Last weekend, I went with a couple of my friends to a small town called Polmaire, which is about an hour away from Santiago. The entire economy of this town revolves around two things: pottery (specifically clay pigs) and enormous empanadas.
(seriously...who can eat this much bread in one sitting...)
(mom look at these sweaters...I know how much you love the one I already have...)
I'm a big fan of 4th of July, partially because it takes place in summer, my favorite season, partially because fireworks are pretty, and partially because I study political science and am sort of a dork when it comes to American history...where am I going with this you ask? Well, Sept.18 is the day Chileans celebrate their independence from Spanish rule, and it's sort of like a week-long (month long if you happen to attend La Universidad de Chile like I do) holiday/ 4th of July on crack.
There are flags everywhere you look here, on houses, buildings, billboards, cars, taxis, people's faces, etc.. at first I was a bit surprised by this sudden explosion of patriotism, and then I found out that there's actually a law here which says you must hang a Chilean flag during Fiestas Patrias or you have to pay a fine. We don't have class this Friday or Monday because of the holiday, and all over the city there are fondas (huge parties in public parks where people eat tons of meat, drink chicha (made from grapes at the beginning of the fermentation process), and dress up like this:
and dance cueca. My study abroad program had a cueca workshop the other day where they tried to teach us to dance and we tried to learn...emphasis on tried...I don't think it's a dance I'll be mastering any time soon. Here's a video so you can see what it looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch? =6h6ubQz9ATk&feature=related (and yes, people dress like this in the streets and walk around wearing hats like this...not everyone..but way more people than I would have expected..)
Last night, I went out with my friends to celebrate Mexico's independence day (yet another failed attempt to find a decent Mexican restaurant), and when we tried to get into the one restaurant in Santiago rumored to be semi-authentic (they also had mariachis!), we were told that we needed reservations. Major disappointment...however, we wound up eating at a Thai restaurant next door, and asked the waitress for the spiciest food they could make. She looked at us suspiciously and asked us where we were from, and when we said the US, she relaxed and was like, oh, okay, you guys can handle it then. Chile's ironic aversion to all things spicy knows no bounds.
Tonight I'm going to a laser show at La Moneda, which is the Chilean White House--the sort of thing which, while I think Barack Obama could totally pull it off, would probably never happen in the US. Hope you're all doing well, and if anyone would like to get a postcard, message me your address! <33
No comments:
Post a Comment