Our empanada class was pretty popular. Ourselves, the couple from Alaska, the french guy and several other attended. A spanish-speaking woman in a chef hat with a younger girl translating told us all about the ingredients and steps to make beef and onion empanadas. Ryan and one other guy made theirs vegetarian. After the demonstation we sat down at tables and used some ready made dough to fill and fold our own.
We sat at a table with a french couple on a 6 month tour of South America. They were really nice. The empanadas were put in the oven and served back to us. We enjoyed them while chatting with our tablemates and drinking malbec wine.
Ryan and I had made some quinoa and veggies just before the class, so we got that out of the fridge and shared it with the others in the class. It turned out to me really social and a fun atmosphere.
We went to bed close to midnight, and woke up early for breakfast this morning. A cab had us at the airport in plenty of time for our flight to San Pedro. I breezed through security in Mendoza and then went through customs, which was a tiny booth about 10 feet from security. I rounded the corned and waited for Ryan. And I waited. I peeked my head around and thought maybe he was having trouble understanding the customs official, but couldn't really see much. An English speaking woman "Security is making him check the massager." Yep, they didnt like the look of his rolling massager that he uses on his legs. A few minutes pass and Ryan comes through. He explained to them that it was for massage purposes by saying "masaje" and doing the motion, but they weren't having it, looks too much like a weapon I guess.
We read a little and enjoyed the view over the mountains before landing in Santiago to get our connection. Ryan picked up his bag and brought it on the place without issue from SCL to Calama airport. The view from the plane was really amazing. Lots of snowcapped mountains, aand seeing them slowly turn pink as we went North was really cool.
We shared a transport to San Pedro from the airport with a German girl and a few others. The drive was surreal. We felt like we had landed in Afghanistan by the look of the landscape. Total desert with sandy mountains and rocky flat areas. The town itself is all dirt roads and adobe style mud-brown structures.
Our hostel, Campo Base is really clean and nice and we're glad with our choice. We grabbed some dinner at a veggie restaurant down the road, and ice cream cones while we looked at souvenier shops.
It's shower time now, not sure yet what we will be getting into tomorrow. Lots of tour options around here.
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