Olay, olay olay olay RED HOT RED HOT!!

I've been on Spring Break since Thursday. We have all of the following week off from school. I kicked off the glorious week from the gods with a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Santiago Friday night! We spent the day exploring downtown Santiago before the concert. It is actually a really beautiful downtown. I had very low expectations because everyone here simply calls it "dirty and boring." I don't know what I saw in it, but it is a place I can see my self living in at some point. We ate lunch inside a fresh fish market that I saw on "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain. I had ceviche de corvina which is Marinated Sea Bass Ceviche in English.  It was my first time have good fish in Chile, and I can guarantee I will be returning to try everything on their menu. The rest of the afternoon included exploring the historic churches, napping in the center park, watching a military parade, and then it was time to head to the big show! The concert was in a soccer stadium so we all expected a lot of people, but there is no way we could have been prepared for how many were there. We arrived 3 hours before the concert started and there was already at least 5,000 people waiting in line. Instead of waiting, we decided to force ourselves into the front, and we were strangely successful. I guess that is one perk for looking Chilean, people don't really mess with you. After entering, it became a mad race to get the best spot on the field to see the concert. While everyone was rushing to the front like a herd of cattle, I thought I found a shortcut around a corner. Sadly, I instead discovered a police officer macing a guy for trying to climb a fence, and by found, I mean I turned the corner and ran directly into the stream. For about 5 minutes, the only worlds that came out of my mouth that I can post on here were "mother, god, it, burn in hell, and hole. It was terrible. I couldn't see or move for about 5 minutes. First tear gassed, now maced; I expect my mom to tazer me tomorrow. Once I regained the ability to see, we made our way to the front of the crowd for the first band. They were a famous Chilean rock group that I didn't know. The crowd loved them and went CRAZY! They pushed and shoved the whole time. I was with 6 friends and half way through the first song I managed to lose every single one of them. I gave up on trying to find them and just enjoyed the music. I still hadn't found anyone by the start of the second group, Foals, so I began to explore. I was unsuccessful in finding my friends, but I became friends with 4 random Chileans. I partied with them for the whole second band, although Chileans were not to pleased with this group. No one expected a second band. It was supposed to be Chilean group and then RHCP. Through their entire set, the crowd furiously chanted "OLAY, OLAY OLAY OLAY RED HOT, RED HOT!!" They simply screamed through the entire set until the band gave up. It was very different, but I didn't mind it at all. I left the Chileans at the end of the second group to try one last time to find my friends. I left the crowd to get a little bit of air, and without realizing it, I was behind 10k people rushing to the front of the stage to get closer to RHCP. I decided to make the best and just the flow and push my way through. It was pretty easy because people would jump a lot during the choruses. I used the opportunity to use a couple in front of me as a battering ram and make my way through to the front. Half way through the show, I managed to find my friend Sven, and we just rocked out for the rest of the night. It was a phenomenal concert!!! Everyone was screaming the lyrics to the songs in their broken English. The crowd went insane when Flea, the bassists, announced his support for the "Educacion Gratis" movement. Chileans are very passionate, and it is quite inspiring. RHCP even started the national chant, which is similar to the Boomer Sooner chant at OU. It goes:
CHI!!! (one person) CHI!!! (crowd)
LE!!! (one person) LE!!! (crowd)
CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!! (all together and rapidly)

The concert wasn't too long, but it was a great night rocking out. We spent the night in Santiago with Sven's family and then made our way back to Viña del Mar the next day.