Chilean Gatherings

by Rachel Lowry

As many of us have probably seen, Chileans are extreme night owls. Whether they are out at a club all night or they have a really long party and late dinner at a friend’s house, they seem to enjoy the night life a lot. I didn't think much of it until someone I was talking to recently mentioned that Chileans used to have a curfew during the Pinochet regime. This was mostly to stop protests and keep order in the streets to Pinochet’s liking. Since the consequences were so harsh if you were found out after curfew, people would go to friends’ houses early, stay all night for dinner and a party, and go home the next morning when they were allowed back on the streets again. In some ways, I think Chileans still keep this tradition by having very long dinner parties that last late into the night. The younger generation seems to rebel from the curfew rules of the past by staying out at the clubs really late or just hanging out around town at all hours of the night. I am not sure when they sleep, but what I want to take away from this is that I should appreciate the freedom the United States have known for so long and enjoy time with friends. It is still so hard to believe how recently the Pinochet era occurred and to think of how much that time impacts the way Chileans live today, but it’s really cool to see that they seem to be going in a good direction and becoming very successful while enjoying the freedom their country now has.