Wine, Pisco and Inca Kola
When you’re in Chile, you definitely have to taste the delicious, famous wines from the wine region El Valle Central (or: Central Valley). For a good wine experience you should visit a wine estate, like the well-known wine estate Concha y Toro.
Read more about my visit to Concha y Toro in this blog.
The wine cellar at Concha y Toro
Besides wine, Chile is also known for its production of the liquor “Pisco”. You can drink pisco pure, mix it with a soda or as one of the main ingredients in the famous cocktail Pisco Sour. you could have a closer look at the process of making pisco in one of the factories in the Valle de Elqui. I visited the pisco factory Capel (read more about my visit in this blog).
Don’t want to drink alcohol or it’s just a little too early for alcohol? Order the soda “Inca Kola”. It’s a very sweet, fluorescent yellow drink. Inca Kola is originally from neighbour country Peru, but it’s also very popular in Chile. Inca Kola is carbonated and contains caffeine, so don’t drink too much if you still want to have some sleep at night.
Capel also does speed deliveries
Avocado heaven
I’m a real avocado-lover: for breakfast, lunch, snack during the day or for dinner, I eat avocado! During my trip to Chile I couldn’t complain. Chilean avocados are huge and you can buy them at every fruit stall in central Chile. Travelling in Chile made me aware how avocados grow and what else you can do with avocados, besides making guacamole.
At every street corner in Santiago you can order a “completo”. A completo is a hotdog with mashed avocado, diced tomatoes and mayonnaise on top. Perfect for lunch or as a snack! They even have special holders for your bun, so you don’t need a plate (and they don’t have to wash the dishes).
The avocado’s are on the left 
Completo!
But there’s more for the avocado-freaks: the “Palta Reina”. “Palta” is the translation for “avocado” in the southern part of Latin America (so here it’s not “aguacate”). “Reina” means “queen”. Literally translated to English it’s “Avocado Queen”. And this is a royal meal to me! The dish consists of half an avocado, stuffed with delicious, creamy salad like chicken, crab or shrimps.
Avocado plantation high in the mountains
NB. I’m aware of the fact that the avocado plantation and water shortage are much-discussed lately. I’ve seen the drought in Chile. That’s why I try to reduce my avocado consumption and I grow my own avocado plant. But I think it will take a (very) long time before my avocado plant – grown from a seed – will have fruits.
How to grow your own avocado plant
Click on the photos to enlarge:
1. Eat an avocado and put the undamaged seed with toothpicks in a glass of water (only bottom half of the seed in water) 
2. The avocado will grow a root (this can take weeks!) 
3. A stem will appear 
4. In a couple of months the avocado will grow leaves 
5. The avocado has a nice root and leaves 
6. Now you can put the avocado in a pot and wait… Don’t forget to water the plant!
Read more about my roundtrip in Chile, the wine tasting at Concha y Toro and my visit to the pisco-factory Capel. Click here for more travel inspiration for another destination in Latin America. Craving for a drink after reading this blog? Take a look at my blog post about my 8 favorite places for a drink in Rotterdam or the 9 best rooftop bars in Singapore.
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