Pachamama!

Our life is still being defined by food and eating, but it is getting better! While there are still some errors in what we order (black olives on the cheese pizza, wanting chocolate chip ice cream and getting rum-raisin)--we are all finding things that are edible and often quite delicious! All worries over Alia are gone as she has discovered Nutella (we just call it chocolate) and she is all good. Some highlights in our gastronomical experimenting have been soppapias (fried dough), anticuche (beef and sausage on a skewer), culanto (a boil of mostly mussles, with potatoes, chicken and pork) and, of course, papas fritas (french fries).

We have also been able to drink the water pretty much since we left Santiago. We have our steri-pin and use it if the source is questionable. So far, so good!

The other eating challenge is the late hour of dinner. Most Chileans don't eat until around 9:00 pm and we find ourselves on that schedule as well. That means we are getting back from eating around 11:00 and then don't want to go right to bed with full stomachs. Somehow, getting to bed before midnight has been hard, but we are still up and on the go around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning. Needless to say, we are getting pretty tired, but having too much fun to quit doing anything!

Our mtn. bike ride in Pucon was fun, but a bit longer that we thought--a little lost in translation with the bike rentals. We thought it was 19 km round trip. Turns out that was each way, but by the time we figured it out, it was too late to turn back. Plus, the waterfalls were really spectacular and well worth it. We did decide to return via the paved road and that did help, but a short ride turned into a 6 hour day on our bikes, covering 24 miles. The girls were troopers, but after running out of water, we did bribe them with icecream at the first place we could find it! The natural hot springs we went to that night made it all worth it. I would put Pucon on my list of places to do again!


From Pucon, we went to Valdivia (an amazing drive on the Seven Lakes Road with lakes and volcanos all around) and then to Puerto Varas where our travels with Pachamama by Bus ended. That, so far, is one of the best things we decided to do. The people were all very nice, the driver and guide spoke English well and we were presented with places to stay and ideas of things to do. Since it was not a tour, you were on your own, but having suggestions really helped! Pachamama means "goddess of the earth" to the indiginous peoples of southern Peru and N. Chile and that is where the name comes from. On our last night together, our driver and guide madeus to pisco sours (the national drink of Chile) and amazing pico de guyo! We were sad to say goodbye to our new friends.

Adios!

(Thanks, Catherine, on the tip with pictures!)