hope they continue to increase in numbers. Just saying..

Security obsession?

The rich are getting richer here and live a very exclusive life, driving or being driven everywhere so they don’t have to find out how the other half live. Much the same as in most places I guess.

  Homes on street level are locked and barred, evil looking glass, spikes or barbed wire on the top of walls and fences. There are obviously very serious security issues here, although we didn’t experience any hint of it personally.

Toilets in Chile

Did I say anything about toilets? They follow the disgusting habit here (like much of Central America) of throwing toilet paper in a receptacle beside the toilet. I get the bit about not putting anything else down there but I really can’t get used to this disposal method. I guess the sewage infrastructure here is just not able to cope. 

  Driving long distances, you are hard pressed with gas stations somethings 130km apart to find banos en route. In the whole trip of 6,000k in our car, we only came across a handful of rest stops with facilities that you might want to use. Even some of the gas stations in the mining cities in the north were pretty awful. Stop the car along the roads (even the toll highways) as Ted does every 2 hours or so to walk and stretch, you come across piles of garbage, broken bottles and toilet paper everywhere. 

  So in many ways Chile is a progressive country and apparently much cleaner and safer than anywhere else in S.America. But in many ways it is still a third world country. 

All things Alpaca and cameloid..

We learned on our travels that guanaco hair is so valued that the national parks people’s have taken to shaving them so they are not of value to poachers. They are such gentle solitary creatures, shy and jumpy, when we did see them (or vicunas which are similar) they headed off in another direction.

  I guess guanacos are a coastal cameloid, vicuñas come from nearer the Andes and further north, and llamas are everywhere.

  There are many degrees of fine in the textiles here. Baby alpaca and llama are highly valued but it seems the wool all goes to Peru to be processed. Some of the serapes have huge prices and somebody must obviously buy them. They also have cashmere here apparently up north.

  The llama is more wooly and heavy but baby llama is sold too. But when we saw Chinese markings on the packaging of one lot of cashmere, we had to wonder if it hadn’t come from China. But the lady assured us it was packaged for that market. Well maybe..

Apr 9 Last week in Chile

It’s good to be welcomed back to the small Intiwasi hotel by our lovely hostess Victoria and Rodrigo. We sit outside our main floor room with French doors to the patio and plan a few things for the rest of the week. Off on the efficient metro to what is a lively area Bellevue during the day and a bit of a hellhole at night. We plan a trip up to the top of Cerro Santiago with the huge white Virgin Mary statue on top for a view of this city of 13 million people. 

   There are some gorgeous old houses in this area, some converted to hotels now. We take the ancient but efficient funicular up part way and slog up many steps to the top. The view of the Andes is marred by a mass of pollution. Apparently January is about the only month when you can really see them. Photos show snow capped mountains behind the cityscape but I rather think they have been doctored.

  Back down to the bottom, we head to one of the nice little restos we spotted earlier and where they promised us free pisco sours. Ted has a last crack at the Chilean specialty pastel de choclo, a boring casserole of meat, chicken in a mass of corn. The accompanying salad is more interesting...but he’s happy with another beer he hasn’t yet tried.

  After that we do some serious shopping for Chilean goods. We find all the things on my list, Ted even finds a nice lapis on a leather thong necklace for $7, and she throws in a second one for $10 total. Deal! In a busy artisan market, competition is pretty fierce so they are willing to make the odd allowance for cash. The sellers. At textile stalls are all Peruvian, and that’s where all the good stuff comes from. Baby alpacas sacrificing their hair for us.

  I’m looking for serape fasteners that I saw early on in our travels in Chile. I find copper and leather ones in the upscale stores for 15K (about C$30). Later I find interesting wooden ones with fabric balls on top for 1K ($2) each. Shopping around is good!

  By 5:30 Ted has had more than enough shopping. We head back on metro in the rush hour but its not that bad and again a young man jumps up to give me his seat when we board. 

  I’m through with travels for the day but Ted heads out for another walk to check out local beer purveyors!

Apr 8 Return for last days in Santiago

It’s a beautiful day to drive up through the lovely rural agricultural area of Central Chile, described to us as the salt of the earth sort of people living the agricultural life. We see horses and carts, tractors, many horses cattle, sheep, goats being raised here. And the huge swaths of cultivated land on rich river valleys. Corn, olives, avocados, tomatoes, quinoa, often being sold at the roadside stalls.

No shortage of water here. And in places, solar fields but none of the huge windmills we have seen on our trip up north.

  The copilot gets us a bit lost and my google maps is not working so I have to follow the maps (Hertz gave us a great book of apps of Chile) and watch the blue dot moving on the Iphone GPS system. Better than nothing. (Later I realize my data plan has expired and quickly recharge it at a little kiosk on the street.) We take a detour of about 3/4 of an hour but we have lots of time, and are in fact returning the car a day early.

  Of course, there is an air show this Sunday right at the cargo terminal at the airport and a huge lineup of cars - but we lose them at the cargo turnoff. Good thing we are not catching a plane. Jets are making patterns with their jet fuel in the perfectly blue sky.

  Unfortunately we have accumulated a ton of stuff and we want to take some of it back to Santiago. We schlep it all on to the shuttle bus, find the Hertz desk in the airport and then easily locate and arrange the VIPtrans car to our hotel, a very efficient system door to door for about $50.

  We drop our 3 cases (1 lg 1 sm), 2 backpacks and three other bags!! To the hotel and take off for a good pizza place but - closed Sunday. Not far away is a little Germanic sort of pace we haven’t tried so it’s fish and chips and salad Chilean style with a pisco sour and beer to wash it all down. An early night is called for.

Apr 7 Montes

Saturday loomed cloudy but the sun came out and it was 24 by afternoon. 

 We are off to visit prestigious Montes winery, also in Napa valley and Mendoza, Arg. Our great hostess Sara at the hotel has booked it all for us so we just have to turn up and enjoy! It’s only about half an hour’s drive to the magnificent gravity fed winery and restaurant. The original idea was conceptualized by Douglas Murray, a Chilean with Feng shui and spiritual leanings, which are evident in the gorgeous winery.

  Our tour with Nicole is informative and interesting. Each winery treats their produce differently but these people are equally attentive to the gentle treatment of their grapes through the whole process. They are also picking and processing so we have the sounds, smells and activities of harvest before us. It is really interesting to watch the process first hand up close. 

  Grapes picked today by hand take the elevator to the roof where they are processed and continue their journey by gravity feed to the impressive cellars. Here the premium wines lie in barrels and are lulled by Gregoria’s chants throughout the huge barrel room. It is mesmeric in there. Also on the floor above is an area that has been deemed the best Feng shui location for the chi to flow. A red wall, a Chinese bronze drinking vessel (like the one we have at home!) water flowing over a circular hollow stone, water flowing into the winery front entrance - all to enhance the positive quality of chi here. Feels good. 

  The tasting room is set aside in glass walls from this room, a beautiful way to enjoy their tasting of 4 nice wines. The big one and most exclusive here - the Tita - is 220,000 Chilean pesos - US$440 - a bottle. The South Korean couple on our English speaking tour (only 6 of us) check out her mother’s request - it’s the Montes Folie (folly?) at US$150 a bottle. Maybe she isn’t going to get that...

  Later we retire to the resto where our hotel has booked us in for lunch. We got bumped from yesterday, apparently Mercedes Benz booked out the whole place. It’s a gorgeous resto set in the vineyard with harvest displays of beautiful fruit and veggies all over and a huge fire pit in the centre of the resto where all the good things are cooked. Our table is outside the sun with nothing between us and the vines. The service and food are prefect, we order 3 appies, smoked salmon, beef tartare and the Chilean speciality empanada stuffed with filet. All gorgeous with 4 different home made breads and hummus. After I order the roasted honey  figs with fig leaf ice cream. Amazing. All washed down with a glass of their sparkling chard/Pinot noir and a glass of cab.sauv. A true standout of this trip. 

Disney in the Colchagua

After the dizzying heights of French wannabes Clos Apalta, we tootled down the road to Viu Manent, an Italian family winery now wowing the folks from every end of the scale. Here the marketing people have excelled. Despite the dull (and then rainy!!) day, we soldiered through the tour and tasting alone with our great guide Jose Miguel. Here some vines are 10 years old and tradition is important, but modern taste and research dictates what they will produce.

  The tour includes a ride in the horse and carriage (driver Luis, with beige Pele and brown La Chocolate) through the vines, down to the cellars and back to the reception centre. 

  One of the highlights was a barrel tasting, where we got to taste the new ‘sturm’ wine from the stainless steel tank. Interesting. Here again, there is a lot of handpicking to preserve the quality of the grapes. 

  The restaurant here is beautiful, overlooking the vineyard, and offering a reasonable selection of food, not the Mendoza style 6 courses with 6 matching wines. We can handle this.

  The outdoor/indoor resto overlooks the vines and we see various families and kids on horses riding through the lanes. Also cyclists come for a special tour through the vineyards. They have courses on tasting wine, cooking, you name it, the marketing people have captured it. They are into what people want, and determined to make it all happen. 

  Tasting was good as were the 5 wines, really good value too,, but we are finished buying here. The usual Sauv Blanc to start, Pinot Noir, Cab.Sauv Reserve and Malbec Grand Reserve, El Oliver Alta Syrah (single vineyard). All very drinkable now. If you bought after the tour a 25% discount. Smart marketing everywhere you look...

Apr 6 The big time wineries - The French influence

It’s only a 2-3 hour drive from Santiago so this is how some of the big money is spent here. Apparently the horse crowd are popular now so there are lots of horses around and lots of activities for yuppie puppies and horses.

  We are up at 8 and off to a lovely breakfast cooked to order here at 9. Our first winery visit is not until 12:30 so we enjoy sitting in the garden in the sun, watching the many varieties of birds and enjoying the nice surroundings.

  At 12:30 it is off to Lapostolle, yes, relation of the huge French corporation. But named Clos Apalta, after the region here, it’s the prestige line. It’s $40 a pop to have the tour and tasting and I’d have to say it was not worth it. It’s a fantastic location, up on a hill overlooking acres of vines. Security is tight, you are on their list to get in the gate. 

  The winery built over 3 years in  2005 is an architectural wonder. Built right into the rocks, it is earthquake proof. Not a minor thing as we were shocked to see a huge stainless steel tank crushed like a cokecan at Balducci this week. We did not really get the advantage of the views from there as it was too foggy to see the snow capped Andes in the distance. The marketing photos look great!

  The 5 story winery linked with a magnificent spiral staircase featured in one of Ali & Rob’s photos, if we remember correctly. Everything is done as esthetically pleasing as possible, no mechanical equipment in sight, all hidden somehow in the gravity feed system. A marvel of modern technology and architecture for sure.

  Our very knowledgeable guide Ferdinand certainly educated us about the care and handpicking attention to every wee grape that goes into their products, as opposed to the 2.5million production at sister winery Lapostolle down the road. 

  Today - well this morning at 4am to be precise - they are picking Merlot to keep the grapes cool, skins tight. They then hand select clusters, remove overripe berries by hand. This is selection of only the best, taken to passionate if not rabid levels.

  Everything is done for maximum efficiency. Nothing is left to chance. With the big operation just a few Kos away, they simply bring in the equipment they need for the short term processing of the grapes. Even though screw caps have been proven to be more efficient, they would to dream of using them on their premium wines! 

  Since we are in harvest time all systems are in go mode. We see the punching down of the big tanks, and also the ladies lovingly removing overripe grapes one by one on a conveyor.

  Here rain is the big enemy and with clouds gathering, 

  We finish in the COLD 14degree cellar where our guide, surprisingly, pours 3 wines to taste, 2 from their inferior Lapostolle  range (how come???) and one of their own 2103 Carmenere blend. For $40 a pop, we expected better!

  There are only 4 of us on this English tour. The other two are from Exeter and Sally is from Sidmouth a few miles from Ted’s birthplace! Small world. 

  There is a resto here and hotel. You can do tour, tasting and lunch for US$100 a pop. We passed.

Apr 5 Santa Cruz & Colchagua wine valley

It’s a small relatively undeveloped wine area. Into fog again, we get sun and cloud for our drive up to Santa Cruz, in the heart of the Colchagua valley. We take the cross country route through lovely woodland, vines, olive groves and rich agricultural land along the rivers. 10km from town we settle into the nice Boutique Hotel Bellavista where we can have a poolside room for 2 nights then have to move into the main hotel. Greeted warmly by Sara, she has arranged out vineyard tours for the next two days.

  The first night there are only 2 other guests and we are woken by the rooster and dogs. But nearby we have many. Horses and a few llamas too. Sheep and goats are here too and its lovely rural countryside, where the pace of life seems to be decidedly slower than everywhere else. 

  We stock up on ham/cheese at the supermarket in the knowledge that after big lunches we won’t want much in the evening. 

  After settling in, it’s off 10k into the busy little market town. We know from Ali & Rob who visited here a few years back that there is an excellent Peruvian resto in town. WE also see a couple of guys washing buses at the bus depot. I ask what it would take to get the dead bugs and thick layer of Atacama desert off our car. It’s going to be $8 so 15 minutes later, we drive out of there with a car you could see yourself in like a mirror!

  The Casita de Barreales resto is easily as good as we have been told, and again, at 4pm we are the only people eating there. But we don’t care. The fish in seafood sauce is divine with a beautiful salad and a couple of nice glasses of local white wine. We really don’t want to be driving in the dark and Ted has been really careful with his drinking, as there is a zero tolerance level here in Chile.

  Our room has a big bath....aaaaaah to soak. There is a pool and hot tub here too but I haven’t seen anyone actually brave enough to get in. It’s 9 overnight so I assume it is only heated by the sun.

Apr 4 Maule Valley wineries

This is a DO  (Denomination Origin) wine region so we are off to find out about the wines here. We have a scary start when a truck tries to take us out on the highway because we seemingly entered too slow!! He banged on his horn then overtaking, veered right into ur side of the road. Fortunately Ted’s reactions were good and he avoided contact. But it’s stressful on that highway with all the big trucks.

  First into fog, we then get into some clearer air. Later we hear of a big accident on the Panamerican highway in the fog involving 25 vehicles, one person killed. But we take off on the country roads through rich agricultural land. This is where Santiagoans retreat to in the heat of summer.

  We stop in at Gillmore Vineyards, the oldest vineyard in Chile, which has a ritzy hotel for about US$300 a night but it is virtually closed and we just try the two nice wines available for tasting.

  We continue to the large Balduzzi operation but find we can’t have a tour in English til 4:30. So we walk a few blocks into town and have lunch with the locals, soup and salad is enough. Arriving back early, we are served a glass of wine to sit in the lovely gardens and end up being the only ones on the tour after all.

  A knowledgeable young lady Lorena shows us around the winery, which is pressing white/red grapes together for a cheaper wine, then a nice tasting of 4 wines. Ted buys a Sauvignon Blanc and the $40 2013 gold winning Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere (85/15%) to take home with us. 

  Back into seedy Talca, Ted wanders off and comes back with new socks, I guess the trip is taking its toll on his whites!

Apr 3 Talca and the Maule Valley wine region

Cloud turns to sun and temps from 14 to 28 and we are sad to leave Vina Del Mar for the Maule Valley about 5 hours drive south of Valparaiso. 

  We divert en route to visit the third Pablo Neruda house at Isla Negra. It is overlooking the crashing waves and rocky coast - quite a spectacular view from the bed, placed at just the right angle to catch the views. Its a 4 story eclectic collection of myriad types of memorabilia, much of it associated with the sea. Windswept and beautiful, it is the site of both his grave and that of 3rd wife Mathilda, forever together overlooking the ocean. 

  Heading back inland, we travel across a verdant estuary with acres of strawberry fields and other crops, and pass a massive container port. Massive trucks on the toll roads are a constant menace. WE follow Route 66 for a lot of the day.

  At 2:30 we stop at lovely Lago Rapel only to find there is absolutely no public access to the lake and everything is closed for the season. So we much lunch down a small backroad.

  Back on Panamerican Highway Rte 5 we get a view again of the snow capped Andes in the distance. We pass massive fruit and produce packing plants and finally arrive at dirty, grimy, busy Talca where we seem to be almost the only guests at the downtown boutique hotel. Our room is nicely appointed but barking dogs disturb us night and morning. 

  They have an Easter dinner special and we are the only diners there both evenings! Which is sad as the chefs really make an effort to do a nice job and the fish is perfectly cooked. With no other options we are early to bed and Ted recovers from his drive.

Apr 2 Fog at Casablanca wine alley.

The seasons are really changing fast here on the coast. We actually had to have them turn on the heat in our room and it is soon cosy. Later we get some sun and a high of 18. WE decide to drive back to the Casablanca wine valley towards Santiago and check out some wineries there. It’s harvest time and without a reservation we are not sure we an visit. But we are welcomed at the lovely Kingston Family winery, deep in country roads, where a US employee Kevin gives us a good overview of the wine growing techniques and grape varieties grown in this cool climate zone. Begun by a US citizen who came to mine gold (gave up after 4 years), and set up the largest dairy operation in Chile, supplying 2% of Santiago’s demand. We have a nice tasting of 4 wines with some cheese and chocolate overlooking the beautiful vines.

  Sauvignon Blanc is the popular grape here in whites but 95% of Chile’s Carmenere comes from this area. Ted likes their Syrah Grand Reserve.

  A short drive on we arrive at Casas del Bosque, through bucolic farmscape and roads inked with gum and palm trees, and some vineyards just starting to turn color.  We share the interesting tour with 4 young Canadian guys.

  We have lunch there at the poplar restaurant but it’s not a standout experience. The 3rd winery is closed so we retreat back to  our room where I veg out for the evening and Ted goes off on one of his walkabouts.

Aril 1 Easter Bunny found us!

Fog closes in and lasts all day with a high of about 14. Not what we had expected for Easter. No new bonnets and clothes this year. Also no sign of religious events here.

  However, I do catch one of the interesting ceremonies on TV. It is the burning of Judas which is done in some smaller communities outside Valparaiso. A bit like Guy Fawkes style. 

  However, we don’t feel bad as Calgary is getting lots of snow, the coldest Easter since 1940.

  We talk on What’sApp to Ali & Rob in Ronda, Spain - the world is a small place with wifi.

  Surprise! Ted has failed the chocolate Easter Bunny test BUT our hotel delivers a wee bucket of chocolate eggs and a bunny to every room. Sweet! When we raise our mugs at breakfast, there is more chocolate there. Yeah. 

  We borrow the metro card and are off into Valparaiso to see if there is any sign of Easter there. 

  We have a disappointing mostly foggy trip up the mountain by cab. We are off to visit the second of Pablo Bermuda’s home La Sebastian’s at Isla Nedra, named after the builder of the original house, to which Neruda added many more rooms and levels. It is overlooking the crashing waves and rocky coast quite a spectacular view from the bed, placed at just the right angle to catch the views. Its a 4 story eclectic collection of myriad types of memorabilia, much of it associated with the sea. Not quite as interesting as the house in Santiago we think.

   Later we walk down to what was listed as famous artists’ murals, not as impressive as the amateurs we had seen before. Also the seedy end of Valparaiso. We are glad we cancelled bookings to stay here. There’s a street party going, with a great young group of musicians playing jazz and popular Chilean songs. We stop off in a small local resto for a good bowl of seafood soup.
    Later we walk down to the resto area, only to find the one recommended is closed today. But we enjoy Peruvian food again at a nice small place before plugging ourselves back up the big hill home.

Mar 31 Out like a lamb?? Easter Saturday, a zoo!

 We are feeling sorry for all our pals left in Calgary this winter. It has been horrid. Mary & Mark got back from Arizona, stuck around for 2 weeks then headed to Mexico this week! Don’t blame them!

    It’s foggy out there to wish us goodbye to the coast, as we will be staying inland from now on. Although some of Chile is very narrow, only 60 miles or so from coast to Andes. 

 We take a trip back up the coast to have lunch again at Del Gigi. We have to park a way down the road and walk into Concon as the Easter mob is definitely here. But the weather has put a lot of them off from open dining over the ocean. I get into the pisco sours to warm up but it is a bit raw as we head back to the hotel and settle in for the evening. I cosy in for the night to read but my wasp sting is furiously itchy and sore in the heat! Sheesh.

Mar 30 Back to lovely Vina der Mar - and hordes for Easter

We feel confident that we are going back to somewhere we have already stayed and know will be good. The team who look after this hotel are outstanding in friendliness and service. (Kudos to Andreas, Juan, Felipe and Fernando. BUT after a lovely run down the coast with one resort after another (and homes of the multi millionaires hanging down the cliffs furthest north) we hit huge traffic jams. Everyone has left Santiago for Vina Del Mar for Easter it seems. We did expect it but it makes for very slow driving.

  Today I finally realized I did have a USB port in the car! All this time I could have been plugging in my phone to preserve memory and listen to Eagles and Beatles. I download Mendelssohn’s String Octet (Emerson Quartet)and we enjoy that the rest of the trip...Duh.

  WE are welcomed back to the nice Hotel Boutique Cassinetta by 2 of the great team there,  Andreas and Juan. Later we will meet up with Felipe and Fernando. Can’t say enough about this wonderful team and the lovely hotel where we now stay for another 4 days. After a welcome shower, we are served a glass  of wine and hours d of smoked salmon, goat cheese and tomatoes artfully presented in the beautiful living room overlooking the gorgeous garden. 

  WE return to the nice Peruvian resto about 10 minutes walk down the hill (2 back up the hill!) and run into a young man there who offers to help us with our Spanish. His English is very good. Turns out he’s Australian, family moved there from Chile when he was 2 so he is recovering his roots. 

  The pavements in this country are mostly disgusting. In the dark going back, I fall into a hole and bang up my elbow - later repair the slit in my windjacket with a bandad, likewise my elbow! Twisted my ankle and have a bruised heel now. Sheesh..

  I also got stung by a tiny wasp just standing near the cafe at a rest stop. It develops into a huge bright red hard mass on my leg and itches for days, even with my anti-itch gel.

Mar 29 Serene La Serena after frantic Panamerican highway

The Panamerican highway drops down through the red rocks of the coastal sierra while the temperature ranges from 14 to 33 again this day. Along the road are signs of the number of people who get killed on this highway. I photograph one particularly interesting shrine where the guy’s car has been displayed along with huge flower arrangements (all plastic) sofas, chairs - are they supposed to come back and rest there? Or does the family come by to pay their respects? Who knows. I know the way they drive it isn’t surprising to see all these shrines.

  We are back on toll roads, the only way to go and about $12 a day.

  We drop down the sierra into sea fog, which will plague us for the next week. e try to find the famous Playa deal Virgin, once unknown, now more popular. Chile’s most photographed beach apparently. After several abortive attempts blocked by sand tracks, we give up. But two cars pass us obviously willing to give it a try.

  We pass through several oasis river areas flowing down to the Pacific which are rich agricultural lands, produce for sale at the edge of the road in places. Acres of olive trees, trimmed back to about 6ft tall at most for mechanical picking I assume. e buy lives and dry figs for the road.

Again we spot a lone guanaco near the road in the middle of nowhere, staring at us with those long lashed glazed eyes.

 We’ve booked into the only big hotel which is 2 minutes off the highway. The room is beautifully appointed and QUIET! It’s US$11 a night and worth it. We have a free pisco in the bar before a nice fish dinner (we have learned to have one between two now an Ted sleeps from 9pm to 7am next morning. I loll in the big BATH Aaaaaaah

Mar 28 The long drive south

After the.5 days of amazing experiences up here in the Atacama, we are getting psyched up for the 3 days’ drive back south with no interesting stops on the way. It’s a dry dusty drive but we do pass through several difference climatic regions and along some beautiful deserted rocky coastlines and lovely strands of untouched beaches. UP and down over different sierras, mountain ranges, and pass vast ugly old and current mining sites. It’s. Rough and tumble life up here and the truckers and people we run into at stops reflect this. Once we pas a lonely vicuña near the road - no others in sight!! We are glad every time we find a Copec gas station, modern, clean good bathrooms, friendly gas attendants.

 We drive in and out of regions with the ubiquitous cardon and candelabra cactus on the dry hillsides. 

  It’s easy to roll into the same hotel and resto in Talca for an early night, after the local fish in a plain plastic tablecloth diner on the seafront, and watching the sun go down. Ted is out cold as soon as he hits the pillow.

Mar 27 Flamingoes

It is our day to drive south slowly over the huge salt flats just south of town on a dirt/paved road. The local indigenous people own all the national p ark lands here and are doing a very good job of managing them. An entry fee goes back into the community, park wardens are knowledgeable and helpful, displays are informative and well done. It’s the largest salt flat in Chile and home to 3 of the. Known species of flamingo. At Lake Chaxa we park and walk along the causeway to get closeup views of the flamingoes but also ducks wading birds, colorful lizards living in the salt. 30” salt pillars pop up out of the ground all around, crystals glisten in the sun.   En route we pas a farm of multi color lamas, waking behind one another in a field. I guess that’s what they do even in a farmed environment, although there are no fences.

Mar 26 More amazing landscapes

Typical of the desert is it 9 when we get up, 14 by breakfast and 38 and scorching by afternoon. You can wear out your skin pretty fast like this. First we take off on the short rough road drive to Valley de Muerte (not sure what death had to do with is but its a stressful time for us.) We stop at the huge dunes to watch the fit youngsters sandboard down the steep sides.

  Then into Valle d La Lune, where we were supposed to come for sunrise or sunset (nope!) to really get the colors. Its a fantastic adscape of salt, minerals, rocks and we bravely take the salt cave circuit. It is tight in the caves. Ted grazes a bit off his hand as he slips on the glassy rock floor on hands and knees. Deep in the dark cave we hear a howl and he has stepped on a dog hidden there! WE have our small flashlights it its not enough. Finally we see daylight and ascent out on top of this glistening rocky ridge and back to the car. Whew. Hearts are beating fast.

  After a quick bite (juice and cookies) Ted hikes up to the overlook while I sit with yet another pair of stray dogs. About that later..WE have great view of the snow capped volcanoes of the Andes from up here. There are tons of very fit cyclists doing this circuit at this temperature, I am amazed at their strength. We see a small group cycling back, one guy with 2. bikes, so obviously they don’t all make it. 

  That evening we take in one of the local restos Delice de Carmen for the typical indigenous soup patasca - rather like kSW USA pose, pork and beef soup, very filling. Ted unwisely orders pork chop and two huge chops arrive with about a pound of potatoes sautéed in oil. We leave most of it behind, totally  beaten.

  We take a walk through THE expensive gift shop in town, but visit the little artesania alley where I buy nice souvenirs - an alpaca wrap for $40 instead of the hundreds of dollars elsewhere...also alpaca gloves for $4 each. I buy a few Xmas tree ornaments and get a yupa  (like Mexican pilon) - a freebie if you have done a good deal with the seller. Ted finds a pair of indigenous dolls. The big ones seem to be stuffed with straw (can’t bring that back into Canada!) but the small ones are cardboard and twine. OK. Also a nice wee clay pot from this area for $7. Cute!

March 24 San Pedro, hippies and Chateau & Relais hotels

We have good wifi here so I wish my big sis a happy birthday through the ether. 

  Our hotel is on the edge of town (described as rustic in the guidebook I was worried this might mean something less than comfortable) but it was just proximity to roosters I guess...

  WE check out the hotel almost next door. There are 10 rooms, they all come with a guide (whatever language you like) and the car for the duration of your stay. Also all your creature comforts and culinary needs. Cost” US$3300, min 2 nights. We ask if the resto takes outside guests. No. But the manage is not busy and takes us on a wee tour of the absolutely lovely place. It’s full.  You need to book way in advance to get a room here. 

  Typical of many of the places we are visiting, the museums are closed for renovation. The town is all pink adobe homes, dry pin dusty roads, a few sidewalks, and typically an indigenous Pueblo, similar to the US SW pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico that we love. You are advised not to take photographs of local people unless you have their specific permission, but we find everyone very friendly and kind. i guess they love their tourists. 

  The chef at our hotel is outstanding. When you sit down at restos in Chile, you get bread and their own version of a salsa or other home made accompaniment. Here you also get a different amuse bouche  each evening. The food is beautifully prepared and cooked, all our fish comes ‘no muy cocido’ (lightly cooked) as we like it. Good wines come by the glass. The pisco sours are hellish strong...It costs little more than the usual restos. 

  In our room when we arrive is an ice bucket with two small bottles of Chile winery Underraga’s brut, which we enjoy on the patio. Unfortunately, rooms are arranged around the parking area, all safely inside a gated enclosure, but it’s quiet and we have a few plants to look at. 

  One afternoon I retire to the nice little pool but it’s too hot at this temperature and altitude to sit in the sun and I get a burn on my upper legs usually covered with shorts) and shoulders just sitting on the edge of the pool. 

  Ted meanwhile enjoys his wandering back and forth around the small town, where we are about 10 minutes from the centre.

Mar 23 Push to the Atacama

The day dawns sunny, 14 at first, then 31 in the sun. Our tire light has been on so Ted is checking tires regularly so we don’t get going until 10. First we cling to the beautiful deserted and mostly untouched coastline. Then climb up into the lower Sierra, studded with old and current mines, some absolutely mind boggling with the sheer size and magnitude of the damage done to the surface of the land.

  Our friend Jim Allen, a mining engineer, has worked here a lot so we will have to talk to him about it when we get back. Many questions as to the whys and hows of pulling ores from the earth here. It is desolate land up to Antofagasta, huge mining port, where we head inland You can taste the sulphur in the air here. Huge old nitrate plans dot the landscape and were the lifeblood of Chile’s exports in years past. Now copper is king, due to huge demands from China and India.

  The bad news: three times this day we follow the most gigantic machinery being transferred along the single lane highways. Huge traffic jams build up behind them. With no gas stations for something like 100k, and 13k from our destination, it then takes us an hour and a half to cover the distance.  I finally resort to peeing in a plastic bag in the car, quite the gymnastic feat but necessary.

  At 5pm we come over a ridge to the most magnificent view of a ridge snow capped volcanoes about 6000k high. A welcome sight.

  Down through a scenic rift, we see the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama arrayed before us, our home for the next 5 days.

  We pull into the lovely hotel there, with a warm welcome from English speaking hosts and a large comfortable room and many, many staff at our beck and call. As logn term guests, we have free laundry so all our clothes get a wash for the first time.

  We are now at 2400k, about 8,000ft and after the very strong Pisco welcome drink, I feel dizzy and spend a rather sleepless first night. Fortunately, this passed and although we felt a big sluggish, we were not overly affected by the altitude.

  The first morning, we had sun, cloud and (you guessed it, the Fosters have arrived) a slight drizzle, almost unheard of here. The temperature in town stayed at roughly 24, a very comfortable touring temperature.

Mar 22 Taltal and just eating mileage

Typically, it’s 14 with sea fog when we leave and 28 later when the sun comes out so we can peel layers as we go. Love having a car to do all this.

  We stop off en route and drive the 24k good dirt road to see the famous and very scenic Pan de Azúcar national park. Listed as open all year, it is totally deserted, nobody wants to take you out in a boat to see the Humbolt penguin rookery or seals so we just enjoy a walk along the front and enjoy the coastal drive, a welcome relief from the arid, gritty landscape. One fisher woman is being attended by a group of pelicans waiting for their share, but that’s it for any action here. 

  WE stop at a gorgeous windswept beach with an ecolodge (closed) that looks like it would be swapped with visitors in season. Into Taltal, the only reasonable spot to stop on the way to the Atacama desert, at a small friendly but rather rundown hotel. It caters to miners coming in for some RnR (and whatever else...) so prices are high for what would be a less than 1 star motel in N.America. (US$100). We walk along the nice front, meet a huge sea lion begging on the shore. A naval vessel is in port and several smartly uniformed officers come off a boat and enter what is the local coast guard station. We find a local resto, hardly anyone in there, a menu on the wall, a mom and pop sort of operation, but get lovely fish, salad and beers for $25. 

  Back to the hotel, there is no hot water so we fall into bed, only to hear the boom boom from the huge gym close to our room and people partying  next door. Ear plugs in, we sleep til 8.

March 20 Off to Beautiful Bahia Inglesa

Apparently a famed English pirate holed up here and stayed on, hence the name. It is north of the most photographed beach in all the Chile posters so we are anxious to see what it’s like. 

  We are up with the roosters and dogs (again) and off on the very boring road north. We hit sea fog on the coast, 

  It’s a good toll road and costs us about $22 in fees. Towns en route are mining dumps and some gas stations charge you 300 to pee! I consider the charge optional and pee anyway. I don’t have any toilet change anyway.

  Its a dry dusty drive, gas stations about 110k apart, but punctuated by the very green fertile valley, where produce stalls line the road. 

  Our hotel is right on the long sandy beach, in front of the rocks where divers harvest the valuable seaweed used in cosmetics. Also ostiones vivo - the small scallops you eat off the shell Iike oysters. We are getting used to some of these delectable shellfish here. You take your own wine along, Ted likes that even better. 

  Our room is up 3 flights of stairs then down one, so we need help with our bags. We have reduced luggage to 2 large bags, one small and don’t want to leave it in the car in public that night. 

  The season has virtually ended so there are few people around, few restaurants still open and town beaches re deserted, except for gulls. 

  But our hotel has a nice restaurant, albeit softly out in the open so chilly now, and we eat well there both nights. The breakfast room is warm and cosy, with the most amazing array of art - including plates with ceramic fish and food on the, such fun. Nowhere are they for sale...too bad. We don’t get a sea view room, too late for that, and we don’t find the heat the first night so I shower to warm up before bed. We sleep with the waves crashing and realize we left one of the windows open, hence the cold.

Mar 18 Pisco valley and tours

It’s still 34 highs in the day and stinking hot here as we head up the Elqui valley for a couple of days. On the way we deke into the nice little indigenous traditional village of Guayacan, home to the famous brewery, where we stop for a local quaff and stroll around the picturesque plaza and church. Many photo stops later, we arrive in the village of Pisco Elqui and take over our 2 bedroom cabin, (4 beds, 1 bath) with kitchen which we don’t really want or need but is cosy all the same. We wash our undies which dry on our fence outside - too bad if the neighbors object..

  Then it’s off to the most famous place in the area, the Mistral pisqueteria. We take the US$12 (each) tour in Spanish. After the tour of the huge producer, we don’t know much more about its production. The day before we toured a small family run place in Vicuña, also in Spanish. At Mistral, we meet up with Julia, winemaker from Napa valley, and she and Ted test out the famous ultra premium Grand Mistral pisco. Conclusion: nothing like a good single malt Scotch! Now we have another 2 free glasses. Like champagne flutes. Handy to take on our tour...

  Panic - we get back to our cabin and find I have left my purse hanging on the chair at the Mistral restaurant! It’s Sunday night. It is now closed til Tuesday. We rush back down the hill. I bang on the door. Nobody comes. But they are picking and processing grapes so the security guard is at the truck entrance. Ted goes down there and, miracle, he has my purse, all intact. Dodged that bullet today.

  With all the climbing and not drinking enough water (my opinion!!) Ted has cramps most nights. Sounds painful.

  This is a magical p lace and we wake to roosters, then the usual dog chorus. There is a lovely breakfast buffet for the small number of guests here and staff are very helpful and friendly even though they don’t speak English. I loll at the pool in the lovely garden then we retire back to the nice resto we visited first time for more ribs. Amazingly out here way in the boonies, we have good wifi.

Mar 17 The new beach crowd. And Stars!

If La Serenas days of glory are over (they are), the busy multi story apartment blocks are going up along the shore further south in Coquimbo. Here masses of holiday makers come for the surf, sand, casino and outlet malls. But along the water thee is still a lively fishing port feel to the small but excellent seafood restos. We drive down to find one and are pleasantly surprised by the full house in there, locals all enjoying huge plates of wonderful shellfish soup, fish and of course, pisco sours. Mine is mango, delish. Fee digestifs thrown after after too.

  Good thing about Serena was our host, rather dour ex-Scot John, a mine of information about the changing nature of Chile’s economy and way of life. Apparently its all going downhill!

  La Serena for 5 days was more than enough so we are pleased to set off for a night up the Elqui valley at Vicuña. 

  We find the winery that is now open, but no tours. However, it is interesting that they are making wine from PX the famous grape. Used by the Spanish to make a very sweet dessert wine.

  It is week of the stars here. Did I say there are numerous important Observatories all over this part of Chile? The night sky is very clear, no pollution, so enthusiasts with big lenses abound. Tonight is a special night. Many enthusiasts have brought their big telescopes to the main plaza and will turn off all the lights at 9pm so we can all look through them and see stars. All the locals are out to enjoy it. Kids buying treats and sweets. Families and teens accumulating in the centre of this sleepy wee town. The band is deafening, as usual. A

  The big news is the astronomical association is taking delivery of a large financial grant to teach more students in this area.

  For the first time in my life I line up to peer through the big microscope and see a nebula - Ted passes.

  We find a small recommended restaurant, again we are almost the only customers, but the famed chef does a nice job for us. 

We drift back to the hotel. We seem to be the only guests in this ramshackle place of old glory. Next morning, we are the only guests for the ‘buffet’ breakfast, nice enough all the same. 

March 17 Amazing beautiful Elqui Valley

Next day, despite our long day to the penguins, we head off to the famous Pisco producing Elqui valley. A gorgeous green agricultural valley set against the stark high, steep Andes is an amazing sight. Lined up the steep valley sides are vineyards that seem to hang from the mountains. Hand picking is the only option here. We stop at the only large winery in the valley to find it closed except on weekends. Also stop at a fruit stand and pick up local tomatoes and melon.

  As we climb up the valley, which eventually leads to the Argentine border, we leave behind the crisis-crossed vineyards planted at angles for wine protection. 

  We arrive at the somewhat hippie commune of Pisco Elqui, which changed its name from something more pedestrian a while back. It’s a compact little town, full of small hotels and cabins, and book into a cabin for Sunday/Monday as they are fully booked now through the weekend. We have lunch on a sunny patio: me to have great pork ribs - like a loin roast - white Ted sticks to the local specialty choclo, a corn meat casserole. Far too much food.

Back down the valley we book into the stately old Hosteleria Vicuña in the town of Vicuña for Saturday. It seems deserted, with gorgeous gardens and a huge pool and tennis courts, all seemingly unused.

 Back to Serena, there is not much around us in the way of eating places so it’s back to El gaucho, where the guys in their cowboy gear and hats light a wood BBQ, but we don’t see many customers coming in to take advantage of their cooking skills. We can only manage empanada and salad and pisco sours.

  With time on our hands now, we find it quite good to kick back and rest in La Serena, Ted enjoys his walks and we find we have a kitchen to enjoy our pork leftovers with salad rather than venturing out to a huge Chilean meal. A walk to the ice cream parlor is enough to finish my days here.