Escape from the falls and on to Hacienda Los Lingues. And a discovery! Google is soooo smart. If you look up directions while you have internet connectivity, Google “remembers” the route and guides you to it. Jeesh! Why didn’t we know this before the Puerto Montt excursion. But then, Cliff would not have made the acquaintance of the lovely carabinieros. (Note: this word is remarkably similar to the word that means “large shrimp”.)
Google and its welcome English directions took us DIRECTLY to Hacienda Los Lingues. What a wonderful place. An oasis. More wonderful than I expected. It is in the midst of grape vineyards, fruit orchards and, I suppose, horse farms. We have not spotted a horse yet. Regardless, we are thrilled with this place and it turns out that we are the ONLY guests. The owner greeted us in beautiful English and made us feel immediately welcomed. He told us that the hacienda has been in the family for 18 generations! Yikes. They started it in 1520 something. It was partially destroyed in the 2010 earthquake (8.8 on the Richter scale) and was closed for 3 years. There are still a couple of places that have not been fully repaired. He told us that the buildings have been triple repaired — Adobe, cement, steel and then more cement. If the next earthquake takes these buildings down, he said, the whole of Chile will have collapsed into the Pacific:-)
Los Lingues is a flora paradise. Trees, roses, bushes, trellises and vegetable gardens. These are all irrigated with a system that must have been created centuries ago. It is sort of like the Roman aquaduct system with gates and valves that feed water into different areas around the property. The lushness of this place makes it clear that this watering system really works!
Other contrasts. No stopping at a gas station for lunch today. Beautiful words “would you like lunch in the garden or inside?” The garden, por favor. We are alone until another couple comes in as we are finishing up. The attention to detail here is apparent. There is music in the garden with speakers “disguised” inside bird houses. Quite an environment. I am happy. (That makes Cliff happy — especially after how unhappy I was yesterday.)
Honestly, this place looks as though really, really, really rich people have been collecting furniture, rugs, accessories, silver and plants for centuries. And, I suppose, they have. Our room consists of a bedroom + bath that has sumptuously carved headboards, chairs, armoires, side tables and a cozy wood burning stove plus a sitting room that is equally furnished. Dinner tonight was in a main dining room where, when there are more guests, they gather together. If you’d like to be alone, there are two separate areas where they’ll serve dinner to you separately. We dined in the big room filled with amazing pieces of silver serving dishes, a fireplace and a table big enough to seat 18…..and there were 18 matching chairs to go along with it. Our host stopped in to ask if everything was to our liking….we said, “yes, of course.” And he answered that they would have to kill someone if it wasn’t. I’m not sure he was kidding!
Back to our room where they have lit the wood burning stove. How cozy. Cliff has Jane Monheit playing on his iPad. How good is this!?
