Washed Out

As we drove north from Vina Chillan, the rain got heavier until it was torrential - like the monsoon rains in Singapore. After 45km we reached the city of Chillan where the streets were awash and we decided to continue north without our planned coffee stop. On the Panamerican we encountered such heavy rains that we had to pull over a couple of times and wait for it to ease. It made for very uncomfortable driving conditions.

Stopped in Villa Alegre, San Javier and Talca to visit some wineries but most were closed for the weekend and we only managed one tasting - at Vina Banduzzi. The Cultural Centre in Talca - which was the information centre for the local Ruta de Vina was in ruins from the 2010 earthquake(*) and because the local tourist offices were all closed we couldn't find the new information centre. To cap it all, the only place we fancied staying was fully booked - could only offer us bunk beds in a shared room - so we decided to carry on to Curico and a comfortable but fairly non-descript city centre hotel (the first hair-dryer Linda has seen in 5 weeks) and a chance to make a new plan.

*Hadn't realised that this area was one of the worst affected by the 2010 earthquake until we noticed the level of damaged buildings and reconstruction works around Talca and Curico. The main plaza in Curico has a Cathedral on one side which was rebuilt after the 1985 earthquake and survived 2010 with little damage but each of the other sides of the square had significant buildings which were in ruins. As we continued our journey to the Colchagua Valley, there are still a good number of damaged buildings wherever you look.