Panama... Panama-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

This is going to be the last post in the epic tale that was my trip to Chile and I can not think of a better place to end it than...

Panama?

I got to Panama City around 5 last night and the airport was dead. It took a few minutes to get through customs and a 5 dollar cab ride later I was at the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel and Resort.

This was my room. I feel they took some liberties with the term "Resort"

View from the Balcony. There is a pool back there somewhere, with bonus swim-up bar.

I had some dinner at the hotel restaurant to see what I could find in the way of entertainment. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from as the English programming was sparse but I did manage to find a really good movie on TV most of you will be familar with, Castaway. I turned it on just as he was getting on his plane.

Anyway I woke up an hour earlier than intended because of a confusion with the time. I got to the airport and got a bite to eat at the little cafe and some iced tea which is a little strange here.

And I leave you with that. My plane is at the gate and I should be on my way back to Houston at 10:05am if all goes to plan I'll be on the ground a little after 2:00 in the afternoon.

Walnuts 2.0

Today we went to Alexis' Grandmother's farm. It takes about an hour to get there and it is in the mountains that border Argentina. They also produce walnuts like the farm of her cousin.

On the drive up there I was informed that the mountain covered in snow belongs to her grandmother. Yup, she owns a mountain. A couple of them actually. The farm was bought back in the 30s by Alexis' Great Grandfather and the edge of the farm goes right up to Argentina. I was told that it was about 7000 hectares which is just over 17000 acres.

This is the River that is one border of the farm

One of the fields for the cows and horses

 This was near the top of that mountain from earlier

When we got there we built a small fire and cooked some steaks for dinner and ate them with a salad and some bread. It was all very good and after our tour of the place we had some tea and came back to the city where I packed my stuff and got ready to fly out in the morning.

I have an awesome panoramic shot from the mountain but it won't upload so I'll have to but it on Facebook along with the extra pictures.

Picoroco (google it)

Friday we went to the Mercado Central again this time to show Christina as well as give me the chance to eat picorocos. They are a species of giant barnacle that is eaten in Chile and parts of Peru. It is very rare for them to be ordered in the restaurants in the market especially by foreigners so when the guy found out that I wanted them he got very excited. No one had tried them before including the 2 employees we talked to at the restaurant where we were eating.

They look pretty gross but they were cooked in oil and garlic and taste like crab mixed with a little bit of clam. Not too bad. If you are ever in the area I would suggest trying them.

This was a tiny after dinner drink that tasted a lot like celery salt.

Later that night we went over to a friend's house to meet up before going out to celebrate this girl's birthday. It was at a place called Murano that no one likes to go to but seemed alright to me.

Snoooooooooooooooow!

On Thursday we heard that the ski season had opened a little earlier than normal so we got in Alexis' truck and headed about an hour outside of the city to the slope that had opened. We got a late start heading up there so there was no chance that we were going to get to do anything up there but look around but it was still really beautiful. I had never been to a ski slope so it was cool to get to see one.

The road heading up the mountain was long and winding. All of the sharp curves were numbered and there were 40 of them. Every year in November they hold a bike race from Santiago to the top of the mountain. 

Somewhere in that fog is Santiago

We were there for only an hour or so because we had to go eat dinner with some friends of the family whose daughter was going to New York for a few weeks. We ate at an Italian restaurant in one of the malls here . I had blue cheese and artichoke pizza and a chocolate brownie topped with manjar mousse. Awesome.

No Time For A Clever Name

Tuesday, June 1 2010
Valparaiso, Chile
75mi NW of Santiago

Tuesday we spent the day at the beach in Valparaiso. It is the near the town where Alexis' Mom was raised and is one of has biggest ports in the country. It is also where the Navy and Chilean Congress is headquartered. We spent the first part of the afternoon walking around the hillside where most of the houses are located. The city is also one of the cultural centers on the country and because of all the immigrants in the city coming from all over the world the city has a variety of buildings that reflect this. The houses in the hills of the city are painted all different colors and the city has a large artistic community.

While we were walking around we came across a guy selling paintings of the city that he had done. He talked to us for about 15 minutes explaining all about his art and sounded really passionate but I couldn't understand most of what he said. Alexis' Mom bought 4 of his smaller paintings and we left to go get hot chocolate at Color Cafe. I don't drink a lot of hot chocolate so I got a hot tea instead. Alexis got a slice of banana pie and her mom got a piece of lemon pie. The banana pie was interesting but the lemon pie was really good. 

Inside Color Cafe

We left Valparaiso and drove along the water to Vina del Mar where Alexis' Mom was raised. The ocean was really beautiful and the waves were huge. There were people surfing even though the water had to be freezing. We ate at a place across from the ocean that sold fried empanadas.  I think it was a place that Alexis' Mom went to when she was a child. I had crab, shrimp and beef empanadas for lunch that were really good but had a lot of cheese in them.

On an unrelated note, when we driving into town sitting in traffic we saw a little boy in a bus licking the window.

I bet he eats his boogers too