Date Night Con Karlito: Liguria!
Last night Karlito took me on a sweet date, a walk to the Baquedano area for some Santiago exploration, and then dinner at a restaurant that's hailed as the best in the city: Liguria! Chock full of atmosphere, the restaurant sports black and white checkered floors, classic bar stools, and the waitstaff look like they belong in a good ol boys club.
We had a spectacular meal! We started with some homemade bread and
pebre, a fresh, mild salsa that is deliciously spectacular. We then had Scallops Parmesan that came with a delicious cheese and were cooked in butter. Amazing! Our main dish was grilled Chilean sea bass, accompanied by Pure Chilena, which were basically mashed potatoes with onions, bacon, and cheese, very much like funeral potatoes. Everything was incredible!
Here I am showing off one of the sea shell baked scallops. (Also, I love it that Karl brought me a delicious bass.)
Here we are with some Chilean friends we made across the aisle. Pisco Sours make everyone Amigos!
Bellavista shopping = a great date.
A cool statue at Baquedano.
Karl gets a kiss for taking me on such a great date.
A taste:
[Lago Villarica]
Pucon: an adrenaline junkie's paradise, and possibly one of the most incredible places on earth. Karl and I and eight of our buddies jumped in a van on Friday and drove 10 hours south to Villarica, where we rented a cabin, and Pucon, where we went river rafting, zip lining, geothermal hot tub soaking, and volcano climbing.
Karlito and I also had a really awesome experience at the Villarica Branch on Sunday. The Chilean people here are incredibly friendly, and in this branch someone came all the way across the chapel to find out who we were and what we were up to in small-town Villarica. And! I could actually talk to this guy! In Spanish! In, probably, the slowest/worst Spanish of all time, but he understood! And over here, understanding is a huge victory for me.
Okay, so I took about 300 amazing pictures of the weekend, and when I tried to put them on my computer, I ran out of memory space. Yeaaah... that's not so good. So I'll post a few of the pictures that some of my friends have posted online, and hopefully by tonight I'll have some more pictures of Pucon to share.
[Just getting warmed up]
[I can't believe no one fell out]
[Volcan Villarica: An active volcano]