Today is Wednesday, but here it feels like Monday; and it is better because it is actually Wednesday which means that Friday is not to far away and the next weekend is closer than ever. Long weekends… best thing ever!

This last one, though, is special. I use the present tense because –although it is true that this very last weekend was awesome– every September 18th we Chileans celebrate our birthday. This year we started on Friday, mostly at the office or schools with some special event, most of the times typical food and drinks and some music (I took my guitar to the office and we sang); then we had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of non stop party all weekend long. Why? Because both Monday and Tuesday were holydays: the 18th is kind of our own Independence Day and the 19th is the Army’s Day. Whoever decided to put these two day together did nice.

When I say kind of our own Independence Day is not because I am trying to stand that Chile has never been independent… well, it have not, but that is not the point now; it is because September 18th 1810, which is established as Chile’s anniversary, it is not the commemoration of the final battle neither the signing of the declaration of independence, but the anniversary of the conformation of the First Government Junta. Which swore to protect the Kingdom of Chile till the king Ferdinand VII came back to the throne (He was captured by Napoleon’s army, taken prisoner and replaced by Joseph Napoleon). It was not till 8 years later when Bernardo O'Higgins together with José de San Martín signed the Declaration of Independence on February 12th 1818, conmemorating the battle of Chacabuco (1817), in which the Spaniars left Chile's Central Valley for good.

Inspite all that, we celebrate every September 18th as our Independence Day, most people do not even know what I just told you about, and we celebrate it big. Last year I went -I was in Schenectady, NY- without knowing anything about Manhattan, to the fonda organized by the Chilean colony in New York, lucky me it turned out to be Sunday! This year, back home, I spent it eating, drinking and dancing all together with my family at our place in the country side.

We ate probably more than we should. For sure, we drank more than we should have. We started at noon and we came back home -after going to town for some party- arround 5ish AM. We danced cueca and we ate empanadas; we did not drink more wine, just because there was not more of it.

The whole family together, from my grandfather and his sister till my newborn niece... well... lets see... she is my grandfather's sister's grandchild, which would made her my niece in Spanish; because she is my cousin's daughter, being him my cousin because he is my dad's cousin son. That might have became too complicated, but the bottom line is there was four generations under one roof eating and drinking because 196 years ago, some French dude took the King of Spain prisioner and the Spaniards here did not recognize Napoleon's new king.

September does not have 30 days; at least not in Chile. It has one: the 18th. As well, it looks like no other month has an 18th. September 18th is probably the most important day of the year down here.

You may click here or on the pictures to go seeing the rest of them. There's a lot.