Today was no exception and the bus collected us after breakfast for a 45 minute ride to Vina Montes, a beautiful winery in the Apalta region. This winery has been designed according to Feng Shui principles and has an angel as it's symbol!
After a tour of the operational area and amazing display of barrels we all sat down to taste 9 wines - Savignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cab Sav, Syrah and Carmenere. All were good but some were extra good.
Following the tasting we were taken way up the hill in two trucks (seats on the back) to lunch! This was an open air arrangement, table beautifully laid out with flowers etc and we were offered a glass of bubbly. Then red wines were served with the most delicious BBQ - rump steak, pork ribs, sausage, grilled carrot & eggplant and several salads. Dessert was fresh fruit and a sweet slice.
The funny thing is, nobody feels like dinner after all that food! It is really hot so we sat at the pool for a couple of hours then walked up the street for an icecream!
Santa Cruz is a nice little town, would probably be better in the spring or autumn though. There are lots of stray dogs around, mostly all in the park as we walked through earlier. They appear to have rites - cars stop for them as they use the pedestrian crossing & we watched one dog check out every plastic rubbish bag looking for something tasty! I also went for a walk as soon as we got back to the hotel as I needed to buy a sun hat - found one at a small shop and another customer could see I was struggling with my Spanish so she interpreted for me and asked where I was from. When I said Melbourne she said she had lived there for 2 years when she was 5-7 and went to school at Ruyton Girls! She is Swedish.
We move on to another area tomorrow and will be there for 4 days. 
Have just had a chance to look at your Blog - it is awesome. Still think you should be a travel writer!
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