NN3V and Eli Take a Cruise

started 1/26/13

Howdy!

Ok.  Here are some of the cruise pictures.  Many more to come.

This was taken in Montevideo (Uruguay), the first stop on the cruise ship.  This was at a park commemorating the glorious service of the Uruguayan Armed Forces

This next one is the Star Princess tied up at the pier in Puerto Madryn, Argentina.  This was the second stop of the cruise, preceding our two day journey to follow enroute to the Falklands.

While we shopped in Puerto Madryn, we had a chance to lean on one of the inhabitants!

This was our arrival in Port Stanley, in the Falklands (or Malvinas if you are of Argentine persuasion).

As you probably know, I had been in contact with an Amateur Radio operator in the Falkland.  This is his radio room.  His name is Bob McLeod (VP8LP).  From his front window, overlooking the harbor (which is only about ½ mile down a steep hill), he watched the Argentine troops land in Port Stanley when they invaded in 1982.  As they landed, he described the landing over the amateur radio frequencies, and of course, there is every reason to suspect the British navy was listening!  As you can see, I was well prepared for the flash!

This is a shot of the Orozco volcano, near Puerto Varas, Chile.  This region was settled by German farmers, brought into Chile by the 1852 President.  The President had visited the United States , and saw how the Germans had settled in Pennsylvania, and thought he could do the same in Chile.  The Germans were given abundant land and cattle.  They succeeded immeasurably, and the entire area looks like a German landscape.  I’ll have more photos of that later.  The volcano has been inactive since 1957.

This volcano is about 20 miles to the right of Orozco.  I can’t remember its name.  It blew up in the 1930s.  That’s why it does not have the typical cone shape.

This is taken in a typical restaurant in Santiago, Chile.  The restaurant is in the fish market in the Mercado Central of Santiago.  They specialize in shell fish.  The food was simply FANTASTIC, as was the wine was incredibly cheap (err… I mean reasonably priced).  We had a grand time.

These last two pictures were taken on one of the pool decks at the stern of the Star Princess as we went around Cape Horn in the Strait of Magellan .

Warm regards!

Charlie - NN3V

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Part Two

While Argentina has some famous wines, nowhere in Buenos Aires, or other ports we visited in Argentina were the vineyards easily accessible.

But Chile was a whole different matter, and the Chilean wines have a better reputation.

The Chilean climate is much like California, the vineyards were easily accessible, and the Chileans go out of their way to get you to a vineyard.

While Eli shopped in Santiago, I embarked on a visit to the Undurraga vineyard, about 2 hours outside Santiago.

Undurraga is a small winery, by Chilean standards, founded in 1885 by the Undurraga family.  They produce 2 million liters (500,000 imperial gallons) of varietal wines a year.  70% of the wines are sold in Europe, 20% in China, and 10% in Chile.  Unfortunately (and I do mean unfortunately, because the tasting was PHENOMENAL) none are exported to the U.S.   The vineyard concentrates on Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenere.  More on Carmenere later.

Below is the entrance to the Undurraga winery.

The area surrounding the winery is spectacular.  Flowers were abundant, the vineyards are beautiful, and the scent from the flowers and the grapes was tantalizing.  The vineyard headquarters were the Undurraga family home, now recycled into the tasting room and associated business offices.

Our tour guide, David, is one of the winery managers.  A young man, shown below, speaks impeccable English learned at the University of Chile.  He explained that to be licensed as a winery manager in Chile, the law requires that the person have a bachelors degree in engineering (usually mechanical), with a minor degree in agronomics.  The Chileans take their wine industry seriously!

Like all good vineyards, the grape vines are beautiful.  At the winery proper, there are 40 acres of grapes.  Throughout Chile (different micro climate regions), the winery grows and additional 2500 acres of grapes of different varietals.

Here, yours truly, outstanding in the field!

As to Carmenere.

The Carmenere grape is only grown in Chile.  Very similar to a Merlot but fruitier, for many years Chileans called it Merlot.  In 1973, the French wine tasters started wondering why some of the Chilean “Merlot” tasted so different.  Suspecting the Chileans were blending the wines, they started investigating the process.  What they found is that Carmenere is a completely different grape, once abundant in California and Europe, but devastated out of existence by the phyloxera scourge that obliterated the grape vineyards of Europe and California in the 1800s.  Carmenere remains phyloxera prone in California and Europe, and no one has been able to grow it outside Chile.

Needless to say, Chile is almost “paranoid” about keeping the phyloxera from infesting Chilean ground.  Since the vine leaf of Merlot and Carmenere is identical, the way to tell the difference is by an red coloration that tinges the edge of the grape leaves on the Carmenere leaf as the grape is “setting”, that is not seen in the Merlot.

The Carmenere leaf is the one on the right below.

Fermentation of the wine is accomplished using all the latest technology.  Stainless steel fermentation tanks, temperature controlled at 17 degree centigrade, etc, etc.  Below you can see an outside view of the fermentation building.  The tanks in the foreground are the old concrete tanks, no longer used.  Behind them are two of the stainless tanks.  There are 15 stainless tanks altogether.

At the secondary fermentation stage, there are 12 smaller tanks shown below.  None of the wines are filtered.

As you probably remember, in 2010 Chile suffered a massive 8.8 earthquake in Santiago.  The epicenter of the quake was in the winery’s region and was recorded at 8.9 on the Richter scale, considered one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded.  Truly “the big one”.

The morning after the earthquake, every one of the fermentation tanks was found destroyed!  Only the old concrete vats remained standing.  As the quake took place slightly before the grape harvest of 2010, in 2 months all the fermentation tanks were replaced with the new ones you see above, and they are hoping not to have another quake of such magnitude for a long time!

After fermentation in the stainless tanks for about 9 months, some of the wines are immediately bottled.  Others, the ones they consider “premium”, are aged for additional time in French or American oak barrels.

The cellar above was built in 1912, and was reinforced after a 1985 earthquake.  It suffered no damage in the 2010 earthquake. Temperature in the cellar is a constant 62 F.

Last, but not least, a view of the subject of this winery. The Carmenere grape.

This year’s harvest will begin in late February to early March.  Those of you wondering why that is possible (since we harvest in September – October), remember: these folks are “down under”.  It is summer down under!!

I had a FABULOUS tasting, and slept soundly on the tour bus during our two hour return to the hotel in Santiago.

Warm regards,

Charlie

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Part Three

So here are some specific details of the first two cities we visited on our cruise.

As a standard plan, we signed up for the “city tour” that Princess Cruises offered in every port we visited, which were pretty much always 2 to 2 ½ hour in duration.  This way we got an idea of what the city had to offer, and could go back to anything we found really interesting.

In Buenos Aires we were surprised to find that the city tour guide was really, and I mean REALLY interested in showing us the city cemetery.  Well, it turns out that starting in the late 1800s, the Buenos Aires wealthy started to build themselves major mausoleums in what at that time was open land.  That has morphed into a massive collection of unbelievably ornate mausoleums on which the wealthy have spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you know anything about Argentina , you have heard about Juan and Eva Peron.  He was Argentina ’s President in the 40s and 50s, and she was his mistress.  Through a series of socialist programs which she influenced him to initiate for the poor, she became venerated by Argentines as almost a saint.  Yet, because she was only his mistress, when she died, she was buried in the mausoleum of her adoptive family, the Duarte family.  It is IMPOSSIBLE to visit Buenos Aires without stopping at Eva Peron’s ( Duarte ) mausoleum.

The very surprising aspect of this Argentine fascination with mausoleums is that the cemetery is overrun by feral cats.  Makes you wonder upon what they feast?

(Ed. note - looks like someone is feeding them)

The Argentine national engineering university commissioned a sculpture that honors ecology.  The sculpture is of a massive flower that operates following the sun.  At night the flower is closed, and as the sun rises, it opens following the sun’s path, and then as it sets, the flower closes again.  The tour guide made reference to the magic of Windows software that powers the whole thing, as long as the computer does not suffer the BSOD.   (Blue Screen Of Death)

After the tour, Eli and I went back to the city’s center area where we had seen an interesting sight.

The current Argentine President, Ms. Christina Kirchner, is a HIGHLY controversial leftist.  She is “fanning the flames” among the people to reclaim the Falkland Islands (Malvinas as they are called in Argentina ) from the British.

Argentina lost a war with Great Britain over the Falklands in 1982, with the surrender of the Argentine invasion force on June 14^th. Downtown Buenos Aires is “keeping the revolutionary flame” alive!

After our political lesson, we headed to a less agitated part of the city.  Full of small shops selling locally manufactured items (nothing made in China !).  It was a great place for lunch and curio shopping at bargain prices.

You can not visit Argentina and ignore the great national dance.  Tango dancers and music are everywhere!

After a wonderful two days in Buenos Aires , it was time to board the good ship Star Princess and head to Montevideo , the capital of Uruguay .  The cruise is very short, as the city is just across the river Plata which separates Argentina from Uruguay .  Overnight cruise at a very slow speed.

What a surprise awaited us from our cabin balcony when we opened the curtains in the morning in Montevideo .  Adjacent to us at the pier was a Costa Cruise Lines ship.  The twin of the Costa ship that ran aground and sank in Italy last year!

Montevideo is said to house the largest legislative palace in the world.

And adjacent to the legislative palace is the more modern edifice housing the national television station.  I’d be delighted to place a beam at the top of the building, but I would hope it doesn’t look like the one that is presently there!

Uruguay was a neutral country in WW II.  In 1942 about some 500 miles to the east of Montevideo the British Royal Navy pursued the German battleship Graf Spee and caused it major damage.  The Germans asked the Uruguayans to allow them to anchor in Montevideo for repairs.  The Uruguay government allowed them 72 hours of repair time.  Not able to repair the battleship, and knowing the British were lying in wait to finish them off, the German captain scuttled the ship, and then committed suicide.  At the Montevideo pier there are displayed the Graf Spee’s anchor, gun rangefinder, and several other minor artifacts.

After a pleasant day in Montevideo we headed back to the good ship Star Princess.  And, once underway and in international waters, Eli took advantage of the finer details of cruising.

By the way, that is a penny (1 cent) machine!

Warm regards

Charlie

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