Vamos a la playa

Pichilemu

At the point in Pichi.

 Fishing boats

 The surfers backpacker hostel right at the point.  The location was nice, but we didn't stay there.

The best empanadas de horno (oven baked, not fried) in Pichilemu are served right next to our hostel!

 View from our school.

Choripan (short for chorizo-pan = sausage bread) at last nights asado.
 

Pichilemu is a small beach town about the size of Los Osos (15`000 people) that's 3.5 bus hours south west of Santiago de Chile. We've spent the last two weeks in Pichi. Monday through Friday we tried to be good students and took 4 hours of Spanish classes per day. The PILS school  is nice and small with a great view over the ocean and our teacher Connie is super cool, too. Bacan! We ended up in a small class, 4 students during the first week and only 3 students during the second week. It was great and we learned a lot.

The reason we picked Pichilemu for a longer stay is the good surf. We both got to surf, I ride the small waves at the beach in Pichi on a longboard and Semu surfs the bigger outside ones. Or on the better days we go out to Punta de Lobos, about 10 minutes by collectivo taxi out of town. It's an awesome spot and I love sitting on top of the cliff, watching the surfers and Semu on the body board catching good, fun waves, and occasionally getting barreled.

Chileans love to have "asados" (BBQs) at someone's house. We had an asado last week at our hostel and last night at a friends home-stay house. Usually the grill is overloaded with meat and salchichas. There is lots to drink and a little salad and papas on the side. Asados are great fun. Last night's get together ended with some big time karaoke singing at their house.   : )

What else is there to do in Pichi? Wednesdays and Saturdays there is a great "feria", a local street market with fresh fruit and vegetables and some other stuff. Then they offer yoga classes (I'm still sore from the other night's session...didn't even know I had muscles in some parts of my body) and at low tide the beach is great for running.

Pichilemu is a great place to hang out and we'll stay for about one more week. It's just past the high season and the town is very quiet at the moment. Our hostel is small and comfortable with very few people staying there. We have a shared kitchen so we don't have to go out and eat "Completos", "Italianos" or "Empanadas" every day - even though they taste great, don't get me wrong, it's nice to be able to cook your own food. I guess there are more local restaurants offering a "menu del dia" with fish or carne as well but the choice is a bit limited.