December 21,

We got up again – very cool. Jeff turned on our space heater and pilot for the hot water as I stayed snuggled in. I felt like Princess Paula! After ten minutes we readied, had our javas and breakfast of French toast with raspberry jam and yogurt. I blogged as Jeff read. Then we did a WhatsApp video-talk with my mom. Around 1300, we Zoomed with our church back home.  After the service was over we made our lunch. We had toast with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and hummus as a spread with a Cab. Sav. Chilean wine. 

Then we did a WhatsApp video-talk with my sister. When we finished we went out to get some much needed steps. As we were leaving our place, we saw our host’s colorful rooster. His beauty makes up for his cock-a-doodling. We headed back to the coast to continue along – kind of, where we stopped yesterday. The coastline had the normal buildings- tall hotels & condos, but it also had a cool castle-like place built right at the edge of the water. As a matter of fact we had noticed other castle-like buildings, and some art deco ones too. Great mix of all kinds of architecture! Near one of the sandy beaches there was even a good sized ferris wheel… maybe it’s near a park. We’ll check it out another time.

We went back and made supper – a Greek salad and some salami. Lastly we video-talked on WhatsApp with Jeff’s sister, and her husband. We were blessed to see their two sons and d-i-l. What a great connection day it was!

     December 22,

Up and about by 0800 when we had hot water. Then time for our Javas and breakfast of Muesli and yogurt. When we finished we watched some Youtube, I blogged some more as Jeff read. Around 1230 we went out for steps, lunch and a hypermart- around 2 miles away. 

First stop was lunch. We stopped at Empanadas Emilu. We have been by this place everyday. They advertise “28 Variedades,” which is 28 varieties!! We got two and split them: the Carne, and the Tradicional Pino. We thought the last one to be pineapple, but not so. It was the same one we had in Santiago. Both were good and tasty. We also shared a Mote con Huesillos,  which is a traditional, non-alcoholic Chilean drink. It is made with dried whole peaches (huesillos) and a caramelized syrup form the peaches poured over cooked wheat kernels (mote) or barley. It was not as sweet as it sounded and was refreshing. We paid 7,400 CLP or $8.14, and left.

Next we went to a second-hand store, for possible long sleeved tops for Jeff. The shop ended up being only women’s clothing. So we moved on to go to the hypermart, when we came upon a type of dollar store. We went inside and found most of the things that we were going to a hypermart for! That was very convenient. 🤗 Our list had stuffs our place did not have, like a peeler, scissors, etc. That accomplished we went to the local grocery store and Jeff went in to get some wine while I stayed out with our newly acquired stuff. Loaded down we went back to our place, I blogged some, and Jeff had a siesta. 

Around 1700-ish, we went back out in search of supper and more steps. We had a specific Chilean dish in mind and Jeff researched where to find it. We had seen it recommended on a vlog by Anthony Bordine. We found the place, Entre Barros. We were seated and ordered. The dish we ordered was the Pastel de Choclo, that we were after. It’s a dish with a filling of meat, chicken, onion, black olive, and hard-boiled egg topped with a sweet corn pudding/puree that is browned. It was layered like a Shepherds Pie, but had a taste all to itself. we also ordered Carne Mechada, which was a stewed meat that is slow cooked or braised until pull apart tender. It was topped with a savory pumpkin or squash puree. I had a Pisco Sour and Jeff had a Austral Lager. We also were given a appetizer of rolls with Pebre or Chilean Salsa and side salads of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. We loved all of it!!  The bill came to 42,658 CLP or $46.92. 

We walked back to our place, enjoying the breeze in the air and the sounds of the city: salsa/rumba music, cars buzzing by, occasional horns, and people laughing/talking. Lovely city.