Coñaripe

Late December brings us the annual celebrations of Jason’s birthday and a new year.  And like nearly every other year, poor Jason nearly gets forgotten in between the better known holidays.  I was able to manage finding some cupcakes, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. We also claimed that the Termas Geometricas was his gift, though he’s also counting the 50% off coupon I found.

After the termas, we had the choice of camping up in the mountains next to stream in complete peace. Or, heading back to Coñaripe where things would be a little more… interesting. We figured we may as well soak up a little local charm and headed back to Coñaripe . We picked one of the many camping places along the beach. Nothing special, more like a parking lot. It quickly filled up for the New Year’s celebration, and we were warned by the owner that it would be loud and there would be drinking.  One group had brought in a large truck and unloaded a refrigerator. Things were getting interesting.

It doesn’t get dark here until almost 10 pm, which is still a bit confusing to us.  About this time, the grills were firing up and the voices and music were almost deafening. We were completely blocked into our campsite by parked cars.  Bode was playing freeze-tag with the other kids and was showing no signs of fatigue.

The traditional meal for New Year’s is lamb. On a walk into town earlier in the day I spotted the white furry legs of one hanging upside down in a carport, ready to be butchered.  There are live sheep for sale in some front yards. We opted for steak.

By midnight, Bode had totally abandoned us for a group at the end of the camp. They had silly string and lots of kids…oh and the refrigerator. They were dancing salsa and we could hear them yelling the countdown. We stayed with our camp neighbors, a British-born 91-year old who’d lived and worked his whole life in Chile. He owned a farm nearby, and had spent 50 years as a millwright in Concepcion. He was treating a local family he knew to a camping weekend.

Bode ran back a few minutes after midnight to see if he could go to the beach with his friends. I followed and by the time I got there, he was taking off his shirt. The teenagers had decided to ring in the new year with a cold dip in the lake. It was easy to convince the kid not to do it once he saw that others were climbing the lifeguard stand.  It was about 2am before I convinced him we had to go to bed.

The next morning the campsite was up earlier than expected and the grills were already going. A tour bus pulled up and all the passengers piled out with food and tables to join the campers across from us. A family reunion.  The women sat around catching up and eating while the men did all the cooking. Potatoes for 40.