As we are going to Sewell tomorrow, we decided to visit Hacienda Los Lingues a day or two early. It was not that far down the ruta 5 and easy to find.

It is one of the oldest Haciendas in Chile, created in 1599, a gift of land from the King of Spain.

For Chile just to look round was quite expensive (£8). We might have stayed there but at £200+ per room it was too much.

It is a beautiful location. Part of the house was damaged by the 2010 earthquake and is still under reconstruction. Based around a gardened courtyard, we were shown a series of rooms furnished in the old colonial style. These were the rooms we could have stayed in. We had a trainee guide but one of the waiters also accompanied us and prompted the young lad. Everything was very olde worlde, with silver cutlery and finest china.

We saw the stables where they had some very fine rodeo horses that had been exported all around the world. The house has been in the hands of the same family for four centuries.

At San Fernando we saw some forest fires on the hillside. These later made the next day's papers.

Next we decided to go to Santa Cruz, the heart of wine making country, but the town was a disappointment. Very small with an inordinate number of undertakers. The most spectacular building was a gaudy casino built allegedly by an international arms dealer who couldn't leave the country.

So we headed to Pichelemu, the surfing capital of Chile. The tourist offer was honest and simple...think Cleethorpes..and we walked along the beach watching the surfers fail miserably (on the whole) to ride the waves.

Back at Rancagua, we dined in the trendiest bar in town (by accident) where we ate stuffed pancakes drowned in inordinate amounts of TeriYaki sauce. Still the service was friendly and we escaped before the disco began!