A few weeks ago (September 18) Chile celebrated it's Bicentennial! Coincidentally, Argentina and Mexico also won their independence in 1810, it was apparently not a good year for Spain.
The Chilean Independence Day celebrations basically consist of just a lot of eating and drinking and since it was the bicentennial the celebrations lasted four days and schools closed and there were parades and parties all over the place. I'm volunteering as an English teacher at a local elementary school, helping out with English classes and the whole school just took the day off for a big party and program, it looked something like this:
And all the kids were wearing the coolest outfits, mostly from colonial times, there was a pretty funny conversation in the staff room with the other teachers about the clothes, they have no faith in our Spanish skills and spent several minutes trying to explain the phrase "arocristocracía colonial" obvioulsy a cognate, ah the adventures of learning a second language, they were convinced we didn't know what they were talking about. The girl in the middle is a gringa friend of mine who is also working in the school.
So the bicentennial was great, lots of chicha (hard cider they only drink during the holiday) and empanadas, which are SO GOOD.
Then we had a week of break so a group of us gringos went to Bariloche, Argentina, a smallish mountain town about six hours away. Bariloche is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and it was really refreshing being in a country where they speak more correct and slower Spanish. I even got a few compliments on my skills! But I think people are just surprised when a gringo knows any so I may have an advantage there. Did a little spring skiing, a little hiking, a lot of walking, a lot of chocolate eating (Bariloche is famous for it's chocolate scene) and enjoying the livley nightlife thanks to the abundant tourist scene. Met a couple of other really cool travelers and had an amazing time! Argentina is great and I can't wait to go back. Here is a picture of a few of us at one of the top ten viewpoints in the world (I don't know who judges that but that's what the brocure said):
