Chickens and Tigers and Bears

Thursday our Chilean culture class went next door to the engineering school to learn how to dance the Cueca, the traditional Chilean dance sure to show up during next week’s festivities.  The Cueca imitates the mating ritual of that supreme bird, the chicken, with fluttering and stomping and twirling. Handkerchiefs are essential to get the flirtation right; women hold it delicately between their fingers and use it like a fan in front of their face or over their shoulder or on their head, men grab it and swing it round and round. It really is a game that the women play; maybe they’ll let the men get close, maybe not. It’s not as suave and sensual as the tango, but I think I like flirting chickens better.

Here's a video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTK9T9KMv5c

Friday I went to small group for the first time, and my Chinese friend came to youth group – it was the first time she’d ever seen a church. I think we made an ok impression. She’s coming again, at any rate. So that was fun to introduce her to something so important to me.

Yesterday Emily and I celebrated her birthday with Mexican food and trip to the zoo. We can report that Chilean Mexican food is pretty good, and that Quilpue actually has a pretty good collection of critters. I got us a little lost on the way to the zoo, but we asked around and found our way. We had prepared for a cold and rainy day, so when the sun came out we were sweating up and down the hills in our big fuzzy sweaters.  We also had our first hitchhiking experience; a lady saw us trudging along in our sweaters towards the zoo (the only thing in that direction) and offered us a lift with her and her friend. Since we were in a small town, at 2 in the afternoon, with two of us who knew where we wanted to go, and two rich-looking ladies in a nice car, I figured we were pretty safe. They chatted us up for the 5 minutes or so we had, and told us all about what critters we should expect to see and where. It just underscored what I’ve already been noticing – everyone here is super duper friendly when you need directions or information. I’ve never had anyone be gruff with me or refuse to talk to me, even with my pathetic Spanish.

We tromped all around the simple zoo, admiring the native species as well as the lions and gazelles. Chickens and cats wandered at liberty throughout the zoo, and the enclosures were surrounded with picnic benches and gardens. It felt a little like a collection from the 1800’s, and I couldn’t get the idea of Tourism and Coloniality from Ecolit class out of my head. Emily loves animals, and it was really fun to watch her chat up the geese or admonish the monkey who bonked into a metal sign and scared us half to death.

We walked back to town and bought ice cream to cool off. And at that moment I realized that I had lost my metro card, somewhere in the zoo. We went back, after hours, and the zoo keeper let us wander all over the dirt paths to see if it would turn up. We never did find it, but we did get to go the zoo twice, once for free and after hours, and we did walk off our icecream. Plus, I wasn’t much of a fan of my photo on my old card, so now I have a chance to redo it. And wouldn’t it be fun to imagine that the monkeys are going to go have a day out in Valpo with my card?