We arrived in Valparaiso, about 120 km northwest of Santiago, Capital of Chile, early in the morning under a cover of chilling fog and drizzle.
The port used to be a major stop-off point for maritime commerce prior to the opening of the Panaman Canal. It is still a major port in Chile, however now it is mainly used for export of raw copper ore. Copper makes up 45 % of the country's product, leading grapes, other fruit and vegetable in quantity. China buys most of the copper ore. Actually China not only attempted to buy and extract all the resources, but also wanted to import cheap Chinese labour to do it. Commone sense prevailed, and the mine workers are Chileans. Not a bad idea, as the economic crisis has elevated unemployment to about 15% in Valparaiso, an especially bad situation as the country has no welfare system. Poor people have 'free' healthcare, but that is not much good if a body has nothing to eat. Petty crime is rife in Valparaiso, even the bus drivers warned of thieves, who grab cameras and jewellery swiftly and run. One woman had her camera snatched when she was taking a shot of some scenery. And - one still gets the die-hard 'upper-classers' amongst the tourists, dressed in shorts, sneakers and heavy make up, who cannot - ever - walk about without being fully decorated with expensive jewels and watches like a inviting treasure chest.
Well, the main customer for the famed Chilean wine - one of the biggest exports - is: the United Kingdom.
Valparaiso means 'Paradise Valley', and was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, when the city still looked like a nostalgic leftover from Victorian times. Now it hides its beautiful facades under layers of international style graffiti. Buildings seem to be falling apart, roofs have caved in, windows are covered in delaminating plywood. Of the 15 funiculars, connecting the upper city (built on 41 hills) to the narrow stretch on the coastal plain, only three are in working order. There are still some old electrical trolley buses, but 'collectivos' (shared taxi vans) carry most of the city traffic around the labyrinthic streets.
Chile has a relatively large army, said to be neccessary to protect itself against land hungry Peru. Arms are supplied by Israel, submarines by Holland. Service is not mandatory, as it was under Pinochet.
Chile has just elected a new President, the third richest man in the country, a Chilean version of the Italian Berlusconi. The President elect brings a 'right' leaning government to the country, which breaks a long stretch of leftist rulers who ran the country since Pinochet's fall. His election platform promised 1.000.000 new jobs within 4 years...the country holds its breath.
Together with a few 'privileged' Vacation.com members I was whisket away by luxurious airconditioned tour bus towards Vina del Mar, a small resort town just north of Valparaiso. It draws visitors from all over South America, who want to spend their summer vacations by the sea. It is overshadowed by an immense Casino (which are illegal in the Capital City) and a few Grand Hotels, whose walls are also - without exception - covered in humongous graffiti 'art'. The famous Swiss Flower Clock has been spared from that improvement, as flowers don't lend themselves to that kind of creative expression.
We drove through town in haste, and headed for the Casablanca Valley, one of 15 wide valleys, which naturally lend themselves to the art of wine growing. From hillside to beautiful semi-arid hillside, the valley floors are covered in thousands of verdant rows of vine stocks. There are no lofty Andean peaks in this region, but softly rounded sparsely forrested foot-hills reaching form the edge of the Andes to the agricultural plains. Sandy soils, moderate climate, sunshine...all help to grow wine, wine and more wine.
We visited two wineries in the Casablanca Valley, Bosques del Mar and Vina del Mar.
Surrounded by scenery straight out of a dream of Tuscany, we were treated to samples of Chardonnay and Souvignon Blanc, as well as Syrah and Pinot Noir, and some Champanoise. Needless to say, they were worthy of the displayed medals of honour which they had garnered on international wine competitions.
As is the norm, we filed through the wine making rooms, and paid reasonable attention to proud and accented description of the growing and production processes.
A couple of German woman bringing up the rear of the group, and somewhat jaded from too many winery visits, discussed their own priorities:
"I vill be so glat to be home, I haff my own thinks zer. And my Miele washing machine works much better zan ze Amerikan ones. One has to vash ze clozes tvice as offen zan on a real Sherman vashing mashine. And ze American dryers always shrinks ze clozes. I am counting ze days now, so much nicer to be at home. And ze wine cellars here are really nocink ven one kompars zem to the real old wincassels back home."
Well, whatever....I enjoyed the ersatz wineries tremendeously. Especially as the REALLY good private selections cost a fraction of what a REALLY good wine anywhere else would set one back.
Salud!
