Summer in February

February 8, 2015, Sunday 

We got up rather late and packed to go to the country.  

Then we left all the suitcases at Olaya’s house to go to lunch at Amparo’s house. We picked up Sandra, David and Davis.  James and I wondered about fitting 6 in a 5 passenger car, but Sandra assured us that in Chile, “If the car will fit 5, it will fit 6; if it will fit 6, it will fit 7.”   We drove with four in the back seat of a small Fiat sedan to Amparo’s house, in the hills just southeast of the city.  

Viviana, who we met the night before, was the 7th guest for lunch.  After a leisurely course of appetizers and wine with a house and garden tour, we went outside for lunch.  Regrettably, I did not bring my camera, so I have no food photos.  We had porotos granados, a thick white bean soup with pureed pumpkin, cut corn, and basil.  The yellow soup was accented with red sliced tomatoes and green pebre.  Pebre is a fresh condiment made with parsley, onions, and olive oil.  We also had fresh greens and marinated cucumbers for a salad.  For desert we had fresh cantaloupe, strawberries and blueberries and, after that, mil hojas, a desert made of layers of a sort of cracker and dulce de leche.  It was wonderful to have a fresh summer meal after coming from winter in California.  Later I enjoyed the conversation and listening to David, Davis, and Sandra singing karaoke from music and lyrics on YouTube.

Late in the afternoon we picked up the suitcases, dropped Sandra, David and Davis at her apartment and drove to the Mallarauco Valley about 45 miles southwest of Santiago in the district of Melipilla to Olaya’s farm.  There we met Olaya’s daughter and her boyfriend and a couple of friends of theirs from Brazil.  We talked for about an hour before they left for Santiago and we went to bed.