Where to start? Every year, Chile has a bit of a beerfest out in Malloco, out the old highway to Talagante. It’s a big, fun, family affair that really, people bring their kids to. They give out tiny tastes of beer and a big beer costs about $3, and a bigger one about $4, and that’s alot for Chile, but still, the number of people that go is astounding, and we all stand around in the sun and take tiny tastes and then decide what to drink.

And in the middle of everything, as I stood back, I noticed two things. 1. Everyone at the beer fest was incredibly happy (though not many were particularly drunk). Joyous, smiling, wandering, sausage-eating, happy and 2. Hats! my goodness, they were everywhere. We are not a hat-wearing people in Chile and certainly it’s easier to take pictures of hats than of happy.

And so I present:

Viking!

Mysterious girl viking with braids, that says Ireland on it.

Gold lamé furry viking hat.

a possible former viking hat, with horns removed. Qué opinan? (what do you think?)

Dueling headwear

This kid would look much more choro (much cooler) without the icecream.

Adoreableness alert with this wee porkpie one:

sometimes just one hat isn’t enough

I’m not entirely sure she wants to be seen with him.

hat, no hat, hat no hat

There were many more spectacles (including a couple of cases of actual beer goggles) to enjoy, like an amusement park of dubious safety, baby animals (nursing llama, so cute!), and many sweet and/or fried items, and the one beer I bought turned out to be from a microbrewery near my house (they sell it there, don’t think they brew it there, but who knows), and some very odd happenings with the to-ing and fro-ing (but actually mainly just with the fro-ing, but in the end, everyone was happy and since we went in the late afternoon, no one got sunburnt. If you want to go next year, give me a call and we’ll get it set up.

And for more hats (like the chickenhead one) and other things from this great festivity, go to my hats-a-million flickr set here
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Or go see what Isabel had to say about the event (and other things about her life in Chile here.

And this post has nothing to do with one of only about three fruits or vegetables I’ve ever come across that I didn’t like, called a malloco, which I can only assume has nothing to do with this town, and which I talked about here.