Day FourOn Sunday, the final day of the weekend, a group of about ten hiked at La Campana, a national park about 45 minutes from Vina. We hiked all day, attempting to burn the calories away from this weekend! It is a fact that Chileans gain 3-4 kgs each Fiestas Patrias from all of the food and beverages. What a great view! To reward ourselves for hiking all day, we decided to all get a completo, which many of us had been avoiding since our arrival in Chile. A completo is a hot dog with lots and lots of guacamole, tomatoes, sauerkraut and mayo. So much for burning the calories? Oh well, it was a great ending to a great, Chilean weekend!
Day Three
On the third day of Fiestas Patrias, my true love gave to me....a trip to Olmue! Lori, a girl on my trip, invited me to an asado at her family's second home in Olmue, a small town with a fantastic view of the mountains. I celebrated with my Chilean family on the 18th and my sisters had plans with their dad, so I took Lori up on her offer! Her family has a rich Italian heritage, and they told me I looked Italian- a compliment! The weather was beautiful this weekend and it was great to spend the day outside. Lori and I returned to Vina together and that night we went out for empanadas and drinks to celebrate the 21st birthday of another girl on our trip! [Yes, we still celebrate here!] But we called it an early night because of our hike the next morning.
Day Two
This is a photo of me and my Chilean sisters, Martina and Daniela, at an asado on the 18th. Erika, my sisters and I went to the house of Erika's good friend in a neighboring town called Quilpue. This was a good day with great weather! We ate such yummy food-- lots of salads and really good meat. After the meal, us young people went to watch a movie called "Que Paso Ayer" [What Happened Yesterday]...which turned out to be "The Hangover". They change the titles of movies here quite often, so it was kind of funny to realize that I had actually already seen the movie! It was interesting to read the subtitles for a movie as raunchy as this one, they were quite poor. My sisters definitely did not understand many of the jokes that I did. For once, they were the ones in the [language] dark! Besides the movie (we were there much longer than I wanted to be), I was able to converse with the other adults at the asado.
That evening, my friends and I went to Las Ramadas in Vina. This is basically a big fair with rides, artisans, food, music, etc. The popular drink for Fiestas Patrias is chica, which tastes like juice, but has more alcohol in it than you'd think! It is delicious, I must say! Other popular foods are anticucho, empanada, and choripan. Anticucho is a Quechua word for kabob, an empanada is an empanada and choripan is a good sausage on a bun, usually served with pebre. Pebre is probably my favorite food here, it is the salsa of Chile! It makes everything tastes good and is about the most spicy thing I've tasted (everything else is relatively bland). Basically, you all can see how Fiestas Patrias is like Thanksgiving- you eat a huge meal in the afternoon and then more in the evening! Oy!
Day One This is a photo of little kids dancing La Cueca, the national dance of Chile. We went to a celebration for Fiestas Patrias at the elementary school where a friend of mine volunteers. Most of the schools have a celebration like this, where each class prepares a dance or a song to perform. There is typical wear, shown above, for the official dance of Chile. They were SO cute! Here I tried Mota de Huesillos, a drink of peach juice with corn in the bottom! Sounds weird, but it was actually really good!
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More from Emily
I apologize for my lack of blogging! The weekend was very long and I just couldn't get around to it. A couple of other notes:
I am proud to say that I survived my first Spanish movie without any subtitles! Tonight some friends and I went to a movie called Dawson: Isla 10. This is a book made into a movie. It is about a concentration/work camp during the Pinochet dictatorship. The camp seemed more humane than I had envisioned, but still very intense.
Also, last weekend two other friends and I booked flights to the south of Chile, to Patagonia! We are going during my last weekend here, when it is the most warm. We are going to Torres del Paine [everyone google image search it, now!] and I am SO excited! What a crazy month it will be-- Patagonia, finals, my dad's arrival in Chile, Maccu Picchu and then Christmas and New Years! That makes me stressed, excited and sad- let's not think about it right now.
This weekend, we have another group excursion to Santiago- finally! We are going to many historical sites, including La Moneda and one of Pablo Neruda's homes. We are going very early Friday morning and returning Saturday evening, so they will be two very full days. I am SO excited to go there, because this will likely be one of the only times I will spend concrete time in Santiago. More to come about this excursion!
Right now I am watching the first Presidential debate for Chile. I don't understand everything, as my political vocabulary and knowledge of the current laws and government is limited, but it is interesting to hear the sides. My mom and sisters are watching, so I will have to see what their opinions are after this!
Hmm, what else? I'd love to hear from whomever is reading this! Let me know if you don't have my email address, and I'll get back to you.
Day ThreeOn the third day of Fiestas Patrias, my true love gave to me....a trip to Olmue! Lori, a girl on my trip, invited me to an asado at her family's second home in Olmue, a small town with a fantastic view of the mountains. I celebrated with my Chilean family on the 18th and my sisters had plans with their dad, so I took Lori up on her offer! Her family has a rich Italian heritage, and they told me I looked Italian- a compliment! The weather was beautiful this weekend and it was great to spend the day outside. Lori and I returned to Vina together and that night we went out for empanadas and drinks to celebrate the 21st birthday of another girl on our trip! [Yes, we still celebrate here!] But we called it an early night because of our hike the next morning.
Day Two
This is a photo of me and my Chilean sisters, Martina and Daniela, at an asado on the 18th. Erika, my sisters and I went to the house of Erika's good friend in a neighboring town called Quilpue. This was a good day with great weather! We ate such yummy food-- lots of salads and really good meat. After the meal, us young people went to watch a movie called "Que Paso Ayer" [What Happened Yesterday]...which turned out to be "The Hangover". They change the titles of movies here quite often, so it was kind of funny to realize that I had actually already seen the movie! It was interesting to read the subtitles for a movie as raunchy as this one, they were quite poor. My sisters definitely did not understand many of the jokes that I did. For once, they were the ones in the [language] dark! Besides the movie (we were there much longer than I wanted to be), I was able to converse with the other adults at the asado.
That evening, my friends and I went to Las Ramadas in Vina. This is basically a big fair with rides, artisans, food, music, etc. The popular drink for Fiestas Patrias is chica, which tastes like juice, but has more alcohol in it than you'd think! It is delicious, I must say! Other popular foods are anticucho, empanada, and choripan. Anticucho is a Quechua word for kabob, an empanada is an empanada and choripan is a good sausage on a bun, usually served with pebre. Pebre is probably my favorite food here, it is the salsa of Chile! It makes everything tastes good and is about the most spicy thing I've tasted (everything else is relatively bland). Basically, you all can see how Fiestas Patrias is like Thanksgiving- you eat a huge meal in the afternoon and then more in the evening! Oy!
Day One This is a photo of little kids dancing La Cueca, the national dance of Chile. We went to a celebration for Fiestas Patrias at the elementary school where a friend of mine volunteers. Most of the schools have a celebration like this, where each class prepares a dance or a song to perform. There is typical wear, shown above, for the official dance of Chile. They were SO cute! Here I tried Mota de Huesillos, a drink of peach juice with corn in the bottom! Sounds weird, but it was actually really good!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More from Emily
I apologize for my lack of blogging! The weekend was very long and I just couldn't get around to it. A couple of other notes:
I am proud to say that I survived my first Spanish movie without any subtitles! Tonight some friends and I went to a movie called Dawson: Isla 10. This is a book made into a movie. It is about a concentration/work camp during the Pinochet dictatorship. The camp seemed more humane than I had envisioned, but still very intense.
Also, last weekend two other friends and I booked flights to the south of Chile, to Patagonia! We are going during my last weekend here, when it is the most warm. We are going to Torres del Paine [everyone google image search it, now!] and I am SO excited! What a crazy month it will be-- Patagonia, finals, my dad's arrival in Chile, Maccu Picchu and then Christmas and New Years! That makes me stressed, excited and sad- let's not think about it right now.
This weekend, we have another group excursion to Santiago- finally! We are going to many historical sites, including La Moneda and one of Pablo Neruda's homes. We are going very early Friday morning and returning Saturday evening, so they will be two very full days. I am SO excited to go there, because this will likely be one of the only times I will spend concrete time in Santiago. More to come about this excursion!
Right now I am watching the first Presidential debate for Chile. I don't understand everything, as my political vocabulary and knowledge of the current laws and government is limited, but it is interesting to hear the sides. My mom and sisters are watching, so I will have to see what their opinions are after this!
Hmm, what else? I'd love to hear from whomever is reading this! Let me know if you don't have my email address, and I'll get back to you.
I miss you! I'm jealous of where you are right now. Patagonia... Don't even get me started on how badly I want to go there.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're well. Take care!