So for those who don't know, the Figueroa family, who I met in Spain this past summer and who I call my Chilean family, live in Chillán, a city about 5 hours south of Santiago by bus. I had seen the Figueroa family about a month ago when I first arrived in Santiago, because their 3 oldest children go to school here and the oldest daughter was having a birthday lunch. But I had never been to Chillán and the oldest son, Adolfo, had invited me for Easter weekend. I decided it would be the perfect time to go, spend more time with the family, have a good Easter, and I would get to see a place outside of Santiago (besides Viña and Valpo).
The night before I left for Chillán was a Thursday, 3 days before Easter. I had half a day of class and that night I went out with Jenni and some of her friends from her program last year. They went to a Jazz pianist's concert in Manuel Montt, and area/neighborhood that I love and is very close to wear I live. The pianist is Jef Neve and he is from Belgium. He was standing outside of the theatre smoking with some friends before the show started, and a few of us recognized him from the poster/ad that was on the theatre door. We decided to go say hi to him and we chatted a bit about Santiago.
We got inside and sat down and I started thinking about how it is probably pretty boring to watch someone just play piano on stage for an hour. But I was already there and thought I'd make the most of it. As we were sitting and waiting for it to start, some people were talking about how famous he is. Apparently he won an Oscar and his music is very well known, and in some movies.
Once the show started, he walked on stage and sat down at the piano and started talking to the audience, in a mix of English (which is definitely not his native language) and Spanish, which he obviously had learned just a short time ago, possibly for the trip to Santiago. He was such a good emcee of his own show. Then he started playing music. It was phenomenal. I don't think I've ever been to a concert I enjoyed more, and that's saying something, because I have been to many concerts of artists that I love.
Also, a fun side note... When I was in college I always studied listening to music, but I could never listen to music with lyrics because it would distract me from what I was reading. So I found a Pandora station that played just lyrical piano music. His songs used to come on that station all the time and I just never knew! I recognized 3 of them from my college days. And one song from my ballet days!! One barre routine song that my dance teacher played all the time. Pretty crazy/cool.
Here is a sample of his music. The thing that Jenni and I marveled over is how much emotion his music can make you feel. This is one of my favorites.
So after that night, it was Friday and I spent the day getting ready for Chillán. That evening I took the bus 5 hours and arrived around 8 pm. I was picked up at the station by Adolfo, the oldest son, who is 21, and the youngest daughter, Magda (Magdalena), who is 16. The other 2 kids (Maria Ignacia and Javier) had to stay in Santiago for the weekend to study for tests the following week.
We drove 15 minutes to their house. They live just outside of downtown Chillán, on a farm! But it was absolutely gorgeous. I arrived at night so I could only really see their house, which was a beautiful red farm house. They served an "once", which is basically the equivalent of a Spanish cena (later in the night, not much food, a small dinner). They had a visiting priest staying at their house, who was there to give the Easter masses at their church. They were all so nice and welcoming! After eating and good conversation we went to bed.
I woke up on Saturday after having slept in a little bit, and had a leisurely breakfast. Adolfo found me and told me he was going to take me on a tour of Chillán later in the day, then a tour of the farm. So I went outside and walked around in the sun a little bit, read some of my book and just tried to enjoy my time there and relax. The weather there was a little bit colder, because it is further south and it is autumn now, but the air was SO much cleaner (no smog! very little pollution) and I loved it a lot.
We toured Chillán, I saw the central market, which was the coolest, and the cathedral, plus the kids' colegio (k-12 school). When we came back from the town, Adolfo and his father took me on a tour of the farm. They have chickens, sheep, and plants. They have a sweet, small family that lives and works on the land when the father cannot (he's a civil engineer and only works on the farm on weekends). Behind some of the farm is a forest, which we walked through until we got to a ledge over looking more land. Adolfo Sr. (the father) told me that 22 years ago when he and Marcela (his wife) were first married, they bought all of the land for credit. They didn't pay any more for it, and over time they've paid for it with product. They had so much land, and it was all so beautiful. I could tell how proud Adolfo was of it.
That night we went to mass. It was at around 8 pm and they had a huge fire outside of the church before the service. I think they burned a bunch of palms. I feel like a bad ex Catholic, because I was a little confused as to what was going on. But I know they do a lot of things differently in the Catholic tradition in Latin America than they do in the US.
The mass was really nice and beautiful. It was lite by everyone's candles (which was lite by the light from the fire before the service) and in a really small church building. The thing I didn't realize, however, is that after the service was over (around 9 pm), it was officially Easter. We went home and the family and the priest were there, and everyone was eating meat again. I asked about this and they seemed about as surprised as I was. They explained that on Christmas also, they celebrate on December 24th, also after mass, and everyone gives presents before going to bed. I'm slightly familiar with this because my mom's family is Polish and they traditionally celebrate Christmas on the 24th as well, giving presents and having dinner before going to bed. After that it made sense, but it still felt weird... I don't know any Catholics that celebrate Easter the night before.
But I loved having the experience. They made a traditional Chilean dish, pastel de choclo. It's a puree of corn, mixed with onions and carrots as well as some other vegetables. Traditionally, it's put in a plan to bake over a layer of some kind of beef/red meat. But since I was there and the family themselves weren't eating meat for the whole week, the just took out the meat and baked the corn puree. It was completely vegan and gluten free! It was delicious. They also made lentil soup that had no meat (Chileans are famous for the stuff the do with lentils apparently) and it was delicious.
Easter morning I woke up early to go to another mass with Adolfo Sr. Truthfully, it didn't really feel like Easter to me unless we went to church on Sunday morning and since he said he was going again I decided to join. The rest of the family stayed at home and I was sleepy so part of me wanted to as well, but in the end I'm so grateful that I went. The church on this Sunday morning was very close to the church building we had gone to the night before. It was a small little sanctuary, just up the hill. All the way up the road there were Stations of the Cross and finally, this little white building was at the top. It had 5-6 rows of pews on each side and it was full of families with young children. The priest talked about Peter and John's faith on the day Jesus and had been risen and he asked some of the young children to give input on the message. It was a beautiful service and I felt God's presence so strongly there. I absolutely loved it.
We got home and had Easter lunch on their patio. We talked about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, some of the politics in Chile, different translations of Disney songs, and ate delicious food. Magda and I bonded a lot, which I loved. She reminds me so much of my cousin Peggy, who is just about her age, and who has been one of my best friends in life. I loved spending time with her. If only she and Peggy could meet one day! It would be the coolest.
Adolfo and I headed back to Santiago a few hours after that. I really enjoyed my time there and was so grateful that I went. The family is so generous, hospitable, and loving, and I hope I get to go back again soon.
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