When Ashley and I woke up Saturday morning, Gustavo told us that he had a dinner to go to that night, and that we were welcome to tag along if we wanted. Always eager for an adventure, we of course said yes. We were even happier with our decision when we found out that it was a seafood dinner! He told us that the dinner would be at the tent that I had been to a few times before. If you haven’t heard about the tent yet, it’s an old circus tent that one of the surrounding neighborhoods uses to have meetings with people seeking to make a difference and improve their community. Last time I was there, some of the people were painting a new mural on a big wall inside. I didn’t get to see the finished product last time, so I was happy that I could finally see what it looked like! On the drive over, I had an awkward moment… We were discussing the family, and if you know about Latino families, you know that their families are very close. Often times, I large portion of the family will be living in the same household. My host-family is pretty similar. I apparently was confused about some of the relationships in this family, because we started talking about this person, who I thought at first was married to one of the cousins, but then Ashley told me that they were just dating and he really doesn’t live here, and come to find out he is the brother of the cousin, and he does live here with her. Gustavo had a good laugh when he found out what I thought! When we arrived at the tent, we learned that the dinner was a fundraiser dinner (although we still haven’t figured out exactly what the cause was). We bought our tickets and chose seats at one of the tables closest to the stage. It was dark inside the tent, so all of the tables had a candle on them, accompanied by a basket of bread and some salsa. Our dinner for the night was a bowl of soup filled with a giant bag of steamed seafood, chicken, and ham that we opened up and put in our soup. It was delicious! And then the live music started. We only stayed for a few of the acts, but they had all kinds of performers: Some traditional Chilean music played by a flute/recorder thing and a small guitar, another guy played some more contemporary music that he wrote, and we left just as the next act was starting. Surprisingly, I wasn’t cold the entire time I was at this dinner (even though there wasn’t any heat inside the tent, except for a few small fires). I’m not sure if it was the warm seafood soup that kept me warm, or just the excitement of the night, but luckily the cold night air did not ruin my experience! And what an experience it was! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to eat a candlelight seafood meal in an abandoned circus tent while watching live-Chilean music! I can’t get enough of the surprises this country is constantly throwing at me!
Chile - WSC 2014 