Saturday, December 27 turned out to one of our favorite nights of the Chilean adventure. Based on this picture, I challenge you to guess what we did. We are on the beach in Renaca, a town next door to Vina del Mar, and by the length of the shadows, you can safely deduce that it is about 7:30pm. If I were to turn around and shoot the scene behind me . . .
. . . you would see a crowd gathering and a stage being prepared for . . .
the SYMPHONY!! The Santiago Symphony Orchestra was in town for what was at least the second annual concert on the beach. This year, the maestro chose to present the works of Johann Sebastion Strauss .
Strauss is one of those guys that makes you say, "I know him, but what did he do?", but when you hear the music you find yourself thinking . . . "Oh ya . . . I know that song!".
As the concert moved along, and as the sun set, I couldn't resist pulling out the camera! I like the texture of the water as it meets the sand in this shot.
Nice sky . . .
But this one's my favorite!
This should give you a sense of what the evening was like. (For those of you who can't access the video clips . . . sorry!)
As darkness descended, and the crowd settled in, the formality of a symphony concert seemed to take hold. . . . as much as sitting on the beach can be a formal setting!
I suspect that most of you will recognize this selection.
And during the final number, to everyone's surprise, several confetti canons were set off amongst the crowd. Very cool! I started off by saying that this was one of our favorite evenings. How could we possibly have imagined listening to a symphony orchestra, while sitting on the beach and watching the sun go down over the Pacific! Just thinking about this night leaves us speechless. It is clearly one of those forever memories!
December 26, 27 and 28 were the dates for a three day cultural festival in Valparaiso. Each year the organizers invite performers from a different country, and this year, it was Mexico.
This was a traditional Mexican dance in full regalia.
With a live band of course!
Just down the street was a Mexican acrobatic performance that was most interesting. There are four hombres atop this pole and they have spent the last 15 minutes or so wrapping long lengths of rope around the top of the pole.
The guys slowly rotate the platform as they carefully wind the rope.
Once the wrap is done, a fifth member climbs the pole, stands in the middle and plays a flute for the crowd.
If you've seen this in the past, you know what happens. If you haven't . . . you may have guessed based on the previous picture. Whatever you may think . . . here is what happened: The 4 sitting on the platform started to spin and then fell backwards!
Now bear with me on this video. Since the performance was so vertical, I tipped the camera on it's side and then realized that video has to be shot horizontally! So . . . you have to tilt your head to watch for the first :30 or so of this next clip. (Hey . . . I'm a Director . . . not a Photographer!!)
This band took the stage at Plaza Anibal Pinto and had an interesting mix of instruments (drums, lead, bass and acoustic (?) guitars, flute and fiddle). They were described as Neo -Tango - Funk (or something like that). We weren't sure what to expect. . .
. . . but with the help of the following video, you can decide for yourselves whether that description fits! We really enjoyed the band, but the sound tech had them turned up so loud that we chose to mosey on!
Friday, January 9 was our last stop on this particular cultural tour. It was at the Teatro Municipal (Municipal Theatre) in Vina del Mar. Construction on the theatre was started in 1925 and it opened in 1930. Today, it remains much like we imagine it did on opening night.
Since arriving in Vina, we have wanted to attend an event in this theatre. First, we would need tickets.
Here we are arriving for the show which was to start at 9:00 p.m. Generally, performances seem to start a little bit later in Chile than they do in Canada. We often see posters for shows that begin at 10:00 or 11:00.
Before we get to the show, let's have a look inside. First the lobby.
Then the theatre itself . . .
The show that we had picked to attend was a tribute to the Buena Vista Social Club.
"The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s." Wikipedia
It was a wonderful show of music and dance, and the lead male and female vocalists were sooooo cool . . . so much so that we went shopping the next day for some more latin music.
And thus ends our cultural tour and this edition of the blog. Just one note before we go. After the show in Vina, we caught the bus to Argentina Avenue in Valparaiso where we normally change buses to get to our apartment on Cerro Placeres. After waiting for 20 minutes or so and seeing the number of people at the bus stop dwindle, we began to wonder how we might get home! The buses that we needed were full and therefore didn't stop. The same was true for the collectivos (taxis with designated routes). Midnight had come and gone and our options appeared limited. It was then that we struck up a conversation with a local who was standing next to us. He was also trying to get to Placeres and so the three of us ended up in a collectivo to the centre of town, and from there, in another, to Placeres, and home. Once again we are thankful for the kindness of strangers!
Just before we go . . . Many things about Chile bewilder us but we like to think that we learn something new each day. With that in mind, we particularly like this quote:
"The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we don't understand"
Frank Herbert
Hasta Luego
Norm and Charlene
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