Mariscos

OK, now that I've given you a rundown on the asado situation, it's time to turn to our second food focus on this trip - mariscos. Seafood.

After leaving Temuco and the land of the asado we went to Valdivia on the coast. It's a beautiful town that our guidebook (Let's Go Guide to Chile - it's overdue at the King County Library and I'll be paying a 10 cent a day fine when I return it...) calls the most beautiful city in Chile. It might be. We found a comfortable hotel right on the Calle Calle river and called Paula's cousin Francois.

That's when the marisco fest began...

Francois and his friend Miriam picked us up at 8pm for dinner. Miriam is the director of a school that has students from kindergarten through high school age. Francois is a teacher of Spanish language and literature at a different high school in Valdivia. He's also a passionate and exuberant talker and a real hoot to be around whether you understand what he's orating about or not. We had a great time visiting with him and Paula got some background on the family (she discovered that she and Francois' brother Paul have those names due to an agreement that their fathers (a couple of jazz musicians - guitar and trumpet) made to name their next child "Paul" - Paula, being a girl, got the closest equivalent...).

After a bit of running around town in Francois' car (this is Chile) we arrived for dinner around 10pm at a feria (fair) at a beach town a half hour outside Valdivia. 50 small booths served all types of mariscos, a few asados, and some sold handicrafts. A stage with Chilean folk music and traditional dancing with speakers around the grounds kept everyone entertained.

The evening was fantastic. First off we tried an asado-like two foot long shishkabob that included chunks of beef separated with pieces of sausage that they grilled in the small booths. We ate the shishkabob while walking around the booths and tables and then returned the skewer to the booth where we bought it. Next we ate empanadas de mariscos - pop tart(tm) sized pastries filled with a spicy mixture of seafood. A paper bag with 6 empanadas cost just 1000 pesos ($2). They definitely didn't taste like pop tarts(tm)! We bought a second bag of 6... We also had a baked crab concoction called chupe de jaiva that was like a hot crab dip. It was eaten with a spoon and also pronounced delicious by everyone.

The folk music and dancing were traditional Chilean favorites presented by college age dancers. There was a lot of handkerchief waving and foot stomping with spurred boots. The crowd was very appreciative.

The next day we all got together for lunch at 11am. Our first stop was the fish market down by the river where fresh seafood is brought in each day. A pair of very large sea lions (mother and child) were basking in the sun right behind where men were cleaning fish - apparently they thought the scraps made a very nice meal...

After picking up our supplies for lunch we headed to Francois' home. Lunch was prepared by Francois and Miriam and included mussels parmigiano, a dish of congrio (a fish) with a mushroom sauce that included more mussels, and a green salad. Plus a bottle of good Chilean wine. Fantastic!

At 5:00pm we finished lunch and headed for the bus station to catch a bus south to Puerto Montt for a late dinner of pizza (no mariscos!).

The following day after the ferry trip, we arrived at Ancud on the island of Chiloé and went to a restaurant called La Candela that got rave reviews in our guidebook. The lunch special (2200 pesos - about $4) was a salad, pastel de mariscos, and coffee. The salad was fresh and delicious. The pastel de mariscos was an individual casserole that included oysters, mussels, clams, and crabmeat in a creamy and rich sauce. The coffee was Nescafe (of course). Another knock your eyes out delicious meal. Wow!