independencia

In Chile the month of September is always a whirlwind.  As spring begins the days become longer and warmer, colorful clothes start to make their appearances along with the frequent smiles on the face of each Chilean.  This is just in time for the independence celebration that continues all month long.  On the 18^th of September, Chile celebrates its independence from Spain that was gained in 1818 (though not officially recognized by Spain until 1840).  Unlike the 4^th of July that is celebrated for that day only, Chileans commemorate all month long and the week of the 18^th parties continue day and night.  During the celebrations there is nobody on the streets, they have all left town to be with family or are barbequing in their homes.  As one Chilean described to me, it is as if the whole nation is celebrating Chile’s birthday.  Chilean flags can be seen billowing from everywhere and the sentiment is reminiscent of 4^th of July…on steroids.     

The entire week of the 18^th I celebrated with as many Chileans as possible, attending barbeques and drinking terremotos (earthquakes) which consist of a white wine that has not finished fermenting, a bitter called Fernet, and a scoop of pineapple ice cream.  On the actual day of the 18^th I was lucky enough to be invited to a Chilean friend’s house to celebrate with his family.  We barbequed and hung out all day and when the sun went down I was taught how to dance the national dance, Cueca, which includes a decent amount of stomping and the constant twirling of a scarf in the right hand.  It might have been the terremotos, but I really won the Chileans over with my Cueca skills and by the end of the night I felt as though I was part of the family.  Since then I have been invited to family events and am getting a deeper look into Chilean life and culture.

The final week of September everyone is so exhausted from the celebrations and behind a few weeks on their studies or work so there is a lot of lost time to be accounted for, which has led to the severe delay in my blogging.  I apologize for this lag, September happened so quickly but I will be sure to update more frequently!