HEADING SOUTH

The strange thing about travelling in the southern hemisphere for a long period of time is the confusion between what your eyes are seeing and what your mind is telling you. We have been chasing the beginning of the spring season for months now. Tulips, lilacs, azeleas and magnolia are in full bloom and it feels like we are in an eternal spring... yet my mind knows it is October!

We spent a few days travelling through one of the wine producing areas of Chile south of Santiago. Grown alongside the vineyards are orchards of fruit trees in full bloom. The vines bear embryonic bunches of grapes that will mature into plump, juicy fruit, ready to be harvested in late February.

We toured two wineries, Mont Gras and Montes, both completely different in their approach to acheiving quality wines with signature characteristics.

At Montes, the ultra premium red wines are casked in oak an placed in a softly lit, humidity controlled modern cellar with soothing Gregorian chant music played to them continually! The smell of oak and grapes, the soft music and dim lighting were certainly evocative to our senses, perhaps the wine benefits to?

Whilst in Santa Cruz we spent a few hours in the fantastic museum. The range of exhibits was emormous covering subjects relative to South America ranging from palentology, textiles and pottery, and Chilean social ,military and maritime history. There were also exibits relating to Charles Darwin's travels through South America and an extensive display of steam powered engines and vintage cars including a steam lorry from Sentinal works in Shrewsbury. A similar lorry is to be found in the Morris oil company's collection.