The summer is in full swing in Chile and it is time to travel down to southern Chile for the 2010 maqui berry harvest. The Velocity International group is in town and staying at a hotel located in the posh Vitacura part of Santiago. They have had a full day to rest since flying down from the USA and I am picking them up this morning for the trip down south.
Maqui Berry Harvest Photos: click here
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The first stop is to pick up the Velocity International group at the Hotel Director. After a quick breakfast, we pack up the crew including all the video equipment necessary for a commercial production of the harvest that will be used later this year to promote the Patagonian Maqui Berry Juice Company product. We arrive at the airport without issues and we hit the friendly skies on LAN Airlines headed to Puerto Montt. It is about 1.5 hours to Puerto Montt, but it takes another 1 hour to procure the Toyota 4 Runner we had booked for the trip. After a slight delay, we load up and travel a few miles down Highway 5 to Puerto Varas where we will be setting up camp for the week. Shortly after checking into the hotel Cabinas del Lago, we load up again for a short excursion around Lake Llanquihue toward Volcano Osorno. The area is beautiful and the video crew takes the time to capture some of the initial footage that will be used in the maqui berry product commercial for Velicity International. Later on that evening, we head back to the hotel and have some dinner before retiring for the night.
Monday, January 25, 2010
We wake up early and have some breakfast at the hotel and begin the trek north for 2.5 hours to meet the maqui berry consolidator in charge of the harvest this year. We are now deep in maqui berry country in a region known as the “Lakes Region” or “Los Lagos” in Spanish. The terrain is stunning as the summer sky illuminates the majesty of the Patagonia countryside. We meet our maqui berry consolidator near Lago Ranco at one of his 32 pick up areas for this years maqui berry harvest circuit. We travel the countryside inspecting the various collection areas around the lake. The power of the Patagonia is all around and it is easy to see what makes this berry so special based on where it grows. The harvest season only lasts for about a month in this region. After a long day of maqui berry hunting, we drive back south 2.5 hours to the hotel and retire for the evening, exhausted from the first day’s adventure.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The group meets for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and we discuss the days itinerary. Today we will head north again to meet another group of harvesters. Upon arrival to the maqui berry harvest location, we are introduced to Washington who is a maqui berry harvester or “maquinero”. He demonstrates how to remove the berries from the bushes in a sustainable fashion so that fruit will grow back next year as well. Afterwards, we head back to our consolidator’s house where we are greated with pastries and fresh maqui juice! The fresh flavor of the maqui berry is amazing and the energy boost is exactly what everybody was needing. We are once again given demonstrations of how the maqui berry is knocked free of the branches and have the opportunity to meet some of the local people harvesters who are dropping the days maqui berry collection off at the weighing station before getting paid. There are some amazing people that do this work and it was a pleasure meeting everybody. The video crew shoots some great footage and we head back to Puerto Varas once again.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Today will be dedicated to shooting the rest of the video footage for the Velocity International maqui berry juice product. We drive north about 30 minutes to a quaint town by the name of Fruitillar. This town has a distinct German look and appeal as it was settled by German immigrants decades before as were alot of the areas in southern Chile. We find a great spot to shoot the video in front of Volcano Osorno. Once again, the Patagonia landscape is amazing and the pristine nature of the surroundings is awe inspiring. What a great place to lice, play and work! It will be difficult to leave tomorrow. We finish the afternoon by traveling back to Puerto Montt to meet with the helicopter pilot at the local airport so that we can get some final footage of the area as well as locate other known maqui harvest areas. The flight was about two hours long and the results were nothing short of spectacular. We head back to the hotel and have a nice meal. Tomorrow will be an early start at 4:45 a.m. as the flight back to Santiago leaves at 7:15 a.m.
This years harvest was an amazing adventure and everybody came away with much more firthand knowledge of the maqui berry harvest dynamics and processes. Next year should be even better! Please take a look at our photos for more insight into this trip. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.
