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Guacamole to me always means avocado mashed up and combined with any or all of the following : salsa, sour cream, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, or pretty much anything else you can think of.

You're correct, linguistically speaking that "palta" == "avocado". My logic in applying the term is how much you add to the ripe fruit before it becomes something else.

In my wife's family, they usually do just eat it plain, no additives, just mashed avocado on their churrascos or bifsteak lo pobre (or pretty much everything but the brasso de reina). Sometimes, I can get away with adding a teaspoon of olive oil, a dash of salt, pepper, and lemon, and one dente (tooth) of garlic finely chopped, and they'll still call it "palta".

IIRC, I am not Chilean, I just live with a bunch of them; but do love the food, and am seriously envious of where you're at right now.

The Chacarero stand in Boston's Downtown Crossing is closed because of the construction, but they opened a large storefront on Province Street, about one block away. Also serves breakfast. Chacarero available in beef, chicken or veggie.

Next time I'm in Boston, I'm most definitely hitting up Chacarero. My wife ate them all the time when we used to live there, but I somehow missed out on it. You will definitely be seeing that place on Serious Sandwiches soon!

Oh, I want one! I've been slowly trying to convince the Atrium Cafe (next door to where I work) to assemble me a chacarero, but it's tricky. I'm slowly gaining their trust, but as it's one of those pay-per-ingredient salad shops, asking for it "completo" is going to cost me $100 and not be exactly right.

That thing looks awesome. I love good rustic breads like that, and then you throw in some nice beef and you got a winner. Chile is always a place i wanted to go, not as bad as I want to go to peru though. Food travels though make the best travels.

Athena Foods - Cook Like a Goddess

@Baine - I totally know what you mean about the palta v guacamole thing, and translation of foreign words is sometimes going to be iffy, but I was under the impression that palta is just the word for avocado. Order an Ensalada de Palta in Chile, and you get a plate with whole slices of avocado. It's understood that when you say palto in reference to a completo or churrasco, they're going to know you mean mashed up avocado stuff- but I felt like using the term guacamole was a fair translation. I feel like once you mash up avocado, and add condiments to it (whatever they may be), it becomes guac.

Thoughts? (Semantics discussions are fun!)