Tinguiririca
A long weekend; the last one of the year (other than the Christmas weekend). And not just one, but two feriados back to back! So Shana and I headed a short distance south to spend the weekend in Tinguiririca.
On Sunday we drove down the Colchagua valley, which is a wine producing area. Hot days and cool nights make this valley a good place for producing red wine, and most vineyards have vines of Carmenere, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. There are a few Malbecs too, stolen from Argentina.
This region took a big hit in the February 2010 earthquake, and there are many damaged buildings in and around the town. Some have been repaired, of course, and there are houses with evident cracks newly-cemented closed. Other buildings have been demolished and replaced. But families lacking the means to rebuild continue to live in damaged properties with tarpaulins over the roof or sections or missing sections of walls boarded-up in makeshift repairs.
Construction of a new church at Santa Cruz, after the old one was destroyed in the quake.
We visited the cementario in Chépica. This weekend, for the festival of Todos Santos, many families visit the graves of loved ones and place new flowers. Here in Chile it is now spring and the graveyard was awash with colour. There was earthquake damage here too, and a number of graves for those who perished on the night of the quake, in the early hours of 27th February 2010.
On Monday we drove into the Andes cordillera alongside the Tinguiririca river. The climate in these southern latitudes produces more rain than around Santiago, and the lower hillsides were covered in lush greens of spring.
We also came across a new hydro-electric project. Mountain streams are diverted through this pipe to power turbines in the building below. There are small-scale hydro-projects all along the Chilean Andes, producing 40% of the electricity consumed in the country. The dimensions of the pipe are difficult to appreciate until you stand alongside!
