Chillin' With The Chileans

On Friday, the 19th, the holiday atmosphere was continuing. We were to find out that the holiday would actually last for four days, and life would not fully return to normal until Monday, the 22nd. We were fortunate enough to be invited by our friend Ines to her family's weekend/summer home in a town called Olmue. This town is inland from Vina, and we started the approximately 1-1/2 -hour journey by foot, train and car. (add a bus for the return trip!)

As an aside, we have nothing but good things to say about the transportation system in Chile. The buses may be questionable in terms of their mechanical ability, but they are always clean and very available. If we miss one, there is another along shortly. Also, the drivers don't seem to get uptight about where they pick people up or drop them off. If we are walking down the street and put a hand up, they will stop. The same goes if we want off mid-route. We just walk to the back door, and the driver pulls over. So, the bus experience has been great. The train turned out to be the same.....very clean, affordable, and on time. The on-time part is kind of a surprise given what we have read/heard about "Chilean time"!

So, off we went by train. We arrived in a town called Lamache. We called Ines to let her know we had gotten that far, and she and her husband, Javier drove the 20 minutes from Olmue to pick us up. Olmue is apparently a somewhat upscale, summer home community where the people with enough resources can get away from their dinky, noisy city apartments and spend some quality time in the country. In Canada, we go to "The Lake"- here, they go to their "summer home". At least until recently, a place at the lake was within the reach of most of the middle class in Saskatchewan. I get the feeling that a Chilean would have to be doing very well to have a summer home. One difference is that our cabins tend to be close to nature, while the summer homes tend to be within towns.

(I should say that most of what we write about this country and its people are simply our impressions based on our short time here. In some cases we may be just plain wrong!)

This is the front of Ines' and Javier's home in Olmue. What used to be one level, is now two. A second level was added about ten years ago. You will see in a later photo (if you look closely) that the second level is open. From the loft, you can look down over the kitchen area. There were 4 bedrooms I believe. Three had outside access to the small backyard pool. Lovely!!
If you were able to see behind me, you would find a narrow, 80 metre driveway with a locked gate at the end.



To start the feast, we were invited to sit on the patio where we were served empanadas and pisco sour. The view from the back yard was of this mountain. They called it Cerro (hill) Campana. It is apparently a popular climb for tourists that are so inclined.



What appeared to be an overgrown, somewhat out of control area of vegetation in another area of the back yard turned out to be a miniature orchard offering an amazing variety of produce. Here Charlene and Ines are once again using the translation bible to stitch the conversation together.



This is one of three small Avocado (Palta) trees but as we walked about, we would come across cherries, oranges, lemons, almonds, apricots, apples, and in the neighbor's yard, figs. She also had two raised beds of herbs and spices.



Una palta....



Here is where you might see the open second floor. I should also mention that while Ines' two sons were unable to make it, we were joined by Javier's brother, Marcelo and a family friend, Hector. Both were from Santiago. Javier and Hector spoke no English. While Marcelo initially, I suspect modestly, said he did not speak English, it became clear that he could get by quite nicely. As a result we were able to have real conversations while practicing our limited Spanish (and sign language when necessary!) Most enjoyable.

Many Chileans will apologize for not being able to speak (better) English. If they have even a little, we will often suggest that their English is far better than our Spanish. Hopefully, we can improve our Spanish and their English in the time that we are here.

Lunch preparations are underway with Javier in the foreground, his brother to the left at the counter and Ines with Charlene in the background. Hector is on the right.

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Chileans traditionally eat their largest meal of the day near mid-afternoon. (This makes complete sense and explains the small stores closing from 1:00-ish to 4:00-ish each day) We sat down at about 3:30 to what we were told was a pretty typical meal. The salad consisted of cut veggies, (celery, cucumber, tomatoes, cauliflower, palta, broccoli, etc.) The protein came from a selection of chicken (pollo), beef (carne) and sausage (sachicha). And of course, wine to compliment it all!


Dessert (postre) was something called Mote con Huesillos...the following is the "Wikipedia" explanation....

Mote con huesillo is a typical Chilean non alcoholic drink and dessert.

It is made from husked wheat (mote), mixed with sun-dried peaches (huesillo) that have been rehydrated in water for hours. The water in which the peaches were rehydrated is mixed with some sugar, and the wheat is mixed in a glass with the peaches and the peach-flavored sweetened water.

This drink is usually sold on streets, from carts and stands, during the summertime. The boiled wheat and huesillos are also bought in markets for domestic preparation.

The industrial preparation of this drink has had only partial success in Chile.

After lunch meant a walk about the neighborhood. The sun seems very intense here. We definitely feel the heat on our faces. More so than at home it seems.




The scenery and homes were very nice, but the roads, sidewalks, boulevards and yards were not kept as we might expect in a community like this in Canada.





This is the town plaza where it appears that families come to gather and visit after the big meal. This would be about 5:30.



After returning to the house for more dessert (Dulces Chilenos - small cone shaped pastry filled with chocolate pudding) an a glass of Ponche de Duranzo (Peach juice mixed with white wine and fresh fruit), it was time to hit the road. We walked back to the town square where we caught the bus to Limache (20 minutes), the train to Vina del Mar (40 minutes) and then a 20 minute hike back to the apartment for an 8:00pm arrival. It was a long but very good day.
One of the best parts of visiting another country is seeing how the people live. You don't really have that opportunity unless you are invited into their homes. Granted, this was a tiny glimpse, but the longer that we are here, the more we are learning.

Mental note: In the future, no matter how friendly a dog seems, if the owner tells you that the dog might bite . . . . listen to them!!

It seems we are running a little behind on the postings lately. We are in the process of writing the next one. To begin with we felt that if we didn't keep up we would fall hopelessly behind. These days there is less to report on and seemingly less time to do it. It's amazing how time can expand and contract to accommodate the plans of the day. It would be a stretch to say that we are overly busy, but most days are full and time is flying by.

Until next time,
Norm and Charlene