Chile

Dear family and friends,

Some twenty odd years ago I heard a talk by Hugh Johnson, a well-known English wine writer. He was discussing the elements that were required to produce great wines; grape variety, climate, terroir, vintage, wine-making techniques, and, lastly, he added, a discriminating wine consumer. He then pointed out that in his view the best grape-growing region in the world was Chile, but serious wines were not being produced there because that last ingredient, a demanding public, was absent. At the time of Johnson's remarks, there were few Chilean wines available in B.C., Gato Negro and Undurraga are the two I remember. Since that time we have all come to enjoy the expanded line up of quaffable, fruit driven wines from Chile, with each new listing seeming to be better than the previous. It is easy to understand why, when I first contemplated a trip to South America, Chile was my number one destination on the continent.

Chile is a skinny little country that stretches about 4,300 km from Peru to the Straits of Magellan. It is ocean bound on one side and hemmed in by the Andes on the other. On average it is less than 200 km wide (at some points it is only 25 km) yet the land rises from sea level to as much as 6,000 m.

Little is known of Chile's pre-Columbian history as no written records exist. After conquering the Inca Empire of Peru, Spanish conquistadors turned south having heard of great wealth in what is now Chile. Pedro de Valdivia, an officer in Francisco Pizarro's army, established Santiago in 1541 along with several other outposts in what is now Chile. But like the Inca before him, Valdivia was unable to defeat the Mapuche people who lived in the central part of the country and early Chile remained a backwater for the next 300 years. Chile gained its independence from Spain in 1818; the Spanish never defeated the Mapuche and it was not until 1881 that a treaty was signed bringing their territory into Chile. Development of the country in the mid 1880's was fuelled by Chile's mineral wealth and its strategic location for ships passing around Cape Horn, an advantage that came to an abrupt halt with the opening of the Panama Canal in 1913.

Chile's more recent history, the democratic election of Salvador Allende in 1970 on a platform advocating nationalization of industry and expropriation of 'latifundidos', vast landholdings owned by an elite few, is pretty well known. Allende's programs, aimed at a massive redistribution of income to address centuries old inequities, quickly brought on serious economic problems, high inflation, falling production, crop declines, and black marketeering (albeit, much of it fostered by anti-government manipulators who created scarcities in food and commodities).

Pressed by large American companies such as Pepsi Cola and Anaconda Copper, and prodded by war crimes fugitive Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, the U.S. government, working through the CIA, financed a brutal military coup led by General Augosto Pinochet Ugarte on September 11, 1973 (another black 9/11 in U.S. history). Pinochet's reign of terror, which involved the disappearance of thousands of Chileans as well as international assassinations, lasted 16 years. According to locals with whom I spoke, it is only since Pinochet's arrest in September 1998 in London on a Spanish warrant that Chileans have felt free to speak of the terrors of Pinochet's regime, and only recently are Pinochet's supporters acknowledging the slaughter that took place.

Today, Chile is South America's third largest economy, growing on the strength of mining, fishing, farming, wine, and tourism. Chile is often cited as an example of a developing country soon to become a 'first world country'. Maybe so, but to me it has a long way to go. Almost all government services and programs were eliminated by Pinochet and all government enterprises were privatized. Housing around the major cities is as bleak as can be found almost anywhere. There is no national health care system, and little social welfare support. I have seldom seen so many or such pathetic beggars as those on the streets of Santiago, lying in rags with a paper cup in hopes of a handout.

As for me, after leaving the Grande Isla de Chiloe, my travels took me to Valdivia, site of three Spanish forts dating from 1645, then on to the Capital, Santiago, home to nearly one-third of the countries 15 million people. Most travel books find it difficult to be positive about Santiago, usually mentioning the ever-present smog and the frenzied traffic. I actually liked Santiago quite a lot. Although surrounded and dwarfed by Andean peaks, it is not nearly as smoggy as I expected, so Santiago was for me a nice change from the several weeks I had spent in the remoter reaches of South America. It has lots of pedestrian malls, many historical plazas and interesting neighbourhoods, and a lovely little central city park, Cerro Santa Lucia, with an entrance of fountains, archways, and columns that is surely the most impressive of any park in the world.

I did very much enjoy my travels through the south of Chile, particularly my visit to Chiloe. But, in the end, I have to be honest. I have to rat Chile out. As a destination to visit it comes up short on several accounts. Chile enjoys a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables, daily harvests of fish and shellfish, ample cereal crops and a wealth of beef, lamb, pork, and chicken. But to say that Chilean cuisine will sustain life would be high praise. Bland, boring, barely edible, often over cooked, always over salted and usually under seasoned, it is difficult to enjoy a fine Chilean wine as an accompaniment to these meals (although for any enjoyment, alcohol is essential). The ubiquitous 'empeñada' of South America, similar to a Cornish Pastie, was always good in Argentina, flaky crust and tasty filling. In Chile the thick, tough crust is not like your Mother makes, but more like the crust the mother on Married With Children might make. It is possible to enjoy a Chilean empeñada as a cultural experience once. But only once. Also, while people have been friendly, kind, and never rude, service is generally indifferent at best; it just seems people in shops and restaurants are unaware of service as a consideration.

Further, Chile has little colonial architecture of interest, and examples of indigenous culture are rarely seen. When they are encountered, they are selling the most woeful bunch of trash as souvenirs available anywhere in the world. With the exception of knitted goods, all the 'handmade' trinkets look like they were handmade in a factory in China.

And lastly, the fatal blow, Chile is expensive. You will well know this is a knockout factor for me. I have generally found prices in Chile at least double those in Argentina, and the quality seems one half. As always in a situation such as this, I am mystified how pricing like this can persist, and where the excess profits go, as they obviously do not go to the locals.

On March 4th I met John and Carole Holmes in Santiago just as they were finishing up their tour of Peru, Bolivia and Chile. They had one week to tour about before they flew home. With my stories of Chilean food and the lure of a wine festival in Mendoza (my pal Nadine Sherwin had sent me an e-mail to remind me), I was easily able to convince John and Carole we should go to Argentina. An eight hour bus ride wound up a series of tortuous switchbacks to 3,100 meters, through the Chile/Argentina border, and then past the massive, looming Mount Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Andes at 6,960 meters and the location for the movie Seven Years in Tibet.

Immediately after descending in the lee of the Andes, a flat valley, covered in the Disneyesque neat vineyards typical of all great wine areas, greeted us and shortly after we arrived in the city of Mendoza, the center for grape growing and wine production in Argentina. Mendoza is a great little city of about 150,000 people with lots of sidewalk cafes, many pedestrian malls and plazas, as well as streets which are lined with trees forming an arch over the roadway. We arrived on the Saturday evening of the festival windup weekend, the city was jammed with others like us who had come to celebrate the greatness of wine and only with the help of the tourist office were we able to find accommodation.

The next evening, Sunday, we attended the festival's gala celebration at the Frank Romero Day Greek theatre. The theatre is a huge Greek style amphitheatre set in a park. Seating accommodates over 30,000 and it was jammed, with thousands more on the outside sitting around on the surrounding hills. The program featured a cast of some 800, performing dances celebrating the glory of the grape, all under a black sky with a full moon looming overhead. Often there were two or three hundred performers on stage at the same time. The theatre has several stages on different levels, all connected, and the dance numbers used all stages at all times. As well, each number was accompanied by a dazzling sound and light show. The show finished with a spectacular fireworks display. It was a most unforgettable evening.

The three of us spent several great days in Mendoza, mostly loafing, but we did rent bikes one day and pedaled out to a nearby winery, Bodega La Rural, for a tour of the winery and their very good museum featuring all the local tools and techniques used over the centuries.

After John and Carole left to return to Santiago and home I spent a few more days in the Argentina cities of La Rioja and Cordoba. Then I made my own way back to Santiago with a stop in Vina del Mar, Chile's major seaside resort, and the nearby city of Valparaiso. In a few words, I could easily take a pass on the resort, dubious weather, questionable beach, unremarkable city. I did enjoy Valparaiso and its quirky, narrow, twisting streets, but unfortunately the city, once the home of Chilean elite, is now a mostly drab and dreary port dominated by the Chilean navy. Unfortunately, these last two cities validated my earlier opinion. (Or was my earlier opinion characterizing these two cities?) No matter, I suppose.

So, that's Chile, not as I had expected nor hoped. But the wines are great, as Hugh Johnson predicted they could be. My best regards to everyone. I hope you are all well.

Merv.