Vacation

Last night, we were awoken at 4am by several girls singing--no, screaming--"Riptide" at the top of their lungs. They were horrendously tone deaf. Considering the volume level, I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually deaf. Otherwise, our time in the city was a success. It's nice to just have vacation time.

We arrived just after midnight on 4/2 after flying all day on 4/1. There was a boisterous festival rocking full go in our neighborhood. Despite my tired bones, I tried to convince Brooke to go check it out, but to no avail. The next day we got up at the crack of ten, just barely in time for the free "breakfast" which consisted of bread, butter, and jam--though the coffee was surprisingly decent.

Our time in the city was full of good meals, though not as light on walking as I might have hoped. Our first meal in the city (Le Fournil) consisted of short rib paired with a bottle of Tamalí Syrah from the Limarí Valley. Delicious and quite reasonably priced.

Then we saw the fine arts museum. After we got back, we power napped for a few hours. By the time we left the hostel it was after midnight. I was worried we might have trouble finding anywhere still serving food, but not to fear! Seems to be a normal dinner hour in these parts. At Etniko, we got ribs, cream of butternut squash soup, and delicious, bloody steak appetizer.

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On day two, we once more got a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed start. We ate lunch around 1:00 at Venezia before heading to the precolumbian art museum. We got a steak sandwich and a half chicken, unfortunately more than we could finish. After the museum, during which I totally did not complain about my tired legs and sleepy disposition, we did a spot of shopping before dinner.

Sundays sure make it tough to find anything open, but we did find an open restaurant eventually. Can't remember the name of the place, except it advertised as a "cocktel bar." We had a strange, and not entirely positive, experience.

The staff was very inattentive, and at one point brought us the wrong dish. Being a tapas style joint, we didn't think it strange they only brought one of the two dishes we ordered. After setting it on our table, the waitress we hadn't seen in quite a while disappeared without telling us what it was.

The mistake only became apparent when they brought out the correct dishes, by which point we finished the one they set before us in error. We felt bad, but the fault was not ours, and in the states, there is no question we would not be charged for food we did not order. We explained why we didn't feel we should have to pay to the staff and they eventually decided not to charge us, but they still felt compelled to explain that since we ate the food, we should pay for it. I explained that where we come from, once it hit the table, you would no longer be able to serve the food to someone else and would instead have to throw it away. At that point the server seemed to understand our point of view, if not agree with it.

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On day three, our start time crept yet further back. We started lunch at 1:30 at a "hole in the wall" restaurant, which we figured would be quick enough we could leave by 2:00 and get to our fancy shmancy wine tour at Concha y Toro.  Turns out the restaurant was fancy and had huge servings, and we weren't able to leave until 2:30. We caught a taxi part way to save time, but after the train and another cab, we got there after the tour had started.

We still got our tour, though, and the tastings were delicious. We stuck around afterward for more wine and some snacks. We got a couple bottles to bring back, a Carménère and a grand cuvée espumante. Unfortunately Brooke got a bad headache and we went to bed without dinner proper (boo hoo).

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Yesterday we got a box to ship back some gear we no longer need. Then we finally got lunch add at Les Assassins, of which the guidebooks are quite complimentary. I was not impressed. The Caesar was of the iceberg variety, and while the coq au vin was tasty, the meal was notably overpriced. A stark departure from our experience here in general.

We took the box back to our room and packed it up before heading out on an hour long walk to the Salvador Allende museum, which we found on our arrival is closed all week. Bummer. We found a restaurant at which to rest and regroup with coffee and pisco before dinner.

We saved the best for last: Las Vacas Gordas. I think Brooke found it in her guidebook after our 20 mile day, and we've been dreaming of it ever since. We did not tell our waiter, but at times, it was all that kept us going. Anyway, we had a delicious steak to share (the waiter claimed it feeds two), and it was so good we ordered another one for dessert. You know you're at a good steakhouse when you order medium rare and your steak still moos. Suffice it to say, Las Vacas Gordas did not disappoint.

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Today was blissfully uneventful. Ship our package, catch our flight, find our hostel. Tomorrow: Cuzco! G'night.