Día de las Glorias Navales and public holidays that we will miss

One of the problems with going to a foreign country for just 11 months instead of a year is you miss out on some of the national holidays.  Our last one was on Monday - Dia de las Glorias Navale that commemerates the Battle of Iquique on May 21, 1879 during the War of the Pacific against Bolivia and Peru in which Bolivia lost its coast.  The Chilean commandor Arturo Prat who died in the battle is honored on the day.  It also is the traditional day for the President's State of the Nation address.   People get dressing up in traditional Chilean clothing and kids dress up like sailors.   There are big parades in Iquique and Valparaiso and apparently a smaller one in Santiago.  


We skipped those but did what, based on the crowds, many people did - hit the public parks - this time back to Parque Bicentenario in Vitacura (last visited in super hot weather on New Year's Day).  This time the fall colors were in full display (although not so much in my photos!)  The nice thing about being in a place where there is not a lot of rain but that still has defined seasons is that the fall leaves stay on the trees for months so you can enjoy the color changes for a long time.

Then..

and now.

A special request video from the kids:

There are two other national holidays that we will/did miss:

San Pedro y San Pablo (June 29th)  - Apparently it was reestablished in 1985 - not enough Catholic holidays on the calendar?
Virgen del Carmen (July 16th) - They do seem to have quite a few holidays to celebrate the virgin!  Wasn't there just one key virgin? ;-)