Tuesday, November 29, 2011

María Pinto (english version)

Before I begin this story, I must thank Maida Salas for her great idea of gathering all of us cousins at María Pinto to celebrate Cristián and Laura´s marriage in September.At first, it was just a simple e-mail that invited cousins from Cata and elders, but due to the big success, it was later reduced to anyone who wanted to be there.
Each family of cousins had to provide with something: some had the meats, others had desserts, drinks and alcoholic beverages, appetizers, salads, tables...and well dishes and cooking items had to be brought because we are way too many for one family to get them for everyone.
The day started going with my mom to see Bernie and Mónica at their place in this handcraft fair near
CasaPiedra, a really nice place that, well, at lunch time received few guests, but in the end served its purpose: show people what they are selling, the most incredible things you can imagine. Then we went back to our apartment, had lunch, slept a while and then we set out towards María Pinto. We followed all directions provided, including closing after each gate we opened. I believe it was a great idea to put signs showing the way to the house, otherwise one could easily get lost in there.
Got out of the car and as we moved to the grass I could see a large group gathered around four or five big tables under a huge tree (that had a pretty nice cover for the sun), another group close to the barbecues, another one by the pool, another in the mini soccer field, others were jumping, and others were spread throughout the big space of the country side. We were a lot, because not only there were
Fernanda and Diego, José Luis and Javiera, Ismael and Maya, Pía and Álvaro, Juanpi and his fianceé, Cristián and Laura, Mamo and Mrs., Tinte and Cristián, Fernanda Binvignat and Pedro, Denise and Diego, María José and Manuela, Alejandro, Cata, José Miguel and María Jesús, Carlos and Pilar, Isabel, but also their kids (we can estimate around fifteen or twenty more or less), plus Bebo,Tatú, Margara, Meli, Manan, Pati and Mariano. Three generations under one place, but if we add that it was also the day in which Tata Héctor and Bili were married, we can say that there were four generations in spirit, along with the ones that couldn´t be there because they had previous arrangements or are currently living outside Chile.
The day was cloudy and sunny, not too hot, just like a regular November day in Chile. Just my bad luck that I couldn´t swim because I forgot my swimsuit at home. But, besides that, it was an amazing day!!!!!! Pictures were coming and going; hopefully we will be seeing them in facebook so we can relive that day forever in our minds...and that opens the door to future meetings as well.
It was nice to catch up with what everybody´s doing and future plans, whether it may be marriage or having a baby, or starting a relationship, or none at all in my case (please, to all my cousins out there, if you know someone that could be right for me, don´t feel shy and hook me up!)
Love, hugs and kisses to those who couldn´t be there but that will make it another time

Junta en María Pinto (versión español)

Antes de empezar mi relato, debo agradecer a nuestra querida prima Maida Salas la gran idea de juntarnos todos los primos que pudiéramos en María Pinto, aprovechando que Cristián y Laura estaban en Santiago.
Todo comenzó con un correo invitándonos a participar, originalmente desde la Cata para arriba, pero después del gran éxito alcanzado entre el resto, se amplió el rango de edad a todos los que quisieran ir. Se repartieron entre todos las cosas que traer: una familia se preocupó de las carnes a la parrilla, otra de las ensaladas, los postres, los picoteos. 
El día, para mí, comenzó relativamente temprano yendo con mi mamá a visitar el pequeño local que tenían Bernie y Mónica cerca de CasaPiedra, un lugar bien ameno y acogedor que a esas horas del almuerzo recibía poca gente, pero que les sirvió de promoción de sus talentos artesanales. Almorzamos en el departamento, mi mamá se tomó una siesta y después partimos a María Pinto. Seguimos todas las instrucciones proveídas por la anfitriona...incluso la de ir cerrando cada portón que se abría y creo que fue una excelente idea que hubieran puesto cartelitos; hizo todo más fácil.
 Bajando del auto vi a Diego Torres, y luego nos dirigimos hacia el quincho.
Debajo de un gran árbol habían cuatro o cinco mesas grandes con manteles, donde se podía observar claramente la masividad del encuentro. Estaban Fernanda y Diego , José Luis y Javiera, Ismael y Maya, Pía y Álvaro, Juanpi y su novia, Cristián con Laura, Mamo y señora, Tinte y Cristián, Fernanda y Pedro, Denise y Diego, María José y Manuela, Alejandro, Cata, José Miguel y María Jesús, Carlos y PilarIsabel; y hay que agregar también a los hijos respectivos de cada una de las parejas, o sea un familión. Además estaban Bebo y Tatú, Margara, Meli, Manan, Pati y Mariano. En total tres generaciones que se juntaron no solo para celebrar el matrimonio de Cristián y Laura, sino que también coincidió con el aniversario de matrimonio del Tata y la Bili, así que podríamos estar hablando de cuatro generaciones bajo un mismo techo (bajo las últimas circunstancias, por supuesto).
Habían grupos en las mesas grandes, otros dos grupos cerca del asado, un grupo de niños que jugaba al fútbol, otro grupo en la piscina, otro grupo saltando en las camas elásticas, otros bajo la sombra de un gran árbol y de vez en cuando se producían movimientos de un lado para el otro con el propósito de que todos pudiéramos compartir.
El día estaba soleado con algunas nubecitas que dejaron mis ganas de bañarme para otro día, pero ¡¡¡¡Estuvo buenísimo!!!!! Y en nuestros pensamientos también estaban los que no pudieron ir porque están fuera del país, como es el caso de Cristóbal y Ligia, Loreto y Andrea, Maureen, Stephanie, Benji; así como los que tenían otros compromisos. Fueron sus buenas horas para recapitular después de tanto tiempo sin juntarse de verdad en una ocasión tan especial.
No faltaron las fotos, así que supongo que a medida que se vayan difundiendo, se puedan ir agregando al magnífico historial de esta familia Streeter Prieto. Un día intenso, de relajo al máximo, de ponernos al día después de mucho tiempo sin vernos (y para qué decir que de tantos que somos, que me es imposible acordarme de todos los nombres de los hijos de mis primos, así que en ese tema mil perdones....¡muy fácil de perder la cuenta con todos los que somos!)
Unos ricos postres, bebidas, cerveza, vino con durazno, té helado, carne, chorizos, salchichas, varias ensaladas...¡una fiesta hecha y derecha!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Halloween in Los Vilos

The house in Los Vilos is right at the end of a very long main street and it´s over 100 years old, and there is a little faint smoke of running ghosts of rats and spooky hallucinations....the perfect place to celebrate Halloween. And the broken down, near water pier that once stood tall reminds me of the little girl that tried to run through but looked carefully not to fall down the big holes in the middle.
The day was cloudy with a lovely breeze and things started to put in motion for a little trick-or treating night. As the day continued, the house kept that haunted-and-beware kind of look and I was expecting maybe a couple of kids would venture our way, but they didn´t, so I settled with my mom and her girl friend to play cards. And I got thirsty....for a gooey drop of juice, so I went out to see what I could find.
As I walked along the first block it was all dark, no movement...yet something seemed to be happening somewhere. And suddenly, I found a little princess walking by just as she was heading home, after picking up something sweet at La Marinita, the bakery from way, way back. Next, what a nice surprise I found! Now things started to make sense. There they were, the female and male pirates, vampires, ladybug, dead boys and girls, a couple of devils and all the stores from the bakery and up were open, so they were the ones getting visited that night. Absolutely amazing!!!!!