I had the good fortune to be invited to a Vendemia (grape harvest) out in the country south of Santiago. Unfortunately my friends who invited me couldn't go, so I jumped on a bus and followed the instructions from Juan and Luis (my hosts): take the bus to Cauquenes, along the Los Conquistadores route, get off the bus at the Las Garzas bridge, around kilometer 55.
So I jumped off the bus at this rural location, with the bus guy eyeing me twice to make sure I knew where I was going (I didn't). I waited at the stop and saw a guy riding a horse, and carrying the reins of another horse -- ah! this must be Juan I thought. I stood and looked at the man as he approached, gave him a "qué tal?" as he neared, and watched him silently clop-clop past me. I guess that wasn't Juan.
After five more minutes Juan arrived, wearing glasses, sporting a great moustache and a tan hat that covered his neck. He led me through the woods to the field of grapes, where I spent the next few hours filling baskets with the sweet, sticky fruit.
The group of about 25 Chileans and gringos loaded up the trucks and ate a few sweet grapes along the way. We climbed up to the house and spent the evening eating grilled meat, drinking wine and punch, and singing songs -- some of them fairly salacious. We gringos felt like failures because we couldn't think of many good songs to sings as a group, only "Yesterday" by the Beatles.
The next morning we woke up late, rolled big barrels -- made of a clay/mortar substance -- to prepare chicha, a wine/liquor drink made from grapes. We spent some time smashing grapes then shared a hearty lunch among good company and made our way on the bus back to the big city.
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| Getting off the bus, at the bridge "Las Garzas" near the town of Cauquenes, 4.5 hours south of Santiago. |
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| Waiting for Juan, a friend of friends. |
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| I mistakenly thought this guy on the horse was Juan. |
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| Juan leading me to his family's house and the vineyard. |
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| The fields of grapes, with the house in the distance. |
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| Loading the truck. |
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| The grapes. |
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| Piling up the grapes for loading on the truck. |
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| Loading up the truck at the end of the day. |
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| Carne, mucha carne. |
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| Singing campfire songs, great fun. |
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| The drummer keeps getting more and more outrageous as the night goes on. |
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| View in the morning. |
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| Getting the barrels ready for chicha, a strong, sweet wine-type drink. |
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| Rolling the barrels into place. |
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| Cleaning things out. |
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| Long-armed Joe climbing in to place the plug. |
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| Preparing the grapes for smashing. |
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| Smashing the grapes. |
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| Don't forget to remove the twigs and leaves. |
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| More smashing.... |
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| ...and smashing... |
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| ...and smashing. |
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| Lunchtime. |
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| Lentil soup, very tastey. |
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| The house, being constructed with mud and hay. |
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| Wall construction. |
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| Tarantula found in the vegetation. |
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| Waiting for the bus back to Santiago. |
