Our group was lucky enough to be in Chile for their week long independence celebration Fiestas Patrias. We get the entire week off of school, but the fiestas don’t really begin until half way through the week. This gave us time to go explore different parts of Chile on our extended weekend and still arrive back in Santiago for the festivals. There are many things to do during this such as go to the amusement park, go to rodeos, and go to las fondas. I unfortunately had a lot of homework to get done during this free week so I didn’t get to do everything on my list, but I did go to la fonda close to me. Las fondas are basically when the street is shut down and all of the restaurants move outside into the street. There are local artisans selling their crafts, children’s games and dancing. The best part, in my opinion, was the parade that passed back and forth throughout the day. They had elaborate costumes, a band and coordinated dancing, it was absolutely breathtaking. The fondas are pretty much where everyone goes during this week because almost every business is closed for the entire week. The fondas are where you go to get food because even the mini-markets are closed.

Another key part of these festivities are the terremotos. Chileans feel as though both forms of terremotos you can experience here are unique to the Chilean identity. The first type is literal earthquakes, and while temblors are milder and more common, Chile has endured many terremotos (much more powerful earthquakes). Temblors are so common that one just occurred while I was writing this blog post. I had an amazing time at the festival and it will definitely be something I won’t forget.