May 10, 2013
Today, we started by going to a vineyard. This was our second company visit, to Viña
Indómita, but it was still a bit odd that we started the day with wine. The vineyard was built in a valley, which
resulted in an incredible view from the front door.
We learned a lot about wine, today, including the processes
to make red and white wines, which are very different. White wine is made by crushing the grapes in
a way that does not harm the skins too much, and straining out the juice. The juice is then fermented for only about
ten days. Red wine, however, is made by
putting all of the grapes into one huge vat, in a way that they crush each
other. That juice is then fermented in
the presence of the skins. The grapes
then get crushed again, and the process repeats. The first crush makes the best quality wine. Then, the wines get aged in either oak
barrels,
or steel vats.
The better wines get aged in the oak to add complexity to
the flavor, while the lower quality wines are aged in the steel because the oak
adds flavor that would overpower their less complex flavors.
Another interesting thing about the vineyard was that there
are roses planted everywhere.
These roses are useful because they are fragile plants. This means that, if a plague were to hit the
vineyard, the roses would die first, giving the people at the vineyard time to
prepare. They also attract aphids, which
are a kind of harmful bugs, to themselves, drawing them away from the grape
vines, while also attracting ladybugs to the vineyard to eat the aphids.
Lastly at the vineyard, we tasted some of the wine. I have never been a big fan of wine, but I
could appreciate that it was very good quality.
After the tour, we visited the house of the famous poet and
known eccentric, Pablo Neruda. His three
houses have been turned into museums for people to tour. His house was full of odd collections and
statues taken from the front of boats.
What I found most amazing was that every room had an incredible view of
the sea. I understand completely how he
got inspired to create art, living in a place like this.
This was a picture I took of the outside of the
house while we were lounging on the beach after our tour. The beach itself was one of the most
beautiful things I have ever seen.
I wish I could live in a place where this is my backyard.
After the museum, we went to our last dance class. This one
combined salsa with more modern music, to create a more contemporary
style. He last segment of the class was
about dances that have set steps, a lot like some dances we have, like the Cha
Cha Slide, or the Cupid Shuffle. One of
the dances, much to our amusement, had the exact same steps as the Electric
Slide. I assume the Cuban version came
first, but it was really funny to me that the instructor was so impressed that
we learned so quickly, because none of us knew how to tell him that it was a
dance we had in the US. After class, we
returned to the hotel, and I realized that I had managed to get the Electric
Slide stuck in my head.
It’s Electric, boogie woogie, woogie!
