Sunday 11 February
Delays and chaos at the Alamo car hire counter but we were finally on our way. Chile's Maipo wine region is on the southern outskirts of Santiago.
We popped into Concha y Toro, Chile's biggest and very commercial wine producer. Their Casillero del Diablo is the Chilean plonk we've had so much of in the UK and Singapore.
Santa Rita is a bit like Boscendal; with garden picnics, a good restaurant and a posh hotel.
We were warned it would be very busy on a Sunday but it wasn't. Chile has a 0.0% blood alcohol limit for drivers which is really annoying when you'd rather not pre-book wine tours. It's so easy to just turn up at a South African winery without reservations.
We drove to Santa Cruz, the centre of the Colchagua wine region. Let's face it, it's no Franschoek! We slept in a wine barrel at Hotel Cava Colchagua; which was great fun. We enjoyed a bottle of Sav Blanc at the pool and then tasted a very good Carmenere with dinner. Carmenere is an old French grape; now Chile's signature red varietal.
Monday 12 February
We visited two Colchagua wineries; Vui Manent and Montes, which was voted in the top 10 wineries to visit in the world.
We started driving south on Route 5, the Panamerican Highway. Wine and fruit is grown along this route all the way to Chillan.
We noticed lots of roadside restaurants as we drove, so we stopped for lunch. The place was very busy with local Chilean
holiday makers.(The schools only go back from the summer break in late February.) We ordered in Spanish and ended up with huge portions of grilled chicken and pork ribs served with fries and rice!
We decided to overnight at Salto del Laja, a waterfall complex near Los Angeles. The area was overcrowded with day trippers. Hotel Salto del Laja is a rather down at heel resort but we have a perfect view of the falls from our room.
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