A whole new world of eating

One thing that is the same in Ecuador and Chile is that food portions are generous.  The similarity pretty much ends there.

I've been in Chile for only three days, but here is what I have learned about Chilean food.

1.  Chileans like mayonnaise on everything.  Eg, the popular fast food, completo, is a hotdog topped with guacamole and mayo.

Get out your knife and fork

2.  Chileans eat hamburgers and other large sandwiches (heavy on the mayo) with a knife and fork.

3.  Because of the influence of the English, Chileans drink tea.  The coffee here sucks even more than it does in Ecuador.

4.  Seafood and wine are the best things to consume in Chile.  You can't go wrong with either.

It's summer vacation time in Chile and we joined the hordes today at Quintay, a tiny fishing hamlet halfway between Santiago and Valparaíso.  It used to be the biggest whale processing center in the Southern Hemisphere.  

Today, it was like Cape Cod in August.  After waiting for parking, a table, and then service, we finally ate lunch at 4 pm.  

Without a dictionary, we were a bit flummoxed by this menu.  Pastel de Jaiba was the big hit -- a creamy crab stew.  Neil had anguias (baby eel).  Ruby and I had ostion pil pil, oysters in olive oil.  All the dishes were bubbling stews served in cast iron bowls.  It was well worth the long wait!

We decided to have a light dinner in Valparaíso of ice cream.

I had chocolate and churros.  Someone's gotta do it!