La Campina!

A month has flown by since the last post - time to catch up!

Saturday, August 16th we headed for Temuco and our first Stake Conference since we arrived.
We made a very special stop in Los Angeles where Lothaire extended a call to a new counselor for the Mission Presidency.  Names and photos at a later date!

While there, we stopped at La Campina for empanadas - this place has become a favorite for us!

This is the place!

You can not even imagine how delicious these empanadas are!  In Mexico and in the states, most of the empanadas are fruit filled and sweet.  Here in Chile, however, they are a meal in themselves - filled with meat, cheese, etc.  Lothaire likes the beef and onion (called pino).  My favorite is pollo maiz - delicious shredded chicken mixed with corn.   You can buy empanadas in most little stores on the streets but here at La Campina they are freshly made and nice and warm.  And they are HUGE!  Twice the size of what we get at home!   MMMMMMMM:)

La Campina is also a pasteleria (pastry shop).  The cakes are called tortas, and some of the flatter pies are actually kuchen. There is a big German influence here which began in the mid 1800's.  The local favorite seems to be "pie de limon" - middle shelf, far left.  It's a little bit like lemon meringue, with a Peruvian/Chilean twist:).