Araucania

This past weekend we went to Araucania, the poorest region of Chile, to visit with Mapuche families. The Mapuche Native Americans are famous for being the only tribe to hold off the Spanish conquest. For this reason, the Spanish territory never crossed the Rio Bio-Bio (here in Concepcion). Our Chilean history professor and her husband, the doctor who has organized the clinic and hospital tours, organized this trip and were our leaders in the venture. About 20 students from the program chose to go (this trip was optional and cost extra).

The first day we had lunch at the home of a Mapuche family who are friends with my professor. They fixed us a grand traditional lunch, and afterwards we learned how they make yarn from sheep wool and weave it (this part was amazing) and about their instruments, stories, and dances (we tried several techniques/instruments/dances and didn't do very well with any of them). The grandfather of the family came with us on the rest of the journey to act as our tour guide. Later, we continued on our journey, stopping at the beach and a couple of small towns. In one town, we visited the cross-cultural hospital, where both Western and Mapuche medical services are available. There we had the rare opportunity to see a "guillatun" (sp?) which is basically a huge ceremony in which various tribes unite to perform a ceremony to bring good luck in the coming season. We could not take any pictures, but trust me that it was very interesting. We arrived at where we were staying, our professor's brother's cabin (with lots of beds!), had a late dinner, and went to bed.

The next morning we got up early to go to Lago Budi. On the way we stopped at a museum which held many Mapuche tools and a replica of a traditional Mapuche home/hut. Next we took row boats to an island in the middle of Lago Budi, which was quite an adventure given the poor weather. We had lunch on the island (bread and cheese sandwiches, at which point everyone started to complain about how much we paid). We then got back to the cabin/house, where we began work on a huge "asado" (BBQ). The neighbors roasted a whole pig and several chickens for us, and there were also lots of salads, fruits, appetizers, wine, etc. Meanwhile we rode horses, went on a tour of the forest to collect herbs with the Mapuche grandpa, and watched the pig get roasted. Afterwards, we played drinking games, which lasted until long after I went to bed.

The next morning, we were woken up abruptly by our professor asking if we wanted to go on an ox cart ride. We ran out and watched the oxen get hitched by the Mapuche grandpa and then rode the ox cart to the top of a hill. From there we could see all around the area, and there was a huge field of gorgeous purple in yellow flowers which we played in. We had a wonderful lunch, and then we started the long ride back, stopping in some small towns along the way. Overall, it was a fun and very interesting trip. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at many moments I needed it, so I am working on gathering some pictures from other people. I will post them when I can. Be home soon!