Celebrating Independence Day with a Protest

A few nights ago, the whole sky was lit by brilliant fireworks as Chileans celebrate their most important holiday.

Independence Day.

I tell you.  I’ve never seen a country so obsessed with its liberation that they take a whole week off to celebrate it.

Everyone is bringing out the Chilean banderas (flags) which incidentally look similar to the Puerto Rican and the North Korean flag.

Chile Flag

North Korean Flag

Hell, I’m not telling the Chileans that.

We went to a Ramada or fonda (fair) where there were lots of restaurants to choose from (but they were all selling the same thing – empanadas, hot dogs and tons of meat kebabs) and game booths.

Of course, I happened to see my first protest.

Turns out the official Ramada restaurant was hogging all the water and other restaurants didn’t have any.

Unequal distribution which I’ve noticed more and more in this country.

The police on their horses rushed in before the protestors could smash into the gates of the restaurants. Eventually after lots of pot clanging they left.

Aside from that, I love the Chileans dancing the Cueca. It’s a flirtatious easy dance where the guy aggressively pursues the girl while she evades his advances. Both are waving white handkerchiefs.

It’s been confirmed.

It is a requirement to dance in South America.

If you’re a bad dancer, I think they’d rather not see you dance. A Chileno took me by surprise one time and spun me on the dance floor.

“Can you salsa?” he asked.

“Uh-no,” I responded while the room spun a 360 degrees.

“Okay bye!” And he let go as I staggered to regain my balance.

So brush up on those dance moves first because as I find out Central and South Americans dominate the dance floor while the Asians, gringos and I stand awkwardly and gawk.

Feliz Fiestas Patrias!