Page 52 - Across the Andes: Chile’s Atacama Desert & Argentina’s Northwest

ABOUT YOUR DESTINATIONS

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During your adventure you’ll be accompanied by one of our local, expert Trip Leaders. All
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an enriching adventure. As locals of the regions you’ll explore with them, our Trip Leaders
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wildlife come alive. Coupled with their unbridled enthusiasm, caring personalities, and ability
to bring diverse groups of travelers together, our Trip Leaders ensure that your experience
with O.A.T. is one you’ll remember for a lifetime.

Culture & Points to Know

Cuisine in Chile

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to dine in the capital is to sample from the great quantity of foods and beverages that are
typically Chilean.

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and are rather like the Mexican tamales but seldom so seasoned. The cazuela de ave is a kind
of “souped-up soup.” It contains rice, corn, green beans, chicken, carrots, pumpkin, salt,
and a number of herbs. Curanto is not so much a dish as a complete dinner. In Santiago, it is
made in pots and served in some restaurants. The dish is a hearty combination of peas, pork,
seafood, potatoes, and any number of other savory ingredients.
Chile’s world-famous grapes are the foundation of its three most popular drinks. First, of
course, is wine itself. Grapes are also used to make chicha, a brownish beverage somewhat
reminiscent of apple cider with added punch. The last, and most powerful, is aguardiente,
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is considered Peru’s national drink (although it is also made and consumed in Chile.)

Cuisine in Argentina
Beef or bife (beef-eh), as they say in Spanish, is the tale of Argentina, the golden El Dorado
of her economy. Somewhere around 50 million Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle graze on
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Restaurant menus everywhere in the country feature some type of beef selection. At-home
diners, too, often have beef as the main staple of their diet. Gauchos themselves have spent
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