Santa Cruz, Chile Blog 3
Whenever I travel, I always
wonder if I’m going to like my latest trip as much as my last. Each one is a wonderful experience, and today
was no exception.
Right next door to the hotel
is the Colchagua Museum considered one of the best museums in all of South
America. What a surprise to find this
superb museum in a town of 32,000! It is
a privately owned collection put together by a controversial figure, Carlos
Caroden, who is an arms dealer. He also
owns the hotel we’re staying in and the winery we visited. I can’t justify the
basis for his income, but I have to admit I like how he spent his money. I googled him and came up with a San
Francisco Chronicle article about him from 2003. He sold arms to Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the
80s, but many believe it was with the knowledge and approval of the U.S.
government. Our government is still looking for him to arrest him. He “hides out” in an isolated winery that he
gets to by helicopter. Look him up if you’re interested.
The museum traces the history
of Chile and the other coutries in the Andes
through fossils, dinosaurs, the prehistory of the indigenous peoples,(including
the oldest mummies in the world), the
Spanish conquest and so on all the way up
to modern times. Do you remember the
saga of the Chilean miners just a few years ago? There is a large exhibit devoted to their
rescue. I especially liked the Inca exhibit because I covered the topic when I
was teaching seventh grade social studies.
The Incas had no written language but they had a method of keeping track
of information through knotted strings called a quipu. It was thrilling for me to see authentic ones
including one that was ginormous.
We next took our comfortable
bus on a ride on the Cochagua Valley Wine Route. It is very much like Napa Valley with fields
of grape vines some going in terraces up gently sloping hills. One of the reasons I like Vantage Tours is
that they specialize in “cultural connections.” Today we had lunch at the home of a charming
woman (Cota) who shares a huge grape growing business with her 3 brothers. In 2010 Chile had an 8.3 earthquake very
close to this area. She just finished rebuilding her house, which was severely
damaged. We ate outside on her terrace
overlooking a beautiful expanse of lawn surrounded by trees. Her niece and a friend of her niece were
visiting. Amazingly the friend was from
Israel! We communicated in Spanish with
Israeli and American accents. Lunch was
a mixture of salads, salads, and a tamale- like dish all accompanied by apricot
juice (delicious!) and wine with fresh fruit for dessert. After lunch we walked through eucalyptus
groves past horses (her brothers ride in competitive polo) to the grape packing
plant. The grapes are exported to the
U.S. and Russia. I’m sure I’ve bought
them at COSTCO. By the way, when we got
off and then back on the bus, she kissed all 23 of us on both cheeks.
On the way back, we stopped
by Santa Cruz Vineyard where we took a funicular to the top of a mountain that
had exhibits of the indigenous people (the term used in South America instead
of Native American). The people were the
Mapuche, the Aymaras, and the Rapa Nui from Easter Island, which is owned by
Chile. We also took a tour of the winery
and tasted 2 wines—not very good.
When we returned to Santa Cruz,
the annual wine festival celebrating the
harvesting of grapes had started. We
walked along a street where people were selling arts and crafts of excellent
quality and high prices. A straw hat was
$60! I never, no-how, no-way eat food
from street vendors in foreign countries; however, I was tempted in Chile. The vendors wore hygienic head coverings and
plastic gloves. They were selling
empanadas and skewers of chicken and meat.
We ended up eating at the hotel because there are very few restaurants
in Santa Cruz; it was not wonderful.
The stage with musicians was
directly opposite our room. While the music was very good, it was LOUD. I put a pillow over my head and fell
asleep. Dan said the music ended around
11 PM>
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