Day eight!!

Hola! Today was a free day for all of us.  We had nothing planned until dinner.  This day was also such a great day except for a very small earthquake at 8:30am which I didn’t even feel because I was asleep.  I slept in later and gathered up a group to go exploring around Viña del Mar.  We went to a sandwich/breakfast place for lunch where no one spoke english.  All six of us ordered a sandwich, but the waiter said they only had one type of sandwich left so we ordered that one. A waitress came to our table and said that they had only three ham and cheese sandwiches and two chese and mayo sandwiches.  This was only five sandwiches in total and there were six of us, so they didn’t have enough for all of us! Anyways, lunch still tasted good plus I had Italian/Chilean hot chocolate! This was the best hot chocolate I have ever had because it was really thick.  So far so good on the tasty food.  Then we walked down to the outdoor venders.  There were so many people selling items because it was a mix of Mother’s Day and Sunday. Both of these days are big in South America.  There were so many beautiful souvenirs for everyone.  As soon as I saw one awesome craft I saw something right after it that was even better.  Anyways, we got to explore the city which was a great time.  Then, we had ice cream! I tried “manjar” chips ice cream.  Manjar is similar to caramel/chocolate, so this tasted really good.  Afterwards we walked to the beach and took many pictures with many good memories! There were more venders, also.  Too many options for souvenirs.  We had to be back at the hotel by 6:30 for our fancy free dinner.  We all got dressed up and walked to the restaurant “Tierra del Fuego”, Land of the Fire.  We arrived and sat down around  7pm and ate almost constantly until 9:30pm!  The pre-appetizers were hot rolls with peppered butter and my drink was “Chirimoya” juice.  Chirimoya is a special Chilean fruit that is the size and feel of a mango, but white inside with many black spherical pits inside.  This had a different taste, but tasted good!  Then, the appetizers were grilled shrimp in butter and spicy strips of steak.  Then with another set of silver wear, my main meal was called “Risoto de locos con camarones” which is Risoto with crab and shrimp! This tasted really good, but I got full quickly!  Then my dessert was a blueberry pie with chocolate and nuts on top and chocolate ice cream on the side. I was so full, but this dinner tasted amazing.  We finally walked back and was escorted by four stray dogs! There are so many stray dogs in Chile.  Anyways, today was such a relaxing and fun day! Adios hasta mañana!