Cruise The World With Us

Monday – February 10, 2025

After our fog experience on Sunday we were apprehensive about the chances for a successful excursion on Monday. As it turned out, we did not need to be. As you can see from the pre-dawn photo at the beginning of today’s photos, it was clear. That also shows in the time-lapse sunrise.

We were on our way on the shuttle bus by 8:30 am and arrived at the tour bus to be greeted by our guide for the day – Alvaro. The bus has a capacity of 44. There were 11 of us on this excursion so we moved forward so Alvaro could talk with us rather than use the P.A. He gave us lots of info about Chile we had heard on Sunday. He told us that one of the drinks we had for lunch Sunday is called a piscoe sour. It tastes like a margarita but has white wine rather than tequila. He also recommended another drink called an earthquake. It is made with white wine, grenadine and pineapple ice cream. We haven’t had one of those but it sounds good.

Some produce related items Alvaro told us about are the crops raised in the Casablanca Valley – avocado, blueberries, grapes and potatoes. The climate of the area is perfect for these because the Andes to the East trap moisture in the valley and the temperature doesn’t get extremely hot. He told us the sopapillas we had yesterday were made from squash. He also told us about corn cake – one of his favorite dishes. Pastel de choclo is a traditional dish from Chile, typically made with a filling of Pino (ground beef mixed with onions)—a piece of chicken (a leg or ¼ breast), raisins, and olives are also commonly added and topped with a layer of sweet corn purée. The sweet corn topping is usually mixed with basil or other herbs to add flavor.

We drove for about 45 minutes to reach the Casablanca area. I included a screen grab from Apple Maps. The Estancia El Cuadro is a 200+ acre plot owned by a German family from Santiago. The bottle roughly 8,000 a year using facilities of the larger wineries in the area. They specialize in a wine made from grapes that require a hotter growing environment so they purchase grape juice from wineries further South in Chile. All the wine they produce is either used on site or sold to visitors only on site – no retail or wholesale outlets. More on the type of wine later. The grapes they grow are sold to the large local wineries.

Our day was to include more than tasting wine. We were greeted by Daniel and Roberto. Daniel led us to a corral and on the way we saw a peahen with 5 chicks. At the corral we saw a man and a boy dressed in gaucho garb sitting atop horses. Next we walked to a fenced area where alpaca were grazing (you’ll see photos of them). Flying above the area was an eagle – one of 5 sharing a nest in the area.

We returned to the corral and took seats in bleachers to watch as Daniel explained how a gaucho saddles his horse and puts on his working clothes. You’ll find a video that goes through all the steps (except putting the restraint on the horses front legs – you can see that in place in the video). Once the horse was saddled and the gaucho had his gear on, he joined the older man and boy for a demonstration of how the gaucho controls his horse. You’ll also see video of that.

When the horse riding demonstration was complete we turned our attention to the bleacher area where a young boy and girl dressed in festive clothing danced for us. I don’t know the name of the dance but it is one that all children in the area learn from a young age (grade school). Dancing finished and the boy and girl led us to a shaded area where the horses and riders were waiting so we could take photos with them. On the way one of our group noticed some grapes near the path, grabbed some and shared them with me. They were pinot noir and tasted very good. You’ll see a couple photos of him holding and eating the grapes.

Following the picture taking we entered the main building which houses a museum showing the steps to making wine. The figures were all carved by a famous Chilean artist (whose name I didn’t think to record). Daniel led us through the process reading from a script. This was his first session with a non-Spanish-speaking group so he was a bit nervous. I think he did a great job. There are photos and video of our trip through the museum with Daniel.

Meanwhile Roberto was busy setting up a table for us to try two of their wines with cheeses, vegetables and meats. The first wine we tried was a 2022 rose pinot noir. I’m not a wine connoisseur (I barely know how to spell that). It tasted good to me and sparked my interest to try the cheeses. I found the blue cheese to be exquisite and probably ended up eating half what they had set out. The second wine we tried was a 2021 carmenere. Carmenere is a medium-bodied red wine that originated in Bordeaux, France, and now grows almost only in Chile. The wine is treasured for its supple red-and-black berry flavors (in a similar style to Merlot). The reason it is grown almost exclusively in Chile has to do with a phylloxera plague in 1867 that attacked the roots of the French wine stock and wiped it out. That same stock, planted in Chile, was not affected due to the type of soil in Chile. It was not until years later that the growers in Chile realized the gold mine they now had since their vines survived. Carmenere requires grapes that receive more heat than the Casablanca Valley generates. So the grapes used in the wine we drank – the signature wine of this winery – were grown in Southern Chile. The taste of the wine was full-bodied. I liked it.

So what would you expect after you’ve had a chance to taste some wine? Next we had the chance to taste 20 varieties of grapes! Just outside the tasting room was an area where 20 varieties are planted and ready to be sampled. Lucky for us that grapes here are normally harvested by end of March or early April – so they already had flavor that was tolerable. We explored the varieties and Roberto told us they even had one variety – chasselas – that has been rumored to be the first variety used to make wine. Don’t know if that is true but from what I read it has been around for a long time. The zinfandel grapes I tried were really good. I can’t remember all the others but I must have liked the zin the best because I went back to that row several times. While we were sampling the grapes, Roberto got into a discussion with one of the tour group about adding sugar to wine at a winery. You’ll listen to a video where he clearly states that it is against the law in Chile to add sugar at a winery. Don’t know what the penalty is but it didn’t sound to me like something one would want to do.

All this work (none on our part) made us hungry so we headed inside to a dining area for lunch. There was a spread of salads for us to pick from and a waiter and waitress brought us fresh baked rolls, wine, beef and chicken. I chose the camenere and Jan chose a white wine. I had beef and was forced to try the chicken (not really – and I’m glad I did). In time dessert was brought – panna cotta topped with blueberry sauce, blueberries and strawberries and garnished with white chocolate shavings. Alvaro had told us he was a panna cotta fanatic. I can see why – it was great!

As we ate our dessert the boy and girl danced as they had at the corral. They offered their visitors the chance to dance with them – Alvaro took the opportunity and showed that he remembered the dance from 20 years ago when he first learned it in school. You can view a video of him performing – including the stomping (less the spurs).

Following the consumption of mass quantities of panna cotta and the dancing we were shown the company store where we had a chance to purchase their wines. MSC has a policy concerning alcohol that if you bring it aboard, it is put in quarantine until you disembark the ship. In our case that would be until May 5th. We really wanted to bring some wine back for our table mates to try but that was not to be so we passed on a wine purchase.

We departed the winery ahead of schedule – probably because the schedule was based on a larger number of participants. On the return trip I was able to snap a picture of the Casablanca Cathedral. It is a church to which people make a pilgrimage each year – including the years of COVID. Some of the pilgrims make that journey on their knees. Alvaro said miracles have been known to happen for some of the pilgrims. I can’t imagine what it would be like to “walk” even one mile on your knees!

We arrived at the ship in time to allow me to take some photos of the hillsides near the port. The weather yesterday hadn’t been the best for long-range photography. I was able to capture some of the color of the do-whatever-you-want structures on those hillsides. We sailed out of Valparaiso and had a nice dinner. I’ve included photos of a few of the offerings.

Following dinner there was no entertainment in the theatre. However, there was a type of theatre. One of the staff had a medical emergency so Magnifica returned to the port and used one of its tenders to transport that person to medical personnel waiting at the dock. I had set up the camera to take a time-lapse of the sunset so I captured some of that voyage.

Tonight we leave for our journey to Hanga Roa (Easter Island). We will be at sea 4 days and plan to arrive on Saturday, 2-15.

You can view today’s video and photos here.