Buenos Aires

We left Tupengato Divino Lodge at 7 AM without any coffee!! (we think the owner overslept).  We had to fly from Mendoza, Argentina back to Santiago, Chili then to Buenos Aires, Argentina meaning lots of lines back and forth thru immigration and customs!  We also said goodbye to Jack and Mary as they headed back to the US. today.

Buenos Aires (BA) is a city of 12 million people so you can imagine the traffic at 5 pm on a Friday.  John & Susanna and John & I have rented a small apartment in the Palermo Viejo area of the city for the next six days.  It's located over the La Cabrera Restaurant one of the top 10 rated in BA. It has a small wading pool on the patio along with outdoor seating and a grill.  There are two bedrooms and baths, livingroom and kitchen.  Perfect for the four of us.

We  ventured over to the local grocery store (1/2 block away) for snack and breakfast foods then toasted our new adventure in BA.  About 8 pm we strolled around the area and settled on an Italian place for a very light dinner. There must be over 50 restaurants & bars within 3 blocks. 

More Wineries

George, our unofficial guide, arranged for two cars to take us around the valley today.  We started with a visit to KDS Hecha Mano where high quality knives and scissors are hand made.  We were shown the steele plates that are cut into strips, then cut to the basic shape of the knife, fired in 1000° C kilns before being honed into a knife blade, buffed and shined.  They make their own handles from special woods or antlers.  I believe we all made a purchase or two!

The Masi Winery is an Italy company and most all of their wine is shipped to the parent company in Italy.  They grow Malbec, Torrentes and Corvina grapes.  They have a unique process called Proxximiento whereby the grapes are picked then placed on racks to reduce some of the liquid in the grape and to grow a special mold on the skin.  The corvina grapes are then placed in a tank to ferment.  Then the Malbec grapes are picked, dried and placed in with the fermented Corvina grapes to ferment again.  This double fermentation is unique to Argentina.  For this reason and because this is an Italian wine as opposed to an Argentinian wine, they are having a hard time breaking into the Argentine market.

We had lunch at the Bousquet Winery with food and their wine paired.  After all that wine and food, the girls all went back to the lodge and the guys went to the Atamisque Winery where they learned another way of producing wine.

This winery had a unique setup to the fermentation tanks that none had seen before. There was a concrete floor above each row of tanks and with the tanks a level below the crushing area. After crushing they transported the juice to the tanks using a very large cone shaped container. Their purpose was to avoid pumping the newly crushed grapes which could supposedly stress the fruit. The guys tasted a seriously good Cabernet Sauvignon here. 

Dinner was at the Blousson Bed and Breakfast in the Andean foothills.  They prepared a lamb roast that cooked 14 hours in an adobe oven.  It was wonderful.  The owner is a new vinter with 7 acres of  Malbec grapes and his first wine in 3 barrels, aging for another 2-3 months.  He explained all he had done so far and then let us tast his wine straight from the barrel.  It was very good!

Winery Tour in Uco Valley

After a late breakfast we headed on a tour of two wineries near us.  Our guide, Cecilia, informed us that these two wineries were the iconic vineyards of Uco Valley. Salentein (Sal-in-teen) is owned by a Dutch company and Andeluna, which is owned by Mr. Lays of Frito-Lay/Pepsi.  

Salentein is a very large winery with huge vineyards not only in Uco Valley but throughout the Mendoza state. Their winery was built less than 10 years ago and is all stainless steel tanks with state of art equipment.  Some of their better wines are fermented in giant oak barrels and they age a few wines in French oak barrels.  They produce some 'young' wines that are not aged as long as most wines and these are the ones that most young Argentinians drink.  Following their tasting we walked through their art museum.  

At the Andeluna winery we got a short tour before have a great lunch that paired with their wines.  Of couse, this was a long, drawn out affair with four courses so by the time we finished it was after 4 PM.  Naps, pool time, bridge and supper at 8 PM filled out the day.

Tupengato Divino

George and driver picked us up at the hotel in a 15 passenger van and then drove us toward Tupengato in the Uco Valley south of Mendoza.  This wine region is in the Andean foothills.  Much of the area appears to be desert like but with lots of water from the moutain snowmelt, they have lots of irrigation.  Almost every square mile of land is covered with vines or fruit trees.

George was able to get us into a winery tour at the Tapiz Winery which is a mid-size winery specializing in Malbec but also has several other varietals.  It was an extensive tour with tastings from vats before tasting from the final product.  Unfortunately we were not too impressed.  One interesting thing we learned though was that they fertilize their vines with llama poo.  During the fall and winter when the vines are dormant they let herds of llama graze between the rows and leave their poo to work into the soil.  During the growing season the llama feed elsewhere.  They then sheer their wool and make blankets and shawls from that wool.

Lunch was again an extended affair with wine pairings with the food.  This time we had wine from La Azul, a very small boutique winery, at their restaurant.  The food was either baked in a clay oven or grilled over an open fire.  We had  pickled chicken, a cheese and olive quesedia, a meat empanada, steak and caramel crepe.  All wonderfully paired with wine.

Our lodging is at Tupengato Divino lodge which has only 4 rooms but a well known and visited restaurant.  Each room has its own patio, there is a pool and outdoors dining with great views of vineyards and Andes mountains.  There are also 3 dogs, 8 puppies, 1 cat and a horse. Luckily they were agreeable to fixing us a very light dinner but again we ate late between 9 & 10. We watched a huge lightening storm to the south and in the middle of the night it rained hard. Considering they have about 320 sunny days a year it was a rare occurrence. 

Mendoza Centro

During breakfast I read up on things to do in Mendoza and then we decided how we were going to travel the next few days.  It was decided to return the rental car and take up the services of George whom John J made contact with upon recommendation of the lodge we are going to tomorrow.  He will get us a van and driver.  

Our morning stroll took us through Independence Plaza in the center of Mendoza.  There are four other parks at the four corners off the square that commorate the various peoples who occupy Mendoza.  A pleasant pedestrian shopping area found the girls trying on leather jackets and other shopping while the men walked and waited.  My tour book highly recommend a wine bar that has wine paring under the tutalage of a sommlier who selects the wine from their cellar rather than a menu.  We were seated at a round table made from an old wine press in a small room where all four walls held wine racks. Our lunch at Azafán took almost three hours but was a wonderful experience and great food.  Naps were necessary after that big lunch!

The custom in most of South America and especially in Argentina is to have lunch between 1 and 2 pm and then dinner after 8 PM  In fact, most restaurants don't open for dinner until 8 or 8:30.  But since we had such a large lunch we found a place where we had wine and tapas plates.  Even then it was near midnight before we fell into bed.

Travel Day

We spent most of the day on airplanes. 5 hours back to Santiago then a short flight to Mendoza. An hour getting through immigration and customs then trying to figure out how many Pesos to get from the ATM.

The last obstacle was the rental car. They just don't have large vehicles in South America. So to get from the airport to the hotel we rented a cab to drive three of us while the luggage and other three followed in the van. We didn't get lost and have a car to travel around. Our next stop will be in Uco Valley so we will have to find a way to get our suitcases delivered to the inn.  Arrived at hotel 6:30 pm. 

Restaurants don't even open until 8 or 8:30 pm so we had a very late (as in 10pm) but very good steak dinner.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Our itinerary said we should take the 12:30 catamaran across Lago Pehoe and then we would be picked up by a driver who would have all our luggage we had left at the Hotel Las Torres. So we had a whole morning to kill. We were all tired of hiking so we read, played bridge, played spades and napped. We waited.

The catamaran ride was short but when we arrived at the little loading area there was no one there to meet us.  The lady at the cafe spoke enough English that she was able to radio the hotel who then called the local travel agent who then got all the mess straightened out.  We waited.

Our driver came around 6:30 pm but did not come inside the cafe where we had again played cards, napped, and read while waiting.  When we got really tired of waiting, Jack walked around the parking lot and found our luggage in the back of the van.  We were all a bit miffed that the driver waited outside for he next catamaran, thinking we would be on it.

It was a long 5 hour drive to Punta Arenas.  After 3 1/2 hours we needed a baño (bathroom) but there was nothing open in the little town where he stopped at 10:30 at night.  The driver saw two women and a young girl walking and asked directions (we think as he spoke only Spanish).  They directed him to their home and invited us inside to use their toilet.  The young girl was so excited to have this happen in her home!  We tried to pay but they wouldn't accept anything and instead they gave Susanna a decorative coaster as a gift. What gracious, friendly people!

We got to our hotel at midnight.

Gray Glacier

Last night's dinner was less than mediocre and this mornings breakfast was just as bad and the lunch was questionable. I think we have been very spoiled by all of our previous stays.

Late yesterday Mary pulled a muscle in her right leg. Not badly but she didn't want to stress it any more so only John & Susanna and John & I hiked up the valley to see Gray Glacier.  It was quite a hike as the infamous winds of Patagonia were blowing at gale force all day!  We had to lean into the wind going up the valley. There were a few protected areas where it wasn't  too bad but otherwise we walked in the wind for the whole 9 km, 5.4 miles. But it was worth it. 

When we reached Gray Lake we spotted several iceburgs floating along the shore line. At the Glacier Mirador (view point) we had a great view of the blue ice of a huge glacier!  But what got everyone's attention was the extreme wind blowing off the snow, across the lake and up the cliff face.  John suggest that John J. could jump off the cliff and the wind would blow him back!! Ha! We then got pushed all the way back down the valley.

The wind is still blowing hard as I write this. We witnessed water spouts on Lago Pehoe (pronounced 'pay way') in front of the lodge. It's been fun making new friends. We met a young couple from Chile, a single woman from France traveling by herself, a photographer of Taiwanese descent who has lived in northern Chile for 17 years, a group of 6 from Alberta, Canada, and a group of 7 men from NY.

On To Refugio Paine Grande

I guess it rained last night because everyone is talking about it but I slept through it all.

We had a nice hot breakfast then headed on down the trail towards Italian Refugio and then on to Paine Grande. We should have hiked up French Valley as part of the 'W' but that would have been too long of a day for us.  As it was we traveled 13.1 km or about 7 miles in 5 hours. We had some beautiful scenery to keep us entertained and the hike was not overly strenuous so we did some talking.

Jack noted that Mary would like some more bridges across the streams and bogs and that John was hoping his broken sunglasses would hold out until we got back to civilization. At a little past the half way mark we had been using more foot bridges and John found a pair of lost sunglasses laying on a rock.  Jacks comment then was they both got their wishes but he was having a hard time thinking of something to wish for himself!

Pain Grande Lodge is a grand looking building but all the rooms have  bunk beds for six people so the Sedalia Six are sharing the same room for two nights. Should be interesting sleeping with numerous snorers including John and I.  There is only one restroom with showers for the women and one for the men.  All the rooms are labeled with Spanish names, our room is Espada and the restrooms are Mujeres (women) and Hombres (men).  After drinking a couple of beers the men decided to shower then meet in the bar before supper.  John J. confessed that he doesn't know Spanish very well so when he came out of the shower and saw no urinals and one lady standing at the sinks he said, "This isn't the men's room, is it? No!"  We all howled with laughter and his wife, Susanna, just kept shaking her head!  Later that evening we heard that another guest had done the same thing.  

Cuernos Refugio

After reshuffling all our gear from suitcases to backpacks so that we had what we would need for the next four days we took off on the third leg of the 'W' hike. Our suitcases will be held in secure storage until Saturday morning when our driver will pick them up before getting us.  This is actually a connecting route to the second half of the 'W'. We had concerns about the air temperature today because the mountain was covered with new snow this morning!

Today's route paralleled Lago Nordenskjold (a long, teal blue, quiet lake) on the left and mountains on the right. Cuernos Este and Cuernos Central  were the dominant peaks.  We hiked 11 km today and made it to the refugio in about 5 hours. We walked with a horse group at first but soon out distanced them.  The route was up and down over tall cliffs, through saddles, across and into streams and one bog, and over hills. The scenery was always captivating and we found several flowering bushes, berry ladened shrubs and trees we had never seen before. It was a very strenuous hike as we were constantly going up & down, and some of the hills were very steep. Luckily it was not windy today which keep us from getting cold. 

Cuernos Refugio is a group of two person huts and a lodge surrounded by campsites. Each hut has a wood burning stove which we are using tonight. Our hut is next to a big waterfall.  The views from our hut are magnificent as we have a skylight looking up at the huge mountain!  Dinner was in the lodge and everyone has the same meal. Luckily they have some nice wine for sale. We are glad we are not tent camping as the wind is blowing in some rain clouds and the temps are dropping.

Day 2 on the 'W' in Torres del Paine

The second day of hiking was much shorter but I cannot say it was easier. Elevation change was 1800 meters up 3+ miles and back down 3+ miles. The map said 11 km.  And, even though we had no wind today, we did have rain and clouds and sleet!  This tickled our friends as they know how much John hates snow!

Our turnaround was at a refugio where we could have purchases a hot meal or hot chocolate but we ate our cold lunches at picnic tables in a shed with lots of other hikers. This must be a favorite route for day hikers and for those spending some nights in the mountains as it was a very busy trail. 

We were off the trail by about 2:30, so had a beer and played some bridge before doing laundry in the sink in preparation for the next 4 days of hiking refugio to Refugio with our small backpacks.  

We Are In Patagonia!

Yesterday was a long day of travel. We left Santiago at 9 am and landed in Punta Arenas at 1:30 pm. Then we were immediately hustled into a van and driven to Las Torres Hotel in The Torres del Paine National Park arriving at 7 pm - a 5 1/2 hour ride.  The only food we ate all day was a breakfast sandwich, airplane snacks and a candy bar purchased in Puerto Natales.  We spotted several unusual animals along our route - emu or rhea (not sure which), flamingos, llamas, and black necked swans. And possibly a condor.  The last leg of the trip we endured a 90 minute drive on a gravel road inside the park with dust billowing into the van thru the floor.  

But it was all worth it!  Our deluxe room in the 84 room hotel has a hot tub and huge bay windows that  face Monte Almirante Nieto with the spikes of Ventisquero Torres peaking from behind. Both have snow covered peaks with ever present clouds hovering overhead. The weather is unpredictable. Temps are in the mid-50's to mid-60's during the day but the wind blows almost constantly.  During today's hike it was anywhere from a gentle breeze to gale force. On top of that it sprinkled rain all day even though the sun was out enough to need sunglasses.  The meals are elegant buffets and we have box lunches to take on our hikes.  

Today we hiked the first leg of the 'W' which is a five day hike into the wilderness between peaks and hills. We will hike the second leg tomorrow then on Wednesday we hike to a Refugio (mountain hostels) from where we will hike the other two legs of the 'W'.  We did not hike the whole leg but still got in about 8 miles today.  It was a mostly gentle up-hill grade thru forest with lots of mud and creek crossings.  Horses grazing along the path were the only animals we spotted today. Panoramic views of surrounding valleys and hills were breath takingly beautiful. 

The sun sets about 10 pm.

Back in Santiago

Well, not in Santiago but at the Santiago Airport at the Holiday Inn across one road from where we will check in to start our next adventure. 

We left Tumunan Lodge at noon after a leisurely morning and had lunch at a very elegant French restaurant called Entre Rio. It was recommended by Will and right on the highway.  We felt very under dressed in our shorts and tennis shoes but they seemed not to notice. 

One wrong turn and three times past the drop off area and we finally got the car returned to Avis and our luggage in our room.  We thought we were being smart to check into our flight this morning on the computer but it messed up our seating on the plane.  So we all walked over to the ticket area to get that straightened out. An hour and half later some seats were corrected but ours was not. I get to deal with that when we check in tomorrow. 

Please note that we may not have any type of internet while in Patagonia at Torres del Paine (pronounced 'pine') National Park.  We fly to Punta Arenas in the morning then will ride in a van for 5 hours to the park. The next five days will be spent on day hikes in the park while staying at various hotels and refugios (hikers lodging).  I promise full details when we return to civilization. 

Colchagua Valley and Chilean History

Since we have a car we decided to drive to Santa Cruz to check out a recommended museum and do some wine tasting. Santa Cruz is only about an hour drive from here.

Museo Colchagua was opened in 1995 and has over 4,000 pieces. We saw pre-historic and pre-Columbian exhibits, Incan and Conquistadors, war and modern eras, horse and farm, buggy, car and steam vehicles and Andes jewels next to Darwin's room.  They also had a moving exhibit about the 33 miners stuck underground for 30 days back in 2010. Very impressive displays.  But no photography allowed so no pictures to share. 

After a stroll around the town square we had lunch at an Italian restaurant served by a young lady from Seattle trying to learn Spanish.  What we thought would be a short walk to the winery next door turned out to be a long walk so John drove the car around while the rest of us walked. We had tasted one of the wines from Laura Hartwig Winery earlier this week but the ones we tasted today were not very good.  We then stopped at the Estampa Winery and tasted some more wine. Mary drove us back to Tumunan.

We have truly enjoyed our stay with Will and Carolina at the Tumunan Lodge.  They have been wonderful hosts and have served great meals. We could not have asked for a more relaxed time. If anyone is interested in visiting Colchagua Valley in Chile we would highly recommend you stay here.

Tumunan Lodge web site:  www.tumunanlodge.com

Down Day

Today we chose not to do a lot of things like sight seeing or wine tasting. Instead we took a 5 or 6 mile hike up the valley to see a waterfall then drove to Shangra La for lunch.  

Lunch was an adventure as no employees spoke English. The waitress wrote the menu on her pad then asked her son and several other diners if they spoke English. Between them and our limited understanding of Spanish we placed our order for what we thought would be pork ribs or beef steak with salad and French fries. We interpreted correctly and had a lovely lunch. 

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in the pool or hot tub, reading or playing cards.  Dinner was a grilled steak and good wine. 

Tres Vinos

Will, our host, arranged for us to visit three different wineries today.  One is a boutique winery, one was a very large winery and the third was one that makes high quality wines for export.

Ian is part shareholder, general manager, and winemaker of Tresmonte Boutique Winery in Colchagua Valley.  We toured the vineyards with Ian pointing out the different grape varitals and why he has planted them where they are on flat ground, hill sides, or mountains areas.  He then offered us tastings directly from the barrels for a Syrah and a Malbec and then we tasted wines from three vintages.  Three very interesting things about this vineyard and winemaker make this a unique experience.  One, Ian is an astrologer and collects asteroid fragments.  One of his wines is made with a piece of asteroid in the barrel with the wine.  He named this "Meteorite".  Two, some syrah vines are planted over an abandoned gold mine.  This one is called "Oro Los Coipos" as Los Coipos is the name of the mine and Oro is Spanish for gold.  And three, the restored home on the property is a 150 year old adobe brick house that has survived 7 earthquakes.

The second winery was Casa Silva which produces wine on a much larger scale and they have two other areas where they grow their grapes.  Most of the wine is kept in Chile and is priced for the average wine drinker.  It is family owned with 4 sons taking four different roles in the business.  The family home is now a hotel and they have some large spaces used for parties and for their antique car collection.  We tasted three excellent wines before dining on the restaurant patio which overlooks their polo field.

Santa Helena is right next door to Casa Silva and in fact was once part of Casa Silva but about 15 years ago part was sold to become Santa Helena.  They also have other areas where they grow grapes.  Their production focuses on reserve, grand reserve and premium wines.  We had a short tour of their facility and then were ushered into the second floor tasting room where a huge table was set up with wine glasses just for us.  We tasted four different wines with the guide asssting us through the process of of smelling the wine to pick out the notes of aromas and then tasting the wines.  Each wine was a higher quality than the last.

Rental Car Fiasco?!

Our rental van for six people plus luggage was supposed to be delivered at 10 am.  It arrived at 10:45 am and it would seat 6 people comfortably but not with luggage. After some major discussions with the driver and all three guys putting their heads together we were able to cram all the suitcases plus five backpacks in the back of the Toyota SUV.  One person sat in the back with the suitcases as his seat back, three girls in the midde and the driver and navigator and one backpack up front.  The hotel concierge helped with translation between John and the rental employee to negotiate the insurance deposit and voucher payment. Over one hour later we were able to start our drive to wine country.

It's always an adventure to drive in a foreign country. We circled a roundabout once then turned into a parking lot instead of onto the freeway ramp but we made it onto Ruta 5 Sur (route 5 south the Pan-America Highway) on our way to Colchagua Valley, a highly rated wine region of Chile and the location of our B&B.  Along the way we stopped for lunch and again took a wrong turn trying to get to the restaurant but out little detour took us thru a cute village.

The B&B is about 15 miles off of the Pan-American Highway in the middle of a forest between two ranges of the Andes Mtns. We are a long ways from civilization in an area most tourists will not visit. The owner of Tumunan Lodge is British and built this place about 5 years ago.  There are only 4 bedrooms but they have a huge pool and a wood fire heated hot tub. Located on 40 acres of land between two hills there is a river running thru the property and the owner, Will, has planted a small plot of grape vines.  He has arranged a winery tour for us tomorrow.

Santiago Day Tour

Yesterday on the drive from the airport we decided to hire the travel agency which picked us up to give us a 4 hour tour of Santiago today. James, our guide, arrived at 9:30.  Our first stop was on top of St.Christopher Hill where we had an expansive view of the city. The smog here is really bad due to forest fires last week but I'm sure the smog is bad anyway. If we had time we could have ridden the funacular up. 

We drove thru several neighborhoods near the hotel and up in the foothills of the Andes Mtns.  We also looked in two churches and walked downtown in the London/Paris District and the Neuve York ( New York) pedestrian area. One stop was at the Jockey Club. Besides horse racing Santiagans like tennis and soccer. 

Following our seafood lunch where we once again forgot the portions are gigantic and couldn't begin to finish our meals, we walked back to the hotel, napped. Afterwards we joined the group for a hike up St Lucia hill where an 18th century fortress had once stood guard over the area. The rock steps to the pinnicle were steep and worn smooth making the climb treacherous. We then wandered around the district and found our way to a neat wine bar John and I had discovered earlier. We had a waiter/ sommelier who spoke fluent English making our evening of wine and tapas enjoyable. All the wine we tasted were from Chile. 

The end to a great day was being able to use the internet to video chat with all our grandkids.