vine_hooligans's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

vine_hooligans's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member vine_hooligans on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/vine_hooligans en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 26 May 2009 12:55:10 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Life's a whole lot of beaches! — Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233776400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233776400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233776400/tpod.html Tue, 26 May 2009 12:55:10 -0400 The long way home

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Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

IMH: Our first stop in Brazil, apart from the quick day trip to the enchanting Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls, was the island paradise of Florianopolis. Brazil, being the largest country in South America and almost taking up a third of the continents land mass meant that there was very little chance that we would cover much ground in only two weeks. So we selected a few destinations that wouldn't require extensive and exhausting travel but were not to be missed. After thirteen months of travel we were beginning to feel a little drained and need to recharge the batteries a little and Florianopolis sounded like just the right place to do this.  Apparently it was named after Brazil's second president but we thought it sounded quite exotic, like some sort of Greek flower. We'd heard from so many fellow travellers that it was definitely a worth while stop-over on-route to Rio so we didn't think twice to add the island to our short list. The road between Porto Iguazu and Florianopolis was also our longest bus journey on our trip - a total of 23 hours with one bus change some where in the middle of nowhere. I must add that I was very proud of Ryan who sat though the gruelling journey without complaining... too much anyway! Florianopolis, lies just off the Brazilian coast, south west of Sao Paulo, and consists of a small mainland section connected via a bridge to Ilha Santa Catarina. Like many popular tourist destinations a section of the island (mostly the Northern part) was very built-up and commercialised, where the south was less developed due to a law passed recently limiting development. Thankfully a large section of the beaches and adjacent greenery were declared protected areas preserving some of the islands natural beauty.  We chose to stay in the south of the island in an area called Campeche. Since this was our last real 'break' before heading back to South Africa and the 'real world', we treated ourselves to a nice luxurious (for us anyway) resort-like accommodation complete with a pool, entertainment lounge and most importantly, walking distance to Florianopolis' best beach. We had a lovely room (albeit mosquito infested) in a tranquil garden setting filled with flocks of chirping birds and the occasional troop of cheeky monkeys.  After a few days in the idyllic Campeche we soon realised that the island was much bigger than we initially thought and distances on the island were more than just a bicycle ride and we'd need to rent a car if we wanted to do any real exploring. With the help of the resort friendly staff we managed to rent one of the smallest cars on the island for only three days and opted to relax and try to catch-up on the blog over the last two days. The 14km long Campeche beach is one of the most popular surf beaches on the island and is also very popular with the gay community. Since it was peak holiday season for the Brazilians, we shared the beach with many of the islands locals as well as Brazilians visiting from the mainland. It felt as though we really got a true feel for the Brazilian way of life, even though our Portuguese left much to be desired. One thing that we quickly caught onto was that you were free drink alcohol on the beaches. Some of the beaches we visited had tiny rickety shacks that operated as bars and some beaches even had mobile cocktail bars selling beer, caipirinha (lime, crushed ice, and a potent sugarcane liquor called cachaça) or whatever you fancied. As soon as we received our rental car we hit road and started exploring south western side of the island. The town of Ribeirao da Ilha stole our hearts with its cobble stone streets, cosy colonial feel, brightly coloured houses and beautiful church dating back to the 1800's. We had an amazing lunch at a restaurant called Ostradamus and judging from the number of patrons in the seaside restaurant we were not the only one's who knew about this little gem.  Ostradamus was famous for its fresh seafood but most notably famous for its huge selection of deliciously prepared oysters, thus the name. We didn't hesitate to start with a dozen fresh oysters seasoned liberally with freshly ground black pepper and a dash of Tabasco. No oyster are complete without a glass of bubbly so we washed the delicious little suckers down with a bottle of Brazils finest sparkling wine which happened to be a Chandon from the famous Moet & Chandon stable. We were pleasantly surprised by the Brazilian "Champaign" which was crisp with yeasty undertones and complimented the oysters perfectly. For mains we selected what we thought would be a few small pieces of fish but turned out to be the entire fish smothered in crispy brazil nuts and served with little potato balls. It was a truly unforgettable lunch and we savoured every sip and bite while soaking in the beautiful views of the surrounding bay.   Back behind the wheel we headed further south and couldn't resist stopping-off at a beautiful little beach where we joined some locals for a swim. The water was a lovely temperature and much warmer than the East coast where we were staying. As oysters are cultivated in the bays, the water is not clear and we ended-up referring to the beach as "oyster pee beach". The following morning we hopped back in our little car and explored the South Eastern side of the island where we had lunch at a rustic seafood shack on the Praia do Pantano do Sul beach. As it was a Sunday and the place was packed to the rafters and we were lucky to find a table in this chaotic, but cosy shack with scribbled notes and poems stuck all over the walls and roof. Patrons were even treated to some live entertainment in the form of a sexy belly dancer who did really well, but could not be compared to the curvy belly dancers in Middle East. The beach was packed, but we were able to elbow our way though the crowd to put our towels down and go for a quick swim. We were very lucky with the weather and had to keep re-applying total sun block to avoid getting terribly sunburnt.  The afternoon was concluded with a drive up the North Eastern coast of the island past a huge protected inland lagoon, Lagoa da Conceicao. The entry/exit roads on the island is many single lane and gets quite congested over weekends with parking as scarce as hens teeth. It was fun to see the locals 'parking-off', belly's exposed with a drink in the hand while some engaged in serious volleyball competitions. We tried our best to see sunrise and sunrise everyday and we did pretty well. The sun rises over the sea on Campeche and the sun set behind us over the high hills on the island. It was beautiful and I wish I could include more of Ryan's photographs to prove it.  As we also wanted to be recognisable to our friends and family on our return to South Africa, we established a fitness routine (very basic) to try and shed some kilos before setting foot in South Africa. We went for a walk/run in the mornings and otherwise tried to walk as much as possible and ate health seafood most of the time. I think it worked...a little. The last day we had wheels we drove along the cost of the Northern tip of the island. We had lunch at a little beach restaurant in the oldest settlement on the island, Sto. Antonio de Lisboa. It was a beautiful little town with a similar feel to Ribeirao da Ilha. The further North we ventured to Canavieiras, Praia Brava and Ingleses do Rio Vermelho, the scenery changed and became very built-up with small beaches and with people everywhere. The beaches did look fun though and I can imagine for any single traveller this is the place to be. We drove home content that we chose the best spot on the island to spend the five days. The island felt somewhat like one of the Thailand islands we visited about a year ago, Koh Phangan, but I would still recommend Thailand's islands before Brazil's beaches. If you like waves however, Brazil's the place to be. I also read that some of Brazil's beaches further North on the coast are unbeatable, we will just have to come back to this amazing country to see it for ourselves. Our last two days were sent relaxing and catching-up on our blog. As we uploaded the last photos we were happy to at least be up-to-date with all the entries up until Brazil and realised that we'll only have to update the Brazilian entries once back in South Africa. Aahh, what a lovely break! Ryan and I also had a chance to discuss and agree (sometimes after initial disagreement and some heated debating) on some serious issues we had to decide over when back in South Africa. We felt happy to be aligned and looked forward to enjoy the last 9 days of our trip to the fullest. It is difficult to explain how we felt knowing we're taking our last night bus; I could barely sleep on the bus I was so excited not to have to do this again. It was only a 10 hour bus ride (after a 20+ hour trip anything under 15 hours seems short) to Sao Paulo and I can now say - been there, done it and will hopefully never have to do it again!
]]> Some mighty big falls — Iguazu Falls, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233085020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233085020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1233085020/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:33:21 -0500 The long way home

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Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Guarani legend says that Iguazu Falls originated when a jealous forest god, enraged by a warrior escaping downriver by canoe with a young girl, caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing sheer falls over which the girl fell and, at their base, turned into a rock. The warrior survived as a tree overlooking his fallen lover.  In Southern Brazil, the Rio Iguazu passes over a basalt plateau that ends just aboveits confluence with the Parana. Before reaching the edge, the river divides into many channels to form distinctive cataratas (cataracts).  You need at least one full day, two if possible, on the Argentinian side of the fall to truelly appreciate this wonder on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Puerto Iguazu is a small, run-down town offering not much more but accommodation with close access to the Iguazu Falls. And this is where we stayed for three nights. Parque de National Iguazu constructed several waling platforms from where you can enjoy the views at your own leisure. We opted to do the platform circuits the other way around as to the masses and it paid off - giving us more space and time. We started with the lower circuit, initially appreciating the wildlife to the finest detail - the iguanas, racoon-type rodants, birds, insects, butterflies and plants, until we caught our first climpse of the terraced falls. It is a moment I will never forget. It was beautiful and just got better and better until you could see both sections of the falls on either side of Isla San Martin. The size is much grander than I expected.  We made our way with the little ferry to Isla San Martin where you climb 400 steps to a view point from where you can get close-up and personal to the falls. I was in a bit of a daze as this exceeded all my expectations. It is not only much more impressive than Niagara Falls, the surroundings is a protected National Park, unlike Niagara's Vegas glitz. It was very hot so we had a little swim in the designated area of the river on Isla san Marin's shore. Not expecting to swim, I left my swimming costume at home and it was so hot, that I ended-up swimming in my clothes, liker many other visitors. Next we walked the upper circuit where you get very close to the top of the falls. Looking down as the volume of water crash down.  A local train takes you to the Throat of the Devil, a deafening part of the experience. By the way, the rainbows were not added to the photos, they are real! We went home tired, but happy. What an experience! The next day we did a short trip across the border to the Brazilian side of the falls. From here you see the broader spectrum of the falls from a distance. This was my favourite and I could really feel how small I was in the bigger scheme of things.  There are many other excursions you can do in the parks to enhance the experience and also to appreciate the wildlife. Ne trip we would have loved to do, but did not have time  (and money) for, was the speedboat to right under some of the smaller falls - everyone gets soaked and gets the opportunity to FEEL the power of the falls, which must be exhilarating!  The Iguaçu Falls on both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides were one of the highlights of our trip! I cannot put it all in words, but Ryan's photographs will do the talking. We had the opportunity to enjoy our last Argentinian steak and great wines before departing to Florianopolis, Brazil the following day on a 21 hour bus ride
]]> Evita's Peron — Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232110860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232110860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232110860/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:50:28 -0500 The long way home

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

IMH: It's easy to believe that Buenos Aires (BA) is one of South America's most eclectic cities, graced with European architecture, atmospheric neighbourhoods and bustling nightlife. I hope this entry does justice to this enticing city! We took a 15 hour night bus from Mendoza to BA and arrived (as usual) pretty tired, but excited to have our own living space and kitchen again. We found a delightful (albeit very hot) 1 bedroom apartment in Palermo, a neighbourhood known for its leafy parks North West of the centre, for less than what a hostel would have cost us. The location was perfect as even though BA is a very big city, most sights and events happen in the central or downtown area which is only a few metro stops from Palermo.We spent the first day exploring the neighbourhood and had dinner in one of the many fancy restaurants in Palermo SOHO. I was very excited about being in BA as it is so much more sophisticated that the other South America cities we've visited and we decided to spend more time here to really experience it. The extended period of 9 nights - almost the longest in one place on our trip so far - is due to our decision to exclude Uruguay from this trip. We just got tired of moving all the time and had a lot of admin to conclude. Hopefully we can visit Uruguay sometime in our future travels.  It was stifling hot in BA with temperatures reaching 40degrees celsius accompanied with high humidity. Our ground floor apartment had very poor ventilation and it was unbearable to be indoors during the day. We decided to spend most of the time outside, where there is at least a little breeze.   After a good night's rest we started with the historical section of BA. The microcentro holds many of the city's historical buildings dating back to the 19th century, as well as museums. Av 9 de Julio is super broad with 8 lanes on wither side of the road circling around the phallic Obelisco, a major symbol of BA.  On the two pedestrian streets, La Valle and Florida, we fought our way through business people, tourists, street vendors and - performers, past leather, cashmere and souvenir shops. As long as you keep your wits about where your wallet is at all times - you're fine. Plaza de Mayo is surrounded by beautiful buildings of historic importance; like the Cathedral Metropolitano - which contains the tomb of the liberator Jose de San Martin, Argentina's most ventured historical figure, pink Casa Rosada with the famous balcony where Evita Peron energized adoring crowds during her heyday in the 1940s and Inglesia San Igracio - BA's oldest church. Somehow I though they would have made more of a fuss of Evita's balcony, but at least the building is pink. We strolled down Puerto Madero, the newly renovated docklands, lined with trendy (read pricy) restaurants and bars with a feature bridge crossing one of the docks. We ended the evening wandering the cobble streets of San Telmo, home of BA's main tango and antiques area. The lower rent apparently attracted many artists and we thoroughly enjoyed the wall art. By chance we saw that the 2009 Dakar was finishing on the first Sunday we were in BA. Ryan was in his element, even though we missed seeing the actual racing, we got to see the awards. It seemed as though we required tickets to enter the stadium where the finale was held, but as we stood at the gate, clueless as to where to get the tickets, an organiser from one of the teams handed us two VIP wristbands. Wow, we were sorted. Not only could we get into the grandstand to view the award ceremony, we were delighted to find we also had access to the VIP area where free food and drinks are served with access to the area where the winners are interviewed with full access to their cars! I even got a shot with Ryan and Geniel de Villiers, the South African driver of the car that finished in first place.  I don't think I quite appreciated the ceremony as I should have. But after meeting some of the people in the VIP section I now understand how difficult it is to even finish without injury or writing-off the car, never mind finishing in the top 10. I was astounded by the amount of people involved in the racing of one car - a crew of 50+ and a support vehicle! This is big business. We were very proud that a South African driver for Volkswagen finished first and also that all the Volkswagens raced (which finished in 5th, 2nd and 1st places if I remember correctly) were manfactured in South Africa. This truly was a day to remember! Tigre is one of the most popular riverfront towns about 1 hour North from BA. We didn't realise that BA does not front on the ocean. But the brown Rio de a Plata, a river which ends in a delta with 5000+ islands between Argentina and Uruguay.  We made a day-trip of it and enjoyed a 1.5hour bat cruise along a section of the delta, jealously ogling some of the ritzy riverfront homes complete with jetty's and boats. We enjoyed perfectly prepared trout and good Argentinian wine on a deck of a riverfront restaurant and watched the sun set. Affordable, well-made leather products are one of Argentina's claims to fame and as we had plenty of time in BA, we decided to spend a day shopping around for the best deal. Florida Street is packed with leather shops boasting well-made products with a price tag for American, European and English tourists. It does seem to offer the best variety of handbags, briefcases and dress shoes. Munillo Street (a random street not in the tourist area at all) has twice as many shops dedicated to all sorts of leather products and their jackets and casual shoes are very reasonably priced. We felt we missed-out on some good wine tasting in Mendoza and wanted to see what we can organise in BA to make-up for it. We found a lovely restaurant - Casa Coupage, where the two owner sommeliers serve only 4 tables on Thursday and Friday evenings with an amazing 4 course meal in "Modern Argentinian Style". They have a very big wine list and we also had an option to do a tasting of a selection of the wines. We tried a very interesting 1997 Melbec from a boutique winery who age their reds in ton-size oak barrels.   Satisfied that we've caught-up on the wine experience we were looking for, we went for a walk in the ritzy Recoleta neighbourhood, which holds one of BA's prime tourist attractions - Cementerio de la Recoleta. This cemetery is surrounded by high walls and houses the remains of the Argentinian elite in ornate splendour. We even got to see Evita's grave, where she was buried with her family and not the Perons. Another architectural masterpiece is the Facultad de Ingenieria, an engineering school making a majestically Gothic statement. Lastly visited one of my favourite emblems of BA - the metal flower sculpture, Floralis Generica, of which the petals closes at night like a real flower. Closer to home we ended the day with a stroll in Palermo's famous parks. The parks did not seem very green; we suspect it's due to the summer sun and little rain. The highlight of BA was the live Tango show at Bar Sur in San Telmo. Some Tango shows are very touristy with hundreds of people. We opted for the more intimate option at Bar Sur, the oldest Tango establishment in BA which seats about 20 people on the dance floor. The evening consisted of 3 musicians who played beautifully, four dancers (2 couples) and a singer, who performed "Don't cry for me Argentina" 3 times on Ryan's request. The Tango was originally performed by prostitutes only, but was later accepted by the upper-class as a dance form. It is very sensual though. We were asked to participate and even though we couldn't Tango, we were taught a step or two. We had a wonderful romantic evening out and afterwards, we joined the bustling nightlife scene of Palermo Viejo on our way home.  Unfortunately we missed a live Flamenco show when we were in Spain, but found a theatre who presented a show on the last night in BA for a very reasonable price. It was brilliant! The dancers were both masters in Flamenco and trained in Spain. I wish I understood more Spanish as I'm sure we missed a bit of the story told through the songs accompanied with the dance. I am very proud of Ryan for being open to see so many "song and dance" shows. On our last day we had the entire day free, before getting an 18 hour night bus to Puerto Iguazu for 3 nights from where we can visit the Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. We spent the day wandering through Palermo Hollywood's boutiques, flea markets, street stalls and enjoyed a great traditional meal accompanied with great wine over lunch. Ryan made the most of any meal out by ordering steak and has become an expert on cuts and cooking do's and don't.  We had a great time in BA - enjoyed the culture, city, history, food & wine and we were also able to catch-up on some admin and planning for our return to South Africa in one month's time. Even though the bus ride ended-up to be longer than 18 hours (as usual) and we got very little sleep, I was excited to see the Iguazu falls and compare them to the mighty Niagara Falls in Canada.
]]> How Mendoza was meant to be experienced — Mendoza, Cuyo, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1234546200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1234546200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1234546200/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:29:15 -0500 The long way home

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Mendoza, Cuyo, Argentina

After our horrible first few days in Mendoza where we were both almost got eaten alive by bed bugs, got kicked out of our hostel for complaining about it and had unfortunate last minute mix up's to our wine country reservations, we need to reset and start again. When we arrived at the bus station in Mendoza we found a public telephone and within a few minute found accommodation right in the city centre for almost the same price as the horror hostel but this time walking distance from all the cities attraction. Being in the city centre really made us feel as if we had just arrived in a new destination, which just brought the point home that, location is very important when finding somewhere to stay. Central Mendoza had a lovely atmosphere with wide tree lined streets, great looking restaurants, wine bars, loads of shops and beautiful parks. We didn't have much time left in Mendoza, so putting the wine aside for a day we chose to do something a little more adventurous and book ourselves onto a white water rafting trip for the following day. White water rafting in this part of the world is meant to be great fun, and we were told that the rapids were a class 3 and 4 which would make for great day out on the water. The three hour rafting trip started high up on the Rio Mendoza River and took us down 25km of beautiful scenery and some awesome rapids. They weren't the biggest rapids we'd ever seen but the sheer number of rapids we went through kept the trip exciting and we even had a few rafters swimming. After a days rafting we'd built up quite and appetite so started the evening at a great little tapas bar (Tasca la Plaza) before having dinner at a lovely restaurant with a huge wine selection and a menu to match. The restaurant offered a wine tasting flight which included three different red wines form the area which gave us a perfect opportunity to try the wines with our meal. We were particularly impressed by the Argentinian melbec which the country is renowned for. Besides the great wines, Argentina was also famous for is great beef. The epitome of this was their parrilla, which means cooking grill or barbeque. I was surprised to find out that the name actually came from a grill that was used as a torture device by strapping a person to the grill and then applying electrical shocks to the body! Actually ordering a parrilla can be a little torturous as it's almost impossible for two people to consume that much meat. The parrilla arrived on table top grill with coals underneath so you could cook the meat to your liking at the table. The selection of meat included beef ribs, steak, chicken, blood sausage (yum), liver or kidneys and something that looked like intestines. We left defeated but can at least say we tried it and gave it our best shot! Our last day in Mendoza was dedicated to trying more of the regions great wines so we located a restaurant where we could try premium wines by the glass. I ordered the lunch special which was a fillet steak accompanied with a melbec while Inge-Marie ordered a gnocchi with fresh vegetables. We had a great lunch and managed to try a few of the regions finest wines by the glass. By now we had fallen in love with the regions wines and even though we had to leave we vowed to continue the tasting in Buenos Aires, where most of Argentina's great wine ends up anyway.
]]> Bed bug nightmares, Part II — Mendoza, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1231678860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1231678860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1231678860/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:45:45 -0500 The long way home

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Mendoza, Argentina

A visit to Mendoza should fondly be remembered by its great malbec, endless rows of memorising vineyards, stunning views of the snow capped Andes and great food. When we look back at our visit to Mendoza there will be one more 'little' memory that will haunt us for many years to come.  After dropping off our rental car in Santiago we hopped onto the metro and made our way to the bus station to catch a five hour bus ride over the Andes and into Argentina. Initially I was not sure whether there was a road winding its way up and over this enormous mountain range or if there were tunnels which cut clean through to the other side.  We soon found out that it was a combination of both the as the road snaked higher and higher via a set of countless tight hairpin bends. Sitting next to the window gave me a perfect and scary view of the switchbacks below as we climbed up to Paso Libertadores where the boarder was between Chile and Argentina. The views were naturally spectacular and we passed what looked like remains of glaciers creeping down the mountain, gushing waterfalls and beautiful views of snow capped mountains.  The procedures at the boarder were relatively straight forward as the bus drove into a huge hanger we had to get out and walk from one passport control cabin to the next. Bags were randomly inspected and we were soon on our way. The decent into Argentina was a lot more gentle that then steep climb up the Chilean side but the view were no less spectacular.  I couldn't help but think this would be an amazing trip to do in your own car as there were countless places I would have pulled over to take photos. The most spectacular of these views was when we got a quick glimpse of Aconcagua in the distance which is the highest peak in the Andes and South America.   We arrived in Mendoza shortly after 8pm after getting caught-up in the Sunday afternoon traffic and my first thoughts were that this was no little town, but a rather large city. The bus station alone was the size of some of the smaller towns we'd visited on this trip and was heaving with people and traffic. Not being exactly sure how far our hostel was from the bus station we grabbed a taxi and made our way to the hostel where we'd made a reservation for a few nights. The hostel turned out to be only a few blocks away and we probable could have walked the distance in about 15 minutes.  We checked in and were shown to a double room on the ground floor and were given a tour of the property which included a full equipped kitchen, outdoor living area, swimming pool and even a little gym. The hostel also offered many tour and outings in the area and we wasted no time booking a cycle trip through the famous Maipu wine region. After a quick dinner at the local corner restaurant and a full days travelling we were looking forward to a hot shower and a good nights rest, or so we thought anyway. We only had a ceiling fan in the room so to get a little extra ventilation I opened the windows but kept the shutters closed to allow a little airflow, so the following morning when I woke with an itchy bite on my shoulder I thought I might have let in a few mosquitoes. Still groggy I shuffled to the bathroom to inspect the damage in the mirror and to my horror discovered not one bite but several bite all over my shoulder. I knew immediately that these were not the patterns left by the winged pest but rather something a little creepier. I went straight back the single bed and searched around hoping I would not find what I was looking for. It didn't take long to confirm my suspicions when I a little critter trying to make a run for it! He was obviously one of the greedier buggers as he was so gorged on my blood that we could hardly move and when I picked him up, he burst into a bloody mess between my fingers. By this time all the commotion had woken Inge-Marie in the other bed and I asked her to pass me a ZipLock bag as I caught the second little bastard trying to get away. With two of the culprits in custody I calmly, even though extremely agitated, left the room to find the manager of the hostel! The same chap who checked us in the night before, who turned out to be the son of the owners, was still on duty so I tried to explain to him that he had a serious problem on his hands. He did not seem overly concerned or surprised even when I handed him the evidence, exhibit A. He did not apologise but said that they would have the room cleaned and resolve the problem. We packed up our luggage and moved our stuff out of the room as he and I'm guessing his mom started wiping down the room.  Shortly after, the chap brought out a big orange bug spray canister usually used in the garden and a small bottle of poison which is usually mixed with water before being used. When I took looked at the bottle of poison I realised he had not idea of what he was up against. These weren't ants or cockroaches and from the research I'd done after our previous experience in Canada I knew that not just any pesticide will solve this problem. I tried explaining this to him even showing him a web-site describing how to get rid of bedbugs but I could see this was not registering. For his sake I just hoped he had the problem resolved by the time we got back. We didn't hang around the hostel much longer as we had planned a cycle trip through the wine region south of Mendoza and we hoped this would take our minds of the horror of the previous evening. At this stage Inge-Marie seemed to have no bites on her, further proof that my blood is highly sought-after on the bed bug market. By the time we had left the hostel we started discovering bites popping up every where all accompanied with the worst itch imaginable. It was like I didn't have enough fingers to scratch all the itches and the more you scratched the worse the itching became. We caught a local bus out to Maipu which was a good few kilometres out of town where we picked up the bicycles we'd rented for the day. We were given a map of the area and shown were the recommended stops were along the route. Due to all the drama at the hostel we got a slightly late start and only really got cycling around lunch time. Therefore our first stop was for lunch and we found a great little place just off the main road which had tables setup under the trees. The restaurant had an award winning tapas platter on offer which was outrageously expensive so we opted for the cyclers menu. Sadly service was slow and the food nothing special and probably would have worked out better if we just spent the extra money on the tapas platter. Back on our bikes we decided to start with the furthest wine estate and then wind our make our way back to the cycle rental shop. We somehow misjudged the distance on the map and ended up taking a wrong turn and cycling an extra few hours in the wrong direction. As in Chile the maps were not great and road signs not much better or the problem might have been between the saddle and the map. After correcting our little map misjudgement we changed the plan an set our course for the closest bodega as it was already mid day we need some wine. Our first stop was at a family owned winery called Bodega Familia Di Tommaso which was also one of the oldest in the area. Unlike in Chile many of the wineries in Argentina cater for walk in tourism so we didn't need an appointment and simply waited to join the next tour which of course this came at a small fee of $3, which was about the average. The tour took us through their antique brick maturation cellars which were had their insides coated in bee's wax to prevent evaporation. The tanks were no longer used and were now kept as a monument to traditional methods used. Some of the tanks were converted into bottle maturation cellars which provided the perfect temperature to age their wines. We concluded the tour with a tasting of a range of their wines and we especially enjoyed a few of their Malbec's.  Sadly due to our late start, long lunch and getting lost we ran out of time as many of the wineries close around 5pm. We headed back to the bicycle shop where the owner of Hugo's Bikes poured us each a few glasses of wine and didn't stop till we told him we had to catch the bus back to town. We had a great afternoon cycling in the wine country and for a few hours it took my mind off the banquette that was happening in the hostel last night. We also realised that one day would not do this massive wine region any justice and we needed to do a little more exploring.By the time we got back to the hostel bites had appeared all over my body but mostly on my feet, hand and arms. Back at the hostel our room had been washed down and presumably sprayed with pesticide. I was not keen on moving back into the room but we hoped that changing the mattresses and the cleaning was enough to eliminate the culprits, so we'd be able to get a peaceful nights rest.  We prepared ourselves dinner at the hostel, enjoyed a great bottle of wine we'd bought earlier the afternoon and then turned in for the night. Before we got too comfortable I did a quick inspection of the bed and its wooden frame only to discover the blood sucker gang's secret hideout and that they were not surprisingly ALIVE! It seemed that the bugs had nested in holes drilled into the wooden bed frame where the screws held the bed together and each one of the eight holes was filled with bugs. After spending a day wanting to tear my skin off there was no way I was going spend another night in a room infested with bed bugs. By now it was already 11pm and I wanted a new room! I set off to find whoever was working at the hostel and ran into the guy we spoke to about the problem in the first place. As calmly as I could I tried showing him the bed frame riddled with bugs and even had a flashlight to point them out. After telling me three times he could not see them I grabbed the bed, flipped it on its side so he could see directly into the holes. His eyes grew to the size of saucers when I flipped the bed over and he was clearly shocked. When he eventually saw what I was pointing out he said he would try and find us another room somewhere else when insisted we would not spend another night in the room! He went on about how they did the best they could to clean the room and I had no right to be rude to him. When I asked how I was rude to him he picked up the sheets which were lying on the floor and threw a little tantrum and screaming said I should not have flipped the bed and that we should leave immediately all the time shaking like a leaf.  He started insinuation that the bugs might have come from our bags so for his safety we decided to pack our bags and just get out! Only problem was we still had not received our washing that we handed in earlier in the day which was apparently still at his mother house. Our amigo then had no choice but to go to his mother's house wake her up and fetch our washing. While he was away were fortunately able to find a hotel that had a room available and bearing in mind it was now 11:30pm it was not the easiest thing to do.  By the time he arrived back we had already packed up and were waiting outside, ready to leave. By now I'd cooled off and started seeing the humour in his behaviour and when he screeched to a halt outside the hostel and handed Inge-Marie the washing he refused to acknowledge me and idiotically only greeted Inge-Marie. At the end of the day the whole situation was handled badly, if you have a bed bug problem in a hotel or hostel you better be prepared for some hostility. Throwing a tantrum, shaking like a leaf and saying 'its not my fault I only work here' is not going to solve the problem! What we did not realise was that getting a taxi at that time of the night was not so easy and so decided to walk to the bas station where there would be many taxi's. As we started walking a family also waiting for a taxi warned us not to walk anywhere in the area after dark as armed robberies were common, oh boy! Fortunately two guys from the restaurant across the road kindly walked us the hotel which was only a few blocks away.  We had not seen much of Mendoza but the little we did see we did not like so decided to get out into the country where we would be closer to the vineyards and hopefully forget about our first two disastrous night in town. We managed to find suitably priced cabanas in the Lulunta which was in the southern part of the Maipo region and close to many good wineries. Inge-Marie had a hard time making the booking as the manager spoke very little English and our Spanish was shaky at the best of times, but we did manage to get a cabana and mentioned that we would be arriving by bus so did not need a pick-up. Just to re-confirm it all we decided to give them a courteous call the following morning and just re-confirm that we didn't need a pick-up and that we'd make our own way there. We found out from the info desk which bus we need to take and were soon on our way. The bus ride was a little over an hour long at took us past some beautiful vineyards before stopping right outside the Cabanas Valle Lunlunta. The resort if I can call it that had about 10 separate cabanas set in a large garden with pool and surrounded by vineyard and olive groves, just were we wanted to be. We looked around and eventually found the manager who looked a little surprised to see us. He was trying to tell us something in Spanish and we started gathering that he thought, we'd called earlier, to cancel the reservation! We tried telling him that we only called to re-confirm and that we didn't need a pick-up. To cut a long story short it turned out that from the time we left the bus station till we arrived an hour later our cabana was given to someone else. It seemed that the cabana was available the following three night but just not tonight. He was very apologetic and even offered to arrange us some accommodation in town that evening, or that's what we though he was saying and that we could still use all the facilities for the day.  Inge-Marie felt terrible about the mix up and it seemed like everything was going wrong! We hung around the pool for a while, had some lunch and then decided to cancel the reservation, head back to town and start over. We waited at the roadside with all our bags chuckling at our misfortune but upbeat about a fresh start!
]]> A last look at the Pacific — Pichilemu, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232197080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232197080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232197080/tpod.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:26:02 -0500 The long way home

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Pichilemu, Chile

It was hard to leave Santa Cruz and the wine lands behind but we knew our budget wouldn't be able to withstand another few days of wine tours and tastings. We'd heard that there was a great little sea side village just a few hours west of Santa Cruz that had beautiful beaches and was one of Chiles top surf spots. We felt this would be a great way to spend our last few days in Western South America before we crossed the Andes and continued east. Even though it was a last minute decision and a weekend we still managed to find some great accommodation in the form of a lovely little cabin up on the hill overlooking the small town. The place was run by a nice American couple and had three cabins set-up on the property. Each unit was equipped with a kitchen, living areas and great views! We also had a large common area between the cabins setup with hammocks and a fire pit. Just the way we wanted to spend our last few days in Chile. After we'd checked in we took a drive through town which had a real laidback beach atmosphere with loads of little restaurants, coffee shops and bars, many of which were right on the beach. We drove along the beach road and soon found a nice quite spot to watch the sunset. We spent more than an hour just watching the wave's crash into the rocks below as the lazily sun dipped into the ocean and disappeared. The next day we explored some of the beaches further up the coast and caught a bit of the surf action. It truly was a beautiful day so we decided to head back into town for a lazy lunch somewhere on the beach. We ended up spending the entire afternoon enjoying snacks, drinks and the great ocean views. We could easily have spend the rest of the evening just chilling on the beach but had to navigate ourselves home before we got too 'relaxed' to find home. Back at the cabin we built a great big log fire, watched the last of the sunset and enjoyed a great bottle of Casa La Joya Merlot that we picked up at a winery called Bisquertt on our way out of Santa Cruz. The few days in Pichilemu were a perfect ending to our Chilean leg of the trip and we were feeling a lot more up beat about the final few weeks of our trip after the little slump in Santiago. Next morning we were up early to make our way back to Santiago where we had to drop off the rental car and catch a fourteen hour bus to Mendoza. Surprisingly this was a bus trip we were both looking forward to as it would take us over the Andes and into Argentina, passing some spectacular scenery.
]]> Read only if you love wine! — Santa Cruz, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232196840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232196840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1232196840/tpod.html Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:28:26 -0500 The long way home

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Santa Cruz, Chile

It was great being back behind the wheel again, captain of my own ship with my beautiful co-pilot at my side. Even though our rental car was tiny and not quite a ship, it was great to be in control again, great to be able to pull over and stop where ever you like, great to be able to drive at any speed of my choice (till the co-pilot threatens to jump out) and great to be able to set your own pace for the day.  By now Inge-Marie had become an expert navigator, when she had a good map of course. But finding good maps in Chile is not as easy as it sounds, especially maps of the wine regions. We tried our luck at sourcing some good tourist maps of the wine regions in Santiago, but neither the tourist information bureaux nor any of the book stores we visited had anything detailed. We searched on line for wine tourism information and found nothing except astronomically expensive private wine tours that were way out of our budget. Bad maps weren't going to stop our wine adventure so we took what we had, and set sail.   Chile wine region stretches almost the length of the long and narrow country.  Starting high up in the sunny northern deserts near La Sarena, where some good Cabernet and Syrah is produced, and ending almost a 1000 km south in Patagonia where the cool climate helps produce some great Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In between these two extremes lies some of Chile's finest wine producing areas where their trademark Carmenere varietal thrives among other popular varietals.  The best wines however seem to be produced in the central areas just south of Santiago, most notably around  the Colchagua Valley, and that's where we were heading.  We decided to base ourselves as close to the Colchagua Valley as possible and use this as a base to tour the neighbouring regions. We discovered a quaint little village called Santa Cruz which was 200 km south of Santiago which bordered the famous Colchagua Valley. The village was nothing special and its only noteworthy attraction was its Plaza de Armas. By now we had discover that almost every town in South America has a Plaza de Armas so this was no unique attraction. We later found out the town also had a fantastic museum but if they weren't serving wine this was of no interest to us ;-). We also discovered that the town had a well equipped information centre were we managed to find a reasonably comprehensive set of maps of all Chile's wine regions. (This was the only dedicated map we found of Chile's wine regions, see tips for web address). The ladies at the information office were also very helpful with suggesting some wine estates and even offered to help with reserving tastings and tours. We weren't quite sure where we wanted to start yet, so decided to do a little research before returning to make some bookings.  After we'd checked in to out hostel, or rather guesthouse, we started making a short list of the wineries we would like to visit. A few days earlier I downloaded the Wine Spectators 2008 Top 100 wines and was pleasantly surprised to find that their number one selection, was a Chilean wine from the Colchagua Valley, Clos Apalta by Casa Lapostolle - what a coincidence! So Casa Lapostolle instantly became our number one on the 'must taste list'. After a little more investigation we soon discovered two very disheartening facts about the Chilean wine industry. Firstly, unlike many wineries in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the US that we'd visited, very few wineries in Chile are set up for walk-in tourism. Many of the wineries require you to make a reservation days or sometimes even a week in advance. Secondly we discovered that almost all the wineries charged for tastings which usually included a tour of the facilities. Chile's wineries seemed to have taken this paying for tastings to a whole new level, as most tastings prices ranged from a pricy but acceptable US$ 5 to a whopping US$ 25 per person!  My philosophy on paying for wine tastings is simple, if you are paying to taste the wine you should be refunded when if you purchase some wine. I understand that some ultra premium wines, as they call them out here, are only produced in small quantities at considerable cost but to charge $25 for a small sample and then still have to pay full price if you do happen to purchase some wines becomes a little pricy, especially so on a tight Vine Hooligan RTW budget. So we were going to have to be quite selective about which wineries we would be able to visit. The amard winning Casa Lapostolle was not negotiable as we had to get a taste of what Wine Spectator though was the best wine of 2008. To start with we also made reservations at the highly awarded Casa Silva who'd won numerous awards and then finally a visit to the world famous Chilean winery, Montes. The next morning we were so eager to get going after the long drought we arrived early at Casa Lapostolle and pulled up to the big gates 20 minutes before our appointment. Unlike many of the other wineries we'd visited where you simply drove up to the cellars and tasting room we were stopped at the gate by a serious looking security guard. With our best Spanish and biggest smiles we told him we had a reservation. We held our breath has he scanned the guest list like a bounce at a posh night club, till finally he nodded still with a serious face and clicked his remote to open the massive gates. We drove through the gates and headed up to the impressive winery which we could see perched up on the hillside overlooking the vineyards. We were met by another security guard who showed us where to park and then escorted us to the waiting area which was a few leather couches in the corner of a very large room which we later found out was the sorting room during the harvest period. After a short while we were met by a lovely lady who then proceeded to take us on a private tour (since the other couple who had made a reservation had not arrived) of the winery. We were told how the entire crop for their premium wines were all hand harvested, sorted and de-stemmed before being gravity fed to their giant French oak maturation tanks. Not surprisingly the winery was French owned by the same family that owned the world-renowned Grand Marnier and millions of dollars were invested in the state of art facilities. We were lead down to the fermentation cellar which was temperature and humidity controlled where the great big French oak fermentation barrels were kept and told about the technology used in the fermentation process. It was an impressive room with a spectacular view over the vineyard through its massive windows.  The most spectacular part of the tour however was the barrel storage room which was two floors down. With its curved wooded ceiling and its barrels stacked to contours of the room it was almost magical. In the middle of the room was a glass structure where tasting conducted but which also doubled up as the entrance to the underground private family cellar. Clearly no costs were spared here! We got to try three of their premium wines including a deliciously wooded chardonnay, their mouth-watering Cruvee Alexandre merlot and then award winning blend, Clos Apalta. Sadly the 2005 Clos Apalta which as awarded Wine Spectator's number 1 wine had sold out even before the award was given but regardless the 2006 was still very impressive with its complex nose and berry aromas. Predominantly a carmenere blend it clearly was a wine that would improve with a few years of careful cellaring and we though long and hard if we should invest in a bottle. At the end of the day we decided that the $88 was a little too steep for our budget and settled for a bottle of the merlot which in our opinion was almost as good but much better value for money at a mere $40. It really was an impressive tour of their amazing cellar and architectural master piece and we were sad to leave but we had to get moving to make our next appointment in just over an hour at Casa Silva, who were just as renowned with their string of international awards.  Shortly after we set off, we learnt lesson number three about touring the Chilean wine regions. Distance between the wine estates and wine regions are vast, and to make it a little more complicated there are few road signs and the few that do exist are often not very helpful. I know you are probably thinking we should have had a GPS and we realised the same thing when we got hopelessly lost trying to find Casa Silva. We drove around for an hour and a half till we threw in the towel and headed back to Santa Cruz.  On our way back into town we spotted a nice looking restaurant with what seemed like an impressive wine selection. We decided it was a good place to stop for lunch and realised that for the same price of the tour and tasting we could buy a bottle of premium Santa Cruz carmenere to enjoy with lunch. Surprisingly that actually had a bottle of the 2005 Clos Apalta on their wine rack at a much inflated price but we were happy to settle for the Santa Cruz carmenere. The food was a little disappointing but the wine was fantastic with its deep ruby colour and soft, rounded palette. We were beginning to realise that instead of paying for expensive tastings we could just buy a bottle or two and have our own little wine tasting. After the lunch and a great wine we had a few hours before our next appointment so we headed back to the guesthouse for a little siesta. Our next visit was to Montes which was co-incidentally a neighbour to Casa Lapostolle. The procedure was the same for getting into the premises and this time we were joined by a much larger group for the tour and tasting. The Montes winery had been built according to the feng shui principle and water and light were masterfully incorporated into the spectacular building.  We started with a tasting in their tasting room overlooking their maturation and storage tanks and tried a range of their wines form their Purple Angle range, to their limited Alpha series and even got a taste of their Montes Folly in the ultra premium range. We were impressed with all the wines we tasted but left the purchases till after the tour to give ourselves a little time to ponder on our choices. At this point I must add that we have visited countless wineries all over the world, seen some impressive hand dug caves lined with thousands of maturing bottles and barrels filled with wine, but none will be remembered as well as the maturation cellar at Montes. I also have to apologise for not having any photographs to back up my story as I left my camera at the guesthouse! I won't begin to explain how disappointed I was, as I never leave home without the camera but that's what comes from sleeping in the afternoon. So I'll do my best to try and explain the experience. The maturation cellar was situated at the far end of the building and was reached via a long corridor flanked by two tastefully decorated private tasting rooms behind glass partitions. The tasting rooms each had long dark wooden tables in their centre and a few chairs around them and looked out into the maturation cellar. We entered the darkened cellar through two long glass sliding doors which seemed to magically open as we approached with a swoosh that would not have been out of place in a space ship. As we stepped into the cellar the dimly lit room started to slowly brighten and the next few seconds would be sensory overload for any true wine lover. Almost all our senses were stimulated simultaneously as we felt the chill of the cool humid air hit us, our nostrils were filled with the sweet and toasty aromas of the new French barrels, we witnessed the delightful sight of perfectly placed barrels gradually rising up in rows to the back of the cellar as if they were an audience in a grand theatre. Each barrel had its centre partition painstakingly painted red using only red wine, so between the two steel bands holding the barrel together the barrel was a light red while the outsides bands were the original pale oak giving them a beautiful contrast. And lastly, the sound, that wonderful sound! Most cellars are dead quite, dark, damp and mouldy but the founders of Montes felt that their best wines deserved a little more to make them a little more special. The sounds seem to come from everywhere in the room as we were surrounded by the soothing sounds of Gregorian chants. It was believed that by continuously playing the ancient monastic chants to the wines, released tiny vibrations that improved the quality of their best wine, the Alpha M.  Apparently studies were commissions by one of the founder Aurelio Montes to find out if playing different types of music had any impact on the wines taste. The results were very positive and found that certain types of music enhanced the taste perception when drinking certain wines. For example when a powerful, heavy music such as Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'N' Roses was played, people drinking a cabernet sauvignon thought it was 60 per cent more robust than when no music was played. Brining a whole new dimension to wine, food and now music pairing. Just seeing the love and care Montes put into their Alpha M range convinced us to buy a bottle to truly see it music makes wine taste better. Sadly we will have to wait a good few years before we know the answer as it is recommend, to cellar the wine for up to 20 years for best results. So if anyone is interested, let us know if you will be around in about 20 years, so we can put you on the invite list for the Alpha M tasting... After a fantastic, and expensive first day of wine tasting we realised we would have to reassess our budget and the tastings for the next few days. We found that the local supermarket in town stocked many of the wines produces by the wineries we planned to visit so decided to spend the equivalent of the tours and tasting on a variety of different wines. But before we had our own tasting we decided to visit one more winery. Miguel Torres Chile the sister of the Spanish winery was situated a little under an hour from Santa Cruz in the Curico Valley and apparently had a wonderful restaurant that offered a food and wine pairing. This was too god an opportunity to miss so we hit the road once again with our sketch maps but a keen sense of direction and managed to find the winery without too much difficulty. For a change we didn't need a reservation and seemed to be the first patrons at the restaurant for lunch. In this part of the world lunch is usually taken much later than back home and restaurants usually only fill for lunch between 2pm and 3pm. The restaurant was bright and airy and we had a pick of any table. We scanned through the menu quickly but knew once we saw the wine and food pairing list what we'd be ordering. The four course lunch started with fresh freshly baked bread, imported Spanish Torres virgin olive oil and tangy balsamic vinegar.  The first wine that was served was a delightfully bubble brut and this was paired with succulent chicken skewers prepared in a teriyaki emulsion. This was followed by an enormous fresh mixed salad served with a Santa Digna rosé before the mains arrived. To accompany the pork loin roll we were served a bold and fruity shiraz which perfectly matched the juicy pork loin. And as if that weren't enough food we ended the meal with a slice of lemon pie, tiramisu and vanilla ice-cream paired with a gorgeous gewürztraminer.  We rolled out of the restaurant, well satisfied, almost two hours after we'd arrived. We had just enough energy left in us to make a quick trip to the wine store where we browsed through the large selection of wines for sale. It must have been as a result of all the wine over lunch, as we chose to purchase one of their pricy flagship cabernet sauvignon's, which we were promised by the salesman, would not disappoint. After our great lunch we cautiously headed back to Sant Cruz where we, together with other guests at the guesthouse we had arranged to have a BBQ with the private wine tasting we were planning. A quick stop at the supermarket had us stocked up with a good selection of carmenere from various regions in Chile and some prime, 'grade A' Chilean beef steak.  I wasted no time getting the BBQ fired up, and similar to the feeling I experienced when getting behind the wheel again it was great to be back behind the grill, with a tong in one hand a good red in the other! Besides the beautiful red glow of my roaring fire we were treated to a spectacular sunset, almost as impressive as an African sunset, which set the mood for a wonderful evening. The girls built themselves a makeshift table and whipped up a salad and some vegetables and soon the meat was sizzling on the grill. The wines we selected were fantastic and complimented the steak perfectly and we had a great evening with chatting away till late in the evening. Our original plan was to spend five nights in Santa Cruz to visit as many wineries as possible but due to the exorbitant costs involved and the fact that many of the wineries were closed on the weekends we decided to check-out early and head to the coast. We'd heard to a great little beach town a few hours away, which was famous for its great beaches and waves and though this would be the perfect end to our visit to Chile. It would also be our last glimpse of the Pacific before we crossed the mighty Andes into Argentina. Our top tips for planning a wine tasting tour in Chile:1. Unless you're rolling in cash and can afford a private tour offered by specialised tourist agencies you'll need a car to visit any of the Chilean wine regions.2. If you are going to be doing a self drive you'll need a good map or GPS. The best and only winery road map we found was from Premium Map Chile, their web site; www.winemapchile.cl provides more details.3. Book in advance. Many of the winery details are listed in the above set of maps and we found it best to call rather than e-mail especially if it was short notice. Only problem was that not all staff spoke English.4. Make sure you have enough time between tastings to get to your next appointment as distance are often long and road signs often inadequate. Realistically aim to visit no more than three wineries a day so you are not rushed and can make the most of each experience. 5. If your budget is limited do a little research and select a few choice wineries as tasting fees will drain your resources quicker than a Chardonnay at a book club!6. Hit the supermarket and plan your own tasting, download tasting notes and pictures off  the net and it will be almost as good as the real thing. Not really but you'll save loads and still get to taste a few of Chile's great wines.
]]> More pictures from Sipadan — Pulau Sipadan, Malaysia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1206624300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1206624300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1206624300/tpod.html Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:58:38 -0500 The long way home

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Pulau Sipadan, Malaysia

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]]> Hitting rock bottom in Santiago — Santiago, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230986940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230986940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230986940/tpod.html Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:22:56 -0500 The long way home

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Santiago, Chile

A few time on the trip we had a few low points where everything had just become a little too overwhelming, Santiago however will go down as our lowest point in the entire trip. It might have been a culmination of the long bus trips over the last few weeks, the constant moving every few days, the fact that we were still struggling with our Spanish, budgetary woes or that we were realising that our trip was rapidly coming to an end. Maybe it was just a case of LTTS, Long Term Travellers Syndrome brought on by being on the road for a lengthily period of time. The visit to Santiago was marred with three restless nights of the "where are we's" that you might recall plagued us, or rather me on many previous occasions. The feeling of waking every night not having a clue where you are and wondering around a strange room looking for something familiar is quite unsettling at the time, but usually a cause for much amusement the next morning. Three nights of this however mean not much sleep for both of us and not much sleep leads to grumpy campers the next morning. There were times during our stay in Santiago that we felt we should maybe just fly directly home from Santiago and cut the trip short and this of course led to some heated debates. So much of the sights we saw in Santiago were on our own as we took a few time outs to keep the peace. At the end of the day we realised that we had to focus on make in the most of the last few weeks of the trip and that there was still so much to look forward to including the famed Chilean and Argentinian wine region, Buenos Aires, Uruguay and Brazil. So by our last day in Santiago we'd managed to clear our heads of the worries of future jobs, finances and re-settling in South Africa and started getting excited about the next few stops.  We might not have done Santiago justice considering our situation but the little we did see gave us the impression it was a vibrant city with a wonderful mix of old and new architecture, with great big parks filled with families on the weekend. We also managed to sample a few of Santiago's many wonderful wine bars and restaurants and found the informal street restaurants around Poi Nono very interesting. A short walk through any of Santiago's park along the Rio Mapocho River and you would know this is where couples meet for romantic encounters. We though parts of Europe were well known as kissing parks but the couples in Santiago would surly put them to shame. Sundays also seemed like a day where all the street buskers and jugglers got together to show off their skills. In one particular square there must have been 20 - 30 jugglers all going at the same time, quite something to watch. The only problem we could see with Santiago was that that had a major pollution problem. Like every major city pollution is often generated by heavy industries and vehicle emissions amongst others. The problem in Santiago was that the city was surrounded by tall mountains resulting in much of the pollution being trapped in the city bowl. Seems this has been an ongoing problem and there is no easy way to fix the problem except by trying to reduce pollution which isn't always easy in a growing city. So a trip up the funicular to the top of Parque Metropolitano which sometimes promises spectacular view of the Andes was a little disappointing as the smog clouded much of the view. We could however make out the where the mountain range was and got a feeling for the scale of this impressive mountain range. Hopefully we would have better views of the Andes when we headed south to the wine lands. At this stage in the trip we were also finding that keeping the blog up to date was becoming increasingly difficult. We didn't seem to have any real meaningful free time to spend on the blog and always had a creeping feeling that we were getting further and further behind. With out a doubt we still believe that keeping a blog or diary for a trip like this is important as many amazing and amusing experiences would otherwise have been forgotten over time. So, for now we'll have to settle for scribbles notes till we get a little more free time to catch up. When we left Santiago we were over the LTTS and started wondering if our slump wasn't just due to a lack of good wine? The though of five days of tasting in Chile's best wine producing areas had all fired up! We picked up our tiny little rental car, headed south and never looked back!
]]> 36 hours in La Sarena — La Serena, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230534000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230534000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vine_hooligans/rtw-2008/1230534000/tpod.html Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:30:16 -0500 The long way home

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La Serena, Chile

To break the almost 24 bus trip from San Pedro de Atacama to Valparaiso we planned to spend a day in the coastal town of La Serena, Chile's second oldest city. We arrived early the morning after taking the overnight bus from San Pedro and were fortunate to get an early check-in at the hostel. This gave us the chance to get a few more hours of sleep before exploring the town. It was great being back at sea-level, filling our lungs with beautiful oxygen, so we wasted not time getting out for a walk with all this extra energy. We basically spent a few hours exploring the town centre which had a real holiday feel as it was filled with Chilean holiday makers before we made our way down to the beach a few kilometres away. It had been a long time since we'd seen the sea or taken a stroll on the beach so we were pleasantly surprised to find a long stretch of beautiful beach. The fresh smell of the sea and feel of the soft cool sand between our toes was a welcome change from the dry, hot desert we'd experience over the past few weeks. It was great just walking between all the picnicking families spread out on blankets and beach towels while kids were playing in the waves. We really looked forward to the day when we would have the opportunity to share something like this with our children.  Towards the end of the beach we were a few restaurants and bars where we stopped off for a few drinks to watch an amazing sun set over the 88m high cross on the horizon. It was a beautiful afternoon and was a great stop-off to break the long bus trip to Valparaiso.The next morning it was up early to catch the first bus to Valparaiso which was fortunately now only a few hours (7 to be exact) away.  As we had experienced to many times before on the trip, it was important for us to plan a little alone time, a little time apart to miss each other for a change. No matter how much you think you love each other, spending 24 hours a day together for long periods of time, with often no other company takes its toll and with no other release, tensions often begin to surface. The funny thing is that pressure is either released before it reaches boiling point by willingly taking a little time out, or else it eventually just explodes and forces you to take a time out. We were still working quite hard to release the pressure and get a little alone time, but when there are so many beautiful and amazing places you want to share with the most important person in your life it hard to do this. Hopefully the few days in Santiago would give us a chance to miss each other again.
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