Algorrobo

Looking to steal away one last summer beach day, Matt and I got up early one Saturday morning and hopped on the bus to Algorrobo.  Coronvirus was a distant threat, so we purell'ed our hands extra and tried not to touch much on the bus... little did we know it would soon take over life.  

We had so much fun, we only took one picture all day- it's of Matt eating an Empanada.

Matt and a Cheese and Shrimp Empanada

Algorrobo was originally recommended to us by friends because it is just an hour outside of Santiago.  Unfortunately, we quickly learned that buses do not go directly there.  Rather, they run a loop that takes you south of Algorrobo and then wind their way back up the coast, which doubles the trip duration.  The only good news about this route is that the way home back to Santiago is direct.  Buses only run clockwise.

Karen had put some extra effort into online research to select a bus route that went directly to Algorrobo- the listed travel time was 1 hour and 20 minutes.  However, when we got to the bus terminal we were told that that bus was the same as all others.  Its arrival time was just inaccurate.  Oh well.

Once in Algorrobo, we enjoyed our day completely on foot.  The bus terminal is a 20-minute walk from the beach.  Karen desperately needed to use the restroom, and all restaurants along the way turned her down even when she offered to pay generously.  This town takes its bathroom privacy seriously.  Eventually, we made it to a food court that granted anyone from the public the privilege of paying double the normal Santiago price to use the restroom.  Meanwhile, Matt purchased a couple empanadas from a highly recommended spot.  They were tasty, but nothing special.

The real gem of the day was the beach!  The water was a clear turquoise blue, and the coast was dotted with large rocks that broke the waves and created nice gentle spots for wading.  Beaches near Santiago tend to be cold (think Northern California beaches), but the water was comfortable to get in with the summer heat.  Vendor stalls line the coast, and we rented a couple chairs to settle in for the afternoon.  We also indulged in a large palmier, which Algorrobo is mysteriously known for.  We chose not to go, but boats departed every hour for a tour of a local island with penguins. A man on a dock promoted the tour incessantly by yelling at crowds through a large cone.

Karen thought the seaweed was pretty so she left some on her legs to dry in the sun.  Matt thought it would be funny to sell like Cuban cigars which are rolled on women's thighs.  Maybe the joke was funnier in person than written on this blog...

After we got our fill of the beach, we walked about 10 minutes north to get some fried fish for dinner.  Again, the restaurant was highly recommended, but we didn't think it was anything special.  

Next stop, the largest pool in the world.  Unfortunately, only a small section of the pool is open due to sanitation and safety issues.

The largest pool in the world.  Photo taken from Pinterest.

Not wanting to get back home too late, we walked back to the bus terminal.  Overall, a fun, exploratory day at the beach! We'd love to go back next summer! Assuming there isn't a global pandemic...

Tereré

While in Chile, I've adopted the habit of drinking a tea called yerba mate for my morning caffeine boost.  It's a funny switch since most Santiaguinos don't consume mate themselves.  However, mate is consumed in southern Chile and neighboring countries including Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil so it is somewhat present in Santiago culture.

Although I normally think of mate being served hot, we recently learned that in Paraguay and parts of Argentina and Brazil, people drink a cold preparation of mate called tereré.  In addition to water and ice, tereré is jazzed up with juice.  We've read that pineapple juice, lime, and lemon are popular.  I'm personally a big fan of the orange juice and ginger combination.

We purchased our tereré from a mate store in a northern province of Argentina called Misiones, where mate is cultivated.  The store clerk told us that you can use any mate leaves for tereré, but the bags that specifically call out tereré are cut larger to allow for more ideal steeping in cold water versus hot.

If spiked, I think tereré could be the next hipster cocktail in San Francisco.

Chicha Morada

What's that purple stuff they're drinking?

...it's Chicha Morada!

Chicha Morada is a classic Peruvian drink with a base made from purple corn.  Matt likes to order it at Peruvian restaurants in Santiago as a treat.  I always thought the recipe would be intimidating since the drink looks and tastes so exotic to me.  However, Matt was undeterred and decided making it at home was worth a shot after conducting some online research.  It turned out surprisingly tasty!!!

The complete list of ingredients (all of which are easily found at Santiago's La Vega market):

• 800 grams of dried purple corn
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• the skin from 1 pineapple
• the peel from 2 apples
• the juice from 4 lemons
• 1 cup sugar

Deconstructed Chicha Morada

A fun view of our pineapple

Step 1: Boil the purple corn, cinnamon, cloves, pineapple skin, and apple peel in 3 liters of water for 45 minutes.

It smells good!

Step 2: Strain the resulting purple liquid and set it aside.  Pour another fresh 1.5 liters of water over the same ingredients.  Boil for 45 for minutes.  

By the end of this second round of boiling, the corn grains should be beginning to split open and show the white starch inside.  This means they're done.  Out of curiosity, we tried eating the corn.  It was quite starchy, especially considering it had already been boiling for an hour and a half.  We thought it was tasty but vowed not to eat more for fear of a stomach ache.

Step 3: Add the new purple liquid to the previous batch.  Then, pour in the lemon juice and sugar to taste.

Step 4: Serve chilled with a cubed apple garnish (much like sangria) 

The final product!

Disappointing Bakeries of Santiago

Walking the streets of Santiago you will be struck by the number of nice-looking bakeries. Unfortunately, for some reason, hardly any of them are any good. Here are some some of the bakeries that have left us disappointed in the last year:

Daniel's Bakery

There is also a Daniel's Cafe, a popular brunch spot, notable for serving its eggs benedict on sweet cinnamon-chocolate swirl bread. It's not a bad combination, but I would say it's not an improvement on a classic eggs benedict either. I don't know if the cafe and the bakery are owned by the same Daniel, but Daniel's Bakery has definitely nailed down the visual aspect of crafting baked goods.

Even after an initial disappointing experience (a dry scone that wasn't much more than thick bread), I decided to give them another chance and got a cookie. It wasn't a bad cookie, per se- it was  meant to be salted chocolate, but whoever had added the salt to the sweet had been a little too enthusiastic. Additionally it had a baking powder taste. Finally, I tried the "Rocky", a s'mores-like concoction that I think is the most visually arresting of their creations. I figured the s'more is a classic and any combination of chocolate, cookie, and marshmallow should be delicious. Unfortunately, the marshmallow tasted synthetic. In fact, somehow the brownie also tasted synthetic. All around it was really not very good. 

They look good- don't be fooled!

Brique

I was drawn to Brique because they offer iced coffee, and once inside I saw some very impressive looking almond croissants and bear claws- generous amounts of almond filling, slivered almonds on top, and covered in powdered sugar. Unfortunately I can recommend neither the pastries (I wish I could say it was stale, but I think it was fresh- that it is just naturally tasteless and tough) nor the iced coffee. I don't have photos of the pastries because I can't walk in and take a picture without buying something... and they have nothing I want to buy. Next door is Original Green Roasters, where they do have pretty good coffee, but to my knowledge no freshly-baked pastries.

Donut Corp and #FreeTheDonut

Donut Corp is a small, artisanal donut shop in Providencia. Almost every store that sells donuts in Santiago seems to carry the same mass-produced "artisanal" donuts, which are not bad, but are nowhere near remarkable. Donut Corp stands out for actually seeming to have their own small-batch donuts, with interesting flavors like strawberry cheesecake and creme brulée. However, while their donuts look pretty promising, they are ultimately a disappointment. The best I can say is that they are not overly sweet... but really, they are not overly anything. All the flavors are muted. Ultimately, while the names and appearances of the donuts are flashy, they are all basically the same- a plain donut with a colorful icing and a single themed accent piece on top. 

#FreeTheDonut has appeared on the scene recently, with no brick-and-mortar locations but accepting orders through Instagram and delivering right to your door. My coworkers and I split an order of 9 donuts- and they're pretty good! There were good, solid flavors (chocolate), and fun exuberant donuts (one with jam, a cookie, and merengue). Overall, they were a little dry and some could benefit from an additional moistening element (like the ones that had jam), but they were tasty.

The Best Donuts in Santiago

However, the best donuts in Santiago come from Donerd's Donuts, and I'm not just saying that because the woman who developed their donut recipe is a friend of mine. The flavors were natural and understated, and the texture was nice and soft. They also aged well- a day later they were denser and the flavors came through better. So far I've had a snickers donut (fine), a PB&J donut (good), and an orange pistachio donut (the unexpected best). And definitely not too dry.

My Favorite Bakery

My favorite Bakery is a middle eastern bakery near our apartment. I don't think the sweets stand out especially, but they are what they are- well made baklava and other tasty classics.

Valpo II: Return to Concon

After Maya and Briton's big trip to Patagonia, they had some time to spend in and around Santiago. One of those days, we took them to get to know the coast- Valparaiso and Concon.

First Stop: Valparaiso

We rode the bus from Santiago to Valparaiso bright and early, and from the Valpo bus station we went straight to the city's most classic tourist destination: Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana. Karen and Matt have already visited the house and agree that it is a cooler house than La Chascona, Neruda's Santiago residence. They waited outside and enjoyed the nice weather while Maya and Briton meandered through the rooms with an audioguide.

We learned that although we were on top of one of Valpo's many hills, and our next destination - Cerro Alegre - was on top of another, we did not have to climb down and up again to get between them. A winding road followed a natural crest between the hills, and we walked along it taking in the sights and the murals along the way. 

Once we reached Cerro Alegre, we got a tasty traditional Chilean lunch in a homey restaurant, followed by ice cream and looking around the many craft and clothing stores. Cerro Alegre is very trendy and Maya (inner sunset resident) seemed right at home.

This trip was unfortunately NOT sponsored by Cotopaxi.

"Should I move to Valparaiso?"

Next Stop: Concon

From Valpo, we got a taxi north to Concon, where the actual swimming beaches are (Valpo is a port). Of course we made a few stops along the way: first, at the Concon dunes. Karen and Matt tromped up the first sand dune, and turned around to find Maya and Briton had disappeared. Some investigation revealed they were huddled in the shade of a bush- both were wearing sandals and couldn't walk on the hot sand. They had to use Matt and Karen's socks in order to finish the climb.

Maya and Briton ran off to explore the emptier parts of the dunes, while Matt and Karen watched them appear and disappear among the dunes like exuberant ants.

And we also stopped at Empanadas las Deliciosas to eat a few of their famous shrimp and cheese empanadas. Then we spent a pleasant couple of hours at the beach before riding back to Santiago.

Ending a full day at a hip bar in Barrio Italia

Torres del Paine and the W Trek: Getting Started

Torres del Paine National Park may be the most famous Chilean landmark. The hiking route that connects some of its most distinctive features is shaped like a W, giving the trek its name. Karen's sister Maya and her friend Briton joined us on a trip to Torres del Paine, but they both declined to guest-write this post.

The Day Before

Matt and Maya meticulously catalogued the calories of various packaged foods in a supermarket to craft their backpacking meals.  The sight was pretty funny and lasted a full hour- imagine Maya reading out calories and serving sizes aloud as Matt kept a running tally on his cell phone.  Karen followed suit even though she was staying in a lodge, since meals in Torres del Paine average 6x those in Santiago.

Briton arrived 8pm the night before the trek.  Just in time to catch a local beer and food festival in Puerto Natales!

Getting There

We hiked the W in 5 days, and decided to begin on the west end. This meant getting up early to take a bus from Puerto Natales into the park, watching a video about the rules and regulations, paying a fee, taking a second bus across the width of the park, and finally crossing by boat to the hiking trail. Unfortunately this did not all go smoothly. In an effort to reduce the weight we were carrying, we left all but 100.000 pesos with Karen. We had no US dollars. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at the park entrance and found that all of the prices posted online only apply to stays of 3 days or less. For longer stays, there are higher prices. Matt got a break for being a Chilean resident (although he had to write out his Chilean ID number without looking to prove it) but the entrance fees still came out to 80.000 pesos. Nobody that we asked knew for sure how much the upcoming boat ride would cost, but everyone agreed they did not accept credit cards. The park actual official advice of the park employee was to get on the boat and then try to cry and look distraught when we had to pay. Luckily, a kind stranger was able to lend us an additional 50.000 pesos, giving us exactly the amount we needed to ride the boat (23.000 per person), plus 1.000 pesos extra!

The boat takes you across this lake. (Lake Pehoe)

Getting Started

We finally started hiking by 1PM, at Paine Grande Lodge, located in the bottom left corner of the W. We hiked up the leftmost leg of the W towards the Grey Glacier. 

After reaching the campsite, we went to a lookout with an incredible view of the glacier and several ice bergs that had broken off. 

We tried to go to a series of hanging bridges even closer to the glacier, but it was getting dark and they were farther than we realized, so Maya and Briton decided to get up early the next morning to see them before the main hike.  Check it out!

If you don't want to bring your own gear for the trek, you can rent these tents from a park service- convenient but expensive $$$

Torres del Paine and the W Trek: French Valley

Day 2

We retraced our steps back to Paine Grande Lodge. The W involves a lot of out-and-back hikes, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that hiking the other direction revealed entirely new and beautiful views. On the way towards the glacier, we had of course been looking towards the glacier and the lake that it feeds. On the way back we had a stunning view out over the rolling hills towards snow-capped peaks. 
At Paine Grande Lodge we kept going, approaching the Cuernos and skirting around lakes, until we crossed a raging glacial river and reached our next campsite, right at the mouth of the French Valley, which forms the middle leg of the W.

Marching towards Los Cuernos

The bridge to get to our campsite

In case you didn't realize where to refill your water. 
(hint: it's the river)

A glacial river and the source of our water

Matt icing his aching knee at a natural source!

Day 3

This day was a short hike- up into the valley to a lookout, then back out a few kilometers to our next campsite. The climb to the lookout involved a steep ascent at the end, but was otherwise one of the most pleasant hikes of the entire route. We walked along a glacial river, through shady woods, and enjoyed good weather the entire morning. Every so often the glaciers on the mountain side would break with a loud rumble. A few times we even saw the small avalanche as it happened. At the lookout we were surrounded by strange and striking rock formations carved by glaciers.

Another hiker was nice enough to take our photo. It came out crooked, so we asked for another one. He laughed, took a second photo, and said, 'there, that's better.' This is that second photo.

As usual, these glaciers were much bigger and much farther away than they appeared- their true size was evident when they periodically calved.

On the way out, we had a view out of the valley at a landscape dotted with stunningly blue lakes.