The Still after the Storm

That is how I would describe the city of Santiago on New Year’s Day!

Tradition dictates that long after the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, Chileans are out and about on darkened streets, visiting friends and family members into the wee hours of the morning. Celebrating the Año Nuevo is almost a bigger deal than Christmas, and for weeks after the event you must greet those you see for the first time in the new year with a hug and a hearty “¡Feliz Año!”

Celebrations on New Year’s Eve are similar to Christmas Eve in that people gather for late-night asados (cookouts) that usually don’t begin until 10 or 11 p.m. Because it is summertime, many families enjoy swimming in addition to their cookouts (our kids did!) Children are allowed to stay up as late as the adults (our kids didn’t!)However, New Year’s celebrations are much flashier, with fireworks and music and dancing. Downtown Santiago boasted of their biggest fireworks display ever this year, but we didn’t venture out to see it … though we did watch the famous fireworks display from Viña del Mar, a popular city on Chile’s Pacific coastline, at the stroke of twelve.

When we got home from my sister’s a little after midnight, the parties in our neighborhood were still going full force! Isabel had a hard time sleeping because of the loud music a few houses down, but Eva and Owen were tired enough to sleep through the fireworks blasts and the neighbor’s celebrations.

When we awoke this morning, it was to a quiet city with few people out and about. Such a nice change from the norm! We enjoyed sleeping in and later going swimming at a fellow missionary’s home with my sister and her family. Tomorrow the pace will pick up as usual, but for today we’ll enjoy “the still after the storm!”