Yesterday for the Indepence Day celebration, our friend Paola invited us to her house out in Grecia (Greece). Her family lives in a house, and they were cooking out, much like we would do in the US for the 4th of July. Amy counted seven different kinds of meat. I didn’t count, but I ate plenty. Paola’s nephew was there, three years old, and so it was good for the kids to have someone to play with. The family was so nice, generous, and helpful—traits that we have found throughout Chile.
Today, we went to the annual military parade at Parque O’Higgins (named for the general who liberated Chile from Spain—whose name was O’Higgens—go figure). It was a long parade, with soldiers of all the different forces marching in grand, slow lines—in full regalia and armed with weapons. The highlights were the special mountain forces unit (with skis, ice-climbing helmets, and sub-machine guns), the snow rescue unit (with St. Bernards wearing mini-barrels on their collars), and flyovers from F-16 and Mirage fighter jets.
We came home tired and thinking we have certainly done everything to celebrate Chile independence day. And, to compare, Chile celebrates their independence much more (and longer) and flies many more flags, than we do in the good ol’ USA.
