Off to the Campo (Farm)

Last Thursday night, I went to see Amanda W.'s volleyball game at San Ignacio. Unfortunately, she lost. Afterwards, I met up with Laura, Stephanie, Arturo, and a few of Laura's Chilean friends. First, we went to a pub and I talked to Arturo (a Mexican) and Esteban (a Chilean) about US politics. They absolutely love Barrack Obama. After the pub, we went to a dance club called Blondie. We had a really great time. I danced on the stage and the balcony. I got back to my house a little before 7am. Friday, I met up with Rob, Eli, Hanna, Brittany, Pia and Claudio to go to Claudio's grandparents' farm house for the weekend. It took us two hours to get there. The town was called Patagua. After dinner, we went for a walk around the farm. It was really dark. Eli was really scared, so we all hid around the farm and tried to scare her. I fell in a really deep hole, but luckily didn't get hurt. Later, we went to a friend of Claudio's farm house and talked to a bunch of people. I was the tallest by at least a foot. Pia and I rode bicycles around the neighborhood. The next day, we had pino empanadas for lunch. They were so good. I tried one of Chile's hottest peppers...ummm...yeah...it was incredibly hot. After lunch, I learned to drive a manual tractor...now I just need to learn how to drive a manual car. Later, we went to a wine festival. There we saw the cueca (Chile's national dance), I rode a mechanical bull and learned that many spanish words have double meanings in Chile. At night, we went to a farm disco, which was a little strange, but fun. It was right next to an abandoned rodeo, where I found a lonely, sad horse. I felt bad for him. The next day we had a really big cookout. The grandfather thought I was from Argentina because I couldn't understand him. People from the farm here, speak very differently. Before we left, I went for a walk around the farm with Jacke (Claudio's aunt), Camilla (Claudio's cousin), Hanna and Pia. From Jacke I learned a lot about the farm. After every corn harvest, they burn the whole farm because it enriches the soil. It's very dangerous, but somehow the wind controls the fire. During the winter, they grow lemons and oranges. We left the farm around 6:15pm.