Las Fiestas Patrias

A holiday weekend is coming to an end. Yesterday--el Dieciocho--was Chilean Independence Day. Today was Armed Forces Day, so we had a 3 day weekend. Today and Saturday I studied pretty much all day (except for periodic internet breaks...), but yesterday afternoon we went out to check out the scene.

To celebrate the Fiestas, there are big festival-like things in many of the public parks. They are called "fondas." Supposedly they feature traditional crafts and dancing, but the one we went to was mostly just food and drink. We met up with some of my friends from spanish school (Peter from Scotland and Geert from the Netherlands) at Parque O'Higgins for the "official", National Fonda. We had great empenadas and drank some chicha, but the music was mostly mexican (according to Peter's Chilean friend) and most of the stuff being sold was just chintzy crap. My theory is that at the fondas in the fancier neighborhoods (where you have to pay to get in) they focus more on "traditional" stuff because they want to feel in touch with their roots. At the free, more working class fondas, they don't need to be reminded about "how life used to be", and instead they just want to relax and have fun. I can't blame 'em.

Here's a pic, my first from Chile:

Taylor, Geert, and Peter drinking chicha at Parque O'Higgins