Thursday 25 February 2016

At 6.30 pm yesterday we arrived at Vina Tarapaca, Isla de Maipo, (just an hour or so from Santiago) to stay for three nights.  Due to an accident on the freeway which held us up we were an hour late arriving.    The mansion is in the middle of vineyards and is absolutely beautiful. We are the only guests as just 19 rooms available.  Ours is huge - could fit about six double beds and still have room to move around. ( And we need plenty of room after all the food on this trip!) We met for drinks on the terrace at 7.30 then dinner followed, again on the terrace.  Was a perfect night, lovely food and wine from the vineyard.  

Today we drove to the new San Antonio valley, an hour or so from where we are staying.  The winery was Casa Marin, located in the Lo Abarca region.  We were welcomed by Maria's son, Fillipe, who is the winemaker (and dishy!) and were lucky enough to see the bottling procedure.  A tasting, as usual, followed, and we tasted savignon blanc, pinot noir, riesling and syrah. Lunch was sooooo delicious - they always serve three courses plus an appetiser and it is difficult not to try everything.  

Back to Vina Tarapaca at 4.30 to find tea and coffee set up on the lawn by the pool.  It is all done so well, white tablecloths, lovely china etc.  Drinks will again be on the terrace at 7.30 followed by dinner and complimented by wines from this estate.  

No excursions tomorrow, however there is plenty to do here.  Some are going horseriding, others will play the 3 hole golf course and then in the afternoon there are carriage rides.  And of course there is a beautiful swimming pool and a wine museum here.  

Someone asked me about the people on the tour.  That could be a long blog as I am still trying to work some of them out!  For the first couple of days I thought one lady was perhaps mute.  We spoke to her in the lift, no reply, just looked blankly at us.  Then the next day I heard a squeak and realised it was her.  I've now realised she does have a voice but only becomes animated and uses it if I talk about horses!  Well, you know how much I know about horses but luckily they have some thoroughbreds so I can relate to betting and colours!!!!!!

Elizabeth (I am NOT Liz, I am Elizabeth) has been on previous RACV tours with her friend Vicky (an authority on most things) and mainly likes to talk with the others who've also been on those tours.  (Elizabeth is from Kew & we vaguely know her from the Lib Party).  They particularly dislike Kerry and John and warned us about them at the meet & greet night before we left. According to them Kerry and John are pains in the butt because they ask questions that have already been answered.  Well!!!!  So, we had dinner with Kerry and John one night in Santiago and they are really nice people, gentle souls, but she does go on and on and if you say 'I like the colour of that dress' she will have a 20 minute story about another dress in the same colour!!!  So, I now choose very carefully about what I say to her because once she starts you can't shut her up!!! 

Then there are Ron and Helen.  They are also in the 'have been before' bracket but are very nice although I do think there are eyes rolled occasionally.  Ron was my hero in Santa Cruz when our aircon didn't work - he came up to the room and removed the filters (which were filthy) and threw them under the bed.  It worked like a charm then.  We did replace the filters before we checked out.  That will do for one day!!!!!