An invitation to Curicó!

This past weekend (Friday-Sunday) I accepted an invitation to visit the city of Curicó, about 2 hours south of Santiago. I was invited by a girl, Rosario, who is in the university here in Santiago but whose family lives in Curico, who is part of the youth here at the Schoenstatt shrine at the end of my block. It was a very nice experience!
Well, on Friday we (Rosario, two girls we didn't know, and I) hopped in the car of another girl from Curico (a mutual friend of Rosario and another girl in the youth here in Providencia) and headed out of Santiago. The trip that was supposed to take 2 hours actually took 4, and we arrived at around 9 pm. There was nothing glamorous or interesting about that trip to be honest, but we survived.

The family lives in a beautiful house on a hill (to me it is like a mountain, but compared with the Andes it is a hill) from where you can see the lights of the city of Curicó at night. The view is spectacular.

The main reason I was invited for the weekend was to play violin on Saturday for a "cantata" they had at the Schoestatt Shrine in Curicó to honor the Blessed Mother's nameday. Basically a cantata is a singing time. In this event we were on this little stage in a room at their little center and we sang songs, for and with the people. Besides me on the violin, Rosario and a young man from Santiago played guitar, a girl played flute on one song, another young man played the cajón (it's a box that you sit on an play percussion on. Quite popular.), and two other girls just sang. I sang a solo with guitar in English at one point as well, actually.

Here is a picture of the little stage and the room where we were. I personally don't have any pictures of us playing, but I'll add them later when I receive them.

The shrine in Curicó is called "Tierra Joven", like "Young Land" or "Youthful Land". If someone has a better translation, please comment or send me an email and I'll correct this. :) 

 Their St. Michael is made out of wood like the altar!

 Me, Rosario, and the guitar player from Santiago, Francisco. Playing with those two I felt pretty incapable as a musician. They are both excellent!!

 Rosario and I.

 Pillars with the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit with the little center-ish building behind it.

 Everyone gathered to begin the cantata with a prayer!

Afterwards, at around 10 pm, we went over to one of the family's house for an "asado", a barbecue, for supper. These are ridiculously popular. We were tired and so we left "super early", at like 1 am. Rosario's parents and her 7 year old brother left about a half hour later. I definitely could not stay up that late at 7 years old. I also admire the parents for staying out late because this evening, after dropping me at my house, they flew to Milwaukee!! My home, my people, my center, my shrine <3 <3 <3 They are going there to experience the places where the founder of Schoenstatt was in Wisconsin, and then are going to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and encounter with Pope Francis, and then on to New York and Washington DC. Say a prayer that they travel safely! 

Today we went to Mass at a parish. It was my first experience of a parish in Chile. A random stray dog walked in and was walking around the church the whole time and no one did anything about it. I was rather confused...Last week at the Mass at my school/shrine celebrating the anniversary of Colegio Mariano's founding a dog ran into the Mass, but it was a huge surprise and several men were chasing it out. In the parish, it didn't seem to be a big deal. Interesting...experiences, right? ;)

On the way back to Santiago, we stopped by another shrine in a city called San Fernando. This shrine is called "Las Rosas de Maria", or "Mary's Roses". It is beautiful, and has a little room underneath with some pictures of Fr. Kentenich, the founder of Schoenstatt.

All in all, it was a very nice weekend! I enjoyed it very much, and it was a nice getaway after the crazy week I had at school! I will have to dedicate an entire post to this past school week, for that was quite the adventure, adventures of a little one, you know. :) 

Many greetings and a gran abracito de Chile!