A Week of Vacation

Since the 11th is a national holiday in Chile, many schools have the entire week after off. I am pretty sure the 18th of September is also a holiday, but I am not positive. Throughout the city of Santiago there are many parades and "Fondas" which I think a similar to fairs the we have in the US. (I did not go to any of these). The festivities equal out to a combination between the 4th of July and New Years. On the 18th there is a barbeque with tons of meat, salad and traditional foods such as empanadas. This meal would be equivalnent to our Thanksgiving because it is a meal shared with relatives and family members.

For vacation, my family took me to Valle del Elqui a town/area up north where there were not the same festivities practiced. It was the country and there did not seem to be anything going on. My family took me to "nearby" towns that had artisan shops where were cool. The place where we were liked alot like the deserts of Arizona and Utah and did not have much to do. Also there was barely any internet which is why I relate it to my Vermont house, with maybe 3 less stars For those of you who have been there...you know what I am talking about. I was there from Tuesday night until Sunday morning). Not to mention the 6hr car ride up there that was included. The drive home was beautiful, most of the time. The road we took was parallel to the coast. Sad to admit this was one of the highlights of the trip.