Our final day on our trip had arrived. Our flight back to the US was to leave at 11:00pm, so we had a complete day ahead of us. We checked out of the hotel and had the hotel stow our luggage. We then met up with our tour guide. Along with the guide we were also provided with a separate driver. This seemed like quite a bargain for a full day personal tour, $125. So Off we went to the Maipo Valley.
our first stop was the winery of Cousino Macul. I believe this winery is within the city limits of Santiago, so it was just a short distance from our hotel. The climate in this part of Chile is very much like California. The Maipo Valley is an inland valley protected from the ocean. It is warm and dry in the summer and therefore is very similar to Napa Valley. It should be no surprise that Cabernet Sauvignon does very well here. We toured some of the facilities and then went down into an underground barrel room where we did our tasting. Yes, Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely my favorite flavor.
Another stressful day of wine tasting
Our next stop was to be lunch. We were going to a place to sample traditional food and see a traditional dance. But on our way to lunch we stopped at a roadside memorial overlooking the Maipo River. This was a memorial to the remembrance of several body guards protecting General Pinotchet who died during an assassination attempt. The assailants all escaped in boats waiting for them on the river. However, they did not get their main target, General Pinotchet the military dictator of Chile. The most striking thing about the memorial is just how unremarkable it was. Basically a set of rectangular concrete blocks representing each of the body guards that died. The concrete was whitewashed and the names of the body guards painted on each concrete block. The memorial did not look well cared for as there were over grown weeds surrounding it. Maybe that tells you something about the current mood towards Pinotchet. I don't know.
Monument to Pinochet's body guards.
Wining and Dining
After lunch we headed for the 2nd winery, the well known Concha y Toro. Concha y Toro is a large production winery. We toured the grounds and some of the facilities including the old cellar where folklore has it that the devil was somehow involved in the wine. I am not so sure about the whole thing, but you look through an iron gated door and beyond the wine barrels is the lit image of a devil shined onto the far wall. No, I was not afraid, I'm pretty sure it was staged. The grounds of the winery are like a well kept park. Lawns, ponds, and arbors made the stroll very enjoyable.
Grape Arbor at Concha y Toro
Our guide and driver took us back to our hotel. We had dinner in the bar and waited until it was time for our cab to arrive. We arrived at the airport only to find out that our flight to Dallas had be delayed by a couple of hours. We would miss our connection, but it was no big deal as we were able to get another timely flight from Dallas to SFO. We departed at about 1:00am, and finally arrived at SFO at 2:00pm. We had to take BART home as Tristan was unable to pick us up at the airport. After a long flight, BART isn't all that great. It takes awhile to get to Dublin and the seats don't recline. But we after we walked through the front door of our home we new we had just been on an epic journey. We had been to Antarctica.
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