Beautiful Saturday

Yesterday, we spent our Saturday hanging out with family and doing "normal Chilean" things.  It was such an enjoyable day.

We started the morning off at primo Franciso's school program.  At many (or most) of the schools here around this time (approaching independence day), the students put on a showcase of traditional Chilean dances. Everyone participates from pre-K to 18 year-olds.  Francisco's group performed the Cueca which is the national dance of Chile.  Every Chilean child is taught this dance at some point in their schooling.  They have a great amount of pride surrounding their traditions--- and the kids all seemed really excited to participate (even the teenagers.  Seriously... tell a 13 year old boy in the states to put on a costume and dance... they argue about tucking in their shirts).  Different grade levels performed dances that are traditional to all of the regions of Chile.  Here's Francisco... he's precious.

He was such a good sport to pose for pictures and everything.

I'm not sure what these other dances are called, or what region they were representing (I'm hoping to get a lesson at some point later), but the little ones were adorable.

The whole event was also at least a little bit of a fundraiser for the school.  Some grade levels sold excellent traditional food, while at others you could play little carnival games.  It was impressive to see so many parents, kids and staff working together to make sure it all worked.  We didn't stay for the whole thing, but apparently, the oldest kids dance with their parents (sons with Moms, daughters with Dads).  I just find the pride in tradition to be incredibly heartwarming.

Later in the afternoon, we took a trip to the Feria up the street.  These street markets appear all over the city depending on the day.  Vendors sell everything from used clothes, to toiletry items, to handmade socks, to (of course) beautiful fresh produce.  If you've ever been to a farmer's market and liked it, then you would be blown away by the Feria.  The smell alone was wonderful.   Everything is locally grown and delicious.  You can also get super high quality fruits and veggies for incredibly cheap.  

And obviously, you can buy fresh fish as well.

I bought a kilo of tomatoes to enjoy at my leisure.  I also had the best orange of my life (not to sound dramatic, but it just tastes different than the oranges from HEB).  Across from this fish stand was a particularly loud woman-vendor who began calling me "Rubia" (spanish for blonde, because apparently in Chile, I'm blonde).  She also hollered that her fruit was as sweet as I was, basically calling everyone's attention to the fact that I'm a gringa.  I am pretty sweet though, so that is probably an accurate statement. :)

After lunch, we spent the day laughing, looking at pictures, playing ping pong, dancing the cumbia, speaking terrible Spanish (that one was just me), and before we knew it, it was the middle of the night.  What a beautiful Saturday.

Those are wedding sunglasses.

We also spent about 5 minutes trying to decide if the word for "rake" in Spanish was also the verb for "to rake".  I don't think we came to a conclusion, but we did cause Michael's grandfather to come back with a rake.