Like the US, Chile has its own Independence Day, commemorating the day they declared independence from Spain. Generally this celebration lasts for much longer than a day; in fact Chilean flags were plastered all over the city for the entire month of September and every weekend during the month some demonstration or party can be easily spotted. That being said, the 18th of September, almost universally referred to as Dieciocho, is the official holiday. The 2 - 3 days surrounding it are the culmination of a month of partying and are usually very boisterous.
By lucky coincidence, my start date at Gemini was a few days after Dieciocho, practically guaranteeing that we would in Chile for the holiday. That was fine by us; one of the best ways to learn about a culture is to find out exactly how they party and which alcoholic drinks and food are involved. We were told that if we really wanted to celebrate like a Chilean, we should go to the Pampilla, the mother of all parties in Coquimbo. Coquimbo is the next town over from La Serena. It figures quite heavily in many of my pictures; a few years ago the city built a giant sculpture, the “Cross of the Third Millennium” which catches the eye whenever anyone stares out at the Pacific. (David is opposed to “catches the eye”; he thinks it doesn’t convey the magnitude of it’s hideousness, but more on that later).
A picture of Coquimbo and the Cross from La Serena
So what’s the best way to fit in while traveling in the heady, meat-loving culture of Chile; travel with a Vegan! Seriously, our friend Beth (said vegan) just happened to be observing at Gemini and would be in La Serena for the holiday. We were thrilled and offered to take her to the Pompilla, with the warning that it would probably involve eating large quantities of dead animals. Beth was a great sport; she really wanted to go and promised to eat beforehand (granola or whatever poor unsuspecting fruit vegans murder for their breakfast). In all seriousness, she’s our favorite kind of vegan/vegetarian; the kind that will sit happily by eating a tofu burger while we gnaw on pork or beef ribs; the live-and-let-live vegan (shouldn’t that be all of them?)
So, with Beth in tow, we went to the Pompilla. What we thought might be a crazy and drunken party turned out to be a Fair. Rides for the kids, lots of vendors selling stuff, and entire restaurant-like tents set up with giant (GIANT) Parrilladas (see the entry entitled Meat). David walked around for a bit before using his sixth-meat-sense to settle on one. We went inside and sat down and were greeted by a very helpful waiter, who in true Chilean-waiter fashion recommended the most expensive thing on the menu - the “Special Parrilladas”. We had already learned our lesson (again, see Meat) and being as we were without the prerequisite rugby team required to finish such a meal, decided to pass and order something else. In this case, David and I split ONE plate of pork ribs with sides. For Beth, I very helpfully ordered “Pollo sin Pollo” or “chicken without chicken”. This got a surprised look from the waiter (and a hurt look for the griller) but we managed to get it across that Beth didn’t eat meat and just wanted the sides.
Our meat (and veggies) arrived to the table and were, as suspected, fantastic. For some reason the potato salad in Chile is universally awesome. Beth, realizing that her cause was lost, decided to ramp down into plane ole’ vegetarian mode; being a realist, she often does this when traveling abroad. She ate the potato salad and a strange concoction of black beans and raw onions. We did the same and thoroughly enjoyed our meal in the shade of the tent, drinking our sugar sweetened Coke.
The Pompilla in Coquimbo
Our friend Beth
After eating we wondered around the fair. Beth, a semi-professional belly dancer in her spare time (you’ve got to love astronomers!) was thrilled by the variety and inexpensiveness of the jewelry; she bought gifts for friends as well as a plethora of necklaces and rings to finish off some of her elaborate costumes. The most exotic of these was a beautiful copper necklace purchased off of two questionable characters. As our friend Deborah has famously pointed out, there is an inverse relationship between how often a hippie has bathed and how much they want to hug you; these guys were at the rather smelly tail of the hippie distribution. After asking first me and then Beth to marry them, David gallantly pretended to be with both of us to keep us from trouble. This got the response, in Spanish, “You can’t have both!”. To which he replied “I can and I do”. While patently untrue, that got him a little respect and kept Beth and me from getting mauled. After much haggling (in Spanish) and finding out that the copper was from old telephone wires (which made it even cooler), Beth walked away with a stunning, hand-made copper necklace set with a gorgeous natural stone for $15; well worth the hippie-hugs.
After stopping for a bit and snapping pictures of the alpaca, we decided it was time to be heading on our way. We realized that we were probably leaving before the event truly started; it was only 2 pm and the Pompilla wasn’t even close to set up. Later on in the night the partying, with music, dancing, an amusement park for the kids, and lots of food and alcohol, really starts. But we were a little worried about our small car being boxed in by all-night party-goers and Beth had a plane to catch. So we left the Pompilla and headed back to La Serena.
A mountain of cars at the Pompilla
This was far from the end of our day, however. We took Beth to downtown La Serena. While driving around in the rather dead city, we came across the famed Japanese garden, Kokoro No Niwa. We thought that it would be closed for the holiday, but in fact it was open. For $1.20 each, we entered the lovely little haven and spent a while relaxing and snapping pictures (including the obligatory one with the little red bridge. If you don’t take a picture of the bridge, apparently they won’t let you leave).
Beth wanted to see the Plaza de Armas, the center of the city and we obliged. We stopped at a few more vendors, mostly to admire the bargains that we got in Coquimbo. We took pictures of the great water fountain in the Plaza and wondered around the cobblestone alleys of the city before dropping Beth off to the Recinto, where we waited with her for her taxi to the airport.
The beautiful fountain in the Plaza de Armas in La Serena
For most people this would have been an end to a wonderful day; dropping our friend off after an adventure in Coquimbo, a walk in a Japanese garden, and a peaceful, relaxing time in the Plaza de Armas, avoiding small children in motorized Power Wheels who were trying to run us over. But no, the adventure continued after Beth had left town! Stayed tuned for Dieciocho, Parte Dos.
By lucky coincidence, my start date at Gemini was a few days after Dieciocho, practically guaranteeing that we would in Chile for the holiday. That was fine by us; one of the best ways to learn about a culture is to find out exactly how they party and which alcoholic drinks and food are involved. We were told that if we really wanted to celebrate like a Chilean, we should go to the Pampilla, the mother of all parties in Coquimbo. Coquimbo is the next town over from La Serena. It figures quite heavily in many of my pictures; a few years ago the city built a giant sculpture, the “Cross of the Third Millennium” which catches the eye whenever anyone stares out at the Pacific. (David is opposed to “catches the eye”; he thinks it doesn’t convey the magnitude of it’s hideousness, but more on that later).
A picture of Coquimbo and the Cross from La SerenaSo what’s the best way to fit in while traveling in the heady, meat-loving culture of Chile; travel with a Vegan! Seriously, our friend Beth (said vegan) just happened to be observing at Gemini and would be in La Serena for the holiday. We were thrilled and offered to take her to the Pompilla, with the warning that it would probably involve eating large quantities of dead animals. Beth was a great sport; she really wanted to go and promised to eat beforehand (granola or whatever poor unsuspecting fruit vegans murder for their breakfast). In all seriousness, she’s our favorite kind of vegan/vegetarian; the kind that will sit happily by eating a tofu burger while we gnaw on pork or beef ribs; the live-and-let-live vegan (shouldn’t that be all of them?)
So, with Beth in tow, we went to the Pompilla. What we thought might be a crazy and drunken party turned out to be a Fair. Rides for the kids, lots of vendors selling stuff, and entire restaurant-like tents set up with giant (GIANT) Parrilladas (see the entry entitled Meat). David walked around for a bit before using his sixth-meat-sense to settle on one. We went inside and sat down and were greeted by a very helpful waiter, who in true Chilean-waiter fashion recommended the most expensive thing on the menu - the “Special Parrilladas”. We had already learned our lesson (again, see Meat) and being as we were without the prerequisite rugby team required to finish such a meal, decided to pass and order something else. In this case, David and I split ONE plate of pork ribs with sides. For Beth, I very helpfully ordered “Pollo sin Pollo” or “chicken without chicken”. This got a surprised look from the waiter (and a hurt look for the griller) but we managed to get it across that Beth didn’t eat meat and just wanted the sides.
Our meat (and veggies) arrived to the table and were, as suspected, fantastic. For some reason the potato salad in Chile is universally awesome. Beth, realizing that her cause was lost, decided to ramp down into plane ole’ vegetarian mode; being a realist, she often does this when traveling abroad. She ate the potato salad and a strange concoction of black beans and raw onions. We did the same and thoroughly enjoyed our meal in the shade of the tent, drinking our sugar sweetened Coke.
The Pompilla in Coquimbo 
Our friend Beth After eating we wondered around the fair. Beth, a semi-professional belly dancer in her spare time (you’ve got to love astronomers!) was thrilled by the variety and inexpensiveness of the jewelry; she bought gifts for friends as well as a plethora of necklaces and rings to finish off some of her elaborate costumes. The most exotic of these was a beautiful copper necklace purchased off of two questionable characters. As our friend Deborah has famously pointed out, there is an inverse relationship between how often a hippie has bathed and how much they want to hug you; these guys were at the rather smelly tail of the hippie distribution. After asking first me and then Beth to marry them, David gallantly pretended to be with both of us to keep us from trouble. This got the response, in Spanish, “You can’t have both!”. To which he replied “I can and I do”. While patently untrue, that got him a little respect and kept Beth and me from getting mauled. After much haggling (in Spanish) and finding out that the copper was from old telephone wires (which made it even cooler), Beth walked away with a stunning, hand-made copper necklace set with a gorgeous natural stone for $15; well worth the hippie-hugs.
After stopping for a bit and snapping pictures of the alpaca, we decided it was time to be heading on our way. We realized that we were probably leaving before the event truly started; it was only 2 pm and the Pompilla wasn’t even close to set up. Later on in the night the partying, with music, dancing, an amusement park for the kids, and lots of food and alcohol, really starts. But we were a little worried about our small car being boxed in by all-night party-goers and Beth had a plane to catch. So we left the Pompilla and headed back to La Serena.
A mountain of cars at the Pompilla This was far from the end of our day, however. We took Beth to downtown La Serena. While driving around in the rather dead city, we came across the famed Japanese garden, Kokoro No Niwa. We thought that it would be closed for the holiday, but in fact it was open. For $1.20 each, we entered the lovely little haven and spent a while relaxing and snapping pictures (including the obligatory one with the little red bridge. If you don’t take a picture of the bridge, apparently they won’t let you leave).
Beth wanted to see the Plaza de Armas, the center of the city and we obliged. We stopped at a few more vendors, mostly to admire the bargains that we got in Coquimbo. We took pictures of the great water fountain in the Plaza and wondered around the cobblestone alleys of the city before dropping Beth off to the Recinto, where we waited with her for her taxi to the airport.
The beautiful fountain in the Plaza de Armas in La SerenaFor most people this would have been an end to a wonderful day; dropping our friend off after an adventure in Coquimbo, a walk in a Japanese garden, and a peaceful, relaxing time in the Plaza de Armas, avoiding small children in motorized Power Wheels who were trying to run us over. But no, the adventure continued after Beth had left town! Stayed tuned for Dieciocho, Parte Dos.
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