¡Fiestas Patrias!

¡¡Uyyuuuiii, Uyyyuuuiii!!

Fiestas Patrias is a weeklong celebration of Chile's independence. If Chileans know how to do anything, it is party. A group of gringos from my program and I were invited by Cameron's host family and our Chilean friends to camp and experience a traditional celebration. We left for el campo (the countryside) on Tuesday and came back on Friday when we had eaten all of the meat, drank all the copete, and were all in need of hot showers and clean beds. Like I said, Chileans know how to party—I was just trying to keep up!

We spent the week preparing traditional food for the asado: empanadas, stew, salads, shish-kabobs, and meat in every form imaginable, eating said food, drinking wine and pisco, and dancing the cueca, cumbia, and ranchero. We slept in tents and ate around the fire and did all of the things I love to do when we camp back home. All together, there were probably about twenty of us and no one went hungry—we bought a half a cow and a pig and ate most of it! 

We were camping in a field owned by the pueblo of Catapilco and were surrounded by other groups of family and friends there to enjoy the celebrations. The media luna, where the rodeo took place, was less than a minute walk from our tents. There was also a petting zoo complete with emus, goats, and peacocks and a mini circus where all the kids went to buy cotton candy and kettle corn.

There also was a fería where vendors sold everything from spurs to ponchos to truffles and a stage where kids performed the cueca and bands played traditional folk music. Vendors were selling kites of all different patterns and sizes. The traditional ones with the Chilean flag were my favorite, but they also had Disney Princes and Star Wars. Everyday, the sky was dotted with them and it was fun to see the grandparents teaching their grandkids how to fly them or how to play other traditional games.

I can't believe my luck to have met such a wonderful group of Chileans, who have so graciously invited  me experience authentic and traditional parts of their culture. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful Fiestas de Patrias.

I think we need to step up our game in the USA....who is up for a week of Fourth of July next year?