Ok.  So I’ve only been to 4 countries so far, but the best empanadas, hands down (according to my oh-so-scientific-analysis of them) are CHILE!

But here is my comparison of empanadas in South America.

1. VENEZUELA

Venezuelan empanadas are highly fried.  They sometimes smell like very Americanized Chinese food (due to the saturation of oil inside them).  They also have very little filling.  Just a small amount in the bottom and the rest of it is just a giant pocket of air.  This does serve to hold sauces, like salsa, or cilantro pesto stuff you commonly eat with empanadas, but it is basically eating fried dough to me.  Caracas (top) you can see does have much more filling than the empanadas from Juan Griego on Margarita Island (bottom).

2. COLOMBIA

Also fried, but stuffed with filling and not nearly as greasy as Venezuela.  Usually meat or cheese, I’ve also seen pork and beans, and chicken and rice with potatoes (my favourite here).  They are stuffed full of filling and one can fill you up.  and I love eating the chicken with a bunch of spicy salsa (I really love picante foods)

3. ECUADOR

Ok, so I only had a couple here.  (And the photo sucks, cause I totally dropped the ball on this, and only have a couple bad photos taken with my phone.)

Ecuadorian empanadas are also fried but not super greasy either, and sometimes the meat filling has chopped celery or something in it.  I was originally told this was ‘Chilean style’ but after being in Chile, these were not even close to Chilean empanadas, yet still really, really good.  They actually seem quite similar to Colombian in size and way they are cooked, but the fillings have a little differences in taste and spices.  I also had a gigantic Ecuadorian empanada filled with shrimp and cheese at another restaurant that was delicious  (this one is also not pictured – again, I was too busy maowing it down and dropping the ball with the photo thing)   They are very similar to Colombian style.  The real differences between Colombian and Ecuadorian are slight differences in spices.  And I have found 1 shrimp empanadas in Ecuador, but so far, none in the Colombian cities of Bogota or Medellin (the only 2 cities I have visited so far.)

4. CHILEAN

Chilean empanadas for starters, are not fried. They are grilled. Which allows you to really taste the filling inside of them. Also, they are filled with more options (than just meat – aka beef – , pork, chicken, or queso cheese). You can get spinach and mushroom empanadas, shrimp and queso empanadas, tomato and sausage empanadas..pretty much anything you want inside these delicious little moon shaped pockets of awesomeness.

My favourite, so far…CHILEAN – hands down.  I love the variety of fillings and the baked/grilled crust (which is much flakier and closer to a bread or pie dough than a corn flour/tamale type dough.)  They are the biggest, but also taste much fresher and lighter (mostly due to the ingredients and fact you can get them filled with veggies).  I just really like that you can taste the filling and not just the oil.  I love empanadas, but so far, Chilean the best.

CHEERS!

So in my short trip to Santiago, Chile – I stayed at the Che Lagarto Hostel and Suites.  This place is totally cool.  And yes, I did work for them (see disclaimer at bottom), but this place rocks and I would love to go back!

This hostel used to be an old hotel and is right in downtown Santiago (yes, touristy, but the metro is half a block away and its really easy to get everywhere). 

I stayed in the dorms most nights, and each dorm is divided into 2 rooms with a shared bathroom.  One night, some drunk girl came into the wrong dorm and took a bed, so the girl in that bed took someone else’s bed, and the girl of the bed she took, then took another’s bed.  I guess that happened through 3 or 4 people, because when I went to go to bed (and being the last to do so at 2am) all the beds, including mine were taken.  It was like musical chairs with beds. 

(Why the first girl who realized her bed was stolen didn’t kick the bed-thief out is beyond me), but when I went downstairs to tell the front what had happened they just gave me a private suite-room for the night. 

Which was awesome!

Oh yea, each person gets their own key for their room too!  Even for the dorms.  (Just someone forgot to lock the door behind them one night; which is how the drunk girl stumbled in.)

(Yea for drunken people walking into the wrong room).

(Note:  these photos are not from the private suite I stayed in.  I didn’t get moved until 2am, and I had to be up at 8am for the Valparaiso and Viña del Mar Tour.  This is a different private suite room.  They don’t all look like this yet, but as you will read, Che Lagarto is in the process of remodeling all the rooms and things)

Each night at Che Lagarto they offer a dinner for a cheap price. And the cook is amazing (that’s him below on spaghetti with homemade gourmet sauce night).

And this is the sauce prep. I mean, just look at how fresh these ingredients are!

He is an AMAZING cook.   I loved his food.  Each morning they have a signup sheet for that nights dinner too, so you can see what will be made and decide if you want it or not.

They also have daily activities at Che Lagarto.

Activities like: Pisco Sour night (delicious and deadly Pisco Sour night).

(This is Omar.  He is the Pisco Sour Master.  He is also very happy to serve you)

There is also a pool table and a ping-pong table in the lobby, so there is this great community about the hostel.

The hostel itself is also under remodeling.  I was told that all the bathrooms in every room are getting redone (they work; but yes, the wallpaper is old and peeling in some rooms, and the plumbing is from the 1920’s or something).   They are also in the process of re-doing the floor in the lobby and I was told by next year they will have a rooftop terrace as well (and being 9 stories high already, this rooftop terrace will have an amazing view).

So back to the food.  Breakfast is a giant buffet.  Fruit, toast, jam, butter, coffee, tea, hot cocoa, oatmeal, cereals…mmmmmmmm.  And its free.  And they don’t limit you to how much you can have (some hostels I’ve been in have and its annoying).

Best part (for me , cause I get way too easily amused by the simple things)…IS THIS ELEVATOR!!!

It is so straight up 1920’s –1940’s old Hollywood style. I love it!  Yes it is slow sometimes….but who cares.  I will wait for this.  It even has the black push buttons.  No fancy electronic shit here.  I really, really, really hope when they remodel they don’t change this elevator!

I love the Che Lagarto Hostels and Suites.  When I go back to Santiago, I will definitely stay there again!

CHEERS!

DISCLAIMER: I was given free nights in Che Lagarto in exchange for 5 photos a day of the hostel.  Yes, that was the whole deal.  This, and all other blog posts/tweets/etc. were not asked for. I just really liked Che Lagarto; so much in fact I stayed there  for the rest of my time in Santiago, after the deal with them was up.  Everything in this post is my honest opinion, as always. 

Besides, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, do I honestly seem like the type of person to hold shit back or sugar coat it?

CHEERS!

The MeGusta Music festival in Santiago, Chile is an all day, free music festival of local Chilean music in Santiago, Chile that has everything from hip-hop to rock, to salsa etc.  But this time I didn’t photograph the music.  I walked around and photographed the crowd.

Everyone came out to this show.  Old people, young people, metal heads, hippies, moms, potheads, Hare Krishna’s…EVERYONE.   Here is a sample of the people who love the MeGusta Music Festival.

Sikhs selling plastic wrapped hamburgers

Little kids playing with guns (always a good time)

Little metal-head miss. Love her!

Some people just REALLY need a hug

Hipsters

Dude with hippie drums and a misfits shirt, his homey-g-in-a-clown-nose friend, and the dude with dreads…

I want to play a game.  Its called ‘Sleeping, Drunk, or Homeless’?’

Dear moms, all pre-teen boys love to play with ribbons.

The Incredible Upside-Down Sign Man (he may be homeless, but he sure doesn’t know orientation)

Pat

(this reference may only be known by older SNL fans.  Look it up)

Little kids in Iron Maiden shirts learning how to fight (is it bad I think this is absolutely adorable)?

Pot-heads

(ps. I’m glad you felt the need to stop me to show me this, but it kinda looks like chopped up rosemary)

Wandering bands of  Hare Krishnas

Santiago – nice city, but they have a huge 6 year old gang problem.

Mmmm, fake meat out of plastic bin, in the hot sun…why sure!

Umbrella-hat laden bubble blowers? – yea, Santiago has them too.

Ballerinas.

So these are some of the people you will see hanging out in Santiago.   Another thing that makes this city remind me of New York City in the summertime. Love Santiago.

CHEERS!

I have decided that I am a horrible tourist.  I have not really gone to see touristy things.  I mean walking around inside a museum is great and informative and all, but really, I’m bored as hell after like 5 minutes.

And I love old building and churches, but to photograph them just makes me feel kinda bland.  I want to do some really cool style ones around Medellin (I have a plan people), but most of the time, I just cant get into it enough to get a photo that doesn’t look exactly like every other photo of said old church/building….and honestly, it doesn’t excite me too much.  There’s no movement, no crazy drunken party carnival thingys.  It’s just a building.  It just kind of stays there.  Yea.

I like people.  I like crazy events.  I LOVE MUSIC.  Seriously all I’ve been doing is running around South America photographing music; mainly rock bands.  Like this:

(Juanita Dientes Verdes @ ALTAVOZ Festival 2011 in Medellin, Colombia.  (band from Medellin, Colombia)  Guitarra = David Serna.  Naked dude in the back is vocalist Guido Isaza.)

And this:

(DIR EN GREY – Japanese metal-weird-as-shit-awesome band playing in Santiago, Chile at Teatro Caupolican 2011.   This is guitarist Die. )

And making hi-speed, still-photo videos of concerts….(well, ok, I’ve only done it once, the band is DESCOMUNAL and they are from Quito, Ecuador and fucking rock!…I want to do more of these!)

Oh, and going to band rehearsals like this:

(MAL ROJO at rehearsal.  from Quito, Ecuador.   Guitarra  = Sebastian Ortiz,  Bajo (bass) = German Mora,  Batería (drums) =Andres Jaramillo .  The singer Andres Espinosa, wasn’t there this day)

And seeing festivals like this:

(NEUS – from Medellin, Colombia.  Playing at the ALTAVOZ Festival in Medellin, Colombia 2011.)

Yes people, I have pretty much thrown out a lot of traveling to do exactly what I do in the states….hang out and photograph rock shows.   Its kinda my thing. It makes me happy.  I think I’m pretty good at it. (Ok, I hope I’m pretty good at it, cause I love to do it).

So I’m trying to travel and see SOME touristy things (mostly street markets and food markets…I love to cook).  But to go to museums and walk around old buildings (unless they are like REALLY old, and decrepit…I love breaking into old warehouse or falling down building and photographing urban decay stuff too…) is just mostly boring for me.

And I just haven’t done it in South America yet cause I’ve been busy.  Like really busy.  Busy with things like this :

(At rehearsal for UNOS VAGABUNDOS in Medellin, Colombia)

So yea, I am a horrible tourist. But I get to hang out at rock shows.  And go to band rehearsals.  And go out drinking with my friends.  I’m not a typical tourist…but I think I get to do some pretty cool shit.

Sorry if you thought you were actually going to learn something about South America.  Well you kinda have, they have CRAZY awesome hardcore/metal/punk…everything  music down here that the rest of the world need to pick up on!

CHEERS! 

(and I promise, I’ll do some actual travel blogging again soon.  As soon as I have time.  And stop running around photographing rock bands)