Day 21 - 25, Santiago, Chile (Continued)

... After those news we are back with the writing on what we did the next two days in Santiago. Saturday was a really happy family day, where we were able to celebrate our engagament news with a big chunk of my family (and my family is big). And as any good celebration in Chile, we kicked it off with pisco sours (can you see a trend here?) and a big asado (BBQ). My cousin Claudio and girlfriend Lia were there too, and it was a double celebration as it was her birthday as well. Later on my cousin Mario, his wife and two kids showed up and finally my cousin Adolfo and his girlfriend. Even more to celebrate as they are expecting twins for the southern springtime. From BBQ we had moved to "las onces" or basically a late tea time with bread and pastries. So we basically did not move much, but ate and shared with my Chilean family. The only downside to the day was that I managed to get a substantial cold, which basically meant that any wild Saturday plans to go into town and see the Santiago night life were canceled.

The next day we met up again with my childhood friends Vanessa and Carola, who drove us to Pomaire, a town about 40kms south-east of Satiago, famous for their clay pottery and for being a nice day trip to let santiaguinos breath some fresh air. We headed directly to a restaurant and shared a half-kilo empanada and then most of us had "pastel de choclo", a very tasty meat and sweetcorn dish served in the traditional clay pots. We then walked around the streets and stalls in the little town and even bought a tiny "chanchito de Pomaire", a clay-figurine in the shape of a pig, usually sold as clay piggy banks. The days in Santiago have been bright and sunny, and maybe around 20C degrees. Of course in the morning it's much colder, but remember we're starting winter here. So it was a nice chilled sunny Sunday afternoon that we continued enjoying as we headed back into Santiago to meet up with another childhoof friend, Antonietta, with her husband Jorge and baby Emma. And to top it all, we headed back to my other aunt's house, to share the news and enjoy an evening snack and more pisco sours.

The whole weekend was really special to us, as we were able to share and celebrate with friends and family who are very likely not able to travel to Europe easily. And plus all this food and pisco sours, who would not be happy?