Festival time in Chile

On a recent Friday, the American employees in the Embassy hosted the annual festival in honor of the local Chilean staff for Chilean independence day, dieciocho, or the 18th of September.

However, I was three hours away from Santiago, at this little court house in the surfing town of Pichilemu, attending a trial for an American couple who had left their baby in the care of others, and now were fighting for custody of the baby. I was there as an observer for the Embassy. After the case adjourned for the next week, I left the building to find a bite of lunch.
I found a little restaurant which served these delicious piping hot cheese empanadas while the sea breeze wafted through the door. My driver and I headed back to Santiago to see if we could get back in time for some of the festivities. We got back in time to watch the girls do the egg relay, and I tried to find my wife and get some food and drink.
The tug of war was a big attraction, with several rounds. In one competition, the Chilean Air Force (FACH) band challenged our Marines to a match. The evenly-divided teams were at a standstill until the Marine driver grabbed the end of the rope, and they quickly pulled the others over the line.
Several folks dressed up in traditional Chilean outfits.

The Ambassador gets his groove on while he bravely tries to dance the cueca with his wife. I really should put the video on youtube someday. It was unforgettable!

The food was really good, and I ate a lot. My wife had her first alcoholic drink. I was going to warn her that the Chilean juice was spiked, but she had finished it before I noticed. She didn't feel very good afterwards.

Food & Fun

On Sunday morning, my honey baked blueberry muffins. They were delicious.

We went to the market to get fruits and vegetables.

After shopping, we sat down in a hole-in-the wall restaurant for Chilean salad. Beets and potatoes are a staple ingredient in Chilean salads.

During the week went on an outreach trip to the British-American school to talk with the students. They seemed eager to have native-English speakers interact with their students.

Across the street at the military academy, huge crowds massed for the start of some running competitions. If I hadn't left my running shoes in the Embassy, I might have gone across the street to join the run.

Hail & Farewell

Recently we attended a big hail & farewell for 2 of our consular colleagues who were retiring or moving to their next assignment, and two who are arriving.

My wife made some deviled eggs.

Everyone seemed to have a good time dishing up.

One colleague is retiring after 31 YEARS of work in the Consular section. He began working on the old teletype machine in the Embassy the same year I was born!

Another colleague who will be missed is the life of the party. His apron says "Real Men Don't Use Recipes".

We came home one day to find that our neighbor had made supper for us, all ready to be heated up and eaten! We are really fortunate to have such a nice couple next door.