Weekend in... Kentucky?

When Milena was in the U.S. she told me that she would be spending her spring break in Kentucky. I was appalled, ¨Kentucky? Why in the world would you want to go to Kentucky?¨

This was essentially her reaction when I told her we wanted to go to Talca for our first weekend outside of Santiago. I like to pick random places in Lonely Planet so when I read that there was good hiking and tons of vineyards around Talca, I was sold. On top of that, it is only 3 hours away (which is pretty close by Chile standards). We decided to take the train, which was lovely and comfortable. A couchsurfer who I had contacted met us at the station and took us to the hostel he had found for us. It was run by a real cute old couple. The guy kept telling us that there was internet and that we could use it, WHEVENER we wanted. ¨3am, you can use the computer. Anytime you want, there is internet.¨

Our new friend and local guide, Jorge, took us on a town tour. We stopped to have mote con huesillo. From wikipedia: ¨It is made from husked wheat, mixed with sun-dried peaches that have been rehydrated in water for hours. The water in which the peaches were rehydrated is mixed with some sugar, and the wheat is mixed in a glass with the peaches and the peach-flavored sweetened water.¨ We sat down with locals on both sides of a U-shaped counter to try the only thing that was being consumed. Delicious (and a bit strange).

Wine tasting turns out to be pretty pricey in Santiago (only 2 tastes per vineyard) so we decided to do our own sampling. We bought only wines from the Maule Valley to enjoy and marvelled at the low prices. Jorge pointed to a really excellent wine, but warned that it was very expensive. It was about $13. Incredible.

The next day we rose early to go to Siete Tazas (seven cups) waterfalls. Road a bus that smelled like gasoline, hiked into the park, swam under a waterfall, just the usual stuff. :) Very beautiful place and a fun group. Jorge had all 10 of us over to his house for chancho en piedra, a local dish made by grinding garlic, chile and tomates. They served it with homemade grilled bread.
As it turns out, there really is nothing special about Talca itself, but with the beautiful national parks and wonderfully generous locals, the weekend was unforgettable.

More to come!

P.S. Check out my friend Wayne´s blog too. We´ve been traveling together, so he has the same stories, but we tell them differently. He´s super funny, so if you´d like to hear embarassing stories and see pictures (like one of me drinking boxed wine on a bus... yuck!) that I won´t post here, click bigtallwayne.blogspot.com. Why not make it a favorite?