Patagonian cruise, circum-Andean drive and a Pacific island hop back

[JohnM]

I did try to warn RF that this place was rubbish...:mrgreen:. The last time I was here was in late winter, just prior to budburst so it was great to come back just as harvest was beginning to get the maximum contrast in the vineyard and the snow on the mountains.

 

[RooFlyer]

Righto, into the tucker.

We thought we chose wine pairings the same as our tasting, but instead of the Torrontes, we got a Chardonnay. OK as far as Chardonnay goes. First off, parmesan foam with chardonnay caramelised onions; little sausage balls with fresh oregano (from the gardens outside)




2015 B Crux blend, which even with food didn't do anything for me. Fantastic 'maize textures' - foam, soup and grains.




A Crux malbec still superb ... and not just one glass ... the pours kept coming (for me ... JohnM had nobly volunteered to take the when after we left). Main of twice cooked ragout on polenta cream and rosemary




Finished with Torrontes sorbet and a chocolate, then malbec poached pears and ice cream in a caramel basket and dried fruits.




Our chef ... and then there was the merchandise! I came away with a top-of-the-line 2008 O'Fournier Malbec - A$120. We didn't come away feeling gorged ... it was a really well rounded and balanced meal. Not a bad outcome for just dropping by to see what we could see!

 

[zig]

Our chef ... and then there was the merchandise! I came away with a top-of-the-line 2008 O'Fournier Malbec - A$120. We didn't come away feeling gorged ... it was a really well rounded and balanced meal. Not a bad outcome for just dropping by to see what we could see!

Sometimes the most magical experiences are the unplanned ones

 

[JohnM]

Sometimes the most magical experiences are the unplanned ones

But it wasn't unplanned for everyone....

 

[zig]

But it wasn't unplanned for everyone....

A well informed guide also helps

 

[RooFlyer]

The day was only half done!

After examining some of the raw product, we hit the highway towards our hotel and next winery, Salentein. Mechanical picker on the move.




This wasn't the gate to Salentein, but illustrates wht most of the places look like when you rock up. On the right, facing Salentein winery - again, its all underground with a gravity-fed arrangement.




Art and design to the fore, as with O'Fournier. The tasting room.




We booked a tour and lunch for the following day, then proceeded to our hotel - the Auberge du Vin (sort of, 'Wine lodge' ). Through a gate with a man and a clipboard (and a big dog) then a drive through vineyards to the place.




It was a bit expensive to stay here, but this was the culmination of our visit to western Argentina and we had 4 cheap night leading up to this!!

 

[RooFlyer]

The Auberge du Vin started out impressing ...

The room was large and had a large bathroom/shower/toilet area.




Cute amenities and stepping out of the back door saw you right in the 'action'




After a swim, we repaired to the lounge. Very comfy Chesterfields, with wine books to browse. I asked for a G&T and it looks like here, if not Argentina in general, they take after the Spanish tradition of G&Ts - great theatre in the making an a large quantity!




Unfortunately about this time the gloss started to come off. The Auberge du Vin turned out to be a bit short in the 'vin' department . Taking the wine list, JohnM's first 2 choices (local) were unavailable and it became a case of asking "What do you have?". For a wine lodge, being short of local wines (both nights) is a big downer.

The restaurant was about twice as big as this and the service was OK. Re the prices - these are ARG Pesos; $250 = A$21




I think the LH pic was chef's amuse bouche; the right was my main of pork shoulder. OK without being sensational. We were able to observe via the open kitchen them adding quite a lot of salt - and it tasted like it.

 

[RooFlyer]

The next day, we were concerned that Google earth showed a toll booth on the Argentine side; we were driving out the day after. This would be unusual for Argentina, but they have co-built with Chile a ruddy big tunnel through the top of the Andes. Google Earth street view clearly showed the toll gates; we wanted to be sure of having enough ARG pesos to pay the toll, without getting stuck with too many.

Ask reception lady 1 in the morning about the toll - not sure but will ask her parents who drove through later. "It won't be much."

Ask reception lady 2 in the afternoon - absolutely adamant that there is NO TOLL. I showed here Google Street view - unmoved!!

WTF? Isn't that a common question by tourists?

Eventually reception lady 1 comes back and confirms, yes there is an Argentine toll, ARP30, or about A$2.50 Sweet!

 

[RooFlyer]

The next morning, up early to get sunrise on the Andes. its almost the end of Summer, so this is probably minimum snow - I'd love to see it earlier in the season (JohnM, feel free to show off one of your pics!)




The nearest town to the hotel is Tupungato (its about 10 mins drive out ... including dirt roads). Decent little town. If I was going back, I'd check if there's a good place in town. You can get accommodation at some of the wineries too, but that didn't work out for us.




The vista driving towards Salentein.




Arty shot through someone's gates, and approach to Salentein:




Like O'Fournier, Salentein is big on art and also is a vertical winery, with this building just the tip.

 

[RooFlyer]

Harvest time:




Salentein use stainless steel and French oak casks.


At the left of the LH pic above you get the view down into the barrel aging area. Like O'Fournier, their barrel room is rather theatrical and they in fact call it their 'Cathedral of wine'




Bottle aging and some new French oak:




More theatre as we approach the tasting room ... and then we were in .. sorta remind you of an altar?

 

[love_the_life]

...............
More theatre as we approach the tasting room ... and then we were in .. sorta remind you of an altar?

View attachment 94561

And was it a religious experience? :mrgreen:

 

[RooFlyer]

The altar wine was better than usual, I dare say ...

 

[RooFlyer]

Tasted 4 wines; here on the upper slopes of the the Valle del Uco we are higher than at Mendoza so the focus is more on cooler varieties such as Sav Blanc and Pinots.

Killka is their entry level line and a very serviceable crisp Sav Blanc. The Pinot was terrific ... much like a Tasmanian pinot




Heavier reds also from the Valle, but lower elevations. The syrah not as I like them, but I wouldn't send it back. The "Reserve' range is middle tier.




Back upstairs to the Salentein restaurant. Very much more casual atmosphere than O'Fournier. We chose a bottle of the Sav Blanc ... I was driving today.




A nice bit of salmon, and who could resist a 'volcano' for dessert?



More of the volcano ... and a couple of bottles of the better stuff on sale.

 

[RooFlyer]

One (the only one!) upside of our 'Wine Lodge' running out of so many wines was that it made us order a bottle of Bonarda (Italian grape Douce noir - grown as Charbono in California) for dinner the second night. I had never heard of it (JohnM had, of course ). We were surprised to learn that it's Argentina's second most planted variety (after Malbec).

The next day, we were bound for Santiago Airport - JohnM was on a plane that evening. We hoped for good weather!



Our route after Mendoza was essentially that followed by one of two columns of the 'Army of the Andes' - the force of the Argentinian General Jose San Martin mustered to liberate Chile from Spanish colonial rule in 1817. Hhe succeeded and San Martin was elected to be 'Supreme Director' of liberated Chile. He declined, and hence one of his subordinates - Bernado O'Higgins, was appointed, and to this day, O'Higgins is celebrated throughout Chile as the 'liberator'.

After our observations at the other border crossings, and not being convinced that the 'holiday rush' was over, we set off early to get a sunrise on the mountains as we approached them (took and hour to reach the foothills), but unfortunately it was overcast. The Argentine side is a long, gradual rise up valleys and canyons. Along the way, much evidence of the old Transandine railway, which operated from 1910 to 1987. It looked pretty hairy in sections!




Approaching the Continental Divide, the weather cleared




We thought this, or a later peak might have been Aconcagua, the tallest peak outside Asia (6,942m), but on reflection it probably wasn't - seems to be the wrong shape. The Aconcagua view was probably obscured behind clouds, before they cleared. First Tunnel encountered.




More very high vistas - you could really 'feel' the Andes here.

 

[RooFlyer]

We had passed the 'Argentine' border post, but that appeared to be only for leaving Chile and entering Argentina. And at last here was the Argentine toll booth whose existence was so denied by the Auberge receptionist.



Another mountain view before immediately entering the 3km long Tunel del Cristo Redentor at 3,200m. Opened in 1980, its a major land crossing between Chile and Argentina and saves the high-pass traverse at the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores, 600m further up.




The border is within the tunnel. After emerging from it, we approached the boarder post with some trepidation. From our position in the road queue it didn't look too bad ...



30 mins in the road queue before we reached the car park. What happened next is still a bit of a puzzle. We joined on of the queues in the building for 'people+cars'. It was odd - the signage was for 'Migraciones Argentina' (as you would expect - first stage was to exit Argentina) but all the staff wore Chilean boarder uniforms. The queue took a while, as most people it seemed had to be manually entered into the computer ... each family member etc etc. When JohnM and I got to the head of this queue, it was Passport and vehicle permit and we got through very quickly (ie passport Vs local IDs). The vehicle permit was stamped with a re-assuring thump and we got the PDI bit of paper for entering Chile (no reciprocity fee due on land entry I think, but we both had current ones anyway).

Them round the other side of the island counter; we assumed for customs; the only form they wanted was the vehicle permit, which got stamped again. We thought we were done, but got waived to a third counter, where the vehicle permit was again called for, and stamped for a third time.

All this time we were still holding filled out Chilean entry paperwork - and in fact we left with it, uncollected. An hour in the border post, plus the 30 mins on the road queue. We got back in the car and headed off, happy we had cleared that hurdle.

Or not. A boom gate at the end of the car park and a lady asking for something. Passport? No? Then what? Ah! Of course, the vehicle permit, which got a 4th inspection and another stamp.


The Argentine side was a long, gentle grade upwards - the Chilean side is a short, steep pitch downwards. Two sets of hairpins, with the second lot a doozy.




No snow for us of course, and just as well - not a barricade to be seen down the entire stretch of road :shock: I cannot imagine doing this descent when there might be snow or ice about.

 

[RooFlyer]

The trip into Santiago was uneventful. We went straight to the airport as JohnM had a flight that evening and I was booked into the Holiday Inn there and was meeting up with my friends who were flying in from Peru. We were flying onto Easter Island the next morning .

We returned the hire car without hassle; I bade farewell to JohnM; it was a very successful travel partnership; I don't think we had a single disagreement, although I am sure I was a bit more cautious in where we went off-road after we discovered the shortcomings of our wheels, and the spare.

The HI at SCL is right across the road from International Arrivals and is well set-up. This was my second stay here.




Dinner there - the reason for this pic was to show off another wine/grape variety I discovered (or had put under my nose by JohnM ) - Carmenere.



Check-in was a bit odd. We headed for the domestic check-in, and the line clearly marked for my flight. Although my friends were travelling in Y, we were going to check in together in the Preferente Lane. However the agent there clearly told us to go to International Check-in, even after I pointed to the signs saying we were in the correct area. Hmmm, I thought, maybe we will get to use the LATAM international lounge prior to our flight.

We made our way to the International check-in area (LH pic below) and my friends were checked-in without fuss. I was a different story. Problem. Other agents consulted. Furious tapping on key board and peering into screen. Job handed over to more senior agent. I enquired what the problem was. "We have you on stand-by." :shock: :evil: :shock:

I asked for more information. Turned out 'my 'seat wouldn't recline and they were looking for an alternative. Gee, I'd hope so .

After 15 min or so I asked for an update. We still have a problem. After ascertaining that the only problem was a lack of recline ("yes") I said I'd take the seat - it was a day flight and for the sake of getting on board, that didn't count much.

Then things got strange. Was offered a voucher for US$300 (travel) - accepted and then was given a different seat. Whatever. It had taken 20 mins to that point and I was getting fed up.

Got on board - went to 3K my allocated seat; it reclined OK. Then spotted Denali and +1 in row 2 ahead of where I should have been and went to say hi (we were expecting to catch up). No-one had turned up to 3A (my original seat) so I hoped I might get to sit there anyway, especially when I looked over and saw that my seat mate on the other side had turned up - and this was the sight.




I went over and told him to get his dirty feet off the seats. I also asked a FA that id 3A was unoccupied on departure, I'd like to move there to be with my friends. Some-one did turn up, but the FA, unbidden by me, asked her if she would mind swapping, and she agreed. Embarrassed, as I don't like doing that sort of thing (although I repaid the favour later), I moved back to 3A. As far as I could tell, it too reclined no problem.

Anyway here is Denali and +1 in an approved pic, and the J cabin in general.




Breakfast menu and my selection - cold cuts. Was OK.

 

[love_the_life]

Bizarre seat shuffling!
Lovely photo of Denali +1 (well the back of someone's head anyway).

Ewww, with the bare feet.

 

[Pushka]

Oh my. People are such slobs. All I can think of now is smelly dirty feet.

 

[RooFlyer]

Anyway, we were off - with me in my original seat, 3A, and no recline problems that I could tell. Now, how do I spend US$300 on LATAM in the next 12 months? Leaving the Chilean mainland coast, and the route map. It was 5.5hrs flight time




Just as we approached Easter Island (named for the day the first westerners - the Dutch - landed on the Island, or Isla de Pascua to give it its Chilean name, the weather turned dirty. It was pouring as we landed, and I thanked the lady who swapped seats with me by taking her really heavy main carry-on down the stairs and across to the terminal while she struggled with a couple of other packages .




You buy your National parks passes on arrival ... but cash only!! Thanks again Denali for helping out, as I was buying for my friends as well

Its a small airport, and of course a domestic flight only. A zoo at baggage, so my friends and I made the strategic decision that I would go out and snag a taxi while they waited for the bags.




Sort of worked. I got the first taxi on the rank, but then they wouldn't let me back into the terminal!! No amount of ticket and passport showing would make the guy on the door budge. No phone reception either (it was very erratic the whole time).

This was the scrum outside. Anyway, they came out with the bags and we had our taxi And we were actually on Easter Island!!

 

[Major]

Now, how do I spend US$300 on LATAM in the next 12 months?

SYD - AKL for the weekend