Meeting New Friends

Taking a break in Olmue

Estancia El Cuadro

Lunch with friends

The group as we were leaving

Luis and his wife on the way back to Santiago


Sat. Jan. 8, 2011
Friday night I was invited to the home of Martin Schneurer and his wife, part of our group that will be riding to Argentinain a couple of weeks. Also invited were two other members of the group, Luis Vergara and his wife. We had a very nice evening talking about the upcoming trip and many other things. We also made plans for a motorcycle ride on Saturday in the direction of the Pacific Ocean.
On Saturday we met at the Copec gas station at 10:00am around the corner from my place, and from there we made our way north out of Santiago on Rt. 5 until we reached the town of Til Til. From Til Til we headed west over the mountains and Cuesta La Dormida until we reached the town of Olmue, where we stopped to take a break.
After resting for about a half hour, we rode south west through the towns of Limache, Villa Alemana until we reaching the outskirts of the ocean resort city of Vina Del Mar. Turning south here, we caught up with Rt. 68, the main route between Santiago and the ocean port city of Valparaiso. Valparaiso is Chile’s most important sea port. We rode Rt. 68 east exiting at the town of Casablanca, where we turned north to a beautiful vineyard tucked far in the northern end of a valley. The vineyard is called “Estancial El Cuadro”, (33°16'2.66"S - 71°17'14.55"W) a very nice place. Here we met up with more friends of Martin and Luis and sat on the outdoor patio overlooking the vineyards and the horses grazing in the pastures.
After wine and or devours, we were invited into the dining room for a wonderful four course meal full of good conversation and of course, great Chilean wine. One of the wines served was a special white wine made exclusively for guests of the Estancial El Cuadro. It is not sold or exported anywhere and of course was wonderful.
Once the meal was finished, our group visited the Wine Museum on the premises before going outside to take pictures of the beautifully landscaped grounds of the winery, prior to our return to Rt. 68 and the trip into Santiago.

P.S. Amazing that all of this is indirectly the result of me falling off my motorcycle last year!! Life is definitely a trip.