El Valle de Casablanca

Wine tasting in Chile is a wonderful experience and without all the commercialized propaganda that you get in the states....it seems that they generally want you to learn about their wine and that they are proud of their products. After a very in depth tour of the Indomita Bodega, a fairly new winery to the valley, built in 2001, we learned that they plant roses mixed in with the grape vines, because if disease or insect attacks the vineyard it will go for the weaker vines first, which are the rose vines, and this acts as a sort of warning system. I thought it a very attractive, economical, and clever preservation system. When we started to taste the wines, they had 2 or 3 different ingredients that they had you smell first to see if you could then find the smell in the wine, for example we smelled mushrooms before tasting the merlot which brought out all the earth tones, and we smelled dried prunes and peaches before tasting the sauvingnon blanc bringing out all the citrus flavors. I have never tasted wine this way, and what a difference, I could really smell the different ingredients and it was very interactive as well. The best part was that I bought four bottles of good quality wine for under $20.00 and then we proceeded to sit on the lovely terraza and drink a bottle all the while over-looking the spectacular valley of Casablanca, which by the way is named for its' production of white wines.

Lobos Marinos

After seeing giant elephant seals also know as sea wolves, english translation of Lobos Marinos, I couldn't help but smile.... as Sonoma States' Mascot are the Sea Wolves and I always used to think that it was sooo silly to have a school mascot that didn't even exist. Now I realize that it does exist, just got lost in translation:)) Although, spanish, english, american and chilean are all quite different dialects, it is quite interesting to learn what they have in common, I guess that is why they say language connects people.

Catemu, Chile

Ran through the vineyards with the Andes and wild horses in the background, and the 3 brothers of my friend running along side me, one on a bike. Took a cold shower because they have no hot water and had breakfast with the entire family, 6 kids, one grand kid, and the widowed mother. Seeing as the majority of families do not have cars, my car was a big hit, the brothers took almost 2 hours washing the car, drying it, and observing every detail....I assume the highlight was when Manual asked me if he could move the car into the shade, and I said yes....it is probably a good thing that none of them have a driver's license! Later I took the family to small local cemetery in the hills, bought some flowers and took in the entire scene of all the families walking, biking, to bring a little color to the ones that they had lost. (Nov. 1st -dia de los muertos en Mexico, en Chile se llama dia de los santos.) Afterwards we all ate lunch together, chicken, rice, salad and bread, simple but delicious. As it was my friends b-day party, turning 26, we went to set up for the nights' festivities, while the girls put up the decorations, I played futbol with the boys who are all amazed that a girl can be good at a sport:)) I felt like I was in high school again, the kids were sooo excited to have music and beer in the middle of a field away from the parents and the cops. The party didn't really get started until about 1am, and one of the brother's was the DJ, he played typical latin reggeton, but a couple hours later everyone started dancing a more organized dance called cumbia. It is like a slower version of Salsa and a lot easier and really fun...We all took turns dancing with different people and before I knew it it was 7am!! I left and went back to my house near the beach, but the next day my friend informed me that they stayed until 4pm and had a BBQ. The thing that amazed me the most was that everyone was sooo happy and content and never once did I hear a complaint or snide remark about the town or the people, my friend was proud to show me her home and her town despite what I might think.