Week 4: Fiestas Patrias: Bicentennial Celebration

The US bicentennial was celebrated in 1976, 13 years before I was born.  I heard it was a pretty big celebration.  Lucky for me, since I missed my own country’s bicentennial celebration, I was able to share in the celebration of 200 years of Chilean independence.  From my perspective the Chilean people are already very proud of their country.  They wear their colors with pride, the flag waves on every street corner, and naturally they believe their soccer team is the best.  If you multiply this patriotism 10 fold, this is what the Fiestas Patrias (another name for the holiday) is like.

            Walking down the street days before the commemorated dieciocho (18) de Septiembre, you can feel the energy in the air.  Everywhere you turn there is a flag hanging outside the door, or pasted in the window.  People are on street corners selling Chilean memorabilia to wear during the holiday weekend or paste on their car.  The air buzzes with talk of the upcoming celebration.

            Lucky for me I had an invitation from a Chilean friend to spend the holiday with her in her home town.  My friend is from Viña del Mar, a small town on the coast about 75 minutes from Santiago.  She invited my friends and me to stay with her and spend the holiday in true Chilean fashion, eating and drinking to your heart’s content. 

We arrived in Viña del Mar Thursday afternoon to get an early start to the weekend.  After learning that every single store (including all grocery stores) would be closed tight for the next 4 days, we gathered every food item necessary to survive.  I will admit that I never go hungry, but the fear that a grocery store would be closed for 4 days straight was enough reason to panic about the thought of running out of food.  After the grocery list was checked off and the food was checked out, we were ready to do some celebrating.

The first day of festivities consisted of a family and friends barbeque at the local “botanical garden”.  This simple park with filled with scents of meat grilling, and the sounds of Chilean music.  Over the course of the day there were 4 courses of food, with some breaks of course for the traditional “juegos” (games).  First we did a three legged race, which my partner and I miserably failed at.  I’m convinced the Chileans spend all year practicing for these games because they made it to the finish line before I could get back up from tripping over my partner’s foot.  Then came the wheel barrel race.  I was the wheels of my team.  It was clear that I hadn’t been doing my push ups because we didn’t make it but 2 feet in front of the starting line.  It was a good laugh at least. 

The following day was the real deal, dieceocho itself!  My friends and I spent the day walking through the boardwalk along the water.  The beach was filled with people of all ages flying kites, which is a traditional this to do on the 18^th.  The boardwalk was filled with small vendors selling goods like striped hippie pants, long dangly earrings, and even small sticks that are said to bring a good aurora into the home.  Yep, you could buy or sell just about anything you wanted at this little market.

The day was followed by a night of fire works and the infamous “Fonda”.  A Fonda is basically any large are that hold small food and beverage vendors and places where people can dance.  All over Chile during this holiday weekend there were Fondas over crowded by people who want to eat empanadas and drink “terremotos” or “chicha” (traditional dieceocho drinks).  For me, it was a lot like the New York State fair, filled with rows of vendors under a temporary stand all selling food that looked and smelled a lot like their neighbor’s.  Anyway, my eye was on finding the stand with the best shish kabob mix of vegetables and meat.  We finally made our way through an endless stream of people to sit and I got to enjoy a good shish kabob and some chicha.  It was well worth the wait.

The dieceocho weekend ended with a small tour of the famous Valpariso, which is 10 minutes from Viña del Mar.  This chic town is filled with hills that look like the patch work of a quilt.  The bright colors of the houses on the cerros (hills) add to the charm and character of this Pacific coast destination point.  After we broke bread with some fresh sea food, I was ready to bid my farewell to a great Bicentennial weekend.  I had successfully completed this once in a lifetime experience and shared in the celebration of a monumental bicentennial weekend along with the rest of Chile.