Santiago and Wine Country

Friday and Saturday, March 10-11

On Friday we rested.  The overnight trip down to Santiago took a fair amount out of us, so we spent the day relaxing, mostly at the spa/pool on the roof of our hotel:

 Friday evening we met our group, a total of 20 of us, and it seems like a lovely mix of people.  Up Saturday morning and out early for a tour of the city.  It really is much like any modern capitol, with broad streets, lovely architecture, prosperous appearing people and gorgeous weather.  It’s late summer, and the mornings are in the high 50s/low 60s,the daytime highs are in the low 80s and it feels like no humidity.

The city hub is the Plaza de Armas, with the cathedral (1775) and a statue of Don Pedro de Valdivia, who was the conqueror and governor of Chile for Spain: 

Diagonally across the plaza from Don Pedro is a terribly ugly statue representing the Mapuche, the largest group of indigenous people, whom the Don defeated while claiming the country for Spain.

The interior of the cathedral is impressive:

 We then went to the Presidential Palace where we watched the changing of the guard.  In the hot sun, horses, a brass band, and many troops marched into square in front of the palace and stood in formation while the band played.  After some military music and marches they threw in some Broadway-sounding tunes, some songs, and the audience applauded.  Meanwhile the troops stood in formation.  None fainted.  Here’s a small sample clip of the 30-minute festivities:

https://youtu.be/vUjVIn7w8uk

After touring the city, we drove to wine country, about an hour outside of Santiago, where we visited the extensive holdings of the Family Matetic.  Our first stop was at the restaurant they run as part of the winery where we had lunch, accompanied by abundant wines:

Our dessert was outdoors (under a tented roof) where we ate the delicious cheesecake and fresh blueberries while we had a lecture/demonstration of the gear and horsemanship of a Chilean cowboy (a huaso).  They said his spurs are far kinder than American ones which have only a few tines which are sharp and puncture the horse’s skin:

Finally we had a tour of the winery which is totally organic, with everything possible hand done, including the harvest.  The countryside looks very much like Southern California, and everything which grows is irrigated, including the vineyards and the greenhouses, as well as the vast blueberry fields in front of the greenhouses:

Their red wines are handled in a traditional way, aged in oak casks imported from France.  Some of the white wines, however, are done in a new French way, in concrete “eggs”:

At the tasting, I really think I tasted the minerals from the concrete in the Sauvignon Blanc.

Back to the hotel, bags out at 5:30 AM for our flight south to Puerto Montt.  More then.