Vamos a Vina, Part Deux

Kara and I went to the Viña festival last night and it rocked. It was like watching the grammies, or the oscars. But it was fun. Btws, the Viña Festival is the big thing to do in Chile during the summer (Tom Jones is coming!) and it really is the South American form of the Grammies, which makes it a little silly in any case. But everyone is there, scantly clad or sunburnt (or both.) The evening started when we arrived at the hostel, the same one we had stayed at in at the beginning of the trip. Ninfa (the hostel owner) remembered us and we chatted for a bit and she told us to stay out until the sun came up, which we assured her we would. We wandered along the beach and then went to find food. Which we did (cheaply!) at this great little market, where you would order, they hand you your receipt, then you pay, then you go back to the counter where you ordered and get your food. The guys behind the counter made fun of us because we had no idea what was going on. But it was some good food. So we caloried up and headed out the venue, which apparently was just built last year, and found seats up in the “Galeria.” And then the festival began. Like most things in Chile it began with advertising: specifically, the dancing Santa Isabel sign and dancing girl shopping bags, because Santa Isabel (a grocery store down here) was sponsoring part of the Viña Festival. So it freaked with the dancing shopping bags for a bit while some really trendy kids did hip-hop in front. Where I was standing (with the plebes), a chant of "LIDER" (The rival grocery store) started up around us. But once the advertising was over, there was a Cirque de Sole-esque opening to two Chilean superstars who aren't very super (come one, they're chilean!) who introduced the headliner, a group I really like called La Oreja de Van Gogh. They're from Spain, but they are really popular down here and poppy. It was weird that they played first but totally fun. Then, there was a national singers competition (a latino from canada, a group from Chile, a group from Columbia, a pop star from argentina and a group de espana). None of them were very good. Then the folklore competition happened (I don't know where all the folklorists were from because I was talking to guys next to me and it was hard to hear.) Meanwhile, it was getting cold so Kara and I deicded we need warmth and comfort, which we found in the form of churros and a manajar-filled relleno. Oh happy goodness, we are now both on a diet. Then this awesome group called Basilios started to play, but the emcee Chilean superstars kept interrupting them to give them prizes and stuff (which had happened with La Oreja de Van Gogh, but La Oreja got to play for longer). Like Kara said, "It's incredibly Chilean, confusing and inefficient." So the emcees handing out medals and asking them if they wanted to say anything and finally the lead singer was like " No I want to play!" And the emcees gave each other a look that clearly said "Shut down!" and walked off stage. And then we danced! and then crashed in amazingly comfy beds! It was wonderfully absurd.