Day 63 - Eat, drink, and be merry

January 17 - Casablanca, Chile

We went for a run in the morning then headed to the bus station to try to execute our idea for a do-it-yourself wine day in the Casablanca region of Chile.  I had tried to contact a few wineries the day before, but it was hard to guess our timing, and it was also hard to get a response.  We took a bus about an hour and a half to the town of Casablanca, for 1,000 pesos (or less than 2 dollars) a person.  We got off the bus at the main square and found a taxi driver named Juan.  Juan agreed to drive us to the nearby wineries!  We first went to Kingston Family, approx 8K down the road.  Their security guard quickly turned us away as we drove up the lengthy driveway, as we did not have a reservation.  Worth a try.   We then went to Viña Casa del Bosque winery.  They had room in the upcoming tour, so we jumped in.  A man named Alejandro showed us around the winery.  There were only two others on the English-speaking tour (all the rest Spanish speaking).  We finished in a tasting room, where a few others joined us.  We tasted a Sav Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, and Carmenere.  They were all fabulous!  Evan and I were both astounded by how much we enjoyed the Sav Blanc and the Chardonnay, as we aren't really white drinkers.  

We decided to hit one more winery before heading back to town, and were debating our next move, trying to understand what other wineries wouldn't mind that we didn't have a reservation. Evan asked the staff to call up our buddy Juan to take us to the next place.  Meanwhile, I was making friends.  A Swiss couple invited us to join them in their rental car to a nearby winery they had heard was great for lunch. 

I waved to Evan to cancel Juan (sorry Juan!) and ride along with strangers.  The winery we went to was called El Cuadro.  The place was pretty quiet other than a few others dining inside.  We chose to sit outside, and the servers literally lifted the table, completely set, and carried it outside.  We carried our own chairs and sat in a wide open space with no other tables.  The views were fabulous.

We had no idea what we were getting into, as the Swiss couple had chosen the lunch.  We figured out that there was a set menu with several options, including three courses, and wine pairings along the way.  The food was amazing.  It started with some bread and empanaditas (little empanadas), followed by choice of starter. I had a quinoa salad and Evan had some broiled corn stew thing that he loved.  I had beef for the main course, which was on a bed of mote and avocado.  Evan had beef and pork combo platter.  Desserts were also amazing.  We had wine along the way, and actually turned down the last few offerings.  WHEW!

We got dropped off back in the town square, caught a "collectivo" back to town (basically a taxi with as set route).  On the way back, we were sandwiched in the backseat next to a lady and her young daughter, who just had the squishy cheeks you ever did see!

We got back and were quite frankly a bit buzzed.  We laid around for a bit, then made a small dinner of leftovers  (still pretty full from lunch!) and fell asleep.