What is Chile Like?

TRADITIONAL DANCE
The traditional dance of Chile is called the Queca. The girls wear flowered dresses (usually with some sort of apron) and the boys (called Wassos) wear a cowboy hat, boots with spurs and a triangular poncho covering their shoulders. Each dancers has in hand a handkerchief and the dancers circle each other in a cat and mouse type fashion (except they say it is like a hen and a rooster) All the Chileans learn this dance as children and many often compete when they are older in festivals. You can see here that my friends has one many medals and awards for dancing the Queca. To see a video of this traditional Chilean dance you can click on this link.
CUACA DANCE

TRANSPORTATION
Most people ride in buses, a lot go by bicycle, some going in special taxis called collectives and the number of people who have cars is growing but still slim. It is not, however, unusual in Chile to be driving down the street and get stuck behind one of these. Horse and carts and still a mode of transportation and a good one for people with large cargos. Unfortunately, they tend to slow down traffic but add to the flair that is Chile.
UNIQUE PERSONS
In our travels we passed by a village of gypsies. Gypsies usually make their living off begging and thievery (stealing from others). They live in colorful circus tents on the side of the road and usually wear colorful clothing. This particular colony has actually managed to steal the right wires from nearby neighborhoods and run cables to their tents in order to have cable television. TRADITIONAL FOODS
While I was in Chile, our host made for us a traditional Chilean lunch. Lunch is the main meal of the day in Chile and it is huge! Dinner is small and usually really like at night (once during my visit we ate at midnight). The traditional meal includes a Chilean salad: chopped tomatoes and onions covered in oil and then lettuce topped with lemon juice and salt. These salads are ALWAYS accompanied by bread. When the Chileans eat the have their silverware in their right hand and a piece of bread in the left. You may also notice in the picture that we were given some asparagus topped with, that is right: mayonnaise!The meal is always accompanied by a soda product drink like Coke, Fanta or Sprite or some sort of juice. You will never see a Chilean drink water with their meal ESPECIALLY with ice. They usually don't like ice and some even say that it will make them sick. One of the traditional foods here is also the same as that of Argentina: the empanada. Both the Chileans and the Argentines have asked me if I like the Chilean empanada or the Argentine empanada better and I can say that they seem exactly the same to me! One thing that I saw more in Chile, though, as a missionary was that the Chilean women would bake their empanadas in large, clay ovens that were outdoors and heated the old fashioned way - fire and wood. CEMETERY
Another thing that you might find interesting are the cemeteries of Chile. The cemeteries are built ABOVE ground and not below. Each casket is placed in the wall and given a window on the end in which the people can adorn with flowers and pictures of those who have died. Many, as you can see, make little windows or monuments for their deceased relative.
STREET PERFORMERS
Do you remember the street performers from Argentina? Chile has them too. Here is one that approached our window. He was a mime and was offering us flowers. He would reach inside his coat and pull out different colors and smile at us. I actually didn't roll down the window to give him money - mimes scare me.