Did not have classes, but we had that Procession/desfile, for the stations of the cross. After my host-family and I went to the supermarket, it's name is the 'Hiper Lider', apparenly hiper is hyper, which in spanish is more than super. It is basically a super Wal-mart, The only one of its kind here in Arica. Well Thursday was the last day is was opened for the weekend of Semana Santa, so it was crazy, I mean like 25 minutes waiting in line to buy things crazy. People with carts and you could barely move, anyway we went there to buy some food and other things to bring with to our trip to Iquique. At this point, I don't whether we are going to a hotel, a hostel or what, all I know is that most of Borris' friends I met a week ago are coming. I ask questions, but can't understand answers or get short ones about the trip, I think they want it to be a secret...
Anyway after picking up supplies we drive to what looks like a bus stop and after makes a phone call, some shady looking guy comes to the car with a backpack. At this point I am like, whoa, we going to be doing some drugs on this trip... Well it turns out it is for next weekend at a Valley where there is some sort of religious festival with a large cross. Its called Lluta(utah) de la cruz.
A lot better than drugs, haha.
After running around I came home to find the hawks had just started and watched them beat the Canucks. I then drank a few beers stayed up till 4 am, skyping with a friend in Santiago and then Duewerth finally came home from Nepal(he is on Nepali time, 12 hr difference) So I stayed up with him hearing about his experiences and sharing a few of mine...
Friday:
Friday I needed to wake up at 6 am to leave for Iquique at 6:30 am. I obviously got 2 hours of sleep and slept almost the entire 4 hours on the ride to Iquique. Here is where I learn we really are not going to the coastal city of Iquique, but an afuera(suburb/outskirt) outside the city. We arrive to a camping like park, we stayed in Cabañas. Some photos of the Cabaña and piscinas(pools).
The Cabaña we stayed at.
The pool outside, the water was freezing.
Pool with warm water and it became kind of like a hot box.
So all together the group was made up of 4 families, Borris', Alejandro's, Fernando's, and Jorge's family respectively. I have met all the parents before, but never their kids altogether, except for Antonia and Valentina(17) and Rodrigo(13). It also just so happens, Violín(15-16) is in one of my classes, but the rest are around Matias' age, 6, 7 one was 10. Their names are as follows so you can get a feel for Chilean names: Fernando's family(oldest to youngest): Valentina, Antonia, Felipe. Alejandro: Rodrigo, Matias. Jorge: Violín, (forget his other daughters name, she spoke so fast I couldn't understand a word), Jorgeito. We all went swimming as soon as we got there for a few hours, the kids swam all day.
Drank some beers and we had lunch, it was some delicious fish(I don't know the type) that Alejandro prepared, with Palta Pebre (Chilean's version of Pico de Gallo aka Tomatoes, Onions, Cilantro, I remembered the name! edit no i didn't, palta is avocado sauce, with pebre = guacamole) in tin foil in the oven. Dinner was awesome as well, because Alejandro made a sauce of Ají (I think specifically for me, nice and spicy). This is a typical chilean meal, they put potatoes(always skinned, cut up), rice/pasta, mayo(added to make a kind of sauce) and either meat or seafood in a big bowl so it's like a thick soup. However, since Friday was Good Friday we ate Pulpo(Octopus) which was delicious with the sauce of Ají. Should have taken pictures of the food, but I always forget...
The children always ate about 30 minutes before us, because frankly there were not enough chairs/space for all of us to eat together, besides the kids ate basically rice/pasta and hot dogs the entire time. Which I understand, I was the pickiest eater as a young child. After eating all the kids played bingo while we ate.
Some of the parents got them going as dinner was being cooked.
After dinner, we all kind of hung out finished the bottles of wine, Chileans love their wine, we had four bottles for all of us adults. After busting out some bottles of liquor and more conversation Borris busts out this:
Yes, that's Roulette shots! Fernando is the man, he is the one looking up at the camera.
I could not be more happier when he broke this out. We played with Rum, Whiskey and shots of Bebidas(they don't call pop refrescos here). The shots of coke(er Coke light, yea not Diet Coke) were for the moms, they wouldn't let their husbands fill up the shots full or all of them with liquor. We played for awhile, had more conversation and then crashed, it was getting late, because we didn't eat until like 10:30.
Saturday:
I get woken up, because I am still behind on sleep from not sleeping the night before and being the last one awake, to 'come on we leaving' or 'Mateo venga estamos saliendo'. No idea where we are going, this has been my experience in Chile, 'get in!' I am not complaining I actually like not knowing anything and just going... I mean I have been saying yes to everything and anything, I have yet to be disappointed by saying yes to getting in the car and being taken somewhere. However, there have been a few foods that I have pushed away...
Anyway, After I take a quick shower and run outside to all the kids getting in the back of a pick-up, 'yep that's where I want to be' I say to myself.
On our way to the dino park, don't worry it was like a 7 minute drive.
So we arrive at a dinosaur like type park. Took some pictures:
I think they were life sized.
We all got back in the car and went to the city of Pica. Basically we just browsed Pica and bought a few souveiners. And all drank 'Jugos de Naturales', because they think the word Jugo(juice) is like a drink(think blue/purple drink or tang) not actual juice, so jugos de naturales translates to Natural Juice, but again this is wrong. We drank smoothies made from real fruit... They were delicious, especially on a hot day. I had Guayaba, and I was introduced to this flavor back in the states by the mexicanos I worked with at the ice company. It's pink and kind of has a pink lemonade/strawberry mix to it, yum.
We bought cards in Pica and I taught all of 'teenagers' and some of the parents 'spoons'. Basically you have have one set of cards and put spoons in the middle of the table, one spoon less than the people around the table. Everyone has 4 cards in their hands(at all times) and one person starts with the deck and uses the deck to pass one card to the next person, until they have all four cards that are the same number(or J,Q,K,A) It was a big hit. We played for the majority of the day and various other card games. Included a game called 'Nerivoso' which you throw cards down that are shuffled and say 1-13 and if the card is the same as the person saying the number, you can't be the last person to throw your hand on the pile... (Remeber this... we played this later in the night)
I realize I am still a kid at heart(and in the brain) and like to play these type of games with the 13, 15 and 17 year old rather than hang out with the parents/little ones during the day.
Asado:
Bought a few Coronas when everyone was taking their siesta(nap), and listened to music while walking around the 'camping park' shirtless of course to try and get some sun. After the kids ate, Alejandro and Jorge were getting the Parillas(grills) ready for the Asado(barbeque). They don't use charcoal or gas/propane grills. They use 'carbon' which is a certain type of wood that burns for hours, apparently the taste is much better and I can approve of this!
Pavo, Pollo(turkey, chicken) and Steak.
More steak and chorizo salchichas.
Alejandro taking the reins with some necessary beers.
Asado, good eatin'
We eat the Salchichas when they are done and are like a finger food before the massive amounts of carne were finished. The massive amounts of meat were later cut down so they were cooked as well mind you, it was ¡Súper Rico!(very delicious). I tried all the kinds of meat and it was complete heaven. I think we may of have 6 bottles of wine that night, again I don't normally drink wine, but I do like Cabernet. I also asked everyone if they have tried sangria, this is false, but they love their wine, so I don't know if they'll want me to dilute their wine with some ginger ale... We'll find out at a later date...
Dinner went a little late, and Fernando and I had some good conversation, but his daughter Valentina helped out a little bit as she is going to junior college and she knows a bit of english, which helps when it's hard to explain some things. We spoke about Obama, and his policies, but one of the biggest things I took from this conversation is what I learned about Augusto Pinochet.(click his name if you don't know about Pinochet before reading further) Anyway, Fernando basically said he liked Pinochet, and at first I was appalled that he would say this. However, he further explained himself, He liked Pinochet, because the last president Allende, was basically a communist and after the military coupe of Pinochet, he brought in Capitalism. However, with that being said, Fernando did say that he doesn't like one bit all all about the missings aka desaparecidos or human rights that were lost. Which I can completely understand, without this push of capitalism, Chile would most likely be more comparable to Cuba... I then had to state my problems with capitalism, with the spread of materialism and greed that has plagued hard working americans. (think Eron, the past two Governors of Illinois, Wisconsin's new laws for teachers.. etc)...
So after a bit of conversation, Borris brought out the Shot Roulette again, and we played a few times this time and followed after with a game of Nerivoso. So After being the last person to get you hand down in Nerivoso, you literally get your butt kicked... Patar something. After about 6 or 7 times of losing and Fernando losing about 3 or 4 times, they decided to change it to taking your two fingers and slapping the person who lost on the forearm... They call it Chilito. It was actually really fun and I understood about 25% of the jokes that were being thrown around.
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