Signs of approaching summer!

School is coming to a close. The tourists are flocking to Castro. We are wearing our fleeces only after 6pm. Even if it rains in the morning, it's usually gloriously sunny (if not quite warm yet) by the late afternoon. Summer must be close! Yesterday Roberto's kinder class had its end-of-the-school-year outing. We had the function hall and all the play facilities of a bunch of cabañas in Llau Llao (ghyow ghyow) at our disposal. In our list of top things that Chileans do right, #3 will be Family BarBQs. The function hall had a dining room and a kitchen. The kitchen was dominated by a fire pit with three 6 foot long skewers. When we got there the Kinder dads had the skewers loaded up with spring lamb. The moms soon put on a pot to boil for hot dogs. The kids chowed through hot dogs with ketchup and mayo and returned to play. The dads kept the skewers turning.

Meanwhile, the boys displayed the logic that 'it's more fun if someone gets hurt'. Why kick the soccer ball on the soccer field if you can clamber to the bottom of the empty pool and kick the soccer ball there. Heck, why kick one soccer ball in a confined space when four boys can kick five soccer balls in a confined space? After I witnessed one boy take a soccer ball to the stomach and another have the ball carom off his head with no tears, I figured all was well in the pool and returned to the kitchen. Back in the kitchen the adult version of picnic manliness was on display at five dads and four liter bottles of Budweiser turned three skewers of lamb. Mike did his stint as a skewer turner, and Lisa hopes he learned a thing or two because the roast lamb was yummy!
A word on timing: The notice in Berto's school book said that the paseo familar started at 10:00. We arrived at 12:00 feeling like we had missed nothing. Hot dogs came out at 1:00, lamb and salads were served at 3:30. Over dessert, Mike informed me that it was already past 6. I started making inquiries for a ride to town. We left the party a little before 7 just as the festive group of parents pulled out the bottles of pisco sours and the local milky eggnog hooch in a 2 liter coke bottle. During all this only a 10 month old and Gabi took a nap. Berto nearly fell asleep on the 15 minute drive home. Clearly we all have something to learn about marathon fiestas with the Chileans.

All that said about getting up the social learning curve, we are feeling like semi-locals as all the tourists come to town. After the kinder BBQ, Mike and Lisa went to town for date night. We got a smile and the usual draft beer at our favorite bar on the Plaza de Armas, and we felt right smug exchanging kisses and greetings with our friends at Sacho. Our favorite waitress Sandra is so used to us splitting a pisco sour that she brought it to us in two glasses. Even the shy waitress Maria Eugenia was giving us knowing winks as the gringo diners took photos of their shellfish curanto or the view from the restaurant windows. Sandra gave us some more good anecdotes from Chiloe's history. Turns out that the palafitos, that are the number one tourist attraction of Castro, almost didn't make it past 1973. We asked Sandra the location of a photo of palafitos that we couldn't place and got the story. In 1973, Castro's mayor deemed the houses on stilts an eyesore and started to tear them down. After most of the port's coastline was cleared of palafitos, protests became too loud to ignore. The remaining two bunches of palafitos are colorful reminders of the town's past and staples of Castro tourist literature. (google images and Palafitos for a view)

We are also finding more opportunities for English-Spanish intercambio (language exchange), which we want to pursue more this summer. A woman working the checkout in the grocery store and a man on the street selling earrings both expressed great interest when we told them we'd be willing to give informal English lessons if they'd help us with our Spanish. And we picked up a book of Chilean slang at a book fair a few weeks ago. By the time we get back, no one will be able to understand us!

Lastly, for you stressed out American high school students waiting on your college acceptance letters, consider this: Today Chilean 12th graders started taking the first day of two days of the PSU (university selection exam). Monday morning and afternoon are for language and math. Tuesday will be for exams in sciences or humanities, depending on what the student wants to study in university. Acceptance is based on the PSU scores and high school grades. Students opt to send their scores and grades to a number of universities. They rank the universities and agree to go to the highest ranking one that accepts them. The whole selection process will be done and students will enroll in university at the beginning of March. Given all that, you can understand why when Lisa ran into a 12th graders in the grocery store today and said "Hola, Como estás?" The reply of "Nerviosa!" was not a surprise. We all have our fingers crossed.

Hope all is well with everyone! We're trying to get motivated to finish our Christmas shopping - when we're not dreaming about visiting someplace warmer.
(Photos next time)