My host father, Juan Esteban, picked me up from the airport. We arrived approximately around 05:00 to the house where I was first greeted by a barking dog who later became very friendly and loving; her name is Mila. Then soon Mila woke my host mom and sister, Ines and Maca. They greeted me and were very friendly. I received a tour around the house and learned all the basics I needed to know at the time being. Last thing they showed me was my bedroom and it was time to rest.
Later that day at about 11:15 I woke up and said good morning to the family. Here I helped set the table up for breakfast. As Ines began prepping breakfast. I was quite excited to try Chilean breakfast, and to my pleasure I found it was fantastic for its simplicity. For breakfast it is usually accustomed to toast up some bread. Then one can either put jelly, ham and cheese, or my favorite, palta. Palta is their version of an avocado. It is much smaller but it has a completely different flavor. It has a very refreshing flavor, just like the feeling one gets when drinking an ice cold cup of water on a summer day. Palta with toast and and a cup of coffee is generally all that is eaten for breakfast. After breakfast Ines and Maca took me to the feria or mercado as I know it in Mexican Spanish, or food market as English speaking countries know it. Here we walked three blocks back and forth shopping for vegetables and fruits to cook with. There was a lot of different stands all with sellers yelling several different prices. It was at this feria, where I first tried Mote con Huessillo. Mote con Huessillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time non-alcoholic drink made from wheat and peaches and often sold in street stands or vendor carts. It is a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches, huessillo, cooked in sugar, water and cinnamon, and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat, which is the mote. This was very delicious beverage, my favorite part being el huessillo. It was also here that cultural shock began to hit me. Despite me being of Mexican descent, there were a lot of things different with the Mexican and Chilean cultures. The way the Chileans speak Spanish is hard for me to understand. Their version of Spanish has a lot of short sayings/phrases that take knowing what they mean. They also speak fast and don't enunciate all the letters in every word. Despite these barriers, In the evening, Maca took me to a "fonda". One can think of a fonda as the county fair. But on a much larger scale. Apparently when I arrived in Santiago, I arrived at the best moment possible. They were celebrating Las Fiestas Patrias or there Independence Day, but "day" doesn't do this celebration any justice. Las Fiestas Patrias is celebrated by the whole country for 3 days generally the 17th to 19th. During this time, fondas are everywhere and there's all out of cookouts. At the fonda that Maca and I went there was a lot of dancing, eating, drinking, and celebrating. There were horses dancing
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