“Pomaire,” we heard a bus passenger say while filing to leave the bus. “Pomaire?” my friend asked me. We scattered to gather our things and decided this is where our stop was. After the hour-long bus ride west of Santiago, we expected to find the pueblito, or little town, of Pomaire. Instead, we arrived to the side of a four-lane highway and the most open fields I’ve seen since I left Pennsylvania.

My friends and I found ourselves here from the suggestion of the SU program coordinator. She said that all the pueblitos outside Santiago celebrate Sept. 18 — Chile’s independence day — in a traditional way.

Chile doesn’t have a Carnival like other Latin American countries, so locals put all their effort into Independence Day. Nearly everyone got off work on Thursday and Friday, making Independence Day the country’s largest holiday.

We started walking along the road the bus dropped us off at. I started laughing at our situation — why should I assume that we would arrive at a terminal or even a ticket booth? After all, I’m not at home.

After a mile of farms and roadside empanada stands, we arrived in Pomaire and another expectation fell through. The town was not decorated for the holiday and we didn’t see any cueca dancing — the traditional dance of Chile.

The weeks before the holiday, everyone I met told me stories about huge festivals, food and dancing. I wasn’t disappointed, but the holiday was different than what I had imagined. This experience reminded me of the most important rule in traveling: throw out your expectations.

I kept hearing about fondas, which is a festival or party that celebrates Independence Day. They started on Wednesday and ended on Saturday or Sunday. On Friday, I headed to my municipality’s fonda for lunch. From what people described, I was picturing Castle Court mixed with empanadas and maybe some kid’s activities thrown in.

This fonda was like a carnival or the state fair. Kids played games and rode carnival rides. Adults drank Chile’s national drinks. Everyone enjoyed eating sausages and empanadas while watching a cueca dance show.

Many people choose to head to the beach with friends and family, but I stayed in Santiago. When my host dad joked that half the city left to travel, I believed him.

Santiago was deserted. For the biggest holiday of the year, I didn’t think that the city would be so empty. On the first night of celebrations, there were few people in the normally full plazas. We were almost the only car on the road.

Nearly all businesses were closed. Everyone rushed to the grocery stores before Wednesday afternoon to stock up on food until Saturday when the stores would reopen. During the holiday, most ATMs read “out of order” because they ran out of money and no one was working to restock them. My host dad told me this so casually that I felt silly for not knowing.

Even though the city partially shut down for this holiday, I still found evidence of humankind in my neighborhood — the smell and sounds of barbecues.

In Chile, Independence Day is as much about spending time with family as it is about partying. For the holiday, my host family threw a little barbecue on Thursday. Other friends spent the day with their families at the beach or in the countryside.

Everyone celebrated the day differently, but family and food appeared to be at the center of the celebrations for most. I haven’t felt hungry since Wednesday and I’m not exaggerating.

Danielle Roth is a junior majoring in magazine journalism and international relations. She is following her desires for good food and adventure in Santiago, Chile. Email her at dlroth@syr.edu or tweet at her @danielleroth_.

Published on September 23, 2014 at 12:01 am