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| La Moneda--home of President Piñera |
Hola! It’s been an exciting week for me here in Chile. Last
Monday morning we loaded a bus and headed to Santiago to explore Chile’s capitol.
It was a great, action-packed trip. We were able to see all the city’s most
important buildings, plazas and natural attractions, including a visit to La
Moneda--Chile’s equivalent of the White House. The president was even in the house while we touring, which
I found exciting, but when I told my host mom she felt bad that I had to be
that close to him (he is not very popular here, especially among my
family). Although the tours were fascinating, there is also something to be said for exploring the lesser-known
parts of the city with people who live there. Luckily, a few of us had connections with other students
living in Santiago so we were able to enjoy the city with them at night. One night, not only did we see Michael
Cera AGAIN, we also decided on a whim to stop at a crepe shoppe only to be
served by a girl from Shoreview, MN who happened to go to high school with one
of the girls on our trip.
Coincidences like that never cease to amaze me. Later, in the middle of the
night, there was a small earthquake that did no damage but got everyone
talking. My host mom called me the
next morning to make sure that the old rickety hostel we were staying in had
held up. Unfortunately, or
probably fortunately, I was fast asleep and somehow didn’t even wake up. I feel like I missed out!
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| View of Santiago from Cerro San Cristoból |
We returned home on Wednesday night just in time to start
celebrating Fiestas Patrias. My host
mom took us out to a typical Chilean restaurant down the block and ordered me Chorillana, one of Chile’s delicacies—a
mountain of French fries topped with beef, hot dogs, fried onion and fried
eggs. Blocking out any thoughts
about its effects on my arteries, I found that it was a surprisingly delicious
combination. And I wasn’t the only
one. My host sister, who is on a “diet” refusing to eat any bread or sweets,
had no problem scarfing down a big ol’ plate of Chorillana, with a diet coke of course. Something I have noticed,
that might be a little more pronounced in my family, is that Chileans can be
very blunt and harsh about things without feeling like they are being rude. To
give an example, throughout the night at restaurant my host sister and mom had
at least a 3 minute conversation about how fat the woman sitting at the table
next to us was. And then a few
minutes later, went on about how ugly their friend’s son is. Soon after, the conversation changed to
how foolish their acquaintance is because he has depression. And finally, how my mom would never
want to host an Asian (or an amarillo
as she called them for their “yellow skin”) because they’re all dirty and smell
bad. Now this makes them sound
like they are really awful people, and they really aren’t. They are both nice and caring and
generous. I think they just have different standards about what is acceptable
to say about someone. They
honestly think that these things are fact, so they don’t feel bad saying
them. But anyways…back to Fiestas
Patrias.
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| A friendly game of tug of war at the asado |
From then on forward, the rest of the weekend was filled with
food and celebration. In class on Thursday, our art history teacher took the
entire period just to tell us what food and drinks to buy at the Ramadas (a big
carnival for Fiestas Patrias filled
with rides, games, and vendors of everything imaginable) and teach us how to
dance Cueca, the typical Chilean dance.
Sunday the 18th, like our July 4th, was the big
day. My host family and I spent
the day with family and friends at two different asados, followed by an after
party with my host sister. It was
so cool to participate in this day so filled with Chilean tradition and culture
and to meet so many people. After
over twelve straight hours of eating, drinking, games, talking and dancing, the
night finally came to an end. What a weekend!
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| Embracing my inner Chilena |
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