Before the Covid Pandemic hit in 2020, Cindy Bailey and I had signed up for a tour offered by Field Guides Birding Tours that combined two of our interests – birds and wine. It seemed like a good way to introduce Cindy to birding tours, essentially bribing her with good wines to put up with chasing birds. We chose this tour over a similar one offered by Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, even though that tour included a pelagic trip that would assuredly add some new life species for me. The main reason for our choice was that friends Jon and Kathleen Houghton had rave reviews of their guide on a wine and birds trip to Brazil, Marcelo Padua.

But then Covid happened and the tour was cancelled. No birding trips for either of us. Late in 2021, we we did have a chance for a test run birding tour and Cindy and I went on a group tour to Oaxaca with Wild Latitudes . Despite mixed reviews for that tour, Cindy remained game for another trip and we went on a very fun private tour to Ecuador with Neblina Forest – a trip which I wrote up in a number of blogs afterwards. What next? Birds and Wines of Chile and Argentina was being offered again, but even though Covid was a much reduced threat, Chile had an isolation policy that put us off. Their requirement was that if any member of a group came down with Covid, everyone in the group had to isolate for 10 days – a risk we were not willing to take. Instead we visited Tanzania with Victor Emanuel – a fabulous tripe that I covered in many blog posts last year. Then in 2023 Field Guides was again offering the trip and Chile’s policy had changed.

We got on the list for the tour – then a complication. The go/no go sign up requirement was for a minimum of six participants. We were the fourth and fifth to commit. Months went by and nobody joined the tour. Finally we were all given the option to pony up some additional dollars or it would be cancelled and deposits would be refunded. All agreed to do so and we were a go. We used a third party called Sky Lux to arrange discounted Business Class Airfare (a concession to Cindy that worked very well) and they arranged reasonable flights going through Miami and on to Santiago, Chile. Time to bone up on Chilean and Argentinian birds.

I had been to Argentina in 1989 on a very fun flyfishing trip in the Junín area and had very fond memories. The fishing was great, the food and wine memorable and incidentally I had somehow put together a small bird list of 41 species (of which ten turned out to be species we did not see on our just ended trip). The possible bird list for the Field Guides trip was 254 species. Given overlaps from that previous trip to Argentina and later trips elsewhere in South America plus the shorebird and wader species seen many places, I thought there was a possibility of maybe 128 new lifers. My normal analysis is that something around 80% of species on such lists are “likely” so I figured a good goal was maybe 100 new species. There was a bonus in that I had no photos from that earlier Argentina trip and there should be opportunities to add to my world life photos list as well. The tour would start in Chile, then cross the Andes into Argentina, concentrating in the area near Mendoza, then flying back to Chile to conclude on the Pacific Coast near Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.

I have consumed maybe 20 times as much wine in the 5 years knowing Cindy as I had in the 70 preceding years and while I enjoy some more than others, I really know very little about wine and this would be an opportunity to learn more and to enjoy some fine wines. Cindy knows a lot more and probably enjoys it much more than I do. Little did I really appreciate just how much wine we would consume and how much great food would accompany it. Skipping ahead – when I got on the scale after 18 days away, I had put on 9 pounds, especially distressing since my starting point was already higher than it should be. But as I said the wine was exceptional as was the food. A problem however was that in both countries it is customary to eat much later than my norm. Often dinners would start at 8:00 p.m. or later and we would not hit our beds until 10:00 or 11:00. Not the best approach for good digestion – and sleep.

Our first flight was about 6 hours in First Class from Seattle to Miami on Alaska Airlines. We had a 5 hour layover (spent largely in the Lounge for LATAM Airlines) and then an 8 hour overnight flight Business Class on LATAM to Santiago. Both flights were very comfortable and on schedule and although neither of us slept a lot on the fully reclining seats to Santiago, we were able to relax and begin our over-consumption of wine and food. For the first time in I don’t know how long, we checked a bag in addition to our two carry-ons. It arrived in tact and Passport Control and Customs were not too bad in Santiago. On all of these trips, there is a moment of anxiety when leaving the airport security you hope to see someone waiting for you with your name on a sign, provided by the tour outfitter to get you from the airport to your hotel. Whew!! There he was with the Bailey/Bernson sign. It was around 7:00 a.m. and we were off to our Hyatt Place Hotel. The hotel was new and a little bland (in a modern way) and the staff was great. They allowed us to check in VERY early which was greatly appreciated since we had arrived before the formal start of the tour. It was a very nice hotel with very nice rooms. We got some sleep/rest and later headed off for a mall to look for a warm coat for Cindy…and that is the segue to a BIG PROBLEM!

I have traveled on more than 50 international flights dealing wit security, baggage, customs etc. without a mishap – except in Miami. I generally split cash between my wallet and a pouch that I wear around my neck where I keep my passport and credit cards. The wallet stays in my pants pocket until security when I put it into my small back pack or my carry on suitcase. The Miami airport was large and chaotic in general and the security lines were as well with mixing between TSA pre-approved and other lines. Mistake 1: I had not taken credit cards and cash out of the wallet. Mistake 2: well not sure exactly what happened but somehow my wallet did not make it into my pack although I thought it had. In any event I thought all was well and since we were going straight to the LATAM Lounge, we did not buy anything in the airport. So it was not until we got to the hotel in Santiago when looking for my wallet, I could not find it. I searched the carry-on and the back – NADA. In the room, I completely emptied everything and it was nowhere to be found. My best guess is that somehow in the process of putting belts, phones, computers, wallet, pouch etc., in those little baskets, and being a bit sleep deprived from the redeye flight (certainly not my first) the wallet got lost in the shuffle and taken by somebody. Bottom line, I was in Chile without credit cards, ATM Cards, health card, cash, checks, driver’s license and who knows what else. Fortunately I did have my passport and Cindy had her credit and ATM cards. So the first hour plus was spent contacting my bank and VISA cancelling credit and ATM cards and putting a hold on all bank account activity. Just a bit distressing, stressful and scary. AND oh yeah, somewhere either in the Miami or Santiago Airports, Cindy’s heavy coat – theoretically needed for our high altitude time in the Andes – had also disappeared. Thus the aforementioned need to visit the mall, where in fact we could not find an appropriate coat – possibly due to the fact that it was summer in Chile and 90 degrees in Santiago.

We had dinner at the hotel that first night and a very full array of breakfast options in the morning there as well. Since the trip was so long and there was a six hour difference between Seattle and Santiago, we had arranged to be there two full nights before the official start of the tour and we wanted to find something more “charming” the next day. Our hotel was not in the center or historic part of town, rather in a pleasant area with a mix of nice residential and commercial buildings. Although there were no restaurants in the immediate area, we found an area about a half mile away in the direction opposite of where we had walked for the Mall the day before that had several trendy restaurants. There were several seemingly good options. We chose one that had the most people sitting there at our early dinner time of 7 pm. It was a pizza and pasta place with outdoor seating called Rita Trattoria. The pizza was ok and the Pisco sours (national drink of Chile) were great and the shared dessert was even greater. Cindy got a large Pisco and maybe due to the lack of sleep was kind of tipsy, in a very pleasant way. A television screen in the restaurant showed ads the whole time including a pretty funny take-off with the Mona Lisa enjoying a Red Bull.

Finally it was time to meet our group – a small one. Mike and Karen Warner from a suburb of Chicago, Joe Trapani from New York State and of course Marcelo Padua from Cuiaba, Brazil. Karen, formerly a nurse, was probably the most ardent birder, Mike, a former School Superintendent was more interested in photography and Joe, a former math teacher enjoyed both the birds and photography but was fairly laid back about both although he had been on many bird tours before. For that matter they all had traveled extensively and were all good company. Marcelo was an extremely good bird guide in addition to of course being both a wine expert and very keen on making sure that all details of the trip were carried out at a very high level – more on that in later blogs.

After meeting the group, we loaded onto our luxurious van and headed to Santiago’s Central market for our first of many fine meals with excellent wines. More on that in the next blog which will cover the first days of the tour itself, but first more on the van. There would be some changes over the trip due to some mechanical and licensing problems, but we started with a Mercedes Sprinter configured with five rows each with two seats on the drivers side and a single seat on the passenger side and an aisle in between. There was also room behind all the seats for luggage on the days that we would be moving from one hotel to another. Since there were only five of us (guide Marcelo was in the front next to the driver), there was plenty of room to spread out and move from side to side if something was spotted from the van. We followed the rotational sequence where one who was in the back the previous day would move to the front with everyone else moving a row back. There were NO seating issues during the entire trip.

I will end this introduction with some brief words about the wines. While not as well known or generally as pricey in the U.S. as Italian, French and American wines, the wines of both Argentina and Chile are highly regarded, with whites being more well known from Chile and reds from Argentina although both are produced in both places. Probably the best known and most highly regarded special wines from the area are the red Malbecs and Carmeneres, the former more so in Argentina and the latter in Chile. We had many samples of both but also had many Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Cabernets, Merlots, Cabernet Francs, and Syrahs as well as blends. They ranged from good to excellent and were always available in a seemingly endless flow. I lost track of how many wines we tried – lunches, dinners and several tastings at beautiful wineries – but know it was more than 40. There was lots of wine!

So much for background – time to bird and visit wineries. The following blogs will be mostly about the birding but will definitely include visits to some of the wineries – generally beautiful places with restaurants, tasting rooms, production and storage areas, lovely grounds, great architecture and often fun birds to go with the delicious wines and food.