23/05/2011 (posted 24/05/2011)
After the beers last night and some general tiredness, I was grateful for a sleep-in.
When I got up, everyone was doing stuff so I just read a bit and relaxed - I was feeling very lothargic. I had a couple of Braeburns which weren't bad at all, but the second one wasn't quite crunchy enough for my liking.
Lunch was another winner - a sort of bolognaisey-thing with rice. However we had it at about 2pm which meant I was really damn hungry - the meal times are pretty different here, we've had dinner at 10pm before at which point I was wasting away. Different cultures I suppose.
In the afternoon, I went with Natalie first to get my bus ticket and then to check out Temuco's main attraction (not that there's much competition, no offence) - it's Indian market. The local indigenous population (Mapuches) make crafts and sell them all mainly to gringos at a big indoor market. The stuff was quite cool but I've seen a lot of similar things in Bolivia and Peru for around 1/5th of the price. I have started feeling really cold wherever I am, inside or outside, so wore three layers plus legwarmers under my trousers and gloves. I think I'm coming down with something.
After that, I went to a bakery and got some cakes - one was sort of iced bun-ish but with the stuff inside, and the other was two bits of shortbread stuck together with caramel. They were both amazing.
We then went to a supermarket, because the family have a tradition that any guest has to cook a meal during their stay and I was bang up for the challenge. I got pasta, tinner tomatoes, peppers, chillis, onions, cheap wine and some gourmet sausages - I decided to go for a standard Italian-style sauce. I also got some Carte Dor ice-cream and cookies for dessert.
So when we got back, I started working my magic in the kitchen - firstly I got the vegetables frying to soften them up, then browned off the sausages, heated the tomato sauce and added a lot of wine, got the pasta going, added the vegetables and sausages, seasoned it and then got it simmering. And then it was ready.
It turned out pretty well - one amendment I'd make would be adding some water to thin out the sauce but all in all it was nice. The wine really added a rich flavour to it, and the sausages were worth the money.
And dessert - cookies and ice cream - went down a treat as well.
I feel that I did myself justice.
After that, I said bye to the family and got on my way to the bus stop - at this stage I was feeling worse than earlier, and definitely not right. It feels like I have bruises all over my body, I am constantly cold and I feel tired and sick - don't fancy being ill for a fourth time but it looks like it will happen.
And on I got to the bus with all my layers, and settled down to hopefuly sleep through the eight hours to Santiago. This is my last bus ride of the trip - goodness knows how many I've done to get all around the countries I've been to, but I will be glad to not have to do another one.
JG
No comments:
Post a Comment