La Mañanita

This past weekend we headed off to Las Robles, a beautiful country town (although it wasnt much of a town at all) for a weekend of...eating. I say eating because, aside from horseback riding and drinking, thats all we did. We ate choripan, vacuna, chicken, potato salad, salad, beans and onion salad, amasada (extra dense bread), blackberry jam, cazuela (aka caldo de pollo, hearty chicken soup), eggs, cheese, ham, corn, creamed peaches, sausage, chips, and nuts. There wasnt a moment in time when we werent either eating something, or being offered more to eat by our extremely gracious hosts.

Speaking of which, the warmth of the family we stayed with (Marlen`s uncle and aunt) was absolutely astounding. They attended to our every need and want, they welcomed as guests of honor, even though we barely knew them. They were extremely friendly and loving people and, because of them, our weekend in "el campo" will be beyond memorable.

Of course, we did much more than just eat. The scenery that surrounded the humble home in which we stayed was breathtaking. Tio Alejandro (the owner of the house) cultivated apples and wheat, but among the rolling hills that surrounded his property, beyond the bare apple trees, we could see sheep, cows, chickens, and ducks wandering around in absolute tranquility. The trees were covered in leaves ranging from orange to yellow to green. A dense fog hung about the place, covering what many people told us was a beautiful view of La Cordillera. They told us that Las Robles was a million times more beautiful without the fog, which I found unbelievable because I was of the opinion that it was gorgeous even with the fog.

A couple of us (Priyanka, Annie, and I) decided, after lunch, to walk around and explore the area. We walked for hours, jumping off tires, trying to touch the cows, and attempting to climb a mountain along the way. We were in search of a specific vista, which we had been told was a bit down the road. We spent hours looking for it, only to realize that the entire trip had been the vista we had been looking for. We came back as darkness settled in, only to realize that everybody was looking for us. Then, we sat down to eat once, despite the fact that none of us was hungry.

Sunday morning came, and after a breakfast that everybody ate (despite our stomach's protests), we rode horses! Don Raul, a local who had lived in the area for years on end, brought us an army of horses, one for each one of us. He helped us mount, told us three instructions (pull back on the rope to stop, left to go right, and right to go left) and then led us on a 2 hour trip around the area. Some of us, like Jared, had crazy horses who would not follow any sort of directions. Others of us were lucky enough to have horses that, after an hour so, started responding to our commands. La Mañanita, my horse, was one of the ones that learned to follow my orders: she trotted when I kicked her sides, turned left or right when I wanted, and stopped immediately when I pulled back on the reins. I felt like an expert horseman by the end of the trip, although still far from the expertise of Don Raul. Speaking of Don Raul, we talked quite a bit. He was extremely excited to hear that I was Mexican, and asked me to sing a corrido or norteña (classic Mexican types of songs). I was surprised to find a fan of traditional Mexican folk song in such a secluded part of Chile, until Don Raul told me that, among the population of campesinos and rancheros Chilenos, traditional Mexican songs were the most popular form of music. Don Raul's favorite group? Los Tigres del Norte, but Vicente and Alejandro Fernandez were definitely up there.

That was the weekend, I am now back to work at Adopta. I have a planification meeting with the monitors of my respective schools tommorrow, and then TG's on Thursday and Friday at Polonia and Lucero respectively. I never mentioned this, but I am glad to be back to work. Two weeks ago, there was a teacher's strike that led to the suspension of all the TG's. Thankfully, that ended and I was able to work last week (see post on June 24th)