Today was going to be all about food and after a delicious breakfast we headed down to Plaza Sotomayor to meet Ines at Cafe Melbourne. Ines was going to be our chef for the Chilean Cooking Class.

The class was just going to be for four of us and over a coffee we discussed menu options. It was a unanimous decision to go for a seafood menu consisting of pebre, ceviche, mejas with parmesan and baked filled fish. For dessert we would have chirimoya alegre.

With the dishes decided, we headed to the bus stop to take a ride to the market to buy all the ingredients we would need for the day. The market was bustling with seemingly the whole of Valpo doing their shopping. The first stop was for some fish, we needed two Reinetas for the ceviche and the baked fish. The fishmonger expertly filleted the fish and cut each of them slightly differently, because they would be used in different dishes. Along with the reineta fillets we got 30 razor clams. At a nearby stall, a big lump of fresh parmesan cheese was bought. Next up was the fruit and vegetables, the stalls were crammed full with the most colorful produce. It's a wonder how people manage to decide which stall to buy from. Ines seemed to know where to go and bags were filled with onion, lemons, chili, potatoes, tomatoes and chirimoya. Finally we bought some fresh bread and were back at the bus stop for the short ride to the Cooking Class kitchen in Cerro Concepción.

Once in the kitchen we all dressed up in our aprons and chef's hat and had a bit of a photo shoot before getting down to the serious business of wine tasting. We needed to select 2 bottles of wine, from a choice of four of William Cole's produce, to have with our meal once it was cooked and served. All the wines were good, but we settled for a Sauvignon Blanc and a Carmenere, which only can be produced in Chile.

With some guidance from Ines, the girls and the boys were split up to make the pebre (a salsa dip) and ceviche respectively. The mejas with parmesan was a combined effort with all four opening and cleaning the razors before filling them with butter, garlic, wine and cream, and smothering them in grated parmesan. The baked fish was made into a type of sandwich with layers of chorizo, potato and tomato between the fish fillets. It was then wrapped tightly in foil before being put in the oven.

While the food was cooking, Ines showed us how to make Pisco Sours and of course we got to taste it too. With aperitif drinks finished, it was time for the best part... We got to eat the food we had prepared and wash it down with the wine we had chosen. Everything was awesome!

We didn't have to wash up after ourselves, there was a kitchen hand to do that so after some thank yous and goodbyes we went across the street to Brecon's Bar. The bar is owned by a Chilean who spent some of his army career training in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. He had traced his family tree back 5 generations and had Scottish blood in him so he was pleased that another Scotsman was in his bar. He insisted on making us free drinks, the first being a Piscola which is Pisco mixed with Coca-Cola which was quite different to a Sour. This was followed by a Pisco Sour with some type of herbal leaf mixed in with it - not too bad.

Maria was the first Finnish person to be in his bar so she was asked to write a message on the wall.

The owner was called away to do some cooking in the kitchen so we managed to slip out before more drinks were brought to our table. We walked down a few streets towards the plano to go to another Brew bar. Its beer was not so good and David tried a Michelada, but it was quite different to a Mexican one. In the end he asked for some merken and put a spoonful of it in to spice it up.

Although we had a big lunch, after the beer and free piscos, we were all a bit peckish so we headed up the hill to La Tapa de Madrid, the Spanish restaurant we had lunch at yesterday. We shared a bottle of red and very tasty tortilla española with chorizo. David ordered a portion of Oreja de Cerdo (pig's ear) which he ate mostly himself, the others only had a taste.