Our trip to Chile (part 1)
Having some time off and some air miles that were about to expire, we asked ourselves “Where shall we go?” Answer: Chile.
The next question was where, specifically. We decided that we would like to visit Santiago, the wine region including some wineries, the south for the scenery and the Atacama for its uniqueness.
Our first night, the night of 29th December, was spent in the Holiday Inn hotel adjacent to the terminal building of the airport having arrived at around 2 a.m.. The next morning, having picked up our reserved hire car (thankfully it was pre-booked as none of the companies had cars left), we drove around 200 km south to the town of Santa Cruz, the main city in the Colchagua Valley – one of Chile’s premium wine production districts.
We had decided to spend about 2 days here. The hotel we chose was Hotel Casa del Campo, a small family run hotel with lots of charm. The owners were incredibly friendly, even driving us to a restaurant as taxis were hard to come by. The only drawback with this hotel was that it was on the outskirts of town and you needed to drive everywhere which wasn’t so convenient for New Year’s Eve given the dearth of local taxis!
The town of Santa Cruz itself is quite small and doesn’t have a huge amount to do. But it does have wineries which are probably some of the best in Chile. Time only allowed us to visit three: Viu Manent, Montes and Clos Apalta, but they were all of differing character.
A horse pulled carriage ride through the vineyards of Viu Manent
The first, Viña Viu Manent, is one of the oldest producers of wine in the valley and has some of the oldest vines – its speciality being Malbec with vines dating back around 100 years. Formerly, its product was for private/personal consumption of the estates owners, but it now sells internationally as well as domestically. It is one of the smaller wineries, but probably my favourite. The tour encompasses the vineyards, history, a horse pulled carriage ride to the production facility through some vineyards and terminates with the wine tasting.
A view over Viña Montes winery and its vineyards
Our second stop was at Viña Montes on the morning of New Year’s Eve. This was the largest of the wineries we visited and was described by our guide as a medium size Chilean winery. Our impression was that it is more of a factory than a family winery. However, the wine produced here was excellent including an excellent Carmenere. The tour consisted of a van drive up onto a hill overlooking the valley and in particular their vineyards. The tour was followed by a trip around the winery itself including the underground facility where they play music to the wine ageing in oak barrels. As always, the tour concluded in the shop with wine tasting.
A view of the fermentation vats at Clos Apalta
The final winery was Clos Apalta. This is one of the newest wineries, but perhaps produces the highest quality wines which have received awards. Here the tour consisted only of a tour of the winery itself followed by tasting. The winery is built over a number of floors and the whole production process is done by gravity with the grapes entering at the top, being put into the oak fermentation vats, before being piped down into the cellars into French oak barrels. The entire emphasis here is on the quality of the wine produced. We finished this tour early afternoon of New Year’s Eve.
So, hot to celebrate the arrival of the new year. There were basically 2 options: the main hotel in the centre of town, or the casino a couple of blocks away. We didn’t fancy an expensive set meal in the hotel so elected for the casino, also having spent the previous New Year’s at a less than marvellous party in a hotel in Egypt. However, on this occassion, I think the hotel may have been a better option as the casino was totally empty. The party only started after midnight but we had to leave soon after the clock struck 00:00 as there was a long drive to Pucon facing us the next morning!
Steve
For more pictures, please see our gallery.
For Eneida’s account of the trip, please see the Portuguese version!
2016 – Olympics coming to Rio
Looking down on Rio de Janiero from Corcovado
Congratulations to Rio de Janeiro for winning the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games. But is it good or bad for Brazil? What do Brazilians think?
It’s fair to say that there are mixed opinions about hosting the Olympics. There are those that say the Games will boost tourism, improve infrastructure, and reduce crime. Conversely, there are those that are worried about corruption.
Itaimbezinho Canyon in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul
Can anyone imagine a more beautiful location and stunning back drop than Rio de Janeiro? Rio is a truly gorgeous city with great beaches, mountains and warm lively hospitable people. But Rio is just one very small part of Brazil, there are other equally amazing places throughout the country that are little known outside of Brazil. If the Olympics bring tourists to Rio, lets hope they find time to visit some of the other incredible places in Brazil (more about these in a later post). Brazil’s tourism potential is sadly currently under-exploited. Brazil boasts stunning natural scenery, in addition to beautiful (and cheap) beaches to mention but two. In fact, those in the northeast of the country that are just a few hours flight from southern Europe and the United States. The Games can only aid in the development of this potential.
There are undoubted concerns after the Pan-American Games of 2007 that the Olympics will be beset with allegations of corruption and wasted expenditure. I have little doubt that there will be some of this, but what major project anywhere in the world doesn’t suffer similar problems (I’m sure Londoners would concur). I hope the various governmental authorities have learnt from the Pan-American Games and find ways to minimise this. There is a deep-set belief among Brazilians that corruption is ever-present. I think that this is in part due to history and in part represents the current behaviour of some politicians and companies. It won’t be easy to convince them otherwise but, with openness and changed policies, maybe this perception can be gradually changed.
Another concern is Rio being left with “White Elephants” that are little used by the citizens. I think if Rio/Brazil can use the games to tap into the potential sporting prowess of a growing population (not just for football/soccer), then this infrastructure will be used. However, it needs to be made available to all sections of society, hence it needs to be cheap to use.
Lastly, there are concerns that the money could be better spent on healthcare, education, housing and other important social issues. This is more difficult to answer. There is progress being made on these fronts, albeit slowly. The problems in Brazil’s big cities are not trivial and there is no quick easy answer, but if the funding for the Olympics improves housing and educations and does something to improve the quality of life of the favela’s (slum’s) inhabitants in Rio de Janeiro, there will be long-term benefits there and, hopefully, elsewhere. There is no doubt that crime is a serious concern and something which will need to be resolved prior to the Olympics in order to reassure the influx of tourists.
My personal opinion is that the Games represent a huge opportunity for Brazil to be recognised for what it is:
- A huge country with enormous economic and touristic potential
- A country with beautiful warm open people, stunning beaches and diverse cultures
So lets hope that the Olympics are a huge success and bring financial and social rewards to Rio and Brazil as a whole.
The last month
I need to get into the habit of writing something…
There hasn’t been much news the last month. Eneida and I have been busy working, me teaching English and proofreading some academic papers whilst Eneida has been busy translating and is back at PUC now. Thanks to the swine flu, Eneida had an extended holiday from PUC after the Brazilian government asked all the schools and universities to delay the new semester for a week or so. That’s the good news, the bad is that the week will be added in December.
Talking of the swine flu, I haven’t heard much about it in Belo Horizonte. I know it is here, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who has knowingly had it or knows someone who has. I guess it will reach us in vengeance at some point.
The plans? There isn’t much to report. We’ll probably travel to Governador de Valadares next month to attend the ceremonial opening of a new part of Regina’s factory which will produce dried milk.
That’s all folks….
15 January, 2010 | Written by Steve | Comments: Add comment