Today, our guide and driver were taking us to some of the nearby interesting areas. We went to the falls (small ones) that are visited by locals for picnics and bucolic afternoons. Afterward, we went to San Lorenzo, where the culture, folklore and tradition of the Chapaco man was born in the early 1800’s, the homeland of Eustaquio Mendez (El Moto). He fought the Spaniards with a band of local men. He was quite the folk hero.
San Lorenzo has a new market, only opened a week before, selling traditional sweets, fish, meat, fruits/vegetables, and beautiful flowers. We tried one of the pastries. It has a sweet merengue on top. The other tradition is drinking a sweetened peanut beverage. It was rather unusual but tasty.
Our next stop was a man-made lake, San Jacinto, created to avoid flooding into the lower valleys. The dam slowly allows water to flow downstream to agricultural regions. In the rainy season, during the summer in March and April, the water can rise over 10′. There are charming launches (small oar-driven boats) to cruise around and even some kayaks enjoying the lake. The restaurants along the side of the lake provide a nice ambiance. It could almost be like our Lake Chapala.
On our way to lunch, we made a quick stop at a little family-owned cafe to taste the local delicacy of little fried fish and tiny fried crabs served on corn that is more like our posole. Jim said they were crunchy and tasty, like popcorn, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of putting any of them in my mouth, let alone chewing and swallowing them. The family also had a pond where they had live crabs (congrejo) to hold. Not for me.
We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant in Tarija. It looks like one we like in Guadalajara (Bruna). We sat outside and ordered a steak, asking for it to be medium rare. They didn’t know what we were talking about. They brought it and it was blue (seared by rare). We sent it back and asked for more done, which finally happened. The salad bar was unbelievable so we didn’t suffer too much.
Our first winery of the afternoon was Kuhlmann, started by a German family many years ago. By the way, seven German families came to this area about 100 years ago and they decided to divide the land into seven wineries. I believe all of them still exist to this day. Kuhlmann was one of these families and in addition to many varieties of wine, including a delicious sparkling wine, they make Singani. This drink is made from the wine grapes but is a spirit (liquor) that is distilled. It is usually served with ginger ale and lemon and really yummy. The winery is very modern and automated, with machines that grind the grapes, separate the solids from the liquid, and equipment to fill 3,000 bottles a day. Their sparkling wine was delicious. Did you know that in order to create sparkling wine, the bottles must be turned a quarter-turn four times a day? With over a thousand bottles, this is almost a full-time job! Our guide and driver provided some snacks to go with the various wines we tasted, as well as with Singani. They were awesome!
We next went to a small winery down the road. This family-run winery, Casa Solum, was charming, with a second and third generation continuing the business. They make an excellent Carmenere, one of my favorites. They only sell through their bodega and do not export. Their production is too small.
Finally, we went to the largest winery in Bolivia, Aranjuez. Also started by one of the German families who divided up the lane, the vineyard is immense. They showed a video of what happens during the four seasons of the year. As you can well imagine, it takes a lot of people to harvest all the grapes by hand in March and April. And again, more snacks. One kind of grape that we do not seen often is the Tannat grape. It is a specialty of this high altitude vineyard. Unfortunately, it was not our favorite. We had it at one other vineyard and it was yummy. This one, not so much.
There was a group of visitors from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a good-sized and wealthy city. They were at the winery for a couple of days and were having a ball, smoking cigars and enjoying many glasses of wine. When our guide brought a birthday cake for me to the winery (a few days early), they all came around and sang to me. It was a a hoot!
By the way, did you know that Bolivia has two Capitals… La Paz and Sucre? The President resides and works in La Paz, and the other branches of government (legislative and judicial) live and work in Sucre. It seems like a very strange arrangement – no? I guess it isn’t that different from Palm Beach and Washington, DC?
We returned to the hotel and decided to take a swim in the beautiful indoor pool in the spa. We met a charming newlywed couple from Sao Paulo, Brazil who were on vacation. The water was warm and the conversation very animated. We were ready for a snack by the fireplace and then crash for the night.