24 hours in Tome, CHILE
Our last stop on our Southern Chile roadtrip was a night in Tome (toh-may). Since it was only meant to be a quick one-night stop over before Santiago, we had no expectations for this town. It ended up being an awesome seafood discovery.
AN INTRODUCTION TO TOME
Tome is clearly a beach town, and in the summer it's a lot more crowded than it was in April when we went. We stayed in a condo overlooking the beach, 20 minutes outside town (I'm using "town" loosely).
The experience began with a hilarious (read: stressful) conversation with the adorable Chilean couple who were renting the condo to us. This was their summer home, and they were incredibly proud of it. They had lots of stories for us, none of which I could describe to you because neither Mike nor I understood a single thing. Seriously, absolutely nothing.
After confirmation of our sub-par language skills, we took a quick walk into town. It was pretty dead, except for a strip club, and an arcade. They might have also been the same thing, I'm not sure.
As usual, we were pretty hungry and found a place that was willing to make empanadas for us at 10:30pm. It was the first time I had seen such a variety of seafood-based treats: filled with scallops, clams, CRABS!
We scarfed down our food watching the weirdest reality show - imagine a drag show with racist overtones mixed with music and...a magician?
Tome, Chile: day 2
The next day, we woke up to a foggy (read: cold), beautiful morning that was ideal for sauntering on the boardwalk into town. I took some photos as we discovered a colorful part of Chile.
Arriving into town, it was clear that Tome is all about the seafood.
They had endless rows of vendors selling FRESH ceviche for $3. There were different varieties of fish, crab and creatures I had never seen before.
WHEN DOGS ATTACk…SEA LIONS?
But this story wouldn't be complete without a weird Latin American anecdote to share with you. While meandering through the seafood market, we heard non-stop growls and vicious barking coming from the beach.
And sure enough, there were a group of crazed dogs verbally assaulting massive sea lions who were just trying to nap in the midday sun. But these dogs were persistent. I know this doesn't sound that weird, but hopefully the video to the right will illustrate the weirdness of these dogs a bit better than words can.
Crazy, right?!
Until next time, Tome. Hope the sea lions live to see another season.
