My students gave me fair warning. I should have known from their reaction--outrage tinged with despair--the first time I wrote on the board "Quiz Units 1 & 2- Wednesday, September 22." "Miss," they told me candidly, "this will not be good. We will be con caña* and we will not be able to study." Gringa that I am, I just didn't get it. Yes, I knew that we had two and a half days off, plus the weekend in between, for Chile's bicentennial independence day celebration, and yes, I had heard all about the parties, dancing and drinking. But, in my denial, I thought, they can't possibly party the entire five days. Word to the wise: don't underestimate Chileans' stamina when it comes to celebrating dieciocho.
It really all started a couple of weeks ago with the flags. Chileans put the U.S. to shame when it comes to putting their national pride on display. My guesstimate: 95% of houses, apartment buildings, and offices flew a flag, three in every five cabbies sported the blue, red, and white, whether in mini flags or streamers, and countless vendors sold flags of all sizes to passersby.
On Thursday the 16th everything closed half day, and many Santiaguinos packed the freeways and headed out of the city. I stuck around for the light show at la Moneda, the presidential palace downtown. Packed onto the lawn in front of the building we waited...true to form, the show started (almost a full hour) behind schedule. It was spectacular (though, shorty that I am I think I saw much more of the back of people's heads than the show) and an energetic kick-off to the bicentennial. However, it was, without a doubt, the most poorly planned public event I have ever attended. My mild claustrophobia (and anxiety thinking about a mass exit of 60,000 people ) kicked in and Stoddie and I made our way to the fringe of the crowd about fifteen minutes before the show ended. Even so, it was tough going. Roads were blocked for no apparent reason, creating even more congestion in the ones that were open. And the kicker: those 60,000 people I mentioned, the only option for them to get home were the buses. The metro operates only until 11. You'd think that the city, after luring that many people to one spot with an awesome light show, would make an exception and keep it running. By the grace of god, Stoddie and I caught a taxi. My other friends were not as lucky and had to push and shove their way onto packed buses, and that's after waiting almost an hour for one to stop.
Friday we headed to Valparaiso with the intention of checking out the scene on the coast and catching the city's talked about fireworks that night. My friend Chelsey had heard about a fonda in the neighboring city, Viña del Mar, so we caught a taxi over there to check it out.
In the weeks leading up to the fiestas patrias various Chileans had tried to explain to me exactly what a fonda is. Unfortunately, none of them had the English word that sums it up perfectly: county fair. Each city puts on at least one of these mini county fairs. Fondas are, depending on your perspective, either retro or ghetto versions of county fairs in the U.S. I prefer to view them as retro; a throwback to how they might have been fifty years ago. At the fondas you'll find all the typical fair games, but with a homemade spin; nothing is commercial or mass manufactured. For example, the classic game of throwing a ball to knock down a pyramid--at the fondas that pyramid is made of cans with the labels peeled off. And forget stuffed animals or water guns as prizes. In keeping with the overriding theme of dieciocho, most of the prizes are alcohol. First prize gets a fifth of Flor de Caña (Chilean equivalent of Captain Morgan's) second prize a flask of pisco, and third a six pack of Cristal (think Natural Light). But what about the kiddies?? We asked our Chilean friend and it seems young Chilenos are more generous than their North American counterparts: in the miraculous case (all the games are rigged) they win one such coveted prize, mommy or daddy gets some previa* material.
Family fun was happening all over the place at the fonda. Not sure if it was clean, as there was also lots of alcohol consumption happening all over the place, but kids and parents were definitely enjoying themselves, playing games, eating empanadas, buying knockoff Oakleys and beaded jewelry, and parading around in the traditional cueca* outfits.
The star attraction of the fondas would have to be the food and drink. A Chilean friend of mine told me about a month ago, when trying to explain what exactly goes down for dieciocho, that you can gain 4 kilos over the five day holiday. "No you must mean 4 pounds," I replied. She assured me--4 kilos. Now, I am a believer. The fonda is filled with little makeshift restaurants where the prominent menu item is carne. Whether skewered or slapped between a bun, meat, and the aroma of it charring, overpower the fonda. And to wash all that meat down obvio you need a nice, cold beverage (though, to be honest, it will probably be closer to room temp. No ice around here). To choose from you have Cristal by the litro, or chicha, a sweet young wine, by the jug, or terremotos, which I'd call the Chilean version of a Long Island Iced Tea. And if you opt for terremotos, you better stick to by the cup, preferably size small. They aren't called "earthquakes" for nothing.
After the fonda and the fireworks in Valpo (which were some of the best I've ever seen, by the way) we headed back to Santiago Saturday afternoon for Stoddie's last night in Chile. Going for a late afternoon walk, it was eery in the city--literally everything was closed. In Chile, as opposed to in the States, a holiday really is a holiday. With nowhere to go but Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and gas station mini-marts there would be no boosting of the economy done by Chileans on these days off. My mind jumped to my empty pantry and refrigerator...I'd have to survive on the supply of Luna Bars Stoddie had brought me until Tuesday.
*hungover
*pregame
* national dance of Chile
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