Valparaiso, Chilean wine and a double apology

Heroes of the Chilean people, remembered in their main square in Valparaiso

After our fairly less-than-satisfactory excursion yesterday, we returned to the sanity and cool of our room with a message of apology from P&O, basically saying it wasn’t their fault that there was utter chaos yesterday, it was the fault of the port authorities. Well, at least we had an apology eh?! Our balcony was bathed in evening sunlight, but our view was heavy-duty cranes. Not exactly the romantic pictures as depicted by the cruise brochures. As we’d had a large lunch, there was no need for a meal last night, though we both felt in need of a bath to remove the heat from the day. Nick finally agreed that the boat does actually move when we’re in dock.

Today marks a couple of significant milestones. We’re officially now half way through our grand tour and I can still fit into my snug shorts, even after they’ve been washed, which always makes them snugger.

We woke to another murky, misty day in San Antonio with very low cloud and a cool 16 degrees. Breakfast was relaxed, no hint of yesterday’s chaos in the cafeteria. Good sign. As we descended the decks to get off the ship for the day, no queues to get off. No queues getting onto the port coach. No delays or queues in the port terminal. As instructed, we got to the tour bus 10 minutes before the departure time. Happy days. Then drama ensued. Well of course it did, when does it not? Everyone was already on the two coaches, but apparently, sin of sins the singlies had taken a double seat each and the tour guide wanted couples to be together. We wouldn’t have minded and indeed Nick was asking for someone cute…for me! Our tour guide wasn’t prepared to ask two single people to sit together, but the P&O rep was. This operation took 10 minutes. We got on the bus to deathly silence. Great way to start a full-day tour.

Daniel, our tour guide didn’t impart much information whereas we had information overload during yesterday’s tour, so it was actually nice to just sit back and take in what view we could see. Very little sightings of the Andes this morning due to the mist and smoke from the southern fires. Even though the fires are 400km away, they are still bringing smoke and ash on the winds. The leg room was awesomely spacious on the coach, compared with yesterday’s rattle-trap. Also, the driver was so much more considerate, got out of third gear and he stayed on all four wheels throughout the tour. Wherever we went, the locals seemed not to have seen a coach full of tourists before, so there was more waving and smiling.

The drive today was largely in the same direction as yesterday, so not a pretty drive. The litter and shrines every few hundred yards is quite a depressing feature of this area. Most of the vehicles on the road have evidence of being rear-ended or being the cause of the rear-ending. They don’t seem to drive particularly fast or like idiots, they just don’t give way. Not even a little. Also, when we were going through a long fairly dark tunnel, I noticed a guy on a motorbike wearing shorts and t-shirt, texting on his mobile.

It’s amazing that the bushes and trees thrive in this area of Chile, whereas the grass is simply dead and just turned to straw. One of the roads we travelled on today was Route 68, a main dual-carriageway. Apparently, this road is completely shut for 2 days a year to allow a pilgrimage to the Santuario Purisima Lo Vasquez, near Casablanca. 

Valparaiso lacks some of the charm that its name conjures

I am trying to find the beauty in this area, but really can’t get past the litter. Our first sightseeing tour was to Valparaiso. It is mainly derelict, neglected and covered in graffiti. 

Murals and graffiti adorn every free surface

Graffiti seems to be encouraged as long as there are murals too. There’s a very important job in this city; the man with the pen and paper who is timing the local buses. His job is to advise the driver of each bus if they should speed up or slow down. Yep, someone gets paid to do this. By 11 am, Chile had experienced 11 tremors. One measuring 3.2. Valparaiso is even more littered than the roadsides. People literally through their rubbish over their garden walls onto the hillside. Yet a mile up the road in Viña del Mar, the town was civilised, with neat, lush gardens, and hanging baskets, clean and devoid of graffiti.

We were given a 50-minute stop to have a wander and take in the sights of Viña del Mar. Or in our case, a dash to a cafe for a coffee. With our pidgin Spanish, we got what we asked for. A bit of a heart-stopping moment when the card didn’t work. Our waitress had already said that they didn’t take dollars. Eventually, she realised it was a debit, rather than a credit card, and all was then well. Phew.  By the time we left Viña del Mar, the sun had burnt the mist off.

There’s a bit of a theme going on for these 3 days that we’re on land. Wine with lunch yesterday, wine tour today, wine tour tomorrow. When in Chile… We then started driving the Casablanca valley which was beautifully tranquil and lovely scenery. 

The vineyard entrance

Vines as far as the eye can see

Then our arrival at Casas del Bosque Vineyard and what a beautiful vineyard it was too, with stunning gardens, walnut shell paths and fans (almost like micro wind turbines) to create a steady 4 degrees temperature in the winter when the frosts come along.

Turbines create a micro-climate to keep the air above freezing in winter

Our very informative guide, Karina, gave us the detail of the vineyard which started in 1893. They sell 1.5 million bottles of wine a year. 

New barrels

They use a combination of French oak and American oak for the barrels. The American oak barrels are used for the sweeter wines. 

Two of the wines from the tasting - you'll notice they are empty!

They primarily create 3 wines; Sauvignon blanc, Carménère and a Syrah. We were given samples of all their wines. Karina didn’t miss a subtle selling opportunity even when opening the bottles and also pouring them. There was a special wine opened, a special aerator and even an aerator with a measure incorporated into it. Genius. This was a very informative tour and probably the best guide we’ve experienced in this sector. All questions were answered without hesitation in perfect English.

On our return, with all mists having gone, we could see the Andes in the distance. We drove back the scenic way which was much nicer than the main roads. The surroundings were still very baron but the area seemed much more cared for, no litter, single-storey prefabs all spread out and more looked after. All with the Andes as their backdrop.

We returned to the ship an hour later than scheduled but very much felt we’d had value for money and a much better experience than yesterday. On our bed was yet another grovelling apology from P&O acknowledging that a number of customers had made complaints about yesterday’s trip and although it wasn’t their fault…obvs, (it was the tour guide’s fault this time) they would (as a gesture of goodwill etc) partially refund for yesterday’s debacle. Thank you P&O, we’ll put that towards a glass of wine.

We were half an hour late leaving San Antonio as one of the tour buses hadn’t made it back in time. To be fair, we were told to be back by 5.30. Yikes, I guess that tour guide won’t be getting any tips. We’ll try and find out what happened to those people on the tour and how they managed to get back on the boat. 

Tugboat at the rear of Aurora

We were fairly pinned into the dock and the only way out was to have two tugs, one at the front and one at the rear, to take us out. We set off for our next stop, Coquimbo, which we’re expected to reach by tomorrow 9am.