Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

 Or as they say here Feliz Navidad Carlitos Brown!

(No joke they really call Charlie Brown: Carlitos) This little guy is only half a block from our flat. I have loved walking by it every morning on my way to work. 

I had the best bus ride home from work on Monday because a guy with a guitar stepped onto the bus and started playing this:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihW56Xa3XGQ 

He did leave out the english part and stuck to just the castellano, but I didn't mind one bit. As difficult as it is tackling the language I sure do love it. 

Today we are heading to the Santiago airport to meet the Henry's and from there we are catching a flight south. We are spending the holiday in the lake district. Puerto Varas, Valdivia and Pucon - Here we come! 

Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad!

Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness to all!

Salt Salt Salt

While in Pichilemu, Pablo drove us down the coast to Cáhuil  to see the salt deposits where the locals harvest the salt.

If you don't like to wear shoes maybe this is the job for you. 

This local told us all about the production of the salt. The problem, we had a difficult time understanding %95 percent of the things he said. And it wasn't just us, Ivana who is fluent and Pable who is a native speaker didn't understand too much either. 

Unfortunately we were there in the "off" season (who knew there was a high and low season for the gathering of salt) But we still got a 1 kilo bag for about $1. We are now prepared in case of a snow storm or if anyone wants a salt scrub bath. 

Chileans have a tendency to add "-ito" onto the end of many words. Once you add -ito it makes the word a small version of itself. For example perro is dog. Perrito is little dog. Here I think someone was confused about their term saquito. 'Cause thats a lot of salt! And it's only $2.

We drove on and stopped for a bite to eat for lunch. We enjoyed some delicious seafood. 

Can you see our group shot in Henry's shades?

I loved these fish sculptures along the road.

Pichilemu means "little forest". Pablo took us to Bucalemu a little further south along the coast. There were so many trees which easily explains why its name means "big forest".

They even have mermen in Bucalemu.

We headed back to Pichilmeu, but not without one more stop looking back inland at the beautiful landscape. If you want both the beach and the mountains - this is the place for you. The best of both worlds. 

That pretty much wraps up our four days of fun in and around the little surf town. Thanks Pablo for showing us around! 

Punta de Lobos

 


One of my favorite spots in Pichilemu was Punta de Lobos. It is one of the most popular places in the world for surfing and surf competitions.

Can you spot the tiny surfer in this photo? 

Photo by Pablo.

 The surfers swim out across that frothy pass with waves and the current constantly pulling on them as they try to get to the punta on the other side. They then walk across the rocks, jump in and paddle out to catch the best waves. 

 Photo by Pablo.

 Photo by Pablo.

We watched the surfers all afternoon until sunset. By the end of the day we were quite wind blown but it was well worth it. 

Surfing was the one thing we didn't get to do there. So we're heading back in January to catch some waves. (Some of the smaller ones of course - you won't see us out there by the point)

The Best Empanadas EVER!

Photo by Pablo Noel

There is a small place in Pichilemu called El Quincho Del Ross. Most people argue that the best empanadas are fried but no way. They obviously haven´t been here.

Photo by Pablo Noel 

 Out back they have outdoor ovens where they cook made to order empanandas and pan amasado. The pan amasado was our appetizer  as we enjoyed it hot with butter and cheese. You can get your empanada with basically anything you want.. cheese, all kinds of veggies, seafood, meat.. you name it. It´s all heaven.

Photo by Pablo Noel

It was the kind of meal that made you feel like you need to run a few miles after but man, what I would do for one of those fresh hot empanadas right now.

Pichilemu

Our friend Pablo invited us to spend a long four day weekend (that we had back in early November) in Pichilemu. It is a small surf town about three and a half hours southwest of Santiago. Here are just a few shots of the town, surf and such.