NOT SO CHILEY

Once again I leave blighty in mid winter and arrive to vibrant Chile sunshine in the southern Hemisphere. However yet another false dawn as I spend the first Two days stuck in a hotel conference room looking out to the mountains, what makes it worse is that there is a 52 metre pool in the foreground and I have only been in it twice (very briefly). I am at the IFTA (International fruit tree association) conference – High Density – High profit.

So far I have discovered that there is a high density of Americans at the conference and that by what the Hyatt are charging they are the ones making the high profit.

I last visited Chile 20 years ago and the little I have seen to date in Santiago indicate that things have moved on massively.

The conference is very intensive but extremely interesting. I had however already sussed out my planting system for this Springs 6,500 Pear trees when I bumped into one of the speakers from Belgium in the toilet queue on the plane.

The only disappointment is that the plug hole in the modern bathroom’s don’t allow the water to empty the wrong way around.

More about Chile soon as we head South and hit some orchards tomorrow.