Santiago, Chile,-- Another Town We Did Not See

Our ship docked in Valparaiso, Chile, the port for Santiago,  but Santiago is actually several hours away by bus.  We decided on more local tours.  The first day our tour took us out of town into farming country.  We saw fields of red and white lettuce, cabbage and other produce which I could not identify through the tinted bus windows.  A lot of fruit, especially blueberries, is grown here and shipped to the United States.














Our destination was in the wine country with acres of grapes surrounding the winery we visited.  All the production is organic using a method called biodynamics.  I am not quite sure how to explain it, but it has to do with putting elements back in the soil after somehow using ground rock to absorb the nutrients.  What ever they do, it makes a very fine wine.  Those who have taken several wine tours, said this was the best explanation they had ever heard.  We sampled one dry white wine and two reds.  All were drier than my taste, but I guess they were good.


Our second stop was at a ranch which raised Chilean horses for Chilean rodeo.  This is not to be confused with the Western rodeo with its bucking horses, roping and bull riding.  The Chilean rodeo emphasizes the breeding, training and skill of the horse more than the daring of the rider.  The Chilean horse is a special breed whose main function is to work cattle.  They are shorter and stockier than most horses.  Only horses of this breed are allowed to compete in the rodeos.  The rider scores points for the skill of the horse in such maneuvers as galloping in a tight circle of a figure 8.  The rounder and smaller the circle, the higher the score.  Ideally, in a figure 8 , you would see only one figure in the dirt no matter how many times the horse goes over it since the idea is to stay in the same track each time.

The main event involves a team of cowboys who drive a steer out of a herd, chase it back and forth across the arena and then force it against a padded side of the fence.  The horse actually uses its body to push the steer, which means that as they cross the arena, the horse is sort of galloping sideways.  As I said, it is the horse who is the star in Chilean rodeos.  However, the event requires a lot of coordination between the two horses and the riders.  These horses are trained for about 7 - 9 years before they are deemed strong enough and skilled enough to compete.  Then they may compete for about 10 years before they retire.

The national dance of Chile involves a man and woman waving white handkerchiefs, prancing around using intricate steps and motions and never touching each other.  According to our host, it is supposed to represent a rooster courting a hen.  I will take her word for it. The whole dance looked as if it would take a lot of practice.  The dancers wear traditional costumes.

Rapanui is the name for
people of Easter Island.

Once back in Valparaiso, we stopped at the Fonck Museum, a small museum with a large section on Easter Island.   The rest of the first floor covers the various peoples of Chile from south to north.  That is quite a ways, since the length of Chile is greater than the width of the "Lower 48."  The upper level covers the natural history of the country with an extensive collection of all the various plants, bugs and animals found throughout the land.  One of the actual statues from Easter Island stands guard outside the museum.