Cruising to Santa Cruz...

After packing a rickety rental van with more luggage than is conceivable for five people (it would have been hard to squeeze a band aid in if we had needed to, but fortunately no one was injured during the boarding process), we left Santiago for Santa Cruz wine country and a two and a half hour drive through the vineyard region. Once again, the mountain dominated the landscape and the road winds through the valleys below. It was a lovely relaxed drive even though we technically had no idea where we were going and several small altercations were had. Typical for our lowly band of wanderers! In spite of ourselves, we arrived in Santa Cruz and found the charming town square with its spanish fountains and ice cream carts. Bright, sunny, and hot and buzzing with both tourist and local action, the Hotel Santa Cruz seems to be the hot spot in these parts. Laid with Spanish tiles, faced with dark green shutters and painted shocking yellow, the air was redolent with flowers and garlic in the interior courtyard and very inviting to a bunch of hungry, thirsty, squabbling road weary travellers. We were given a welcome glass of wine upon arrival and that was it for us. Any previous plans went out the handmade glass window as we settled in for a big long lunch on the wooden beamed veranda. The place was bustling and the food was local and plentiful. Quail simmered in cabernet and covered in chocolate sauce was my choice (I usually opt for the strange and unusual) as many sopapillas and glasses of local carmenere were passed around. Reinvigorated and ready for action, we checked out our gorgeous spanish style rooms and balconies, gave them a big thumbs up and went out exploring. A strange side note--upon looking over our third floor railing, Jeri and I about screamed as we came face to face with a life sized museum model of a mammoth. Menacing cavemen were poised around it with spears at the ready and coming in for the kill. We both agreed to not look over the railing ever again and especially at night. The local museum was, strangely enough, attached to our hotel, somewhat explaining the incorporation of museum exhibits. Fossils and dinosaur bones figured largely as the land here is dotted with prehistoric remains. Other curiosities included your basic shrunken heads, fertility statues and icons and preserved mummy babies; always a favorite among the hordes! A whole section of Hitler memorabilia and Nazi uniforms and guns having found its way to South America was a strange and beguiling entry especially to the menfolk. Boys and their big guns. The collection arrived via the Nazi war criminals who had scarpered away to this part of the world like rats leaving a sinking ship. It seems quite stupid to me to have travelled all this way to hide but still bring the 'evidence'; but bully for Santa Cruz!!!! They get a cool museum collection to fascinate and horrify the tourists they so badly need. We were directed to a vineyard called La Veta for dinner, where we had short ribs in wine sauce and accompanied by wine, wine and more wine, so that's all the information that's fit to print about that particularly wonderful but somehow nonmemorable meal.