Wine... with bananas?!?

Yesterday, Sigrid and I met up with Cari in the center of Valparaiso to go get coffee. Ascending Cerro Concepcion in an acensor, we looked for a cafe that Cari wanted to go to, Color Café. When we got there, it was either closed or closed down. We tried to continue on to Cerro Alegre, which is the next Cerro over, where there are lots of cute cafés. We ended up at epif, a vegetarian café that was rather empty at 8:00, but is apparently more happening at 1:00 in the morning. I had a delicious cortado, similar to a latté which was made of brewed coffee, instead of the instant coffee that is much more common here.

After epif, we tried to find our way down the hill and ended up at another café that specializes in wine/fruit drinks. Cari and Sigrid asked me if I was interested in vino con platano (wine with banana). I wasn't exactly sure what they meant, but I figured I could try it. I actually wasn't even sure what it was until it arrived at our table. It ended up being like a smoothie for cocktail hour. The wine (either white or red) is put in a blender with two fruits of your choice (depending on what they have and what is in season) and mixed together for your enjoyment. We took red wine with oranges and bananas, and it wasn't as strange as I had expected.

And I will tell any of you, before I am accused of only hanging out with gringos, that Sigrid and Cari are really determined to speak Spanish when we are together. This I am very grateful for, since their Spanish is really good and they help explain things that Chileans wouldn't think to have to explain.