I had decided to minimize the amount of travel we did in Chile and so decided on the wine country just an hour or so south of Santiago. Termas de Cauquenes, a spa hotel kept re-appearing in guide books and so we were heading there for a few days.

However, we were lured by the sign for Il Giardino, a boutique hotel, on the way to the spa. It was lovely..hopefully I can show you the photos.

We still went to see the spa but were appalled at the dingy rooms, the individual spa baths, and the peacocks meandering in and out of the bath area leaving their residue.

So back to hotel number one via the Jumbo supermercado which could have been a mall anywhere in the world. But once at the Il Giardino hotel, we saw the Andes on the horizon with a bit of snow at their peaks. Not a bad sight to look at while eating dinner.


Then a wine tasting tour, our raison d'etre for the trip. Got to see the different grape varieties and beautiful roses which are grown around the vines because if there is an infestation, roses will be the first plants to suffer. So they are a tipoff.

Our guide was a young woman who was going to be married in a couple of months. Of course, Michael asked her if she were living with her boyfriend. She said it was unacceptable to do that in Chile before marriage.

Everything closed down early on Dec. 24 and we hurried to the town of Rancagua to check it out for Xmas eve. People still rushing around buying gifts, and jugglers still continued performing at stop lights trying to eke out a few more pesos.

Then my knee buckled as we walked back to our car and there was no more activity for me.

Just as well, since everything was closed for Christmas.