Last night we had dinner with an Australian couple. I met Annette at my Spanish school. Her husband is an electrical engineer working on a project in Australia, but the engineering is being done here in Chile….something like that. Anyway, it is just more proof that the world is getting smaller and smaller.

The Chileans eat so late here! I might have already mentioned that. The restaurants don’t begin to get busy until 9:30 or so. The bars and discos don’t get started until 1:00 from what I have heard.

So, I stepped out on a limb last night and ordered eel, which is a favorite Chilean dish down here. I had had eel many years ago in Belgium at a French restaurant. It was covered with a rich, thick sauce from what I remember. So, I don’t remember the taste of the eel itself. Well, the eel I had last night was remarkable. It had a very light sauce on it and was served with shrimp. I had sauteed mushrooms with it. The meal was amazing! Of course, we started it with a Pisco Sour and then we ended it with a Peruvian dessert, which David and I shared. It was a type of pudding with a marshmallow type topping….very good, but very, very sweet.

Yesterday, I went to a Cousino–Macul winery with about 6 other people from my school. Santiago is surrounded by wineries and vineyards. This only about 20 minutes from the school. It was your typical wine tour, but what was good is that it was both in Spanish and English. So, I tried to understand the Spanish and then, realized all that I had missed when I heard the English version! Unfortunately, I didn’t care for the wine at all, so I didn’t buy any. However, I did get a nice wine glass with the winery’s emblem on it.

Today, I am going to get information on a ski tour to ski in the Andes. We are hoping to go skiing tomorrow for the day! David is working for most of the day, so I am going to study my Spanish or go around with a couple of his co-workers. Possibly this afternoon, we are going to go to a Basque restaurant that serves hot chocolate and churros (a donut type pastery) as a speciality! It sounds really good.

Happy Saturday!