I recently visited the long and narrow country of Chile where life is sandwiched between the majesty of the Andes Mountain and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our first stop on our 3 week journey to Patagonia was the city of Santiago, which was much more modern than I expected. Our all night flight brought us to Santiago in the wee hours of the morning. Our shuttle got us to our hotel in the heart of Santiago at 6;00 AM. The local coffee shops were setting up outdoor seating and people were slowly emerging from their high-rise apartments. The familiar aroma of muffins, pastries, and coffee began to permeate the air on the little side street.

Avocado and celery are two healthy alkalizing greens that come together in this crunchy delicious salad that is prepared quickly and easily.  I'm always on the look out for new ways to include avocados in our meals. I was delighted to find this gluten free vegan recipe during my recent travels throughout Chile.

Read about my travels here or scroll down for the Aipio Palta Avocado Salad Recipe
My travels in Santiago Chile:

I recently visited the long and narrow country of Chile where life is sandwiched between the majesty of the Andes Mountain and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our first stop on our 3 week journey to Patagonia was the city of Santiago, which was much more modern than I expected. 

Our all night flight brought us to Santiago in the wee hours of the morning. Our shuttle got us to our hotel in the heart of Santiago at 6;00 AM. The local coffee shops were setting up outdoor seating and people were slowly emerging from their high-rise apartments. The familiar aroma of muffins, pastries, and coffee began to permeate the air on the little side street.

Being my first day in Chile, I wanted to take it all in. Questions raced through my mind like Where was I, how do the people live, what kind of work do they do , how do they dress, what is  the standard of living like etc. etc.

My hotel stored our baggage because much like any American hotel, check in was closer to 3:00 PM  I used the 6 hours to explore the city. 

My Friend Jan with her coffee that doesn't come with cream unless you order it upfront- who knew? She drank it black

Me, waiting for my coffee at 6:15  They didn't know from decaf 

My first adventure was ordering coffee in the European type cafe a few doors away from our hotel. I say adventure because I do not speak any Spanish and no one outside of our hotel spoke English.
I quickly realized there was an ordering system similar to Starbucks. You get online, tell them what you want and get off line an wait.
My friend Jan and I didn't get exactly the coffee we wanted, but we were satisfied and enjoyed our early morning cup of java at an outdoor table while listening to the local Spanish chatter.

The locals were dressed in business attire- men in ties, women in dresses. Everyone seemed to be hustling around walking towards public transportation. There were plenty of cars as well, and I felt the familiarizes of a modern city.

After a short walk around the neighborhood, we returned to our hotel for a typical Chilean tourist style breakfast buffet that consisted of eggs,sliced cheese, bread, jam, coffee and tea. I was very very surprised that they provided gluten free bread upon request.The staff took it very seriously and brought me out a plate of wrapped gluten free bread, gluten free crackers and gluten free cookies. I was delighted to say the least.

After breakfast, we decided to take a hop on hop off city tour of Santiago. On our city tour, we learned about the previously harsh and financially difficult living conditions in Santiago under a dictatorship and the devastation to the town caused by earthquakes. Thus, most of the buildings in the city were new and very modern and lacked the charm of older historical buildings. In the 1960's many new projects were undertaken and the city was rebuilt including an efficient railway system, In the 1990's the city saw the boom of modern shopping malls, urban highways, and lots of modern looking corporate buildings.

Since the new very modern construction dominated the skyline of the city, I focused on the breathtaking background view of the Andes Mountains. Despite being near the mountains, it was a sweltering 90 degree humid day that even I ,who loves the heat, felt was difficult to tolerate.

Where and what did we eat dinner?
Not having a car, we found a food court in the nearby super mall that was walking distance from our hotel. Unlike the food court's in US malls , the food court included 3 or 4  sophisticated restaurants with beautiful seating. We chose a lovely Chilean restaurant decorated with a super large salt water fish tank over our 2nd choice of Hard Rock- Chile.

Our waiter was delightful, spoke English well,  but our food was not particularly good or memorable. The choices seemed very American. My friends had fish, French Fries, and a vegetable. Being a vegetarian, I had some vegetables and a potato and a simple avocado salad called Apio Palta.  The combination of crispy cold celery and the room temperature avocado dressed in a tangy citrus dressing hit the gluten free and vegetarian spot for me. That is the salad I am sharing today.

Recipe begins here: 

There are many variations of this basic Chilean recipe. I've seen recipes that add sliced radish, some add walnuts, others romaine lettuce, and yet other recipes call for red peppers.
This is the basic recipe which I ate in Chile
Avocado and Celery Salad (Aipio Palta Salad from Chile)

Ingredients:

2 Haas type avocado or 1 large Florida avocado
4 stalks of celery, sliced thick
1 organic whole lemon or lime
Salt and Pepper to taste
optional: 1/4 cup walnuts

Directions:
Slice celery in med thick slices
Cut avocado into chunks
Squeeze the juice of 1 organic lemon
Season with salt and pepper
Add chopped walnuts if desired

Shared this post on the Souper Sunday linky at Deb's Kahakai Kitchen Visit to link up soup, salad or sandwiches- LInky