Chile Recently and During the Holidays

Me and my host dad making Thanksgiving turkey (Chilean/Venezuelan style)! I also made mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (which people loved), gravy, green beans, apple crips, and pumpkin pie. All the exchange students from my city came over to eat dinner with our family.

While volunteering with Rotary to help people living far from medical centers get in touch with doctors, I met members of the Chilean army! This is me with the band. The man with the tuba knew how to play part of the star spangled banner!

This is lake Colbún, which is about an hour out of Talca. I got the chance to see it like this and more up close in a boat and swimming! Lots of people in Talca go to the lake during summer holidays, which started the second week of December.

A Venezuelan Christmas tradition my host family shared with me is making hallacas! They are a mixture of beef, olive, pepper, and raisins wrapped in a corn based dough and boiled in a banana leaf. We spent the day making more than 100 and spent the rest of December eating them and sharing them with family and friends. I'm going to write the recipe in a recipe book I started here so I can share them with people when I come home too!

Here's a finished hallaca.

The Christmas Eve family party was at my host cousins' house! Christmas looked very different, firstly just because of the heat! It was hot until midnight, but we stayed up until around 5. A few minutes before midnight, all the kids (including the teenagers) were sent to look for the "Viejito Pascuero" -which literally translates to "The Little Old Christmaser" but means Santa- in the neighborhood. When we came back to the house, all the presents had magically appeared! This is super different than how I'd seen the Santa tradition done in the US. In Chile and Venezuela, presents are opened the night of Christmas, but the holiday had a lot more to do with eating, dancing, listening to music, talking, and spending time with family and friends than the gifts. We ate more hallacas and lots of meat and I spent good time with my cousins. It was a fun night, and super interesting to see all the similarities and differences of Christmas in Chile.

The last few days I spent with my first host family, we went on a trip to Santiago! We saw lots of cool architecture (because of the frequent earthquakes in Chile, Santiago often has old buildings such as the president's office in this picture that are situated right next to more modern designs, like the famous glass tower the Costanera). We also enjoyed time together as a family and walked around the city. We even saw the president, which I didn't expect at all! I'm going to miss living with this family, because I felt really at home with them, but I know that I'm always part of the family and welcome to come over for lunch or visit any time (which I already have). I'm very grateful for everything they did for me and grateful for the chance to feel like a part of such a great family. I couldn't imagine how my life in Chile would look without them, but I'm also excited to see how it changes in a different family.

Me with my new family! I already feel super welcomed and happy with them. The parents are separated so we (me and my younger host brother Feña who I'm watching a movie with as I write this and is proud to be part of the blog) spend time mostly with the mom (Arleth), but also with the dad (Fernando) some weekends or when it works to see him. In this picture we are eating completos mojados, which is a twist on a typical Chilean food that is very special to my city. They are basically hot dogs, but with a steamed bun, chopped tomatoes, avocado, and homemade mayonnaise.

This last weekend we went to a river near the Andes and swam! It was a really fun day and great to get to know my host dad and his partner better. The water was super clear because it came straight from Andes snow melt.

We found this beautiful lagoon, which is actually part of a river, on a hike with my brother from my first family and his girlfriend. It was really interesting to see Chilean nature- in this forest there was invasive bamboo, which I had no idea existed in Chile. The water was the coldest water I've ever swam in, but refreshing after a long hike, and it was great to spend time with my brother and his girlfriend. I can understand almost everything in Spanish now- if I'm not tired!

The fruit in Chile is amazing, especially the grapes! And good avocados are staples to the Chilean diet. I loved getting to see a Chilean farmers' market in the city and it made me even happier to see cats walking around and sleeping near the fruit! Look in the top of the picture by the avocados!

Now I know what it's like to have a little brother! Two minutes ago he told me I look like the rat in Ratatouille (the movie we are watching) but earlier today he was helping me with some Spanish verbs I was struggling with and a week ago, when this picture was taken, we had fun adventuring with my host mom to visit an old bridge. When he's not calling me a rat, he's a really nice person and great to have around.

I'm still making American foods, like this lemon meringue pie, for my family. I plan to make American style burritos next! My host mom is an amazing cook and I'm also getting the chance to try lots of amazing Chilean food.