Casablanca

New-to-us Port: #10

With another 6,021 NM under our belt, we completed the Pacific Panorama segment today in San Antonio. Now we begin the Antarctica Explorer segment … the weather gods willing that we get down there.

But we still have time before we head that far south. For now, let’s focus on our turnaround day … which saw us a-explorin’ while those segmenters who were leaving us today began their onward travels … be it back home or to other destinations.

We had a fantastic tour today. I organized through Chile Shore Excursions, but the services were delivered by Condor Travel. To begin the tour, we had to take a shuttle from the ship to the terminal, go through Chilean security, and meet up with our guide, Sebastian. Since disembarking Insignia went so smoothly, we were early and had a bit of a wait, but it all worked out and shortly after 9:00a, our group of 11 intrepid explorers were on its way to all new places.

Our first stop was to be Pablo Neruda’s house — Isla Negra — about 40 minutes away. Soon, we were speeding down the highway … smooth drive … little traffic … not very scenic.

At the time I booked the tour, my knowledge of Neruda wasn’t much more than a familiarity with his name. To be honest, I picked the tour because the photos I saw looked interesting. Also, I did not want to drive two hours each way to visit Santiago. I did do a bit of research to learn that he was a Chilean poet who had received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Turns out that this 20th century writer was also a diplomat. I learned a great deal about him during the tour, but … in the spirit of keeping the footprint short-ish (yeah, right), you’ll need to Google him yourself.

Isla Negra is the house where Neruda died and is buried. It is said that of his three houses in Chile, this one was the one he loved the most. It has since been converted into a museum. The entry of each small group was staggered. Necessarily so because the interior of the house — formed by connecting the buildings on the property in a train-like manner — is quite small and narrow … all the more so because so much of the space is taken up by Neruda’s various collectibles.

We were provided audio guides in English before entering the house and told to punch in the numbers we’d find around the property to learn more about what we were seeing. I’ll admit that audio guides don’t often hold our interest, so my heart sank a bit. But this guide was very well done and held our attention. We listened in rapt fascination to the details whispered in our ear.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside — to keep people moving, I’m sure, as there was much to photograph. (I urge you to search the web to see what I mean.) We saw collections of art; ship’s mastheads; nautical artifacts; masks; bottles; colorful glass pieces that we learned were designed to be placed under the legs of a piano to eliminate the reverberation through the floor (Neruda apparently just liked the colorful glass); a life-size horse statue; a ship’s sink; a “special men’s lavatory,” the walls of which had a collection of “lightly clothed” women’s photograps … with a toilet and bidet that was incongruously decorated with a floral pattern. And shells … amazing seashells were the last collection we enjoyed seeing before we completed the tour.

Prior to leaving the property, we wandered around the grounds, visited the graves of Pablo and his wife — Matilde … buried in a spot with an amazing view of the ocean they both loved so much. I later read the following quote from Neruda that perhaps explains why he chose the spot: “The pacific ocean came out of the map. There was no place to put it on. It was so big, wild and blue that couldn’t be contained in any place. That is why they left it in front of my window.”

Then we found Sebastian, who suggested that those who wanted to could walk down to the beach … the rest could wait in the vendor park. We took him up on the offer to experience up close the energy of the Pacific crashing onto the rocks with all its might.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience at Isla Negra (which isn’t an island, by the way). From the comments I heard from the others, they did as well. I understand that Neruda was inspired to write “Ode to the Storm” during one of the many winter storms that bring heavy rains here. I’ll have to see if I can find it and read it … picturing him, as I do so, writing the poem at the driftwood desk we saw in his study today … staring out of the same window from which we viewed the powerful seascape today.

Leaving Isla Negra behind, we got back on the highway in the direction of San Antonio. Next up was the wine tasting part of the tour. The vineyard we went to was Casa Marin … located in the Casablanca Valley … quite close to San Antonio … in the small town of Lo Abarca.

The winery was founded by Maria Luz Marin … who the locals said was “crazy” for even contemplating starting a winery in such an unusual location. But she persevered and in 2000 established the winery we toured today. It’s a family operation the success of which has been proven by the awards the “cool climate” wines that are produced here have won. In fact, their Sauvignon Blanc has received the “best SB in the world” award twice.

Lo Abarca is just 2 miles or so from the Pacific Ocean. Fog is a constant during the summer and winter. It’s also windy and cold … especially during the period when the grapes are growing. But instead of adversely impacting the end product, these conditions — together with the limestone and granite soil — have resulted in the growth of grapes that are of superior quality. Currently, they are contending with increased drought conditions that are resulting in lesser yields … one example our guide gave was that grapes from two vines produce just enough Gewürztraminer wine to fill a single bottle.

With a production of just 140,000 bottles per year, Casa Marin is best described as a boutique winery. They export 60% of what they produce to 20 countries around the world, with distributors in the USA located in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Before the wine tasting, our guide took us to see the vines, and then walked us across the road to the cellar. We saw the fermentation tanks and the barrels in which the wine is aged, and the area where the bottles are labeled by hand. It was here that we learned that there are mobile entities that come around to wineries that don’t produce enough to have their own bottling operation. Huh? Who knew such a thing existed.

After the tour, we sat down to do the tasting. Our package included two whites and two reds … but our guide also gave us a taste of their premium Syrah, so we actually got 5 instead of 4 tastings … 6 if you count the tasting she gave us from a bottle of the same Syrah that had been opened three days ago. Amazing the difference … the one that had breathed longer was much smoother. We will similarly let our bottle breathe a few days before we sip it.

In all, we tasted a Riesling; a Gewürztraminer; a Pinot Noir (#1 … so named for being the first wine produced by Maria Luz’s son); a Syrah/Garnacha blend; and the premium Syrah. Of course, we walked away with a selection of wines to enjoy on our veranda.

Next, Sebastian took us into Lo Abarca to check out the mosaic murals on the side of a church. The mosaics were beautifully done … by Maria Luz Marin’s sister, whose mosaic art we’d seen sprinkled around Casa Marin.

We were back on the ship a little after 3:00p. Mui and I went up to the Waves Grill to grab a bite to eat. The area was empty … surprising on embarkation day. Then again, with 380 world cruisers already on the ship, the number of segment passengers joining us today was not very big. I’ll have to get some new numbers to share here.

For whatever reason, Insignia missed the scheduled 7:00p departure by 30 minutes. Perhaps our new captain was looking for the keys to crank on the ship’s engine 😄🤪. Yes, Captain Brajcic left today for his two-month break and we have a new Master on Insignia … Captain Zuzic. We have not sailed with him before, so maybe we’ll run along to tomorrow’s Captain’s Welcome Party after all … just to see who he is.

(Ha, ha, ha … on keeping it short. But really, if you saw my journal, you’d see that this entry has comparatively fewer words!)Read more