Indian recipes - The world at your doorstep via CouchSurfing

Now and again it is nice to meet different people. The variety of our social interactions seems to be determined by many factors (like level of education, age, nationality, languages you speak, social strata or circles you move in) and as you get older the opportunity to meet different people seems to narrow. CouchSurfing is a way of adding some variety to your social interactions. The idea is simple: there are travelers who can benefit from meeting locals and there are locals who may find it interesting to host travelers: enjoy the cultural exchange and perhaps get something out of some the "pay-it-forward" or "gift economy": Both of us have experienced random acts of kindness by "strangers" that have made our life much richer - they may not need repayment but we can help others to get the same experience and make the world a little better.

Nahuelbuta National Park

A couple of weekends ago we went to Nahuelbuta National Park. The park is located about 500km south of Santiago and has relatively easy access (Ruta 5 for 500km to Angol and then about 30-40km on a dirt track which is mostly ok though probably 4x4 is needed in bad weather). The park is one of the few areas where the native forest that was there up to 200 years ago has not been wiped out. It consists mostly of Araucaria trees, Canelo trees and some nothofagus: coihue, Ñirre and lenga trees.

Cochamó

For the last trip of the year we decided to visit the Cochamo Valley (also known among the climbers as the "Yosemite of Chile").

Chickpeas and sweetcorn vegan burgers

We can't claim ownership of this recipe as it is Jaime Oliver's! Nevertheless, here is a picture summary with some changes to the original: