The wine of the devil.

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August 4th 2011

Published: August 4th 2011

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Breitmaulfrog

Concha y Toro

Beautiful vineyard and blue skies!

Hey folks,

life at my new apartment is good, even though I feel a bit disconnected, mainly because of my Spanish skill (or the lack of it). Other than that, I've started to explore the area around my house a bit and quite a lot of Bellavista, which I adore.

I went to a vineyard last week, Concha y Toro, the largest producer of wine from Latin America. Very beautiful landscapes and it was interesting to learn about (and taste) their wine and the history behind Concho y Torro. In 1963 they started creating different, and much more evolved types of Cabernet, including the now famous Casillero del Diablo.
The tour was well done, we had a nice tour guide who told us many interesting stories and showed us around the winery. The tour ended with a story about how the devil used to protect the bottles back in the days. When Concha y Toro was just a small family business, they had problems with bottles of wine disappearing out of the cellar. Therefore, the family invented the story that the devil itself was living in the wine cellar. Since it seemed to be working, the wine in that

Concha y Toro

cellar received its name, Casillero del Diablo.

Other news: I went to my university on monday to talk to my tutor about which classes to take. My tutor is a very nice guy who also speaks English (just to make sure), but we had the entire conversation in Spanish anyway. However, I still don't know which courses I will be taking, and I have to go meet with him again tomorrow.

Right now, Chile is bursting with rioting students, there's tear gas bombs everywhere, even in the metros. To be fair, the police is using tear gas, not the students. It's quite interesting and they are definitely fighting for a good cause (usually it's a peaceful demonstration, nothing like today). Whole Universities have been striking for a long time, trying to improve and strengthen the public educational system in Chile and to eliminate the fees for high schools.
Before coming here, we actually had to sign a contract to not get involved in any political actions in Chile if we want to be staying for the whole semester. My school isn't protesting, because it is a private university, but many private, more alternative, faculties are striking as well.