Roughing it in Tongoy

[8-12 de Febrero, 2014]

We couldn't have asked for a better first impression of Chile. Eli's childhood NY neighbors are from South America and have a summer home in Chile. Our timing overlapped and we were invited to come stay with them as soon as we arrived in Chile.

Mochileros

The Gonzalezes live in Tongoy, a cute little beach town 5 hours north of Santiago. When we arrived they gave us such a warm welcome. Mrs. Gonzalez sent a message off to Eli's mom, a message any parent of a traveling child likes to hear, "the Mochileros have arrived!" (Mochila = backpack)
For the 5 days we stayed there they treated us like family. We were spoiled with fresh seafood, delicious home cooked meals, cold wine and our own personal tour guides every day.

Tongoy view north

Eli and Hernan on our "tour"

The view from the church patio right in front of the Gonzalez's house

The cute little hillside church

Eli and Hernan relaxing on the front porch

Nilce's Garden

Sunset over Tongoy

Our favorite things in Tongoy, aside from our hosts, were the fresh baked Chilean bread, the Cerveza Artesnal brand beer Hernan introduced us to, eating seafood straight from the ocean, and our daily porch lunches. These lunches weren't just a beach day snack, they were full 4 course meals topped off with a platter of fruit for dessert. Both Hernan and Nilce cooked up their favorite meals for us. They were tremendous hosts.

Chilean breakfast

The best spot in the house

Fresh fruit including Chirimoya, a local Chilean tropical fruit

Crab stuffed avocados (paltas)

Twice a week there is a Feria (market) in town. We perused the stands and found out were were missing out on some great new US sports team. I wonder what else we might be missing out on living in the US?! 

Boston Raider vs Chicago Deers

Market Stands

Chirimoya Smoothies

My fisherman friend and my piure

We took a walk with Hernan one day past the fisherman's huts and the locals had us come right in. Our Spanish, especially Chilean Spanish, was still bad so Hernan had to mostly translate for us. When they put a big orange slop of seafood in my hand and told me to eat it, I really needed him. He said it was piure and it was edible but I didn't have to eat it if I didn't want to. That wasn't a wild sell! However, both Eli and I took the orange goop in our hands and we took a bite. Not -half- bad. The fact that they gave us a shot of wine to chase it down probably didn't hurt. I smiled and told them, in non-verbal communication, "it's good." Well what did that warrant? A second even bigger plop of piure. Lesson learned.

In town there is one ATM and no bank. Not having spent any time in Chile yet, Eli and I had little cash on us. We tried the ATM almost every day and it was never filled with money. How does this happen? Asking all of the local shop keepers, when do they fill the ATM, we got a different answer every day. Some people say that it is emptied out for the feria, some say for the weekend, some think it gets filled every night, and some say mid-day. No matter how we timed it we could not come up with a way to get cash. With a backup plan in place, to go with the Gonzalezes to the next biggest town, Coquimbo, we tried the ATM one more time and found money in it. Now with cash available, it was time to think about leaving, but we kind of wished the ATM had stayed empty so we could have stayed for longer.

We took a hike up to the top of Tongoy's hill:

See the church? Then you can see where we were staying.

One last connection that our trip to visit the Gonzalezes did for us was an introduction to Hernan's brother Patricio. Patricio's son travels to Patagonia every summer, where he and his wife and son own a house. They hoped that we could see them if our trips overlapped. I can't get over the generosity and friendliness the Chileans we met so far- how could we possibly say no to meeting more?! So we hoped we might see them and thanked both Hernan and Patricio's family for being so kind to us.

Eli and Patricio emerging from a cold swim

Dining out in Tongoy to say goodbye

Time to move on :(