el DIECIOCHO

Independence Day in Chile is a HUGE deal.  If you thought, as a United States citizen, that our nation is patriotic, come take a look at Chile's Independence 'week,' because the celebrations don't just last one day.

This year, because the 18th fell on a Tuesday, the whole week was full of festivities.  My last day of classes was Thursday, and we didn't have class all of the week of the 18th.  That means I had 10 days of no class.  Viva Chile!

EL 17

Of course there were lots of parties and activities during the weekend before the 18th - that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but the real celebrations started Monday the 17th.  My family had an asado - a barbeque, essentially, but way more meat.  The party started at noon and didn't end until around 11 that night.  Ricardo (my host dad) had his extended family over to the house and we drank wine, ate snacks, cooked meat, and ate some more.

Empanada pino - typical Chilean food.  Pino includes ground meat, onion, hard boiled egg and one black olive.

Traditional-style Chilean garb - Felipe (my host-brother-in-law) is dressed as a 'huaso' - the campo, cowboy man of Chile (NOT to be confused with the Argentine 'gaucho' - I learned that the hard way!)  On the right is Marisol, Felipe's mother, dressed quite festively as well in cueca clothing - cueca is the national dance of Chile.

Ricardo and his nephew setting up the asado spit! It's not a Chilean party without this keystone item.

 Just a few items that we had for almuerzo (lunch).  After the pre-asado hors d'vours that we munched on while the meat was spinning over the coals, this was the biggest part of the fiesta.  Besides the red meat, which was the main event, we had potato salad, peas and onions, porotos (beans), rice and corn, celery, carrot salad, olives, and of course, red wine.  Salud!!!

To finish off the fiesta, dessert was 'mote con huesillos' - a typical Chilean dish of half a peach with barley.

EL 18

 Day two of the celebrations we spent in the countryside with Nedda (Mom)'s extended family.  This gathering was considerably larger, and there were plenty of cute babies to go around.  We spent the day at a place called Casa Blanca, on a beautiful lot with green grass, a swimming pool (though it was too chilly to swim), cabanas, a bar, a soccer field, and lots of space to lay in the grass, or of course, set up an asado.

The day passed marvelously.   We were at Casa Blanca from noon until 8 PM when it started getting pretty cold out.  However, the day was beautiful, warm and sunny.  There were sack races, a soccer game, and we got to ride 'Uncle' Renato's four-wheeler.

One Chilean food that I couldn't really wrap my head around, but I did wrap my teeth around it:  'pata de chancho.'  That means 'foot of pig.' Mmmmm...  Well, when's the next time I'll be offered pig foot?  Hopefully never.  But I tried it anyway.  Oh, by the way, it's not cooked.  Buen provecho!

A man carving the pata de chancho........ and me munching on it.  Not a fan, but at least I tried it!


Chileans like to drink a LOT on the 18th.  Felipe, my brother-in-law, told me that 'la meta del dieciocho es emborracharse por toda la semana' - that is, the goal of the 18th is to get yourself drunk all week long.  He even told me that if I don't participate in that particular custom, that I'm being unpatriotic.  Well, I don't find that particularly enjoyable, but I did sip on some champagne.  And wine.  And a pisco sour, of course.  Gotta be patriotic!

Rachael and I trying our first terremoto!  It literally means 'earthquake,' but it's a Chilean drink made of white wine and pinapple ice cream.  Who wouldn't like that?

Independence Day in Chile - an excuse to drink too much wine and eat too much meat