February 6 - Dinner Last Night and Back to Puerto Natales

Hi:
So, I mentioned last that we were heading out to a highly recommended restaurant (Don Pichon) for dinner.  The hostel staff made a reservation for us and off we trotted.

Actually, a step back.  Lamb is a very popular dish locally with some restaurants specializing in it.  And some cook (roast? barbecue?) the lamb in "room ovens" at the front of the restaurant.  Here's an example.  

You tell me - is this roasting, barbecuing or some other method of cooking?

Back to dinner.  Mike and Diana are newly graduated students. Diana is Argentinian and was on scholarship in the US when she met Mike.  They are down here on vacation / visiting family.

Wonderful - somebody who can deal with the waiter.  She knew which wine to pick (don't need to spend a lot of money, they are all good), what to order and how to work out the details (no Squid in it's Own Ink for Greg tonight!).

We had the lamb, lots of wine, a great dessert and yammered away to well past midnight.  Great meal, great company and with the Argentinian peso crashing, not expensive.  Actually, even before the crash the price of meals is less than Chile or Canada.

The downside of a long evening was the fact that I had to drag my butt out of bed at 0500 (remember my bus reservation).  So, after a solid(?) 3 hours sleep out I trundled.  Waited for the bus until 0600, (a function of which end of town they start picking people up in), get on and get another hour's sleep.

The Argentinian countryside is pretty boring and 'dustbowlish' on the way to the border. Here's a shot of a prosperous looking ranch.   These people are off the grid because there isn't a grid anywhere near.

Off the bus and go through the Argentinian side to exit.  Those poor fellows still don't have any power.  They are beginning to squint.

Back on the bus and off to the Chilean side. Here we have to unload luggage as well as the entry check as the Chileans are very particular about not letting fruit and vegetables in.  They use sniffer dogs and an x-ray machine to accomplish this.  

Another bus pulls up behind and out hops Marcia (from yesterday).  Her bus turns right after the checkpoint to go to the park whereas our bus turns left.

As soon as you cross the border I notice a few things.  It's greener, more rolling countryside and a better road.  This part of Chile seems more prosperous than the nearby part of Argentina.

Into the hostel, clean up and reorganize my gear.  I have to switch from 'carry it on the bus' mode to 'fly on a plane' mode, which includes reducing everything to one bag and getting rid of explosive camping butane (almost forgot).  There are at least 4 other Canadians here (Erratic Rock 2) tonight - we're taking over!

Tonight's episode of "Adventures in Eating:" Remember when I was in Peurto Natales earlier I kept trying unsuccessfully to order Curanto in a local restaurant.  

Off I go to try again (what is the term you use to describe doing the same thing over and over again but expecting the outcome to change?).  Well, third time lucky.  This is Curanto - mussels, clams, chicken, smoked pork, sausage, potato, milcao (potato pancake), chapele (potato dumpling) and a wiener(?).  This is a traditional dish except for the wiener, I bet.

The mussels here have very large, thick strong shells compared to ours and the mussel meat is tougher than ours.  The clams are equivalent to butter clams.  the sausage is god and wieners, well, they are wieners.  Reading about this dish they say it usually includes a giant barnacle or two.  Not tonight.

That's it for today.  I have a nice 10 a.m. bus to catch tomorrow back to Punta Arenas.