Ilque

February 7, 2009
February is a midsummer time in Chile when each village and town has a Festival costumbrista, a weekend of celebration of typical Chilean life in the country. It usually takes place in an empty pasture or fairground area, and consists of selling traditional foods and playing and dancing traditional music. Every weekend in January and February there are festivals throughout the country.

I took a bus out of Puerto Montt to the south along the waterfront. In an hour the bus let me off in Ilque, not a village, but rather an area where people live on small farms. The people here share the festival with neighbors in Huelmo, and each year they trade locations between the two communities.

I arrived much too early for the festivities, so took a walk down the road for two hours. The first photo above is of a lake filled with birds creating quite a lot of shrieking. They are mostly gulls, plus some bandurrias (ibis) and a solitary white egret. They all seemed quite happy with this lake. Further down the road I had a choice to make. A playa (beach) always sounds good to me. Of course it was a couple of miles away. Fortunately I had no other schedule today.


Then I saw this cara-cara (carancho), a carrion-eating bird. He honored me with a quiet pose on a fence post. This cow and two calves were spending the lunch hour quietly chewing, unfazed by my presence. This is a beautiful pastoral area and the kind of countryside I can walk in for hours.




I soon came to the the shore near Huelmo, a community of small farmers and summer houses, one of the most picturesque areas I have seen along the coast. Here people are unloading sacks, probably grain or flour, from the delivery boat. Some people are camping along the beach. The day is mild and beautiful.


Fortunately a small bus passed by and I didn't have to retrace the few miles I had walked. I got off in Ilque again just as the party was getting started. After the playing of the national anthem, the mayor of Puerto Montt, Rabindranath Quinteros, gives the opening welcome speech, giving praise to the people of the area for their efforts in promoting progress and solidarity.


Next, these young teenagers in traditional costume dance a few cuecas, the national dance of Chile.


These women are preparing empanadas de carne, meat pies filled with beef, raisens and egg. They are a nice, though filling, appetizer while the lamb is cooking on the barbeque.


The asado al palo is almost ready. This is the most Chilean food in the south, lamb cooked over a fire on an iron skewer. I got in line early for mine, a big hunk of lamb served with potato, tomato and cucumber. A liter of chicha de manzana quenched my thirst. I was glad it hadn't fermented yet. I was thirsty. It was sold in recycled plastic Coke bottles. It is a hard apple cider, fresh from the farm.


Here are the folks in the desert booth serving lemon pie and kuchen, the typical German pastry. You don't have to be of German descent to be an expert kuchen cook.


Meanwhile, the curanto is being prepared, the traditional indigenous method of cooking. A fire is built in a hole in the ground. When the fire burns down and hot stones are placed, the first level is a bushel of mussels, which will provide the steam to cook everything else place on top. Then a cover of ferns is placed, and then they place chicken, sausage, and two kinds of potato bread. More ferns cover all, then sod is placed and it is sealed with plastic. It will all be ready in an hour. I passed on this one.


Very satisfied with food and sun, I said goodbye to the family I had shared a table with, took the afternoon bus back to town and had a cup of tea for dinner. Another wonderful day in southern Chile.