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| Declare your fruit!!! |
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| Easter Island Artifacts - Ear Rings |
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| Pottery figure of Easter Island origin |
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| Declare your fruit!!!! |
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| Small Pottery Artifact in the Fonck museum of Easter Island |
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| Alleged features of long extinct Easter Islander |
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| Natural History department of Fonck Museum - Chilean Scorpions |
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| Slum Area of Valparaiso |
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| Samples of Wine... |
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| Truly 'sun kissed' grapes - very sweet... |
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| Wine barrels made of French Oak... |
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| Casas del Bosque - Name of the Vineyard |
As soon as the ship docked in Valparaiso, a slowly decaying city build on the side of lovely hills with a beautiful name meaning Paradise Valley, the Chilean health authorities had mounted an effective and low tech screening for forbidden fruit. Literally - no organic matter is allowed into the country to protect it from as of yet unknown pests, which may endanger their flourishing agricultural wealth. Berries, fruit, vegetable, nuts, wine - all grow in abundance in the fertile valleys of Chile, somewhat similar to the Sonoma and Napa Valleys of California without the bugs.
Well, we were greeted by very friendly yellow Labradors, smiling a toothy smile and sniffing everybody and wagging their feathery tails. They ran freely, and gave everyone a quick once over. At a penalty of 1500 Dollars for smuggling fruit, not too many had attempted to carry 'survival rations' from the ship, although some discarded a few apples and bananas and sticky buns, before reaching the point of no excuse.
The city of Valparaiso is the Country's main port and second largest city. Its architecture, its layout covering scenic hills along a huge bay, its history - all earned it a designation as World Heritage Site. Decades ago a few dozen funiculars transported citizens from the upper to the shore side regions. During my last journey a couple of years ago, only one of them was in working order. Some enterprising citizens have mounted a concerted effort to return these unique elevators to working order and thus preserve their usefulness and historic merit - now about a dozen are slowly travelling along a number of downtown hill sides.
Unfortunately - economic and social conditions show their impact, as the city is literally covered in graffiti, historic buildings crumble for lack of maintenance, unemployment and consequently crime are rampant, slums maintain a stranglehold amongst 'upper class' residential areas, poverty is wide spread, it is considered a 'dangerous' city even by the inhabitants.
Just a quick example. One of our fellow guests, medically evacuated in Puerto Montt, had made it back to Valparaise by plane - declared fit to travel again and rejoin Veendam. However, on the way from the airport, the couple asked their taxi driver to stop at a scenic look out in Valparaiso to take a couple of panoramic photos. The lady left her handbag on the back seat - couple and taxi driver walked a few steps, after car was locked with windows left open a tiny crack, took their pictures and returned not even a minute later. Gone was the handbag, containing all their valuables and passports....gone also was the continuation of their remaining cruise, as even the port agent could not secure replacement documentation on a weekend...
A formerly wealthy family named Fonck, had donated their mansion located in Vina del Mar (the upper class suburb lining beautiful beaches) to the CIty, and now their historic residence houses a museum showing some of Easter Island artifacts. Easter Island is governed by Chile - Argentina take note when considering Malvinas/Falkland Island dispute.
One small Easter Island Moa (stone statue) adorned the grassy entrance and a well presented collection of pottery, metallic artifacts, bones and carvings filled the small museum. Upstairs, the old salons were filled to the brim with collections of insects, stuffed cougar, stuffed Albatross, and dried dragon fish - a taxidermist's paradise.
The oldest casino of Chile still overlooks the sea side of Vina del Mar, and government officials live and 'play' there. Emphasis on 'play', as many of them with tacit public approval, have 'working sessions' with their female secretaries in one of the suburb's many 4-star hotels.Two out of three children born in Chile of the entire catholic population are the fruit of candlestine trysts - go figure...
Once crossing the crests of the city's surrounding hills, the scene changes drastically: vast fields of vineyards spread out towards the horizon and way up rocky mountain slopes. Roses are planted in profusion to protect the vines, making for a garden like ambiance.
We visited one of the many vineyards to wander amongst the rows of vines, now heavy with ripe grapes - very sweet and tasty. The obligatory tour of the facility - very efficient and equipped with the latest technology. French Oak barrels are used to age and season certain grape varieties. However, one of our American guests expressed his disdain about that and maintained that the vineyard was in fact using American Oak (well, patriotism gone to pot). Whatever oak they used, the wine was indeed very good. The winery had gained prizes for 'Best Red Wine in Chile'.
I had visited this vineyard a couple of years ago, and they must indeed be doing very well. During the earlier visit, wine tasters used folding chairs lined up along a bare wall of the tasting room - this time around: upholstered couches and easy chairs, low slung elegant tables, flowers, artistic decorations....and the wine was less costly than a couple of years ago. No complaints!
Off to another rodeo sampler (about that later) and missing out on the real thing just alongside the vineyard. We ran out of time, as one guest discovered that they had bought 'the wrong wine' after the bus had already left the vineyard. Return we did, it took two trips of the guide to sort this fatal mistake out, and half an hour later after exchanging a $6 bottle of wine with another $6 bottle of wine, we were delayed long enough, that we had to skip a quick visit to a REAL Chilean Rodeo - the National Sport. And here we could have participated in a rare sample of Chilean Sunday afternoon diversion, lost by a nose...
