CHI-CHI-CHI-LE-LE-LE

Free moments have been few and far between lately. Finally, a chance to sit down and write. I have lots to catch up on...

The 18th of September was Chile's independence day, and it was really cool to be here for that. They go all out for their independence day, that's for sure. The holiday lasts for 4 days, and they're jam packed with celebrations.

Sara, Desiree and I went my family's family's house in Quilpue.(haha, is there a better way to say that? As my Spanish gets better, my English gets worse.) Quilpue is only about a 30 minute drive from Valparaíso. We spent the whole day eating empanadas, carne (meat), drinking wine, and I tried chicha for the first time. It is an alcohol made from apples. It tastes like apple cider. :)

Here's a pic of the empanadas. They made them outside in a brick oven. I can't describe how amazing they smelled. And tasted even better. Have you ever seen so many on one tray? Oh, and that is Cladio's sweet mom in the green shirt. I love here. She has one of those personalities that you're just drawn to. You can't help but like her.

Mmm, I will miss empanadas from Chile...

Claudio and Christian cooking the meat...

We played games all afternoon. It was so fun to see everyone having such a great time. And, it's pretty hilarious to watch grown men play musical chairs. Yea, you can imagine how that went. It resulted in 3 or 4 pretty spectacular falls and 2 broken chairs.

 Crazy Chilean men playing musical chairs...











Jump rope...

Tug of war...

And how it ended....

And, then we played this game where we had to stick our faces in bowls of water and flour. Don't ask me. It's hard to explain. There was balancing of lemons on spoons involved also.

Sara, Dez and I sticking our faces in bowls...













Afterward...

We won prizes too! I won a lemon squeezer, in case you were wondering.

For dieciocho (the 18th), there are also fondas (fairs) that you can go to. We went to 2 fondas with a group of intercambios (exchange students) where there are all the typical Chilean food and drinks like, chicha, pisco, terremotos, empanadas, churros (kind of like a beignet), choripan (like a hotdog, but real GOOD sausage). And, lots of dancing too!

Sara and I buying our chichas and terromotos...













Well, even though I have so much more to say, I will just have to stick with 'chao' for now. I guess I'll update about our trip to Argentina another time. ;)

Until then, CHI-CHI-CHI-LE-LE-LE!!!!

love,
Sophie