Well, I could talk about the whirl wind tour of downtown, more thoughts on the virtuous circle of economics, or the fact that it's a major bummer that Sarah and Jane are in Seattle and not here, but I'll talk about pate instead. (No, it's not a side effect of an MBA, I swear.)
John is one of my fellow students that I'm rooming with at the hotels. And this whole adventure started with an argument what time it really was, or at least what the difference in time was between the US and Chile, specifically Santiago. He said 3 hours, I said 4. We checked with Microsoft (via the clock app) and decided it was 3. John and Microsoft were both wrong.
After a relaxing time just hanging out, we went downstairs to meet up with the group for dinner. Nobody. We waited. Nobody. Then I ask the concierge what time it was. 8:15PM. Nice. We missed the group by 1 hour.
We then embarked on an adventure looking for a restaurant. We wandered around Providencia for a while, and quite literally stumbled upon Baco, an excellent little wine bar tucked away from the busier streets. Just as we walked up to the front, the power went out everywhere in the city.
after waiting 15 minutes we finally convinced the servers we intended to stay, and they served us cheese, cold cuts/pate, and wine. That's when I learned about pairing wine with Pate. If there's one thing that Chile has taught me so far, it's that there is simply not enough wine flowing to people in the world.
As the wine flowed, we had a great set of conversations: the future of IT, learning languages, Chilean political system, and the value of continual learning. It was one of those experiences where the food, conversation, and wine align and the buzz of it all lifts the stress away. Way cool!
When the power finally came back on, all in the restaurant cheered and we had dessert. The creme bruelle, according to our waiter, has been called the best in Chile. He was right, and he paired a sweet wine that had a unique flavor. This flavor was the result of an infection called Botrytis cinerea or Noble Rot. If the vinter manages this infection properly, they can create a very sweet wine that's a bit more acidic, thus balancing the sweetness. It was awesome.
What did we learn about wines? That Baco only serves good wine. Of the list below, John and I preferred the Syrah! If you can get it any of these, try them!
R: Terranoble Syrah Reserva (2007)
R: Sta. Ema Carmenere (2005)
J: Perez Crus Carmenere (2007)
J: Morande Merlot Reserva (2006)
R&J: Villard Late Harvest El Noble (2006)
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