Feliz Bicentenario

This weekend happened to be the bicentennial anniversary of Chile's independence from Spain. Therefore, not only was independence day a special day, but it was most likely the biggest party in Chile for quite some time. For this reason, the bicentennial lasted 4.5 days. The traditional thing to do for independence day is have large barbeques all weekend, dance the cueca, listen to music, and drink chicha. It has come to my attention that certain people think my blog is too long and boring and that I should change it up with some lists, so for the sake of the readers i'll try a new style with this blog post.

1. Asados (BBQ's)-The barbeques are crazy, with tons and tons of steak, pork, chicken, sausages, and salads like crazy. They last all day and into the night, and usually you go to multiple in a day. On saturday (the actual independence day) I went to one from 2-5 and then another from 10- 6am. The later one, we did not eat til midnight and didnt finish eating til aroud 3 am.

2. Cueca-This is the traditional Chilean dance that kinda reminds me of square dancing but better. Its really cool to watch and most Chileans can dance it really well. Me on the other hand, not so smooth.

3. Music-They call it folklor and its the Chilean version of patriotic songs. They are all really light and upbeat, and many have either environmental or political messages in them. Everyone knows the words to all of them, and its great to hear everyone having a sing along after the BBQ's.

4. Chicha-Chileans only drink Chicha on independence day and I now understand why. It is made from fermented apples, but it tastes nothing like hard cider. It has a very distinct taste, and I can't say that I am a fan. Never the less there was plenty to go around, so I had to try a glass or two.

The other awesome part of the celebration was the ramada. Its this giant tent carnival that many people go to and its open 24 hours a day. There are ramadas all over the place and there are tons of people there at all times. To complete the weekend, there were two fireworks shows as well as a naval parade today. A ton of ships from Chile's navy were out in the harbor as well as a couple ships from the USA, Canada, Brazil and Greece. They also had 6 or 7 flyovers with everything from helicopters to old style bombers to jets. It was a spectacular site to see everyone on the beach watching and cheering along. What a weekend, what a way to finish off a week. Feliz fiesta de patrias. Feliz cumpleanos Chile doscientos anos, gracias por la opurtunidad para celebrar contigo.