On Thursday we decided to go to downtown La Serena and get the passport-like pictures necessary for our permanent visas. We got directions from Evelyn, the human resources specialist at Gemini who has been helping us get settled in, but that didn’t prevent us from getting turned around anyway. We knew where we were and approximately where we wanted to be, but we couldn’t figure out how to get there (David refuses to say we were “lost”). We ended up driving around in circles for 20 minutes before giving up and parking wherever we could. Upon exiting the car to get our bearings, we realized that although we failed to find the parking lot that Evelyn had suggested, we did manage to park about three buildings down from the photo shop.
We went in and had our pictures snapped and printed. The whole process took 5 minutes - about 1/4 the time it took us to find parking. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the downtown area, particularly La Recova. The Recova (see the picture above) is an outdoor market where local artisans sell crafts, flowers, and homemade preserves, baked goods, and dried fruits. David bought an all-important change purse while I admired (but refrained from buying) a really gorgeous alpaca scarf. We’ve made a pact not to buy many non-perishable items until we are out of the temporary housing situation, since every single thing we purchase now is going to have to be packed up and hauled to our new place in a few weeks! Given that I have done nothing but pack things for the last two months, this seemed a wise choice to preserve my sanity.
After our browsing adventure, we were both hungry. A woman in the Recova, whose main job is to round up potential diners for the restaurant upstairs, easily persuaded us (with promises of a free pisco sour and excellent seafood) to partake in a little late lunch. After perusing the menu and asking the waitress for a suggestion, we decided on the Congrio con Mariscos. In all honesty, we weren’t able to truly understand exactly what our server was telling us, but since she rattled off a copious list of seafood ingredients, it seemed like the way to go. Being that this is Chile and we are not totally insane, we ordered one portion, which we asked to split. After about 15 minutes the server delivered two plates that looked like this:
We went in and had our pictures snapped and printed. The whole process took 5 minutes - about 1/4 the time it took us to find parking. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the downtown area, particularly La Recova. The Recova (see the picture above) is an outdoor market where local artisans sell crafts, flowers, and homemade preserves, baked goods, and dried fruits. David bought an all-important change purse while I admired (but refrained from buying) a really gorgeous alpaca scarf. We’ve made a pact not to buy many non-perishable items until we are out of the temporary housing situation, since every single thing we purchase now is going to have to be packed up and hauled to our new place in a few weeks! Given that I have done nothing but pack things for the last two months, this seemed a wise choice to preserve my sanity.
After our browsing adventure, we were both hungry. A woman in the Recova, whose main job is to round up potential diners for the restaurant upstairs, easily persuaded us (with promises of a free pisco sour and excellent seafood) to partake in a little late lunch. After perusing the menu and asking the waitress for a suggestion, we decided on the Congrio con Mariscos. In all honesty, we weren’t able to truly understand exactly what our server was telling us, but since she rattled off a copious list of seafood ingredients, it seemed like the way to go. Being that this is Chile and we are not totally insane, we ordered one portion, which we asked to split. After about 15 minutes the server delivered two plates that looked like this:
This is exactly why we ordered one portion. Add this to the two baskets of fresh bread, pebre (a condiment with diced tomatoes, onion, olive oil, peppers, and either cilantro or parsley), and two free pesco sour and you get why half a portion in Chile is enough. We learned our lesson about Chilean portions our first day.
Having avoided purchasing a meal for everyone in the marketplace, we could settle down to eating. The conger eel (which is in reality just a type of fish) was really nicely prepared. It was smothered by an excellent seafood sauce with muscles, clams, scallops, and shrimp. Typical here, nothing special for a regular Chilean diner, just absurdly fresh fish well sauced and accompanied with saffron studded rice. For us, the fact that a tiny cafe over a small market could make food this good was really exciting, especially since this was David’s first taste of congrio. A bonus, even as the most expensive thing on the menu, our bill was only about $15 especially considering our two bottles of mineral water cost about half the main dish.
At this point, I have to stop and apologize, because I’m not exactly sure when this turned into a food blog. I guess it was inevitable based on the fact that everywhere we go, one of the constant reminders that we are NOT home; that we are somewhere foreign and exciting, is the food. When we see things that are the same but slightly skewed, like the Progressive Soup in the “International” food aisle at the Jumbo, we feel simultaneously strangely out of place, yet comforted by the familiar. When we are branching off into slightly newer territory, we feel excited and adventurous; Dick and Jane are not sipping pisco sours at 2 pm and eating conger eel. Don’t get me wrong, the language (certainly our not knowing it!) is always a huge reminder that we are “not in Kansas anymore” but sooner or later we’ll overcome that. On the other hand, one never really forgets the smells and tastes that are uniquely home.
It’s not necessarily a bad or good thing; one can both LOVE trying new food and adore old standbys, but regardless three times a day it does hit you that you are not in your own backyard. That being said, David and I were more homesick after a week in Florida than we are here. So far we are really enjoying Chile and everything it has to offer.
Also as an alternative explanation, David and I are a couple of huge foodies, which may also have SOMETHING to do with our food-centric journaling. Either way, we suppose we might (sooner or later) write about something other than our meals.
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