Us Farm Folk Venture into the Big City

On Good Friday, I woke up and got ready only to discover that there was no school. Dang that language barrier! I could have slept for another 5 hours. My madre, Ivanna, and I spent the day making a traditional Chilean dish called humitas. Essentially they are stuffed, boiled corn husk pockets. They taste lightyears (that's my standard unit to quantify deliciousness) better than my pathetic description. I don't really know how else to explain it so I'll leave it to Google to answer the rest of your questions. Anyhow, after we finished our feast...four hours later....we all piled into the family auto (a fun-sized Toyota that has definitely seen better days) and headed to Tia Gloria's (the crazy aunt) in the big city. 

Ivanna and I slept over and hung out with my new Chilean cousins...a 21-year old girl named Daniela and a 27-year old boy named Nelson. To sum up the evening, we went to a Chinese circus, watched Passion of the Christ dubbed in Spanish, and I shared stories about my imaginary boyfriend so as to ward of the very conspicuous family initiative to marry me off to Nelson. Nelson, they told me, used to be a fatty (a gordito) and then he had gastric bypass surgery and is  now a beanpole (a flaquito). He can't eat more than a handful at a time or else his stomach will overflow (ew) and has since taken up running. Apparently the women in Chile aren't very athletic because the news spread like wildfire that I was a "deportista" (an athlete) because I went for a jog last week.  Anyhow, I found myself being forced to go on a running date with Nelson the following morning. And by forced, I mean Tia Gloria literally put on and tied my sneakers and shoved me out the door. What's a girl to do?

Starting with me (because I´m egotistical like that) and moving clockwise: Daniela (my Chilean cousin, daughter of Tia Gloria), Tia Gloria, my madre, Nelson (my other Chilean cousin, son of Tia Gloria), my padre, Ivanna (my host sister).

 

I didn't feel like mentally exhausting myself with Spanish conversation on top of the physical exertion so I decided to run as fast as I could to make it impossible for us to talk. Great success. Kind of. An hour later, we were both breathless and ready to keel over BUT not a word had been uttered after the first 45 seconds of our run. One itsy bitsy problem. Due to the rigorous run, Nelson told the extended family that I am a SUPER deportista and I have since been registered to run in some kind of race with him this Saturday. The family is thrilled about their match-making skills and are all coming to watch the "maraton." I can only hope that the word "maraton" is not a direct translation. If so, Nellie boy is the least of my worries. What did I get myself into?

From Tia Gloria's, we went to Tome (a scenic port town about an hour away) to spend the rest of Easter weekend. I met both sides of the extended family, sat at the head of every table, was served first, fielded a constant stream of questions about the faraway land of America. I also attended a 4-hour long (no exaggeration) Catholic midnight mass Saturday night. Honestly, the weekend was rather exhausting (although I didn't mind the eating like a king bit).  I also didn't complain when my abuelita made me a little Easter goodie bag with homemade chocolates. You can never outgrow Easter treats...it simply doesn't happen. On the way home, we made a detour to pick up a few things in the city....but that's a story on it's own (see following two blog posts).

 Ivanna and I with our "Easter baskets."

Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend!! Miss you all. Abrazos around!