caldera,chile

To commemorate the Pacific War, there is a desfila (a march in the street) in Caldera where all the schools participate and walk through the central. It’s a very formal event and I had to wear a suit. D:

After singing the national anthem, hearing a speech by some important person, and watching the cueca dance, each school marched throughout the town with their marching band playing and representing their school. It was a pretty awesome experience and I took a million photos. This photo shows my school’s band playing while the rest of the school marched on through. 

The cueca, the traditional national dance of Chile. It looks really complicated but some of my students can dance it! 

I learned how to eat lemons here with the peel. Is that weird? My American friends think so. I don’t know why I now eat lemons in this way. Maybe it’s because I feel accomplished since before, I couldn’t even eat lemons (without the peel) plain. (Or maybe it’s because I occasionally indulge in a giant chocolate bar and I feel the need to balance it out with something extremely healthy). For those of you cringing, I’ll inform you that the lemons here are a third the size of lemons in Vancouver and the peel is also about a third the thickness. The sourness is also a third the sourness of lemons back home. Mmm, delicious fiber. 

My birthday chocolate. Yup, I ate it all in one sitting. Not ashamed at all. Don’t judge me. It had almonds in it!! I love chocolate covered almonds. That justifies it, right?

I’m on Ephesians, now. Woo! 

Just finished reading the book and almost finished the series. The book is better (obviously). I’m about to start reading the second book. 

This past Mother’s Day, my family celebrated with a barbecue at a campsite near Bahia Inglesa. The next 10 or so photos are of that. :)

JENGA! I caught the end of one game. 

Pebre. My favorite!

This is Chilean salsa and is a staple in this country. It’s simply tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, onions, hot peppers (I don’t remember the technical name right now), oil, and salt.