The dieciocho is almost upon us. Chilean Fiestas Patrias!
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 15 September 2009
By: Eileen
Ya viene el 18. The 18th is coming!
We're going to a wait a minute on the worst transit stories group blog (but get your creative juices flowing on that one), because the 18th of September (Chilean national holiday, or fiestas patrias) is practically upon us, half of Chile is already on vacation and the other half will be joining them soon. Since I mostly work for myself, I'm on the horns of a dilemma, continue all the zany workity stuff, or take a semi-deserved break? Probably a combination of the two.
So since September 18th is quickly hurtling towards us, all of the supermarkets and stores and pretty much any place you can think of are dressed to the nines in 18th-paraphernalia. It's pretty festive looking, and might remind you just a tiny bit of the fourth of July, notice the color scheme. (there are 550 CLP to the dollar, so a pair of shoes that costs 47,000 is about 80 bucks, no bargains there!)
And then in the supermarket, we have this woman dressed in the traditional urban 18th costume who is giving out sausage samples. It's all very patriotic, as you can see.
But the thing that I probably enjoy the most about September 18th is not the time off, nor even the kite flying, excessive alcohol consumption (article by me here on matadornetwork), nor even the various ways in which one can combine meat and bread or just meat and meat, nor even the traditional music nor the dance called the cueca which I was supposed to learn recently, but failed again to do so before the holiday.
What I love the best is the little girls dressed in the traditional rural costume, (called china, and I'm sure I don't know why) walking around like tiny little prairie-dwelling women from the 1800s. Or at least that's what it looks like to this American eye. Judge for yourself.
There are certain to be more photos. There always are.
We're going to a wait a minute on the worst transit stories group blog (but get your creative juices flowing on that one), because the 18th of September (Chilean national holiday, or fiestas patrias) is practically upon us, half of Chile is already on vacation and the other half will be joining them soon. Since I mostly work for myself, I'm on the horns of a dilemma, continue all the zany workity stuff, or take a semi-deserved break? Probably a combination of the two.
So since September 18th is quickly hurtling towards us, all of the supermarkets and stores and pretty much any place you can think of are dressed to the nines in 18th-paraphernalia. It's pretty festive looking, and might remind you just a tiny bit of the fourth of July, notice the color scheme. (there are 550 CLP to the dollar, so a pair of shoes that costs 47,000 is about 80 bucks, no bargains there!)
And then in the supermarket, we have this woman dressed in the traditional urban 18th costume who is giving out sausage samples. It's all very patriotic, as you can see.
But the thing that I probably enjoy the most about September 18th is not the time off, nor even the kite flying, excessive alcohol consumption (article by me here on matadornetwork), nor even the various ways in which one can combine meat and bread or just meat and meat, nor even the traditional music nor the dance called the cueca which I was supposed to learn recently, but failed again to do so before the holiday.
What I love the best is the little girls dressed in the traditional rural costume, (called china, and I'm sure I don't know why) walking around like tiny little prairie-dwelling women from the 1800s. Or at least that's what it looks like to this American eye. Judge for yourself.
There are certain to be more photos. There always are.
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