Things We Ate On The Street: Chile

You know, we really didn`t do Chile justice with regard to street food. Without a doubt, there are many more streetside culinary creations than we were able to sample. But since we were mostly camping in Chile, and then in larger cities, we didn`t get to get our fingers nearly as greasy as we should have. That being said, it`s worth noting a few treats. First of all, submarinos. Now, these may technically be Argentine and are more a cafe than street delicacy, but we ate them in Chile. Basically, when you ask for hot chocolate, you get a glass of warm milk and a chocolate bar shaped like a submarine to dunk in at will. Brilliant!

And, of course, there were empanadas to be had. Cheesy streetside goodness. And by the time we got to San Pedro de Atacama, we were passing more salt flats than we had time to lick. But our two favorite treats were ones that we sadly didn`t capture on film. Choripan and mote con huespillas (spelling vague). The former was barbecued for us by Becca and Gonzalo, our insanely generous and lovely Santiago hosts. We had asked them about the latter, because we saw it being sold everywhere in Santiago out of rolling carts. It wasn`t in our dictionary, and we were a little wary about the dark floating bits. They explained that it was a Santiago specialty of barley soaked in sugary peach juice with peach bits added. And then, like the gracious and thoughtful duo that they are, they prepared them at home. We, too, will soon prepare this at home for any and all who want to come by! Yum!

Chile: San Pedro de Atacama

Twenty-three hours on the bus, countless dubbed videos, way too many saltine crackers, and very little sleep later we found ourselves on the dusty streets of San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile. As the gateway to Bolivia, the stunning scenery of the Atacama desert, and the further reaches of Chile, San Pedro is a gringo magnet extraordinaire. The one-horse main street is dominated by travel agencies, curio shops, internet cafes, and restaurants catering to vegetarians. Jumping into the fray with a ¨if you can`t beat ém¨ attitude, we joined a few organized tours, feasted on mushroom and avocado sandwiches, and gazed starry-eyed at the blissful night sky.

We spent a late-afternoon traveling out to the Valle de Luna with a busload of Brazilian travelers. This ended up being a hilarious tour, because for some reason the guide insisted on speaking to us in French. Even after we clarified that while Kathleen spoke French, we were American. But he claimed to LOVE the French language beyond all else and couldn`t help himself. His enthusiasm was such that we gave up et voila! In any language, the sunset painting the distant mountains and volcanoes was beautiful.

The next morning we rose at 4am (UGH!) to head out to see the Tatio Geyser field. After bumping along a dirt road for hours and swilling down some coca tea to stave off altitude sickness at 4,200 meters (13,779 feet), we were so glad we`d made the trip. No sooner had we gotten out of the car, then the ground mere steps from us shot up a welcoming spout of steaming hello. Everywhere you turned the earth was bubbling, boiling, and steaming---it was otherworldly. And sinking into a big pit of the noxious but warm water was just the thing for taking off the dawn chill. Our day ended with more gorgeous scenery, a high-altitude stroll through a box canyon resplendent with cactus, and more guilty gringo food.

Haircuts Around The World: Chile

I never actually got my haircut in Chile, but we saw some excellent places for our next visit. We couldn´t help but share the pictures.

Chile: Santiago and Valparaiso

We did a bit of a whistle-stop tour of Santiago and Valparaiso, doing neither justice, but loving both. We hate to think we´ve become ¨If it´s Tuesday, it must be Rome¨ type travelers, but with our departure date looming, we´ve been on a bit of fast-track to Bolivia lately. We really wanted to alight in Santiago for two reasons: both to see the former stomping grounds of Eric`s sister, who studied abroad in nearby Vina del Mar, and to catch up with an old friend of Kathleen`s from Backroads.


We spent one day tromping around the city, marveling at the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and being equally impressed by the amazing street art. Then we spent the next few days wrangling with the Bolivian Embassy for visas (actually, they were incredibly gracious and the process was painless, which doesn`t really make for great stories...alas), and being spoiled by Becca and Gonzalo (her ever-charming Chileno partner), who fed us choripan (barbecued sausage stuffed in dreamy bread....deelish!) and grilled meat delights and plied us with Chilean wine and their cute cat until we were afraid we might never leave. Lucky for them, we already had bus tickets to San Pedro de Atacama.



Hopping on a bus to Valparaiso, we were amazed at how much it resembled San Francisco, with pastel-colored homes tumbling down the cliffs toward the ocean and bright trolleys ferrying passengers to and fro. They have these amazing historic elevators to help you access the hilly terrain, and, like Santiago, more amazing street art. We felt both happy and homesick.

Chile: Navimag Across The Open Seas

Atencion Pasajeros! Retiring our hiking boots for awhile, we boarded the Navimag to ferry our way northward from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. Unbelievably, this is one of the most efficient ways to travel this stretch of Chile, as the land is a broken (and beautiful) mass of fjords, islands, and snowcapped peaks. Eric was a tad nervous, as just looking at pictures of boats often makes him queasy, but we stocked up on anti-nausea medicine and hit the decks for adventure. Eric nervously took his first sealegs pill within moments of boarding, claiming the boat was moving, despite the fact that we weren´t scheduled to depart until the next morning. Reports indicate, however, that he did not respond well to teasing on this issue. But happily, for the most part it was smooth sailing past glaciers and undeveloped mountain scenery. We glided past sea otters, dolphins, and even blue whales spouting in the far distance.


With bunk beds, a shared bathroom for 22 of us per dorm cabin, and a dining room that was the spitting image of a junior high cafeteria, it wasn´t exactly the Love Boat. Not that we expected it to be, since it´s mainly a cargo boat that now caters to the backpacking set. Evidently in the winter, the cow to human ratio is stacked firmly in the bovine´s favor. But when the sun was shining on the deck, it felt like a decadent cruise. We ran into a charming Dutch couple that we´d met in Torres del Paine, and we spent much of our time drinking wine and swapping tall tales with them, amidst the constant multi-lingual announcements letting you know everything from when to eat, when to take pictures, when to take seasickness pills, and when to use the bathroom (practically). Sometimes these announcements came on at full volume at 6:30am, followed by a lengthy interlude of new age underwater music, which made us grumpy.


Seeing the Amial Glacier was a highlight, and the crew sent a zodiac boat out into the water to collect ice for the bar. Classy. We easily became accustomed to lazy days with nothing to do but re-enact scenes from Titanic (without the sinking part), read, nap, and drink wine until the stars came out. Lovely. At times the boat felt like a floating bar full of adventurers with stories to tell. One of our favorites was the surfer blonde Canadian who wore a white linen suit to dinner (in the cafeteria) and a shark tooth around his neck and told exaggerated tales of his time in Borneo. His traveling partner was a long-haired German sporting a lumberjack shirt with the sleeves torn off that he met in the airport. They were a reality TV show waiting to happen. As they say on the Navimag (several times a day), for your attention, thank you very much.

Chile: Puerto Natales Puppy Gang

Okay, this one´s for the softies out there. But Puerto Natales runs amuck with stray dogs. This is heartbreaking, of course, and a real problem all over Chile where puppies are loved, but then often left to fend for themselves when they get older. Spaying and neutering is the exception rather than the rule. It´s rather crazy to see these large packs of dogs roaming all over, but they never seem aggressive or dangerous. Rather they sort of seem like lads out on the town, looking for leftovers or recruiting new members. And oddly, they almost always seem to run with other dogs their own size. There´s the group of shaggy mid-sized dogs. The larger group of bigger dogs. And, on our hostel street, there was a gang of puppies. They would waddle up the street en masse and then scramble through this hole in a fence. There were usually five or six all together, but some were camera shy. Anyone want us to mail one home to them?

Chile: Torres del Paine National Park

Kathleen has dreamed of visiting Chile´s Torres del Paine for over a decade, so expectations were big. Happily, the mountains were even bigger, and we enjoyed nine glorious days of backcountry bliss. After crossing the Chilean border, we had less than 24 hours in Puerto Natales to do laundry, rent a tent and stove, buy our food, call home, reserve our ferry and send a few postcards. Thankfully, we managed all this AND even had time for a late-night pisco sour. Sleep would come later.


Packs on, we set off to see as much of the park as we could. Curiosity got the best of us, and we decided to tackle the revered Paine Circuit and the ¨W,¨ a fast-track to the park´s greatest hits. Since we can´t imagine that anyone would want to read a blow-by-blow of our trip (oatmeal breakfasts, peanut butter and crackers, hike, cheese-n-crackers, hike, pasta, sleep, do over), we´re instead including a few highlights. We hiked a lot of miles, but we always left time to stop and smell the flowers.


People: We met people from all over the world, which was much of the fun. And they had all manner of gear and experience. Often with literally everything on their back and feet rented. We met one crazy Brit who was doing 13 hour days with rented boots. On day one he already had blisters that would make a mountaineer cry. And he had failed to pack a lighter for his stove or a water bottle. But he was only 20, and youth seemed to be on his side. Plus, we can´t make too much fun, because we later learned that we had gained our own reputation at the first campground when our tent was literally being blown onto our faces with the gale-force winds. That´s what we get for being the last ones up, giving everyone time to witness our poor staking job. Throughout the week, people would mention having seen our tent (and offered to help us stake it). Doh!


Vino Caliente: While we certainly don´t advocate having a lot of man-made structures in the backcountry, who are we to argue when they sell boxes of cheap, red wine? Luckily, thanks to our friend Lu´s brilliant advice, we had prepared for this by buying cinammon sticks and dried orange slices and ginger and brown sugar in Puerto Natales. So each night we were able to stave off the cold (and the sore muscles) by brewing up a pot of mulled wine. Highly recommended. Especially when accompanied with Toblerone dark chocolate. Not that we would have ever been that indulgent. Oh no.



Walking sticks: We are completely won over. Admittedly we at first thought these were kinda dorky. But then some of our favorite and coolest hiking partners, like AC and Malsy, started swearing by them. And since our knees were aching and cracking, we decided to give it a go. We will never ever turn back. We encourage all of you to go out and buy some trekking poles. Eric even uses them walking on concrete to the grocery store these days.


Natural beauty: The sea of ice that was Glacier Grey. The stark moraine of John Garner Pass. The silent soaring of two Andean condors. The insane turquoise of Largo Pehoe (which inspired Eric to leap up and down after a particularly tiring day). We were undeniably lucky with the weather (only had to put on raingear once!). Especially on the day we rose at dawn to watch day break over the park´s namesake towers. We now feel justified in buying all those postcards with the glowing red torres---it really looks like that!


We came back to Puerto Natales with bulging calves, stinky socks, and a camera full of pics. Now, we´re off to sit on a ferry for four days, where we don´t have to walk any further than the poop deck. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........