Mote con huesillo.

This is a very traditional summer drink made from dried peaches (huesillo), cooked husked wheat (mote), honey, cinnamon and sometimes prunes.

It is served in a tall glass for those who want to drink at the stand…

…or a plastic cup for gringos who want to move a polite distance away from the huesillo vender so as not to offend if the drink isn’t what one expected.

The one that we tried was too sweet and too warm and there seemed to be a very strong taste of prunes.

Down to single figures

Truce was having troubles understanding how long until we returned to Australia.  We drew a calendar for November and each morning Truce crosses off the previous day. Weeks, months, days are a bit tricky for a four year old to fully comprehend.

Now that we’re down to our final week in Chile we’re calculating and rationing our rate of consumption and deciding what items we can do without.  There are certain things that we don’t want to have to buy in these last days:  washing powder, a 32 pack of toilet paper, five litres of oil, two litres of ice-cream – perhaps the last one is okay.

The girls are going through things they’ve acquired here and are going to give the larger articles to their friends at school.   We’re going to take as much of their school work home that we possibly can and to help with their Spanish we’ve organised the language books the girls would be using next year.

Our main priority is to find a set of bathroom scales so we can weigh our bags and avoid any surprises at the airport.

Dome complete with cat flap.

Round and round again.

We’ve commented a few times on the level of litter we see around Valparaíso, particularly in sensitive areas like the beach.  In this era of greenwashing and eco friendly lifestyles we have some thumbs up for the people of Valpo.

Many of the soft drink bottles are sold in reusable glass bottles.  It’s quite intriguing watching people purchase a Coke and drink it on the spot because the shopkeeper wants the bottle back.  It’s also possible to buy drinks in reusable plastic bottles. 

At the fruit markets a lot of the produce is moved around on homemade carts.  The timber is from old pallets and the wheels are the bearings from machines.  Reusing is greener than recycling and these trolleys add to the charm of the markets as they rattle down street.

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg.

Henry Thoreau said that, with all costs considered, it was quicker to walk to your destination then work for the train fare and catch the train.  Henry did not have any children when he said this.

We started our walk to Viña at Avenida Argentina near Metro station Baron.  Most of the scenery we had seen before but always at the sonic speed that micros cruise at.  It was good to be able to look at some of the ocean front houses.

The girls plodded along at a good pace and survived on their rations of biscuits, cup cakes and water.  By the time we reached station Recreo, we agreed that we had walked far enough and it was time to catch a train back home.

Trolley fun.

When we first arrived in Valparaíso we, more often than not, chose the Trolley bus over the Micros.  The Mircos are faster and service more places. As our confidence and our desire to get there faster grew we switched our preference to the buses.  

Today we jumped on a Trolley bus to go out to the fruit and veg ferria, perhaps for the last time.  Here are a few snaps taken on board. 

The cajón drum.

Every Sunday afternoon, a rhythmic pounding echoes up from Plaza El Descanso.  A band of musicians meet to play a variety of percussion instruments.  The most basic and perhaps interesting of these instruments is the cajón drum.  It is a simple timber box with a sound hole in the back.  Sometimes, strings are attached to the inside to give a deeper effect.  The musician sits on top of the drum and uses their palms and finger tips to produce music.

It’s a matter of trust.

With doughnuts and a play at the beach on our agenda for the day we headed over to the pretty little town of Reñaca.  Last time we went there with our great friend Lena we had a blast eating doughnuts only the weather wasn’t warm enough to truly enjoy all that the beach had to offer. 

However, today was a definite slip, slop, slap day.  I still managed to get a little burnt on my legs but I guess that’s what happens when you take naps on the beach.

On the roller coaster, oops, I mean bus ride to Reñaca I saw something that I didn’t think I’d ever see in this day and age.  A mother climbed aboard with her two year old and his stroller.  She stowed the pram and sat the toddler into a seat and then turned to a stranger sitting in the row behind her son and asked him to hold on to the little boy while she went and bought a bus ticket.  He willingly obliged and entertained the child during the mother’s brief absence.

This is obviously a cultural difference and something we’re not used to seeing in Australia; a mother felling comfortable and safe trusting a stranger on a bus.