The Legend of Curly´s Gold

Trip Start Aug 31, 2008
1
51
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Trip End Feb 02, 2009


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Where I stayed
The unknown hospedaje
(Temuco hotels)

Flag of Chile  , Lake District,
Monday, January 5, 2009

Always nice to be back in Chile again after spending some time in Argentina (the reverse is true of course.) Our time in Patagonia was wonderful, wouldn´t trade it for the world, but I have to say it´s nice being city slickers again. Temuco, large (227,000) but unimposing (some of the nicest folks we´ve met in awhile), is one of the main market towns for the Chilean lake district, and also a center for the few surviving members of the Mapuche (last we read, about 14% of the population here.) While there are certainly beaucoups of department stores, a truly bizaare sight to us after being in Patagonia for 2 months, and a handful of old-school open air markets, there´s not much Mapuche trading going on apart from a few elderly ladies selling vegetables on the side of the street. Speaking of those, the produce down here is unreal. The Lakes District and Central Valley of Chile are some of the most fertile areas in the world (just check the label of any processed fruit or vegetable product, and I bet you´ll see some indication of Chilean origin), producing incredible grapes, olives, plums, peaches, raspberries, cherries, tomatoes, avocados, ENORMOUS (like the size of my calves) corn, lettuces, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds, zucchini, you get the idea. Pretty much everything except broccoli. And spinach. And a few more of my favorite veggies, but I was planning not to complain in this entry.
The markets here are always an unforgettable experience, especially when you count up your goodies at the end of the day and realize you spent less than you would at McDonalds´ in the states. We scored some homemade cheese, got a free head of lettuce for reasons I still don´t understand, got a king´s ransom (I´d say at least 20 bucks) in cherries for nothing, and bought some streetside sopapillas (here, they´re rich fried dough served with hot sauce, bearing no resemblance to their mexican cousins) for about a nickel a piece.

All this cheap bliss quickly disappears when you eat in a restaurant, however. A small order of fries runs about 3 bucks, a small pizza (enough for two barely hungry people) about 8 dollars, bottled water 2 dollars, you get the idea, U.S. prices. So we try to stick to the market and make sandwiches in our room.

Remember those department stores I mentioned? All crammed slap full of people who shop like they´re going to war. Two for one sales were on in earnest, (the aforementioned liquidacion) and I tried to run with the big shopping dogs to replace one of the rags I´ve been wearing for nearly six months now. I´m not really cut out for it, and came out empty-handed, but I´m sure some of you listeners at home could have really cleaned up.

Here´s a few shots of the city: look out for cool statue, erected to commemerate Chile reaching peace with the Mapuche natives after 200+ years of war, as well as bonus hotel room shots!
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