Happy holidays from Santiago! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and spent time with friends and family. With last week’s blog post coming so late, I’ve decided to keep this one short and to the point.
Something that I’ve been asked frequently these days was how I felt being away from family during the holidays. The honest answer that I’ve given is always, “well… it doesn’t really feel like I’m missing the holidays.” Between the baking heat of the summer and the differences in how Christmas is celebrated here, it feels more like I’m experiencing a different holiday instead of missing out on one back home.
Of course, thanks to the wonderful friends that I have here in Chile, I also haven’t felt as alone as one might expect being far from family during this time. In fact, I had a delightful time learning about Christmas celebrations and customs here with the friends who have so kindly taken me in.
First, I learned that, in Chile and in most of Latin America, the real Christmas celebration takes place on the 24th of December instead of the 25th. Family and friends come over for dinner, gifts are exchanged, and parties are held early into the dawn of the next day. I spent the night of the 24th at my friend Jesus’s apartment, where a small gathering was held, food was shared and games were played.
The following day, the same small group visited the home of one of our friends where we went swimming at an artificial beach (a very strange concept being in an arid climate) and played foosball. As I’ve mentioned before, many of my friends in Chile are Venezuelan, so I had the opportunity to try some Venezuelan Christmas food! Christmas lunch with friends: Jesus, Omar and Veronica
One such dish is called hallaca. Hallacas are a mix of chicken, beef, pork, raisins, olives and capers wrapped in plantain leaves that are tied up with string into a neat parcel which are then boiled and steamed. Once cooked, you unwrap the leaves and eat the insides. Hallacas look very similar to tamales, but after making this statement to my friends, I was vehemently told that this is an entirely different dish and that the two should not be confused. In addition to the hallacas, I was also treated with a cold chicken and potato salad accompanied by breads and cheeses. From what I understand, the hallacas and chicken salad require a great deal of preparation and thus are reserved only for Christmas. This surprised me, as both dishes were wonderfully delicious, and I cannot imagine only getting to eat them once a year! All in all, this holiday season has reminded me of how important friends are and how wonderful it is to be able to share holiday traditions.
