la feria artesanal

One of the coolest things I have been able to do in Chile was during my stay in Concepcion, working in an international artisan festival. A few weeks long during every summer, this gathering attracts artists from around South and Central America, as well as Africa and Europe. I met artists from Brazil, instrument makers and musicians from Bolivia, llama and alpaca weavers, painters and artisans of wood and cuero (leather) work from Peru and central Chile, as well as glass blowers from Santiago and the surrounding areas. Upon seeing the stand from Mexico, I quickly let out a grito and ran over to see the familiar ostrich skin boots, ponchos, and pictures of Pancho Villa and Frida Kahlo for sale. I am slowly starting to realize here, in this Latin American context, how much the Mexican (or TexMex) heritage is a part of my identity… I miss my salsa and tortillas, las mananitas and images of la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Pardon my nostalgic digression… while strolling through the artisan fair one day, I ran into a friend I made my first day in Chile while we painted a house together in the neighborhood where the sisters live. She was working with a friend from Nicaragua, and invited me to hang out with them a few days… a few days of “hanging out” turned into helping work at the Nicaragua booth for about a week, and I absolutely loved it! I helped in vending handmade blusas, macas (hammocks) and delicately painted crosses, and made frequent runs to the end of the park to buy freshly fried churros and fresh fruit juice to reward ourselves for our “hard work.” 

I loved the busy atmosphere at the fair - the music mixing messily in the background from the different countries, the sounds of babies laughing or crying in their strollers or on the shoulders of their papas, the accents of the people we conversed with who passing by the post, their beautiful exotic features distinct from the people of my homeland.  On missions to the food stand, I loved to walk around and see all of the beautiful and distinct types of art, purchasing a few things here and there for family and friends back home, but most of all I enjoyed talking with the artisans themselves and learning their stories. One man I met was a descendent of the Mapuches, the largest indigenous group here in Chile, who was selling beautifully crafted silver jewelry in styles that his ancestors have worn for generations. Another was a couple of sisters from Brazil, who were selling handmade table cloths and dresses, whose Brazilian accents as they spoke Spanish encouraged me even more so to study Portuguese after I master Spanish, whenever that may be. When the festival ended, I stayed with a friend at her apartment for a few days, heading to el centro in the afternoons, to walk through the central plaza or the marketplace and marveling at the street vendors. Midweek I loaded up my bags and headed by bus to my final destination until June, the capital of Chile, Santiago.

If you are ever to travel to the Southern Cone, I highly recommend taking buses to get from locale to locale, especially within Chile. It cost me the equivalent of about 18 American bucks to get safely from Concepcion to Santiago, with an added bonus of a comfortable and quiet 6 hours of snoozing and intermittently reading, and taking in as much of the slowly changing geography outside my window as possible.