Second Atempt....mission accomplished
Booking through the hostel seems to be the much more reliable way to book q winery tour. I woke up early, knowing that I wanted to get to a winery today. When I approached the woman working the desk here she told me that it would be ok...then I pushed her, and got to two wineries tours out of her! Yes, that means I'ma little tipsy right now : ) But that is a good thing!!! This is my first winery tour/sampling expiernece, and it was everything I expected.
I had two recservations, and the travel inclulded the subway/metro, bus, and taxi. I was metally preparred for this challenge. I went solo, and managed well. The trains here are amazingly clean and frequent. I seriously think the subway comes every 90 seconds...or maybe less. A couple of transfers later, I find a couple from Germany looking for the same winery I am and we share a cab/colectivo to the winery.
Te first winery was an absolute charmer. It has been in the same famliy for 350 years. Starting with grapes from France, and aging the wine in American Oak barrles. The cellars were incredible, and full of character. Unfortunatly, the wine did not reflect the magnificent charactor of the winyard. Many tasters were not impressed. So, I decided to wait untill later for my gift purchase.
Next was the winyard Concha y Torro, a winery that exports all over the world, I thought this would be a good place to buy the gifts I owed folks back home. And, although the tour was somewhat lackluster, the wine proved to be remarkable. I tasted the complementary glasses on the tour, and then opted for the 4 addition samples at the end....which later turned into 5. I finally decided on the bottles I wanted...whith much help from a couple from NYC, and Rio de Janeiro and I was ready to buy and be on my way.
Pointing to the store, the bartender directed me towards the place where I could buy bottles of wine. Now, however, I had a bit of a problem. I needed to get several bottels of wine back to the states. And, well, I took the subway and the bus here...you get the idea. Picture yourself with 12 bottles of wine ridding the local bus.?.?
I obviously wanted a discount. Everything is negotiable in South America, and just because the bottles had price tags on them, that wasn't going to stop me...especially when I was buying a whole lot of them! Unfortunatly, the girl at the check out drove a hard bargin. I had become friends with the girld finding me the wine...but that wasn't the one checking me out. (god if I had a penny for everytime I made this mistake in sales...)
I asked her for 20%...a good discount, I thought- rellizing it was a bit too much.
She asked for my hat.
OK- now this is serious. Any guy out there knows that a hat that really feels right, is a priceless one. And I had just bought a beauty. A really cool sombrero type that I truly thought was going to make it through with me to the other side (US).
We finally setteled on 15%...which ended up being twice what I paid for the hat...so I g
uess I am happy about it. Now, the American thing to do would have been give the hat back to me at the last minute and all have a big laugh....and I really held onto that belief, until she pointed me out the door and down the street....then I relized I really just sold my hat...damn I miss that hat!
Bottom line, I finally got my gifts, tried some great Chilean wine, and gave up a great hat in the process....I hope its worth it!
Booking through the hostel seems to be the much more reliable way to book q winery tour. I woke up early, knowing that I wanted to get to a winery today. When I approached the woman working the desk here she told me that it would be ok...then I pushed her, and got to two wineries tours out of her! Yes, that means I'ma little tipsy right now : ) But that is a good thing!!! This is my first winery tour/sampling expiernece, and it was everything I expected.
I had two recservations, and the travel inclulded the subway/metro, bus, and taxi. I was metally preparred for this challenge. I went solo, and managed well. The trains here are amazingly clean and frequent. I seriously think the subway comes every 90 seconds...or maybe less. A couple of transfers later, I find a couple from Germany looking for the same winery I am and we share a cab/colectivo to the winery.
Te first winery was an absolute charmer. It has been in the same famliy for 350 years. Starting with grapes from France, and aging the wine in American Oak barrles. The cellars were incredible, and full of character. Unfortunatly, the wine did not reflect the magnificent charactor of the winyard. Many tasters were not impressed. So, I decided to wait untill later for my gift purchase.
Next was the winyard Concha y Torro, a winery that exports all over the world, I thought this would be a good place to buy the gifts I owed folks back home. And, although the tour was somewhat lackluster, the wine proved to be remarkable. I tasted the complementary glasses on the tour, and then opted for the 4 addition samples at the end....which later turned into 5. I finally decided on the bottles I wanted...whith much help from a couple from NYC, and Rio de Janeiro and I was ready to buy and be on my way.
Pointing to the store, the bartender directed me towards the place where I could buy bottles of wine. Now, however, I had a bit of a problem. I needed to get several bottels of wine back to the states. And, well, I took the subway and the bus here...you get the idea. Picture yourself with 12 bottles of wine ridding the local bus.?.?
I obviously wanted a discount. Everything is negotiable in South America, and just because the bottles had price tags on them, that wasn't going to stop me...especially when I was buying a whole lot of them! Unfortunatly, the girl at the check out drove a hard bargin. I had become friends with the girld finding me the wine...but that wasn't the one checking me out. (god if I had a penny for everytime I made this mistake in sales...)
I asked her for 20%...a good discount, I thought- rellizing it was a bit too much.
She asked for my hat.
OK- now this is serious. Any guy out there knows that a hat that really feels right, is a priceless one. And I had just bought a beauty. A really cool sombrero type that I truly thought was going to make it through with me to the other side (US).
We finally setteled on 15%...which ended up being twice what I paid for the hat...so I g
uess I am happy about it. Now, the American thing to do would have been give the hat back to me at the last minute and all have a big laugh....and I really held onto that belief, until she pointed me out the door and down the street....then I relized I really just sold my hat...damn I miss that hat!Bottom line, I finally got my gifts, tried some great Chilean wine, and gave up a great hat in the process....I hope its worth it!
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