It is kind of ridiculous how quickly the days fly by here. Two weeks ago Wednesday we drove north to a big town called Constitucion to spend a few nights somewhere Max could find decent waves. The drive is maybe 80km, but the roads are small and curvy, so it was almost a 2 hr drive. And it was mostly along the beautiful countryside coastline. We passed through Chanco, and once we were north of there it was new territory for me. I mentioned previously that Chanco is famous for its cheese; Max explained as we were driving through a couple valleys with a bunch of grazing cattle a bit north of Chanco that the reason Chanco cheese is so special is because the directionality of these valleys allows a south marine wind to blow through them, making the pastures salty. So the salty grass that the cows eat is supposedly what gives Chanco cheese its individual flavor. I thought that was interesting. The whole route was scenic, even though as we got closer to Constitucion we passed more industrial forests, many acres of which were cut down. Barren ground and stumps is just not attractive landscape.
Once we were about 30-40 minutes outside Constitucion we stopped at this little gem of a restaurant called Nicolachas (not remembering exactly how it was spelled). The lady running it now is the daughter of the owner who built the restaurant and all its beautiful unique slate rock table tops and drift wood bases and chairs, and her mother was the original cook. She was super nice and Max talked her ear off. She makes the best baked empanadas ive had thus far in Chile. They even surpass the fried empanadas I had in Concepcion (and its hard to beat fried food). She also makes great pan amasado, and tortillas de rescoldo (cant remember if ive mentioned them yet, but they are large fluffy wheat “tortillas” (more like rounds of bread) cooked in embers/ashes. There were other wonderful-sounding dishes, but we only stopped for something quick and light to eat. Constitucion was a pretty town, still in the midst of rebuilding five years after the earthquake/tsunami devestation, and is one of only a couple other towns/cities in Chile that border both the ocean and a river. It was hit very hard by the tsunami was a location with a particularly high number of resulting deaths because the river if anything aided the tsunami’s entrance onland. The main activity we did in town was take a boat ride to an island which sits almost at the mouth of the river in order to visit a memorial built for the people who died on the island during the tsunami. It was a popular place to camp in the summer, and the tsunami also happened to occur on a holiday weekend = abundance of campers. The island was quiet, and altho the visit was somber, it was also peaceful. Max had been to Constitucion 10 days after the tsunami and hadnt been back since.
The town had a lovely plaza, which had a small feria/artisan market each afternoon we were there. I imagine it is full of vendors in the summertime.
We stayed at a little campground/cabana lodge owned by a surfer friend of Max’s (Masi), located at the end of a coastal road that led to Port Maguellines. The place had three canvas domes with wooden floors, three private multi-room cabanas, and a common eating/hanging/bbq area. And it was all right on the beach, with a pine forest mountain right behind it. The sunsets were spectacular there, and there were huge rock formations at the end of the beach that were fun to climb for good sunset-watching spots. One morning while Max was surfing, Masi took me mushroom hunting in the forest. It wasnt really a mountain, but the elevation at the stop of the hill was way higher than the beach, and it was a steep (very much so at times) and fairly long (15 min?) drive to the top. You could barely call what we were driving on a road; it was super washed out in areas and rugged, a little slippery at times, and again, really steep in some spots. But Masi drives an old Suzuki Samauri and handled that road like it was an art. I am super impressed by the off-roading skills of some of the people here. Makes sense tho, in this dramatic landscape with so many undeveloped routes/roads still being used. I wish i had gotten pictures of the ride up the mountain and of the forest… That friday night we watched Chile win their 3rd game (2nd win - 2nd game was a tie), which was a blowout. Max was going crazy.
We got home Saturday eve (stopped at Nicolacha again), and we did nothing on Sunday; it was nice to relax after traveling. Ricardo came over for dinner Monday evening (I made a stirfry with broccoli and the foraged mushrooms I brought back). Tuesday evening we went over to the farmers’ house to watch Chile play Uruguay, who Max refers to as “anti-futbolistas” because they cause more fouls and penalties than actually play the game and try to score goals. It was a nerve-wracking game, but Chile finally scored a goal with 8 minutes left in the game, to win 1-0. Very exciting. Tuesday-Thurs have been cool, grey and windy, so have been pretty much just staying indoors, watching movies, reading, and finally finishing up reorganizing some of his kitchen drawers and cabinets and stuff upstairs in time for a couple who visited us for the long holiday weekend. We relaxed and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, bbqd, and watched another futbol game; Chile beat Peru to to go the final game. Argentina kicked Paraguay’s butt last night, so this Saturday we will go back to Allantu to watch the final game against them. Very exciting!
