Chilean Trip Report (lots of pictures, let it load)

[jryoung]

STOP - Wait for the pics to load

This is long so feel free to read, or just look at the pictures if you like.

Details:

Where: Chile, South America

When: December 19th, 2007 to January 4, 2007

Who: J.R. and Renee

Kilometres Travelled in country: 3,648

We arrived on the 19th in Santiago (approximately 33°26'39.76"S, 70°38'57.55"W for those of you that want to play along at home with Google Earth), the flight was long and restless from Dallas, and despite our fatigue we were anxious and excited to begin our journey. We gathered our bags, and headed to the Avis rental counter for our chariot. Lined up for us was a Peugot 207, it took about four minutes to get it up over 120km/h, but when gas is roughly $5 a gallon we were thankful for such an efficient car.


Our first glitch was just about 500m outside the airport at the toll booth. Two gringos only carrying US greenbacks for cash with minimal Spanish to communicate. Fortunately after some consistent shrugging of my shoulders and a very stupid look on my face I was able to convince the cashier to take my American dollars. It only took us two more toll booths to finally decide to find a cash machine, I think the dumb American trick was only going to work for so long as we headed further south outside of Santiago.

We headed south to the city of Santa Cruz (34°38'24.43"S, 71°21'55.82"W) in the heart of the Colchagua Valley.
The Valley

More valley


According to our guide book the city has taken in a substantial investment from a former military arms dealer, including the hotel we stayed at the Hotel Santa Cruz. Later confirmed from a man I met who works for the US State Department this character is a bit shady, has sold arms to Iraq, and is now not permitted to leave Chile (due to International Warrants for his arrest) so he has turned to real estate.

The Hotel was lovely though, nestled right off the Plaza De Armas, it is centrally located, clean and growing substantially with a Casino currently being built. The restaurant was slightly overpriced for food, but overall the food was pretty good, the highlights being the ceviche and the wild boar. Wine prices were very reasonable (most local wines under $20USD), but as we would discover throughout Chile the conditions for keeping wine are not ideal and a bucket of ice was necessary for all red wines as they were quite warm.

Outside



Lobby


Upstairs common area



In addition to it being a very nice facility, despite it's funding it is attached to a Museum. Directly outside our room (in the hall) was an open balcony to the Museum below with a scene of indigenous hunters attacking a Mammoth. What could be better than looking out to a Mammoth when you leave your room?


We toured the Museum a few days after arriving, it had a magnificent collection of prehistoric artefacts, pre-conquistador items, post-conquistador art, dozens of horse drawn carriages, fifteen old cars from a Model T, a Packard, a steam driven truck to a late 80's formula one car. It was well worth the $3 entry fee per person.

The Hotel is well equipped to plan your attack of the valley and get you set up for your wine tours. They heavily push the Santa Cruz Winery as I believe it is somehow tied to the hotel. We knew that we wanted to visit Montes, Casa Lapostolle and Los Vascos and see what others might be of interest. We had the hotel arrange our tours, they we not able to get us into Montes so we substituted in Viu Manet. Day one would be Los Vascos and Casa Lapostolle.

Los Vascos is about a half hour drive from Santa Cruz; driving out there the landscape very much reminded us of Napa Valley. We were greeted by Veronica who would be our guide for the day. First we hopped in her truck (I really wish I could have figured out a way to stash a Toyota Hilux Diesel into my carry on) for a tour of the vineyards.

Panoramic starting from left to right (top to bottom)




The view was fantastic from the top of this hill despite the bit of smog that clouded the valley in the pictures above. In the vineyards they have cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, and my new found love carmenere. They use drip and flood irrigation to water the vines and unfortunately I can't remember the specifics of the soil composition. Next, we headed back to the winery for a look at the facilities. It was quite industrial with this massive auger used to start the processing of the grapes.

Auger coming in on the left


In the warehouse they were outfitting the stainless steel tanks with jacket in order to better control the temperatures.


Ice on the jackets


Stack of wooden pallets


Storage of recently bottled cab


Down to the cellar (I really needed my tripod in all the cellars, but I improvised using the barrels as a prop and hoping my IS lens would let me push the exposure)






Most of the wineries we visited were busy with bottling this time of year


Finally we reached the best part, the tasting room. Of all the wineries I really enjoyed this tasting room from a technical perspective. It was bright, white and quite sterile feeling, but from that there were no distractions from the actual tasting. They were even equipped with a flowing spit bucket that made me feel like I was at the dentist.


We tasted their Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Renee and I both really enjoyed the SB, fresh nose, crisp palate, with a nice mineral finish, great summertime white for $7USD.

We said farewell to Veronica as we were due for our next appointment at Casa Lapostolle (Clos Apalta). The Clos Apalta facility is quite simply one the most amazing I have ever seen. It is an incredible blend of modern architecture and equipment with old world function for wine making. Set in to the hillside it blends with it's surroundings to create a "oneness" for lack of a better term.

Denis was there to meet us when we arrived. A Frenchman who had spent time in Bordeaux and Burgundy, he is now living in Santa Cruz. He took us outside for a view of the vineyards.

Panoramic left to right (top to bottom)




From the side


From the back of the platform

He told us about the facility and how it is six stories built into the hillside (upon arriving there is nothing that would suggest what is lurking out of site).

The spiral staircase down


First floor, reception, everything is hand sorted here.


After sorting the wheeled buckets are taken here (an adjacent room) and wheeled out on the catwalk above the tanks.





When the wine is ready to head to barrel, a hose is connected to the tanks and fed through a line in the floor to the floor below. So we head down the stairs.


Awaiting us is the barrel room, always a favourite.


The room above are the most recent vintage, another floor down is the previous, this is also where we tasted.





On this same floor outside the room is a look up the spiral staircase


And they kept a portion of the wall exposed

In the tasting room there are still two more floors to go, these are the private cellar of the owners. I begged to go down the stairs (the center island of the pictures above), but no luck. Here was an attempt a picture to show below, I needed to expose for 30 seconds so I didn't really want to keep trying and get it framed correctly.


After we had done the tour of the winery, Denis showed us a bit more of the property, including the house available for rent at $650USD a day, butler/cook included.







Day two brought us to Viu Manet, a winery I had not herd of before and after the tour don't really plan on seeking out in the future. The tour was decent, which included a horse carriage ride through the vineyard, and they served a brilliant lunch, it's just the wine making practices that turned me off. Which included the quote "If you don't fine and filter you'll end up with sh*t wine". Now there are many wine making practices, but to cast a blanket statement like this is a bit absurd.

Table grapes


Lighting in the tasting room


Adjacent room


The filtering practice


The carriage ride


After our disappointment (aside from lunch) we tried to drop in at Montes just for a taste. We were in luck, they were able to get us in.





The highlight at Montes was for sure the Late Harvest (Botrytis) Gewürztraminer. They only make it in year where they can have the botrytis properly attack the grapes. This comment I missed and figured like most Chilean wines I could find it back here in the states. Unfortunately, I have only seen it for $17USD for a 375ml, where it was $9USD at the winery.


Not a bad two days visiting wineries in the Colchagua. For dinner each night we visited the Restaurant Hacienda which was about 20 minutes outside of Santa Cruz. It was a great little home cooked meal restaurant, run by a little Chilean woman that was very accommodating and extremely excited to see us a second night. When we attempted to leave the restaurant the first night there were three dogs waiting outside. A one eyed spaniel, a long haired mut of equal size, and a german shepherd. We gave them all a pet before we departed; upon starting the car motor they let us know they didn't want us to leave. The two small ones blocked us in front and the GSD turned into Cujo and was barking at the driver and passenger side doors, in addition to biting the hubcaps and we tried to pull away. Renee and I laughed hysterically at the situation, it was bizarre, and hilarious. Fortunately we were able to escape each night.

Cujo's paw prints


The reason for dinner out away from town the first night was because we planned an Astronomy Tour one evening at the Santa Cruz Winery. As mentioned previously they are a bit touristy, but they have a gondola, and a small observatory at the top of a hill backing the vineyard. Not having access to a telescope of significant proportions it was a fascinating viewing. The moon, nearly full inhibited viewing other stars and clusters, but the clarity to which the moon was viewed was incredible.

After two days of visiting wineries we decided to head to the coast to a town called Pichilemu (34°23'26.32"S, 72° 1'27.28"W). A few days at 85 degrees in the valley the beach sounded spectacular as Pichi, is known for it's surf. We started our drive west as we arrived at the coast we realized just how similar to CA Chile is. It was cloudy and cool, just like Santa Cruz (CA Santa Cruz).


Renee and I laughed, and decided to grab some lunch. We found a restaurant called Costa Luna that gave a Mediterranean flare to local seafood. I'd highly recommend it if you're ever out this way, great food and a spectacular view off the deck.



In Pichi there were several structure made out of this blue rock that we found pretty interesting.


Well we'd been to the wineries, we'd been to the coast it was time for a different location. This time further south to the Lakes District, a prime destination for vacationing Chileans. So we hit the road

and headed for a town called Villarrica (39°16'45.75"S, 72°13'21.91"W). Villarrica sits on the shores of Lago Villarrica, in the shadows of Volcan Villarrica. On the way down we encountered some interesting sights on the freeway. First being the pedestrians crossing the freeway with little regard for oncoming traffic, second the donkey and carriage utilizing the slow lane, and that the speed limit sign is clearly the limit and the appropriate speed is anything under it. The speed traps are fairly easy to spot as it is an officer with a radar gun, usually standing under an overpass (shade), who flags you down if you are going to fast. I got a bit comfortable driving and was nailed doing 137k/hr in a 120k/hr zone. Fortunately my good looks and charm got me off once again, honestly I think I have received three tickets after being pulled over more than a dozen times.

The Lakes District of Chile is spotted with cone shaped volcanoes to the east near the border of Argentina. Being raised in Washington I can't help but make the association with Mt. St. Helens. Geologist fear that their close proximity to one another could create a chain reaction of catastrophic eruptions if there was one was to blow significantly or if there was a severe enough earthquake. But for now there are thousands of people living in the shadows of the beautiful peaks.

In Villarrica we sought out the Hosteria De La Colina, a bed and breakfast like hotel run by two ex-patriots who purchased the property nearly 20 years ago and have been a staple in the area ever since. Glen and Beverly are amazing hosts and impromptu guides. After dinner each night Glen has a series of hand drawn maps of the area that he is more than happy to explain to guests in order to help them make the most of the area. Glen has an unparalleled knowledge of the area and knows the best hikes, hot springs, view points, fishing etc. He has really championed the area and can describe it better that any guide book could attempt.

A view of Lago Villarrica from the terrace at the hosteria

After the long drive we were ready for a drink, here I discovered Kuntsmann
a locally made German style beer, and a gem at $2 a beer.

The gardens at the Hosteria


A view from the deck outside our room at night


Spider


Renee and I wanted to go fishing, hike and hit the hot springs during our stay in the area, first up was fishing. We met our guide Antonio, who spoke little English, on the shores of Lago Villarrica near the mouth of the Rio Toltan. We hopped in a little wooden river boat and headed downstream.



We drifted and used a crawdad like crustacean for bait. We had never float fished before so it was a bit unusual with the weight bouncing off the rocks as it felt very much like a bite. There were several instances of us trying to set the hook, Antonio laughed and would say "No feesh, no eat" in his heavy accent. I finally hook a fish and once I got it in the boat it was about 14" but Antonio insisted we could get a bigger fish. We drifted some more and Renee hooked one. He put up a good fight and for good reason, he was a monster



Antonio was quite surprised, he kept repeating "Beeg feesh, beeg feesh" in his heavy Chilean accent. I landed another smaller fish a few minutes later and we fished catch and release the rest of the drift.


When we stopped in the pictures above we realized why the fish were so big. Antonio needed to get some more live bait, and in about 10 minutes of flipping rocks he had 40 or so fresh crabs. We were surprised at how plentiful they were and when the fish were cleaned they were full of them.


After we got back to the Hosteria, Glen welcomed us and said to walk into the kitchen with our catch and say "Almuerzo". Fifteen minutes later (three hours after the catch) we had a feast, complete with ice cold Kuntsmann.


The next day we headed to a town called Pucon (39°16'38.85"S, 71°58'6.37"W) which is just on the other side of Lago Villarrica and considered the epicentre of outdoor activity for Chile. We followed Glen's map to the east near the border of Argentina for a hike in the shadows of Volcan Quetrupillan (39°30'2.31"S, 71°41'56.29"W). The hike itself was great, but the gigantic deer flies made it pretty miserable. We cut it a bit short, but here are a few pics.





Arauncaria or "Monkey Puzzle Tree" (they are one of the oldest species living at some 300M years old)



The day after our hike, Renee and I decided to spoil ourselves. In the morning we went to a spa for massages, and if that wasn't enough to relax us we then headed to the hot springs. With so many volcanoes in the area there are dozens of hot springs locations, some primitive, and some with a fantastic infrastructure surrounding them. We headed to Termas Geometricas which was on the south side of Volcan Villarrica, and known for it's excellent facilities. Not a bad way to spend a day.








Well we decided we wanted to wrap up our stay in the south and head north to La Serena (29°54'30.19"S, 71°16'24.88"W), so we hit the road again but planned to stay in Santiago for an evening, tour Concha Y Toro Winery then make the final leg of the drive north.

Concha Y Toro is a huge winery, and makes an incredible amount of wine. The tour was quite different than our previous as we were part of a group of 20 or so instead of just Renee and myself. Even though though it was a large tour it was still pretty interesting to hear the stories about the property and Don Melchor himself.

Before the tour began we had about an hour to kill so we hit up the bar.


We tasted:
1993 Don Melchor
2004 Don Melchor
2004 Almaviva
2005 Terrunyo Carmenere
2003 Ge





The story behind Casillero del Diablo was pretty interesting. As Don Melchor began to make quality wine the word was out to the locals who began stealing the wine. To combat this, Don created the rumour that in the cellar where the wine was housed (the actual cellar today), the devil lived there, hence the name.





Well after our tour we hit the road again


La Serena is about four hours north of Santiago, I quickly noticed the roads to the north of Santiago were very different than the south. There were no donkey and carriage, the pedestrians did still cross without regard for traffic, the speed limit was very much ignored and traffic was generally doing 130/140k/hr in a 120k/hr zone. Finally the biggest difference was the families selling skinned baby lambs on the side of the road. It took Renee and I a bit to figure it out, but it was just another comical roadside attraction in Chile.

Not a bad pick for passing by at 130k/hr




We arrived in La Serena, and had a bit of trouble trying to find a hotel as the New Year Celebration was approaching, but on our third stop we found a hotel right across the street from the Pacific Ocean that would suit us just fine. We were a little unsure of the accommodations as we were greeted by a man behind the counter with a large booger hanging out his nose. But, with limited options we took it, and found that in our room the welcome package was perfect.


Seriously, the room was great with a perfect view of the ocean and beach. I don't have many pics from la Serena as we spent a good deal of time laying by the pool. The highlights were the restaurant Los Porotos that had an unbelievable filet mignon. We had a four course meal with a bottle of wine for $60USD. The other highlight was the fireworks display on New Years. While I've seen a more diverse array of pyrotechnics the 25 minute display, on the beach was fantastic.

After a couple of days poolside in the sun, we thought we should spend a few days in Santiago before it was time to head home. So one more time we were back in the car and on our way south. Unfortunately there were no skinned lambs for sale on the side of the road. Santiago is a pretty big blend of haves and have nots. Much of the city is quite dirty and full of graffiti, but there are some up and coming areas like the Las Condes neighbourhood. Renee and I really enjoyed this area as it is the financial center of Santiago, and has some excellent restaurants. While not typical Chilean food, I cannot deny my foodie roots and was a sucker for a gourmet meal, several gourmet meals in fact.

We latched on to a fantastic upscale restaurant called Akarana, from the moment we laid eyes on the menu we were hooked, so much we had three meals here. I know it's not adventurous in a neighbourhood full of restaurants, but when they have an item called "Bambi on the Grill" how could we deny ourselves such a delight in culinary arts?

In between our three meals at Akarana we ventured to the south of Santiago for a visit to Almaviva winery. It was an interesting drive trying to get there as one of the main north south arterials was closed so we guessed a lot. The streets were interesting and we weren't sure if we'd find a winery at the end of it.





But, we got lucky and discovered a little oasis that is Almaviva.





Similar to Clos Apalta they follow a gravity fed philosophy, but not to the extent that Clos Apalta does. The tour was pretty interesting, but didn't blow us away. It is a beautiful facility though. The storage room is pretty cool though.


The door on the back of the wall opens too (it is still sealed though by glass so don't worry about warm air coming in)


Like other wineries they were busy bottling as well



After the day at Almaviva we had one last dinner scheduled. There is a restaurant called Tapas, which is financed by Miguel Torres. We decided to give it a try and were rewarded with the best meal of the trip. We started out with a local sparkling wine, jamon Serrano and manchengo cheese. Next up was grilled ciervo (deer) with a vanilla polenta, and osso buco raviolis with a smoky tomato sauce (wines to pair of course, a carmenere from Miguel Torres, and a Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero). Our appetites weren't satisfied yet so we split an entrée of Chilean seabass, and another carmenere. Now I wouldn't think to go with a carmenere and a white fish, but the oils of the seabass and the softness of the carmenere paired beautifully. Finally we couldn't pass dessert which was very similar to a lava cake, but a very thin crust and a lot of lava and not much cake. The 20year old tawny was superb and Renee and I were stuffed. The bill came, $120USD, we laughed. It was an unbelievable meal, of four courses and four glasses of wine each. Unfortunately I now need to get to my New Years resolution, and all the food did not help my case.

In the end it was an amazing trip, we met some amazing people (locals and travellers), had incredible food, experienced a beautiful country and we able to disconnect from our work lives for a few weeks. I'd highly recommend a visit, we wanted to get to Patagonia, but are saving that for another day. I hope you enjoyed the story and or the pictures.

[nmballa]

SICK....

[intotheflats]

how freaking long did it take you to make that post is what I want to know. It took me like 5 minutes to scroll down and I didn't even read most of it

[oshensurfer]

jryoung, I read every bit.. Sounds like an awesome trip. Welcome back. Hope you were able to bring a few bottles back with you somehow.

[jryoung]

oshensurfer, 4 bottles, a half bottle, and a 12 pack of Kuntsmann beer.

intotheflats, probably 4 hours between yesterday and today.

[Dpierce37]

Wow...amazing pictures. Hope I can detail my trip as well as you.

[Commodore]

jryoung, wow........wow..........you suck........and wow.

Really that's all I can say. "wow, and you suck" Mainly because I am jealous.

It looked so secluded and private everywhere you went. Not alot of people, my kind of trip.

[wsuwakeboarder]

Awesome pictures, My uncle goes there alot on business, and my cousin has lived there for 6 months. They say it is beautiful but never had any pictures, glad you had a good time.

[Corporate]

Okay so you went to some crappy third world country for a couple days.....GET BACK TO WORK!

[ontrider]

I read most of it... not even everything and it still took me half an hour. awesome!

[E.J.]

Good stuff JR....read the entire thing and appreciate you taking the time to let me live your Chilean vacation vicariously.

[Dragonlady8]

Nice detailed log of your trip and great pics.
What did you think of the vanilla polenta? That's different. Did they use yellow or white cornmeal and what common food in the US can you compare it to?

[jlaws]

fishing looked the funnest :p

[Damon]

Looks like fun, I bet the people there are awesome too. We've got a handful of Chilian's working up at Crystal, and they know how to have a good time...

But that better not be your 5D hanging out the window! Oh and CS has a good stitch program.

[jryoung]

[ohsix]

I read it all. Excellent post - pictures and descriptions.

That car reminds of the one Cobe Mikacich (sp I know) wins in South America in Natural Born Thrillaz.

[jt09]

Best post ever on this site. Not even close. Bravo, my good man.



The continued use of longitude and latitude cracked me up!

Clos Apalta is ridiculousness. Like it's meant to be art, instead of wine. And the process, not the result. Very, very striking.

Great pictures, incredible documentation. The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking how cool it would be to go to Chile and see those same things. Great job man, and thanks for sharing!

[Josh R]

Awesome, really enjoyed reading all that and the pictures were fantastic. Nice one bro.

[Lop]

makes me miss Chile our house was near los condes... i think the municipal was huecharaba, but that may have been my office

[Wakebrad]

Just had a chance to go through this - wow. Amazing hotels. That first one looked great, love the museum built in that's my kind of hotel.

Those wineries are incredible. I did a short Napa tour last year but that doesn't even come close. You got some great interior shots over there - the lighting was better than the cellars we visited - made for some great pictures.

Very cool butter shots. Makes me want to go out there and carve it.

That rent house looks so luxurious and for what you're getting $650 a night is pretty cheap. I wonder how many it'd sleep.

The springs look like a great, peaceful place. The snowcapped mountains are incredibly beautiful.

You need to merge those panos man! CS4 does a pretty good job.

[DCdave56]

It's amazing how much like California it looks...

[jryoung]

[timmy]

I went to a lot of the same places in December of '06. I went with my parents and one of my sisters. We rented a diesel pathfinder and did a lot of driving. Longest it has ever taken to get car rental paperwork. Fortunately we got cash at the ATM at the airport first thing so no problems at the toll booths.

Started out going to Salto del Laja, stayed in a hotel overlooking the waterfalls. Then we went to Pucon and stayed at a Termas del Huife hot springs hotel. We went trout fishing as well and caught some sweet rainbow trout and a brown trout.

After that we drove up to Santa Cruz and stayed at the same hotel, and toured Viu Manent. We then drove up to Vina Del Mar for a couple days and finally spent a couple days in downtown Santiago, and even took a drive up to one of the ski resorts (Farralones)

I have to agree that the geography really mimics the west coast of the United States. Imagine Baja/Cali/Oregon/Washington/etc and take away 90% of the people and you have the beautiful country of Chile!

One thing to note is that it is the most expensive of any of the Latin American countries I have visited thus far. I've been to Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Peru.

[ky1e]

jryoung, Looked like an absolutely brilliant trip!! I never even thought about doing a tour of the Chilean Wine Country, but that honestly looked like one of the most scenic and beautiful tours I have ever seen. And when I say brilliant, I mean getting your wife hopped up on red wine for an entire vacation- sheer brilliance ........ Bowm Chicka Wow Wowm

[Corporate]

That's every vacation for JR's wife

[Okie Boarder]

Very cool! Great write up and great pictures. You tell a good story and really were able to make me feel like I was on the vacation with you, in a sense. Did you plan this on your own or with a travel agent?

[Justin 1933]

I went to Chile about 10 years ago and spent a week snowboarding in Pucon on the active Volcano. It was a great trip and something I will never forget.

Great write up....

[Wakebrad]

jryoung, thanks for the offer! We have actually talked about taking a trip back up there this year. We're debating between Napa and Vegas. Will let you know.