Jan 14 – SCL to Explora Patagonia

Early in the morning we went to SCL and got on our flight.

Along the way it seems like we went past an assembly line of volcanoes…

We get picked up in Punta Arenas and begin the drive to Explora. Later we would find out the “shortcut” was blocked by a huge boulder recently. So we’d be going the long way and it took about 7 hours.

 

No worries, the scenery quickly became very beautiful with lots of flowers and animals ….

Rivers, lakes, waterfalls…

Eventually we arrive…

This is where Explora Patagonia is…

The national park:

Oh and our room has amazing views…

Lago Pehoe

Salto Chico falls

Dinner would be a nightly adventure. The food was always very good, but the wait staff was learning.

The wines were limited unless paying extreme prices for “premium” wines…

The Syrah turned out to be the best option. Not shown are the whites, also not spectacular.

One note on Explora, the wifi was horrid =(

JAN 15 – Sierra del Toro

Our first morning we got ourselves in for a tough one.

The trail goes immediately up about 800 feet in very little distance. I am glad I had poles and I was drenched with sweat at the top. But it was worth it.

We saw so many kinds of flowers and berries and our guide – Kango – knew them all.

We were grouped up with a bunch of ultra fit Aussies and Alessandro and Nicole, a couple from Canada whom we really enjoyed hiking and dining with.

The weather was constantly on the edge of rain and wind, but it held off for the most part… the shifting light made views change every minute it seemed.

We huddled in the forest among some dead “spider” trees – they look like spiders with their many trunks.

Sandwiches, soup, and a little coffee with Bailey’s sure do taste good in the midst of a 13km, 1800 feet vertical hike.

Later we had a few minutes of zen silence taking in the view:

We hiked up and around a good distance there and looped back around to come down the volcanic loose rock we started at. It started to rain as we descended, but the timing was almost perfect. We were quickly in the van enjoying a beer on the ride back to Explora.

JAN 16 – The amazing morning photos and Lago Grey Glacier

Up at 4AM the next morning the sun was just rising and you get a feel for just how far south we are… and close to the poles. Daylight is forever. However, I look out my window and it is still. The Lago Pehoe is reflecting the Paine Massif…

Then as the sun peeks out some more… an amazing rainbow.

By the time I got some clothes on and got outside, the wind had picked up and the rainbow was gone 🙁

So these few photos are all I have of it.

Anyhow… for this day, we loaded into the boat…

and crossed this lake… to then hike around the main mountain and to the lake behind – Lago Grey.

It’s 11km from there and we had to do it fast to catch our next boat. Our guide, Nicolas, really had the whip to us, but we snuck some photos in between.

The main peak looked like an ice castle.

As we came over the ridge and could see the lower part of Lago Grey, we could see icebergs floating in it.

Over a couple more ridges and we could see north and the glacier…

We had to keep moving though…

We made a steep descent and found a rocky beach not far from the dock to have a quick lunch… some people iced their feet in the lake! wow it was cold!

From there we had to hurry a bit, which we didn’t… There are a lot of flower pictures in between… But we made it to the little boat…

Which took us to the bigger boat that’d bring us closer to the glacier…

More insane views of the back of the mountain all perfectly frozen. Images don’t do it justice, it amazed me…

At last – the glacier!

I won’t describe it really because I can’t. We didn’t see any pieces falling though and I’m kind of glad we didn’t. When we temporarily got hung up on an iceberg and had to power through it, that was close enough for me 😀

There are about 200 more pictures, but that’s enough I suppose.

As the boat turned south to drop us off at the other dock where the van was waiting, the speedy 11km hike started to set in… or maybe it was the Pisque Sour with glacier ice in it, but I konked out for a few… Lethy woke me up for a glamour shot though…

From that dock we had to hike 1km or so and cross a suspension bridge… Lethy was not amused.

But waiting in the van was cool salvation:

JAN 17 – Mark and Dad: French Valley, Mom and Lethy: Animal hike + Gaucho BBQ!

Frank and I again took the boat across Lago Pehoe, then immediately skirt to the east around the mountain.

Our guide, Marcus, is a really nice guy. We will always be there in 10 minutes… and only 2km left!

We are quickly between the mountain and Lago Skottberg:

On the mountain above us are some small glaciers…

The hike is slow ups and downs and the crowd is distinctly chattier and slower. Its a nice easy hike, although a lot of distance to cover (17k round trip). It did have a nice rickety bridge though!

A few hours later we’re sunning ourselves on boulders as we lunch and watch for avalanches…

And one happened while we are there, a very small one though. I caught some of the snow still settling in one shot…

A chunk of ice broke off above and hit these rocks creating a cloud of powder.

The view of the “horns” from the French Valley is also quite impressive:

We wait a while longer and gobble up all the goodies with lunch, but eventually its time to go.

On the return hike, Marcus decides to have me set the pace, pick the rest points, and keep reminding everyone just 10 more minutes.

As far as Lethy and Mom… well they hiked and saw guanacos mating and fighting…. all kinds of other little critters, and then went and had gaucho BBQ. Lethy briefly rode a horse and helped another girl get over her fears. I don’t have many details but their guide Pistu was great I’m told!

Then at night, we drank the 2nd gift from Antonio of Santa Rita.

A bottle of Santa Rita Casa Real Cabernet 2007 and have dinner with Alessandro and Nicole.

After dinner, we had a bottle of Taylor’s port and a cheese, fruit and nut plate.

A great way to end a great stay in Patagonia.

JAN 18 – The ride to El Calafate

We packed and left at noon and headed for the Argentine border.

After we processed our passports and start to load back into the van, Lethy and Mom decide to wander back into Chile and buy gum… luckily, international incident averted.

Later, over the border, we stop in Hotel Esperanza for one of the worst lunches ever. There was no running water, so you imagine what they can serve lol.

On the plus side, every guest is encouraged to draw on the walls…

Mom decided to let them know which side of the border we prefer lol

El Calafate airport is nice and modern… and you can’t use 75% of it because they close it until 10 minutes before boarding times. Oh well.

We flew to BA around an ENORMOUS storm. Literally hundreds of miles long of nonstop lightning and huge black roiling clouds. We skirted the edge but were close a lot. Frightening and enthralling.

When we landed in BA, it was 95 and 90% humidity… at midnight. And the cab wait was 1h…. in line… outside. Luckily we got a tip to go to international arrivals and had a ride to the hotel in 15 minutes.

We went back to El Establo for a very late snack of salads and steak. Yum! (Norton Malbec-Malbec).

Jan 19 – Half a day before a whole lot of flying

Mom and Lethy went back to San Telmo market (it was sunday again coincidentally). Frank and I got some work done at the hotel. Before we left, we had a nice lunch at Sorrento.

10pm flight. Left the hotel at 6. At the airport before 7pm. The line for checkin for coach was so long, we barely made our flight. Ah well, we made it.

It was an awesome vacation. We saw so many different things… now if we can somehow manage to go back for more!

 

 

JAN 11 – Andes crossing + arrival at Santa Rita

I’m really glad we decided to be shuttled through the Andes. The variance in terrain as you go along is breath taking… as if the thin air wasn’t breath taking enough.

From the highway you can see Aconcagua – the highest peak in the Americas at 22,841 feet.

After crossing the border we stopped at El Portillo, a ski area, just to take a look around. It seems small from its “base” until you realize that there is a lift that goes down among the “28 curves” and people ski down the side of the mountain there.

28 curves – yes it is that scary.

When we arrived at Santa Rita, we quickly grabbed our suits and went to the pool…. Lethy went and got a bike… which I stole for a bit as well and we wandered the grounds some…

Of course dinner featured many different wines…

The Carmen blend was our favorite. So far no luck finding it in the US.

JAN 12 – El Morado – time to work off some of that wine!

The next day we got a bit of late start which meant we’d be hiking in the heat of the day.

We brought 4L of water, which proved to be too little 🙁

We started with a lot of energy!

Yep, it’s only 6km to the lake, but because of the heat and dryness, it felt much, much further.

I actually forgot to take pictures when we got there I was so focused on lunch.  From my mom:

We did eventually get there and back, but we were all parched. On our way down, a park ranger was coming up the trail and gave us some water from a clean spring.

And back at Santa Rita again a fantastic dinner with a wide array of wines:

Both the blend and the straight Syrah were very good. The Syrah varietal was surprisingly full bodied.

Mom and Lethy snuck into the kitchen to ask the chef, Elisa, some questions:

Jan 13 – Apalta Valley – Lapostolle and Montes

Lapostolle is really nestled into the hill of the Apalta valley. If you don’t know its there you’d never find it. It’s designed to be a nest from the outside and a wine barrel from the inside.

And from up top:

The wines are obviously pretty good too, especially the Clos Apalta.

Hey, some of us have been here before!

From there we went and had lunch at Hotel San Fernando. Good food… and as a preview for the afternoon we had a good wine:

You can’t tell from the photo, but the deck is over a pool of water, which actually runs under and through the winery. Some Feng shui thing. The vineyard here really goes up the mountain steeply and they took us on a little ride up there and back around.

We did the entry level tasting which was perhaps a mistake. All good daily wines, but nothing spectacular. Syrah was the best.

Back to Santa Rita for dinner, they saved the best for last.

We started with a Cab. Then Antonio and Manuel got us a special gift. The first of two.

Carmen every year makes a label that is primarily for the employees at Carmen and Santa Rita. They get a few bottles each and a small remainder goes to market. Antonio gave us one of his from a year they consider the best ever. Also we had a bottle of Triple C (Not pictured).

The second gift we would have later.

Off to Patagonia the next morning EARLY.

All trip pictures here.

 

JAN 8 – Cavas

Early on the 8th we flew to Mendoza and arrived about mid day.

We arrive to Cavas and it’s really a unique place. It’s hidden out in the vineyard. Our rooms were not ready so we had lunch which was nice… and I liked this wine:

After lunch we got to see our rooms… each suite has its own plunge pool and a nice outdoor shower. The room inside is very natural feeling with the adobe walls and stone bathroom. There is also a staircase to the roof where you can have a small fire and look at the stars.

After walking the grounds and taking a dip in the pool, we had dinner. The first night we had a white and then opened the gratuity wine, which was disappointing.

JAN 9 – Wine tours begin!

First stop was Vina Cobos.

The building is sort of a modern square glass thing. Not very impressive. You come in and immediately are in the tasting area. No tour, just a description of the ownership group and their land parcels then down to business.

The wines were nice, but unspectacular. Comparing taste to price list, I’d pass.

Lunch was at Ruca Mulan. We had a nice quick tour and then enjoyed some really nice food.

Unfortunately they had some problems in the kitchen and we really had to rush things in the end. Their wines were very nice and seem like a nice value.

Our last stop was a super duper small place… Carmello Patti. He is a one man show. He buys grapes and does all the vinification on his own, then hires staff to help bottle and label. We tasted several at his place and they were good.

We bought a bottle and had it was our second with dinner…. FANTASTIC after 3 hours in a decanter. Picture later.

We arrived back, a quick dip in the pool and a shower and we get ready to watch a private tango show just for the Cavas guests. Sadly the live musicians were unable to attend, but there were 2 couples dancing and one brave volunteer from the crowd!

We started with a light red, which was ok… but really paled in comparison to the Carmello.

JAN 10 – Uco Valley.

It’s about an hour from Mendoza even with Carlos’s shortcuts (our driver for both days).

It gets up into the hills more and the Andes really seem to be hanging over us. However, it did not come out well in photos because there was so much dust in the air.

Salentein was our first stop.

A massive building really dug into the ground as the cellar. There is a second massive building as well that serves as an art museum and guest center.

Their production volume is enormous. Something like 16 million liters a year…

I was not overly impressed with any of the wines at the tasting… and whats up with all the Merlot…

To be fair, I’ve had good Salentein wines in the past, just what they served was low level and young.

Next stop was O. Fournier which is a very interesting property. The winery is just plain weird looking.

The cellar is actually underground on the right here.

This was a tasting with lunch. The food was very good. The wines were also quite nice.

Lethy and Mom did the lower tasting, Frank and I the top level.

The blend and the B and A crux were all very nice. And the Chardonnay was very crisp.

Late in our lunch, the owner arrived and we met with him on our way out. They are actually selling shares in the vineyard where you can buy a plot and they’ll grow grapes of your choice and make wine or you can blend for yourself.

An interesting concept, but a pipe dream for sure.

Lastly, we had a dinner out in Mendoza. The food was SUPERB. Nearly at the iLatina level.

With it we had some nice wines, too.

The first 2 were very nice, but the Bressia absolutely stole the show. Very nice.

The next day we’d be up very early to go through the Andes.

All trip pictures here.

This year’s big trip was to Argentina and Chile. It broke down into 4 main parts:

Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Santa Rita + Vicinity, and Explora Patagonia.

JAN 4 – Arrival

Lethy and I flew in overnight and arrived to the hotel just in time to catch a late walking tour of the aristocratic part of town.

Our tour guide (BA Free Tours) Maggie was great and recommended a nice local place – La Dorita – for dinner which was a great value and good steak.

The wine was not bad either!

JAN 5 – Walking the City, San Telmo Market

Our 2nd day we did a self walking tour through the government district and all the way to the San Telmo Sunday Market. Lots of neat hand crafts and plenty of junk. Also, pickpockets everywhere.

We had a really unspectacular lunch along the way and then a decent but overpriced dinner at Nazarenas. The wines were nice though:

JAN 6 – Cemetary

We spent most the day touring the Recoleta Cemetery…

The varied architecture is really interesting to see all in one place.

“It smells like something died here….”

Evita’s grave is actually not as crazy as I expected at all…

We had dinner at El Establo. Best steak dinner we had. Simple place, Spanish owner and style. First wine was a bit of a dud.

Second wine was nice.

JAN 7 – Storms and Frank + Magda arrive

Heavy thunderstorms in the morning kept us indoors. Magda and Frank arrived mid day and we went to our “watch people” lunch spot down Florida street.

I used the indoors time and afternoon to get caught up on some work.

For dinner we met with Burt Ross and his wife Joan at iLatina – billed to be the best restaurant in BA.

It did not disappoint, the food was very interesting and the wine pairings were pretty good. We were definitely the loudest table and that is an accurate gauge of how good a time we had.

All photos from the whole trip here.