After most likely the hardest week so far of my time in Chile, I had I think what might be a life changing weekend. Last week I actually had homework, and not just circle the right answer kind of homework... I had to read a book and write a paper about the subjectivity of politics...in spanish. And yes, of course I had loads of time to work on this assignment, and yes of course I procrastinated until the last minute. But you know sometimes that's just how it has to be; we can't all be perfect. On top of this assignment I had a take-home midterm test about all the short stories we've been reading in my short story class. And yes, I would have known it was this week if I had looked at the syllabus, and yes of course I regret not doing so earlier. So as I'm sure you can imagine, this week was a bit of a shock to the system, as parts of my brain that haven't worked in a very long time were worked very hard. So my week was terrible, and stressful, and icky, but I made it!
Friday afternoon I headed over to Cameron's house to meet up with Benito and go to a baptism in his home town of La Canela which is about two hours north of Valparaiso. Little did I know, a baptism in the countryside is a big deal. On Friday night we actually stayed in Viña and went to an choripan asado (chorizo "chori" and bread "pan"). It was a last minute thing but it turned out to be a full night of singing, games, grilling and drinking until the wee hours of the morning. My friend Leah who is also friends with Cameron's brother and Benito's friends was with me as my gringa companion. She actually has a beautiful voice and plays the guitar and we have a really good time together. Sfter two hours of sleep, Benito and I set out on a bus to la Ligua.
la Leah:
La Ligua is a small town known for it's pasteles y chalecos (little cakes and sweaters). We met up with Chico Luis (little boy Luis) who is 25 but actually looks like he's 18, hence the name chico, and headed to his house for a delicious lunch of rice, chicken, and artichokes. Then, straight from La Ligua to La Canela which is an even smaller town and when I say town I mean a community of houses with a little grocery store and a church. This little town is were Benito is from, along with the guys and girls that he lives with, aka "the crew". So we show up to the place where the baptism lunch/dance place is and it's straight out of movie about the Mexican countryside. The courtyard is covered in tarps, it has dirt floor, a bar, and an extremely loud sound system. The women are cooking and preparing food in the house/outside courtyard, and setting up the dining situation. They were making cabbage salad, or "repollo" which is very common salad here, with sliced lettuce, lemon, and salt. There are 5 rows of 4 tables, ready for probably over a hundred people. The the three cakes are ready and set up, looking delicious and the meat we feasted on was already on the grill. Young children were playing and running around while the older children were also helping set up the place. Blue and white colored paper decorations are being put up, as well as balloons. And then, about and hours and a half after we were told, the baptism begins in the little church about 100 yards from the house.
Pastelitos de la Ligua:
The baptism was short and sweet and intimate. The little church house was overflowing with people, and even though I didn't understand or hear a word that was said, I understood the general flow of direction. The only other baptism I've been to was my cousin Thibault's baptism in which Julien became his godfather. It was cool to see the same ceremony in such a different place and time. I could see how we really are all the same, even though we are so different.
After the quick ceremony, mingle and snack time for about 2 hours while the "palta rellena" was made. Avocado cut in half, filled with tuna and mayo mix on a bed of "repollo" with an olive on top with some red beets on the side. The next course was a HUNK of meat with a nice portion of rice. Of course there was wine up the ying yang, as well as "pebre" which is that tomato and onion salad I've talked about in the past. Then after everyone was served and had eaten the tables were all stacked and pushed to the side, the pisco bottles were taken out and the "copete"(drinks) started flowin'.
A very small fraction of the wine:
The dancing and drinking didn't stop all night! I actually went to bed fairly early compared to the majority of the people there. The band doesn't stop playing until 5 in the morning and it's typical that people don't leave until then. When I left to go to bed around 3:30 there were still many people dancing and a lot more people watching. It was interesting to see how dancing was more of a young person thing as all the older generations watched. However, many middle-aged people were dancing, drinking and having a blast.
Today we slept in late, woke up and had empanadas and made bollos! Bollos are a typical dessert bread made for the 18th. I helped roll it out and actually form the dough into the cookie shape before they went into the oven. The oven is a clay oven that stands outside, separate from the house. We also hiked up a surrounding hill and got a great view of the valley in which Canela is located. It is absolutely beautiful in this area. The town lays in the middle of the valley and is surrounded by dry, but green hilltops. The best part is it's so isolated and the only sounds were the birds and the wind.
Los bollos in going in the oven:
the finished product:
Just your typical freezer full of meat:
very dry:
la Canela is:
All in all this weekend was MUCH much needed. My energy, my excitement and my happiness for being where I am was replenished and my love for Chile has grown exponentially. On my bus ride home today I realized that I've been holding on a little bit and not letting myself fully love it here, I think because I'm scared that when I have to leave I won't be able to handle it so I haven't let myself fully fall in love. But I think this weekend I realized that as long as I'm holding on to that fear I will go home with lots of regret.
Chaoooo!
No comments:
Post a Comment