"the most delicious fruit known to men."

I have recently discovered the wonder that is the cherimoya fruit. I have heard of it since I have been in Chile and even had cherimoya flavored ice cream, but until recently I had not tried it. Once I did, my life was changed. It is delicious!


You can learn more about it on the Wikipedia page, but know that from experience I can tell you it is as good as it sounds. The outside of the fruit is tough but the inside is sweet, creamy and smooth, kind of like coconut but much better tasting. Many people eat it straight out of the skin like a bowl. The seeds are pretty big, kinda almond like, and are easy to pick out. It is native to South American but is grown in other places around the world where it has been transplanted too. It must not be too common though because I had never heard of it until coming to Chile and I don't think it ships well so it is not exported very much.

It has recently come back into season and I have really been enjoying eating it. I cannot wait to share it with visitors when they come. Everyone enjoys a good, exotic fruit, right?

The Visit

Well it's another rainy day here in Concepcion and if it weren't for my cold house I probably wouldn't mind at all. We have been having beautifully sunny days lately which make the rainy days much more bearable. But I am not here to blog about the weather. I want to tell you about my parent's visit!

They came for a 10 day visit and we had a great time. It was their first trip to South America and it went pretty smoothly. It was so great to have them here. They enjoyed getting to see my life here and I enjoyed getting to show them around. I had a good mixture of activities planned for us to keep us busy and yet there was plenty of down time to just relax and be together.

They brought me all sorts of goodies, from them and friends at home

Hanging around the house, warm by the fire

We spent some of our time doing home improvement projects that I needed help with including hanging things on my walls, sealing my doors, planting new plants for spring and installing fire alarms. My dad also taught me how to drive a standard car so that I can drive here if I need to. It was challenging at first but by the end of their trip I was feeling more confident. I do not plan on buying a car any time soon but now if I do I will be able to drive it!

I learned how to use a drill. Watch out!

We love gardening

Another part of our time was spent seeing the "sights" around Conce. I put sights in quotes because this is not the most touristy town. In fact, there is very little sight seeing to do but I just showed them some of the normal activities that Chileans like to do and we really enjoyed it. We also took a little day trip out of the city to see some waterfalls about 2 hours away. The drive was beautiful and so were the falls. It was nice to get out of the city and see something new.

Waterfalls

Huge tree on our hike through the park

Plaza de Armas- the central plaza in Conce

At the cold beach

At the natural history museum

The rest of our time was just spent hanging out, taking trips to the grocery store and mall, watching movies, cooking, eating out and doing crosswords. It was so nice to have family to be around, to take a little break from my normal life, to share my life and new home with my parents and to have visitors in my home. My house sure has seemed quiet since they left.

Trying a popular Chilean treat-Nalca. It was...interesting...

My parents embracing the Chilean's love of hotdogs

Cruising the local market

We made lunch with fresh fish from the market

Enjoying some team time at a local seafood place on the beach

I think they really enjoyed their visit and were already talking about their next trip. Hopefully my brother and s-law can come on that one too! Sometimes it is hard having this life here that the people I am closest to are not a part of but this was a great chance to get to share it with them. I am so thankful they were able to come.

Bio Bio Region- This is where I live!

Anyone else who wants to come visit, I promise to show you a good time! Maybe I can find some new sights to see by then.