Due South

We bid good-bye to Santa Cruz and were in for our first serious day of traveling. The roads here have been quite good and impressive. While I know climate has a good part of why they fare so well, but I'm sure a Chilean would be surprising by driving on our roads.

Miguel Torres
We took a break from driving by popping off Ruta 5 to the well-signed Miguel Torres winery. We were about 15 minutes too early for lunch, so we popped into the tasting room, where they had plenty (and I mean a lot!) of wines to try. They also charged by the glass, but at least this time it was more reasonable - about $3 USD for the basic wines and $5 USD for the higher-end wines. I got their newer Cordillera blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier. Fragrant, it needed air to open up the dark fruits and heavy tannins.

Lunch was awesome, but again you had to buy wine by the glass. So we split two dishes, and I got what was recommended for them. For the awesome salad, the Santa Digna Cabernet Sauvignon rose was the recommendation. Well-balanced, it wasn't too sweet or too dry, and paired nicely.

With the veal and figs the Santa Digna Carmenere was the choice, tasting like no other Carmenere I've tried. It was fruity and even a bit sweet, with some tannins and spice at the finish. I think Carmenere disbelievers may like this one!

Back on the road
We kept going on Ruta 5 to encounter sporadic amounts of construction. A lot of the damage that came from last February's earthquake has been fixed, but some minor spots remain. The roads continued to be fast and had plenty of gas stations to fill up.

Middle of nowhere
The next stay was in the middle of nowhere, at Guesthouse El Rincon. Finding it in Lonely Planet it made sense to enjoy the wilderness in German style. The signage is there, but small...but it wasn't too hard to find the place.

Arriving to some well-treed wooden structures, we looked for a sign of life. Finally encountered someone, she only spoke Spanish. Knowing that the host spoke English, we wondered if we were in the right place. She asked for a moment and got the cell phone, soon connecting me to the owner who was out for the moment.

So we walked the grounds covered in various plants, including huge lavender and hydrangea, plum trees, a pond that has water lilies, and even a river. And of course all sorts of bugs. Thankfully they seemed to stay away from the main residence, but it makes you wonder why they don't put screens on their windows. (So European!)

Dinner was with the older hosts, and included a friend from Germany and an Austrian tourist riding down Chile with a motorcycle. It was nice German cooking, and it was surreal to be in Chile, listening to German. For the company and surroundings, it was a nice place to stay.

Bugs bites: none in the morning, two upon arrival at our guesthouse
Total KMs traveled to date: Over 1,100 km