Janet's Last Weekend or NOT!

Well today (Saturday, June 9th) was an extremely interesting and packed day! We were under the assumption that this was Janet's last weekend in Chile, so Kareem and I wanted her to pick any place in Chile that she wanted to go. So she chose to go to a Vinyard/Winery in CasaBlanca Valley, home of many different white and red wines, and many that you all purchase from the grocery stores in the US. So off we went, we left the house around 9am, and 4 buses (Los Micros, they are called Micro buses here, because in Europe, they have Double-Decker Busses, and they call them Macros, but they only have single-story busses here). Anyways, 4 buses later, we ended up in CasaBlanca Valley. CasaBlanca literally means in Spanish White-house, Casa=house, Blanca=white. Once in CasaBlanca Valley we walked to a Winery/Vineyard called Veramonte. This place was extremely impressive, however when we got there they said the Winery was closed. It was closed due to a private party. So we were kind of disappointed.

Now imagine this, we took 4 buses to get here and are out in the middle of a valley with nothing around us except Vinyards. As far as we can see there is nothing around us except Vinyards. So, we were dropped off by a bus at a winery/Vinyard that was closed, and we didnt know when the next bus would be... could be 30 minutes or hours. So what do three Medical students do when they are stuck in the middle of a valley surrounded by Vinyards? Well we decided that we would walk to the next winery/Vinyard that we saw on our bus ride to the current location that we were at. However, Janet, Kareem nor I could remember how far it was away. So fast forward a little, and about 3 hours later, we were still walking and finally come to the next Winery/Vinyard. Here is the bad news: It was also Closed. So by this time we are extremely tired, and probably have walked close to 10 or 12 Kilometers in the middle of a valley and all we wanted to do was find one Winery/vinyard that we could tour. (plus this was Janet's last weekend-in-Chile-Wish, or so we thought, it turns out some dates got mixed up, and it is not her last weekend, but thatis a minor detail).

Well it turns out that we caught another bus, (this is now our 3rd bus). We rode the bus until we got to a 3rd Winery/Vinyard Called VINA MAR! FINALLY, this Winery was open. (It is now sometime around 3pm, and we set out on this journey around 9am). Vina Mar was open and we fulfilled Janet's wish of being able to tour a vinyard/winery. We took a lot of pictures, so please enjoy them. We bought a bottle of their wine that they produce in the winery and drank almost all of it there. It was awesome. So, sit back and enjoy more pictures. Please click on Photograph for enlarged picture.


Vina Mar from the Highway. Route 68. The highway runs from Santiago to ValParaiso and through the CasaBlanca Valley.


Steve and Kareem infront of the Pinot Noir sign. This is a sign that indicates what type of grape grows here, and what wine it gets processed into.


VINA MAR VINYARD AND WINERY! IN CASABLANCA VALLEY!


WELCOME TO VINA MAR VINYARD AND WINERY!


Steve and Kareem, Bargaining with the vinyard Manager.


Janet and Steve.


Smile.


Janet and Kareem.


Janet STILL enjoying her wine!


Empty!


Janet Enjoying her Wine! I mean really enjoying it! Really enjoying it! She better be!


Steve and Kareem enjoying some wine.


Steve, Kareem and Janet enjoying fresh wine from Vina Mar Vinyard and Winery.


This is Kareem standing next to a road sing. Can you tell what this sign means? It took us a while to figure it out, but it means there is a bridge ahead.



A photograph of real Cowboys in Chile. This picture was taken along our three hour walk to find another Vinyard/Winery.


The Three of us!


Steve infront of a Vinyard.


Vinyards in CasaBlanca Valley.


Kareem on the first bus out to CasaBlanca Valley.


Steve on the first bus out to CasaBlanca Valley.


Janet, Kareem, Steve and Della infront of The University of Santa Maria in ValParaiso. (This is also from today, but after returning from CasaBlanca Valley to ValParaiso. Della (the lady in this picture, is the owner of the house we are staying at. She works at The University of Santa Maria.)