A Vendimia Celebration

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in late March, one of the last really warm days of the fall, in the town of Curicó, about a two-hour train ride from Santiago. This was the second time I had taken the train here in Chile, and both times it was a very pleasant experience. The train is clean and punctual, and la Estación Central in Santiago, designed by Gustave Eiffel and opened in 1897, is quite impressive. The beauty of its wrought-iron roof, open-air outdoor feel and palm trees gently swaying give the traveler a great send-off. This is now the only train station in Santiago, where all trains leave the capital for the south. There are no trains that head north any more. There used to be another train station in Santiago, the Mapocho Station, where trains departed for Valparaíso on the coast to the northwest. That station was closed many years ago and is now a cultural center. So on Saturday morning at the Estación Central, we met John, Melinda and Amelie, and our train pulled away at 9:30 am sharp.

We had a fun train ride, the girls happily playing with Amelie. Once in Curicó, it wasn't hard to find all the action. We walked the six blocks or so from the train station to the city's central plaza, a very pretty one with fountain, statues and plenty of palm trees. The plaza was buzzing with music and dancing (cueca, of course), and food vendors grilling meat for anticuchos (shish kabob). And, of course, the wine vendors. All of the nearby vineyards had a booth in the plaza, so you purchase a wine glass and sample lots of great wines. One of the highlights of the vendimia is the grape-mashing contest. Up on the stage are three large barrels, and teams of four compete to see who can make the most grape juice by stomping around in the barrel with their bare feet. While two guys stomp away, another keeps filling the barrel with grapes and the last one opens the spigot in the barrel from time to time to fill a pitcher and then dump that juice into a giant vat.












We had a great day, enjoying all the music and the dancing. In September, for the Fiestas Patrias, we first saw everyone dancing the cueca. After so many months living here, seeing the cueca danced again, with all those pañuelos twirling, was quite inspiring. It made me feel, well, Chilean! We would love to return to the wine festival again next year and stomp on those grapes ourselves and maybe even dance the cueca in the street.

I'm not so sure Sarah would want to return, though. She had an unfortunate incident while we were walking back to the train station that night. We were crossing an intersection when suddenly we heard a scream and turned to see a child laying in the street. It took us a moment to realize it was Sarah; she had just been knocked down by a drunk driver, luckily the driver of a bike, not a car. She got up, very shaken, but just skinned up a bit. John, however, was not as fortunate. Though in his case there was no driver of the vehicle, and he was the one who had had a little too much wine. I think John may very well be back next year for a chance to stomp on those grapes!

Here are some photos from our day at the vendimia:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bdoody61/Vendimia