We were both looking forward to round off our time in Puerto Natales with the gorgeous pizza we had a few evenings ago at The Erratic Rock. Then came a knock on our door. The owner of our hostel as well as the restaurant across the road, Ancestros Patagonia, invited us to dine with them this evening. Dinner would be on the house, they only asked that we tip the dancers. Dancers?! Open to new experiences, we decided to forgo the pizza and at 9.15pm we took our seats in the restaurant – a spectacular setting.
The premise of the restaurant is to showcase and honour the lives of Selknam people, or Onas, that lived in Tierra del Fuego from 800-1500 AD – sadly now extinct. It was a gastronomical journey through the period in which they lived.
Water was drank out of a beautiful sea shell
Our starters were eaten with guanaco bones
Part of the experience was to enjoy the food as the Selknam did, which meant with our hands. Thankfully they provided some utensils in the form of bones and sea mussel shells (although I would have happily scraped the bowls with my fingers!).
We had guanaco (a wild relative of the Llama) for starters with local potatoes (potatoes were a staple food and would feature in every course. The main course was king crab, served in a hot, hollowed-out stone. Delicious! Dessert was, you guessed it, potato cake – a sweet recipe from 1710 which was surprisingly good.
Dessert, beautifully presented
In-between courses professional dancers performed an interpretation of the myths and beliefs of the Selknam to commemorate them. We witnessed the story and mythology of a young Kloketen, who has to pass several tests to become a man and be part of the clan, in a ceremony known as HAIN. The six dancers were fantastic and both of us left surprised and really impressed! We finally walked out just before midnigt, please that we sacrificed our pizza for a very memorable meal and evening.
The mythical spirits of the Selknam people