Fiestas Patrias

This blog post is going to be a little messy, so bear with me. This past week was the fiestas patrias week of Chile. Rather than just one day, they have an entire week to celebrate their country. As most people decided to travel the country, I decided to stay here and live life like the Chileans. The entire week here in region 5 there were parties after parties of all different kinds, and I experienced the good life.

A lot of the fiestas are ramadas, which are carnival-like parties. At these ramadas, there are rows of booths for food and games, and even a row for dancing. The food served at these is some of the best foods to experience. I went to two different locations for the ramadas. One night, we went to Sporting (in Viña) and another night we went to Playa Ancha (city of Valpo). The atmosphere at these sort of events are incredible. There are so many people, and so little room to even walk sideways, but it is so much fun.

The most important day of the week was the 18th. On the 18th, my host family and I went to the botanical gardens and had a barbecue with my host cousins and family friends. At the botanical gardens, my host sister Rosio and I went for a walk to the lagoon and back. On the way from the gardens back to where we were cooking out, Rosio dropped her cardigan and we had to go back and look for it. Fortunately, nobody had messed with it and we found it almost right away! I met some lovely people and had some delicious food. We got home at about 8pm, and then at about 9pm I went out to Sporting with my friends Michaela, Monika, Natalie, Niall, and Otisa.

The following day, I went with my family to Placilla, which is about an hour away from our house in Valpo. In Placilla we had a barbecue with some family friends where there was karaoke and loads of delicious homemade traditional food. I got to sing in Spanish for a bunch of people I didn't know, and I got to add a bunch of Spanish music to my repertoire. That night, I went to Playa Ancha and met some really nice Chilean students that as soon as they figured that I wasn't Chilean helped me out so much.

My diet for the week was not the best, but it kept me alive. My diet consisted of Empanadas, Chorripanes, Alcohol, and dancing. The empanadas here are very interesting. At the festivities, it is very difficult for you to find an empanada not made of pino (in the pino empanadas there is ground beef, hard boiled egg, black olives, onions, and raisins). A chorripan is basically like a bratwurst on a bun, just a different kind of sausage, and it is absolutely delicious. The two kinds of alcohol that went into my belly, besides beer, were chicha and terremotos. Chicha is a fermented apple or grape drink without distillation. Terremotos are generally made out of white wine, pineapple ice cream, and some times with granadina, fernet, or another bitter liquor.

Unfortunately, the week has come to an end and I have to go back to school. I had such a great week and am so glad that I got to experience Chile's independence celebrations.