February 16, 2010
Anita and Alan just got back from their honeymoon in the South of Chile. They sent me the sweetest email EVER. It ended with me in tears, sniffing, Seba, I love our job sooooooooo much!
One of the things this email said was that they were sad to come back to Santiago, back to reality, because they didn’t want everything to be over. So they had saved looking at their pictures for last. I feel the same way. The entire trip to Chiloe was magical. That whole place is magical! So I wanted to save something for later too. Well, it’s officially later and these are photos of the Curanto that Alan and Anita’s family hosted for the wedding guests the day after.
If you have never been to a Curanto before (GO!) let me give a quick run down of what happens. Fresh seafood is collected along the beach — shellfish, mussels, oysters, clams, barnacles, etc. Anything edible that the low tide leaves washed up was put into giant sacks that same morning. Then, the guys dug a giant hole in the ground. I would guess it was around 4 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and maybe 1 meter dip. BIG. Lots of sweat goes into making a Curanto hole. Once it’s done, the next stop is a bonfire. Then rocks are piled on top of the fire to heat them up. Once they’re hot enough, all the shellfish go in. On top of that they place fern leaves (that’s what they looked to me like in my expert botany opinion).* Then more layers of Curanto goodness go on top — a layer of leaves a layer of potato cakes called Milco** and Chapalele, another layer of leaves and then layer of snap peas, probably at least a foot thick, cover the entire things, and one more layer of leaves then typical barbecue fare like cuts of beef and chorizo (spicy sausage).
The entire thing was an experience I will never forget for as long as I live. Aside from the fact that the food rocked my world, it was just so fun — probably because I wasn’t the one hauling up 2 ton bags of oysters from the beach, but hey, I took pictures! The atmosphere was perfect. Anita and Alan’s friends busted out their musical instruments and started singing typical songs — El Gorro de Lana — also known in my world as “me voy pa’ Quellon,” because those were the words that stuck in my head and I could not get it out until like…yesterday. There’s also a special Curanto song, but the only words I remember are, “Curaaaaanto, curaaaaanto,” so I’m useless 
Anyway, the musical people spontaneously started singing and playing these wonderful songs (so much better than the Youtube version) and people spontaneously started dancing Cueca.
Thanks to everyone who knew the name and correct spelling of these wonderful Curanto ingredients — the leaves are called Nalca, and the potato thingy is not Milco, it’s Milcao!
So here is the view from where we, and all the guests and the bride and groom, were camping. The guys got an early start on hauling up the seafood and the rocks for the Curanto.
I don’t know how they managed to bring all the stuff up, the hill was STEEP.
And the rocks, as they are prone to be, looked HEAVY.
Alan slept in his tux. Or didn’t sleep in his tux. Needless to say, he was still in his clothes from the night before. I hear some of the shenanigans he partook in, involved a close friend of his getting IN THE OCEAN as proof of his love for the groom. You have no idea how cold it was. But that’s just a rumor, I can’t confirm 
Oh oops, I think this should be the first day. This is supposedly a typical Chilote breakfast — more raw oysters, clams, etc. With a little bit of lemon and white wine. Straight out of the shells. I am the world’s pickiest eater, but I do make an attempt to at least try stuff. I generally hate any and all food that comes from the ocean (most things have weird texture and even if they don’t, seafood always tastes alive to me. It’s weird). But I figured, when in Chiloe, does as the Chilotes do and that if ever there would come a time for me to like seafood, it was would be there. I ate a raw oyster. And you know, I didn’t hate it. The slimy texture threw me for a loop, but the flavor was good!
I’m not going to lie, that was a big moment for me. I was very proud of myself. I swallowed and then did a victory dance.
So here, the fire is heating up and they are getting ready to lay the rocks down once it burns.
In the mean time, in the kitchen, the women were preparing the Milco and Chapalele. I can’t remember which was which, but both were basically really heavy potato pancakes and one was stuffed with pork or meat. Absolutely delicious but such a heavy food I felt like I had accidentally swallowed one of those rocks after eating it.
The women are basically grating raw potato and then they strained it out. After that I didn’t see the rest of the process.
Dancing, cueca and good music, on a view you can’t pay for, smelling the Curanto cooking. Priceless. There really are some things money can’t buy.
Everyone was taking pictures and watching the whole time. I am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen a Curanto before.
Seafood lover’s paradise. Do you see how much that is?!?
Throwing some meat and chorizos into the mix.
Here goes the Milco and Chapelele.
And the delish peas.
Once it is all covered by leaves, then it’s covered by a big plastic tarp and left cooking for about two hours.
And when you take the tarp off two hours later, VOILA! This is how it looks cooked. The women went right in with plates and started taking everything out.
They spread the leaves over the tables and we didn’t even need plates. They just piled everything up on top and it was a foodie free for all.
Thanks Waffle! This picture was all his idea
You sucked the beans right out of the pod. Mmmmm, my mouth is water just remembering.
Here you can see the spread.
I don’t think these photos do the whole thing justice, but I have a couple videos we shot that I’ll post as soon as we’re back from our mini-mid-week vacation. Best kind of vacation there is
February 15, 2010
“Karla, you are the light of my life”,Yan said in his toast.
“Karla, eres la luz de mi vida” dijo Yan en su Brindis.
And then later when I asked where she was, “In the middle of the dance floor, center of the party, obviously.”
Y mas tarde cuando le pregunte donde estaba ella, “En el medio de la pista de baile, centro de la fiesta, obvio”
Those two simple statements pretty much sum up this wedding. Karla isn’t just the light of Yan’s life, she’s a light for everyone around her – and always the life of the party. She and Yan didn’t stop laughing all night long. I loved every minute.
Esas dos simples declaraciones son un buen resumen del dia. Karla no solo es la luz en la vida de Yan, es la luz en la vida de todos alrededor de ella – y siempre el alma de la fiesta. Ella y Yan no pararon de reir toda la noche. Ame cada minuto
I love this — calm bride in the middle of chaos. The champagne probably helped a little bit
Me encanta esto — novia en calma en medio del caos. La champana probablemente ayudo un poco
Beyonce stayed at the W that night too. I wish we would’ve run into her!
Beyonce se quedo tambien en el W esa noche. Ojala nos hubieramos encontrado con ella.
The W is officially my new favorite place to shoot getting ready pictures. The hotel is a visual paradise!
El W es oficialmente mi lugar favorito para fotografia de la previa. El hotel es un paraiso visual.
Seba says that this picture, “no se entiende,” or can’t be understood. That’s exactly what I love about it.
Seba dijo que esta foto, “no se entiende”. Eso es exactamente lo que me encanta de ella.
On the way to the ceremony at Alto de Pirque, we found out that a bus with half the guests on it, was lost. So we made a pit stop at a gas station to pick up some munchies for the bridal party. Light inside the Shell station was shockingly beautiful — this picture of Karla talking about how excited she is to say, “I do!!!” is my FAVORITE of the night!
Camino a la ceremonia en Alto de Pirque, nos enteramos de que el bus con la mitad de los invitados, estaba perdido. Asi que hicimos un alto en una bomba de bencina para comprar algo para comer para la novia y las madrinas. La luz al interior de la bomba era hermosa — esta foto de la Karla hablando de lo emocionada que esta absolutamente dice, “Acepto!!!” es mi favorita de la noche.
But, in the end, we made it to Pirque. Just in time for the golden hour.
Pero, al final, llegamos a Pirque. Justo a tiempo para la mejor luz.
Bridesmaids, you have been infiltrated.
Damas de honor, han sido infiltradas
This was so funny. In Chile, couples normally dance a waltz for their first dance. So Karla and Yan started out with about two minutes of solid waltzing…and then busted out a coreographed disco dance. GREAT way to get the party started!!!
Esto fue tan divertdo. En chile, las parejas normalmente bailan un balz para su primer baile. Asi que Karla y Yan empezaron con unos 2 minutos de balz…y luego, de la nada, empezaron una coreografia de musica disco. Genial forma de empezar la fiesta!!!
Bouquet tosses can get a little crazy…
El ramo se puede volver un poco loco….
Man down, we have a casualty!
Hombre caido, tenemos un lesionado!
I adore these two. I’ve probably looked at this picture 40 times since we’ve gotten back from the wedding, but it still makes me smile every time.
Me encantan estos dos. Probablemente he mirado esta foto unas 40 veces desde que volvimos de la boda, pero todavia me hace sonreir cada vez.
February 11, 2010
Getting a visa in Chile makes me want to go hide from the government and live in Voigue with the sheep. It is a process that includes, but is not limited to: banging my head against the wall repeatedly, filling out documents because one incompetent worker told you to do so, only to have yet another incompetent worker tell you they’ve never seen aforementioned document before and you have to start all over again, drinking heavily, standing in line for hours upon hours. Needless to say, few trips I’ve made to the dreaded Ministerio Interior, have ended tear-free.
Seba knows that calling this process a nightmare would be an understatement for me. He’s seen me lose it, like head-spinning around Exorcist style (+ excessive screaming, – projectile vomiting), when I got a visa rejected once for a paper that wasn’t listed on the requirements sheet, nor did anyone ever care to tell me that I needed it. He’s seen me hysterical after my passport got robbed, on the way to renew my visa set to expire in three days, leaving me, not only illegal, but with no way to remedy the situation. He’s heard tales of how I’ve had moments when I thought I would get in a fist fight with government workers who are either incapable, or simply refuse, to answer a simple question. I’ve had people bite my head off because I asked which line to get in to have my passport stamped.
All in all, getting a visa here in Santiago has been nothing short of a traumatizing experience.
So this week, in a quest for my permanent residency, I decided that since Seba now works from home with me, it might be fun to bring him along. Since he is working from home with me now he has the time and I thought it would be nice for me to have company while I wait sixteen hours in lines with Gringos asking me ridiculous questions because they don’t speak Spanish — “Ummm, hey, can you tell me if this means I just waited for four hours for nothing because I don’t have my passport with me?” (Yes, yes you did dumb ass. You need your RUT or passport to buy a package of bandaids in this country. Why in the world would you think you can show up at the International Police to try and get official documents without it?) and then also Peruvians/Bolivians asking me ridiculous questions, because they think that for some reason that I’ll have answers because or be nicer because I’m blond. Once a lady even asked me to hold her baby while she went to get lunch. I declined. Not because I’m an evil person, but because, OMG, what if she NEVER came back?!? An abandoned puppy I can (sort of) handle. An abandoned child, I definitely cannot.
Back to the story — so I decide that Seba must see for himself, this crazy Chilean visa jungle I make my way through once a year.
We go to the International Police. Line is short (I’m talking like a half hour total, UH-MAZING), woman is ridiculously friendly. We go to the bank to pick up papers. Efficient woman has them almost ready and waiting when we get there. We go to the Registro Civil (sort of like the DMV but worse). Two people in front of us in line. TWO. And then, get this — the guy tells us to have a nice day after he gets the documents we requested in thirty seconds. People in Chile don’t do that! People in Chile working for any sort of public office related to visa getting NEVER do that.
Seba now thinks that getting a visa in Chile is easy peasy and that I’ve been making a big deal out of nothing all these years.
I now think that these people are far nicer to you if you bring along a real flesh and blood Chilean.
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