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| Almaviva |
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| Almaviva |
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| Vineyard |
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| Grapes up close and personal |
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| The winery |
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| Doors made of barrel staves |
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| Barrel Room |
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| Bottler |
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| Haras de Pirque |
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| Haras de Pirque |
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| Haras de Pirque |
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| Tasting room Haras de Pirque |
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| Haras de Pirque |
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Wineries
Today was winery day in the Maipo Valley, just south of Santiago. First stop Almaviva, a joint venture of Concha y Toro and Rothschilds. What an amazing place! Obviously they did not mind sinking a whole lot of $$$ into the place. The doors are made of old oak barrels and the rooms were huge and spotless. The barrel room was all paneled in oak. And the wine....a blend of cabernet, cab franc, Carminere, syrah and merlot. WOW. It was lovely. Then to lunch (something something Toro) for some awesome beef and the best pisco sours. Next to Haras de Pirque, another winery, not so swanky but damn good. We tasted their Carminere, a great red for a warm Sunday afternoon for people who don't like whites, Haras Character - a great Tuesday night red, and Albis - an intesnse blend to be served on your birthday. Back to the neighborhood, and since we didn't have enough wine, went out to the wine bar again for small plates and, you guessed it, more wine! Wish I could post the photos in real time, but have no way to hook up my camera to the iPad, so will have to wait til I get home. Tomorrow on the plane south to Punta Arenas and the real adventure begins.
Santiago continued
The hotel Laterria is in a wonderful neighborhood with shops and FOOD! I took a short walk in the sfternoon and found 5 ice cream stores within a 2 block radius. Obviously, we can't stay here for lomg! There are kiosks along the sidewalk that sell beautiful fresh fruit (along with chips and newspapers). Dinner last night at Bocanariz, a wine bar with over 388 different Chilean wines on their list. The food was supurb, I had a broccoli, quinoa, cherry tomato and arugula salad and a charcuterre plate with 3 kinds of "ham": pork, beef and lamb. Dean had a huge T-bone steak, Bruce had short ribs and JoAnn empanadas. Everything was great and the staff were super helpful. May have to gio back tonight. Gotta love a place with great wine, coffee, ice cream and food.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
March 11, 2015
Greetings from Santiago! Getting here takes FOREVER, but if you must travel, take LAN airlines. It takes 13 hours from LA (with one interminable stop in Lima), but they treat you right. We got 3 hot meals, free wine, a pillow, blanket, eye shade, ear plugs and an enormous selection of movies and TV shows on a small screen on the seat back in front of you. (key for a shorty like me - if it comes out of the ceiling, half the time I can't see it). Watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and St. Vincent. The first was weird in a Darjeeling Limited kind of way. For a movie set in the 30s with Adrian Brody playing a character named Dimitri, I just don't get an American accent. St. Vincent was wonderful Bill Murray should have gotten an acaemy award. Also read All The Light We Cannot See - beautiful book.
Santiago is a big city - 7 mllion people in a country of 17 million. It's pretty smoggy and the buildings all look like they were built in the 60s or more recently. It wasn't until we started walking around that we saw some older ones, and then only from the late 1800s. Apparently the earthquakes here are a form of urban renewal. RIght now it is the end of summer, so it is hot, sunny and very dry. Our guide drove us around and we did a little walking. They have a fish market that would put Pike Place to shame. We did buy some lapis lazuli which this area is famous for. Then back to the hotel room, a shower and a nap!
Santiago is a big city - 7 mllion people in a country of 17 million. It's pretty smoggy and the buildings all look like they were built in the 60s or more recently. It wasn't until we started walking around that we saw some older ones, and then only from the late 1800s. Apparently the earthquakes here are a form of urban renewal. RIght now it is the end of summer, so it is hot, sunny and very dry. Our guide drove us around and we did a little walking. They have a fish market that would put Pike Place to shame. We did buy some lapis lazuli which this area is famous for. Then back to the hotel room, a shower and a nap!
Monday, February 16, 2015
Oops forgot
Book #3 Moriarity - great new take on Sherlock Holmes with and amazing plot twist. The only down side it that it is way more violent than the originals.
Started The Last Invasion about the Battle of Gettysburg, but like Goodwin, too wordy. Erik Larson and Tim Egan are way better nonfiction writers. Still working on both of those.
Every morning I walked the beach by myself as no one else got up at 6:30 - 7. I saw frigate birds, sandpipers, puffer fish washed up on shore, brown pelicans and black crowned night herons. One morning I saw a snake washed up. Ugh. It was a magical time of the day. Later in the day, the wildlife is less visible, but there are Mexican families on the beach enjoying the day. What a great place to stay.
Started The Last Invasion about the Battle of Gettysburg, but like Goodwin, too wordy. Erik Larson and Tim Egan are way better nonfiction writers. Still working on both of those.
Every morning I walked the beach by myself as no one else got up at 6:30 - 7. I saw frigate birds, sandpipers, puffer fish washed up on shore, brown pelicans and black crowned night herons. One morning I saw a snake washed up. Ugh. It was a magical time of the day. Later in the day, the wildlife is less visible, but there are Mexican families on the beach enjoying the day. What a great place to stay.
zihuatanejo re-cap
OK, well I didn't keep up the blog, so will recap the highlights of the trip. I must do better next month when we go to Chile.
Let's see, the last entry was after posole night. We managed to contact the taxi driver we had the last time we were in Zihua (thank you Bob for keeping his card!). Andres is wonderful. He's in his 50s and has lived in Zihua since he was 8. He took us on an all day tour for $120 US for 4 of us. We went to Casa Vieja, the oldest hotel in Zihua. Then to the old town square, pointing out the original church and some original homes. Then to Playa Larga, a 10 mile beach south of Zihua that has not been developed. Then to a convenience store that has a tree full of iguanas out back, at least half a dozen of the big guys in the trees. Then to see a barrel tile maker who is in his 70s who has been doing this since he was 8. Oh, and the coconut harvest. It happens every 3 months. There are piles of coconuts on the ground. The first place we stopped, the man (who has no body fat) was splitting whole coconuts (with husks) with a hatchet. Georgia tried it. Crazy. The guy splits 3000 coconuts a day like this and he does not wear shoes! No OSHA in Mexico. Another coconut site they were using a tire rim on it's side with an upright post that had a very ugly curved blade sticking up. Three swipes and the coconut is husked. They didn't let us try that one. One man can husk 2000 coconuts a day - no gloves. Then to the archeological site which is slowly being excavated from the surrounding jungle. Carmelitias for dinner where G and I had chile rellenos stuffed with mahi mahi. Yum!
The next day, the guys had a bit of tourista, so G and I walked down the beach to the fanciest restaurant with tables set up on the beach with white table cloths. We had a lovely (and expensive dinner) topped off with Mexican coffee drinks where they light the alcohol on fire and swirl it back and forth. Sorry guys - it was great.
Next day I got to check something off my bucket list by riding horses on Playa Larga. Luckily I know the words viejo and despacio in Spanish (old and slow). It was magical none the less.
All too soon our time in the sun was over and back home. Dean did really well with his foot and was able to walk the full length of the beach (1.5 miles total) by the end of the week.
Next postings will be from the Chile trip.
Let's see, the last entry was after posole night. We managed to contact the taxi driver we had the last time we were in Zihua (thank you Bob for keeping his card!). Andres is wonderful. He's in his 50s and has lived in Zihua since he was 8. He took us on an all day tour for $120 US for 4 of us. We went to Casa Vieja, the oldest hotel in Zihua. Then to the old town square, pointing out the original church and some original homes. Then to Playa Larga, a 10 mile beach south of Zihua that has not been developed. Then to a convenience store that has a tree full of iguanas out back, at least half a dozen of the big guys in the trees. Then to see a barrel tile maker who is in his 70s who has been doing this since he was 8. Oh, and the coconut harvest. It happens every 3 months. There are piles of coconuts on the ground. The first place we stopped, the man (who has no body fat) was splitting whole coconuts (with husks) with a hatchet. Georgia tried it. Crazy. The guy splits 3000 coconuts a day like this and he does not wear shoes! No OSHA in Mexico. Another coconut site they were using a tire rim on it's side with an upright post that had a very ugly curved blade sticking up. Three swipes and the coconut is husked. They didn't let us try that one. One man can husk 2000 coconuts a day - no gloves. Then to the archeological site which is slowly being excavated from the surrounding jungle. Carmelitias for dinner where G and I had chile rellenos stuffed with mahi mahi. Yum!
The next day, the guys had a bit of tourista, so G and I walked down the beach to the fanciest restaurant with tables set up on the beach with white table cloths. We had a lovely (and expensive dinner) topped off with Mexican coffee drinks where they light the alcohol on fire and swirl it back and forth. Sorry guys - it was great.
Next day I got to check something off my bucket list by riding horses on Playa Larga. Luckily I know the words viejo and despacio in Spanish (old and slow). It was magical none the less.
All too soon our time in the sun was over and back home. Dean did really well with his foot and was able to walk the full length of the beach (1.5 miles total) by the end of the week.
Next postings will be from the Chile trip.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
zihuatanejo February 5, 2015
Another day in paradise. Great sunny weather. Today, Thursday, is pozole day. I asked the fromt desk and they suggested Santo Prisca, a pozoleria that is only open one day a week, Thursday. What a find! We were some of a handful of gringos there. It was mostly Mexican families. The pozole was amazing. We had the puerco verde which was so tasty. It was served with avocados, flautas, chilles rellenos, chips, beans and chicharones. The ice cream was amazing as well, flavors such as mango, coconut and tequila to name a few. Sadly, we are only here one Thursday,
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Zihuatanejo 2015
This promises to be a year of travel, so it's time to start blogging again. Here we are in Zihuatanejo at Club Intrawest with our friends Georgia and Perry. Yesterday was not my best travel day. We missed the shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport, which actually turned out OK since the taxi left us off a lot closer so Dean didn't have to walk so far. I had lost the boarding pass I had printed at home, so had to do a new one at the airport, Somehow I didn't put my new Trusted Traveler # on it, so I didn't get the pre-check. Then I left my Visa card on the plane which luckily Alaska Air found and is holding it for me at the airport here, Will pick it up tomorrow,
Then, the day got considerably better. The weather here is great. The drinks cold and last night the hotel released 28 baby sea turtles from eggs that they had gathered and protected. It was the last of the season. How amazing! 10 years ago, they had collected 890 eggs. This year it was 17000. Learned that sea turtles can't retract their heads and feet unlike land turtles.
Today kayaked to Isla de Gatos which was fairly easy and fun. Met a nice woman from Dallas who works in urban planning. Spent the rest of the day at the pool: eating, drinking, reading and soaking up the sun.
Book #1 The Hearts of Horses - excellent. Set in eastern Oregon during WWI and really puts you in the time and place
Book #2 A Girl Named Zippy - another one of those memoirs of a person who grew up in a weird dysfunctional family,
Still working on the Bully Pulpit but Goodwin is way too wordy,
Tonight, pizza delivery from Jungle Pizza, a wood fired place near here. More later.
Then, the day got considerably better. The weather here is great. The drinks cold and last night the hotel released 28 baby sea turtles from eggs that they had gathered and protected. It was the last of the season. How amazing! 10 years ago, they had collected 890 eggs. This year it was 17000. Learned that sea turtles can't retract their heads and feet unlike land turtles.
Today kayaked to Isla de Gatos which was fairly easy and fun. Met a nice woman from Dallas who works in urban planning. Spent the rest of the day at the pool: eating, drinking, reading and soaking up the sun.
Book #1 The Hearts of Horses - excellent. Set in eastern Oregon during WWI and really puts you in the time and place
Book #2 A Girl Named Zippy - another one of those memoirs of a person who grew up in a weird dysfunctional family,
Still working on the Bully Pulpit but Goodwin is way too wordy,
Tonight, pizza delivery from Jungle Pizza, a wood fired place near here. More later.
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