El fin de semana pasado fue mas largo de lo normal, ya que el lunes 6 de septiembre fue fiesta aqui, "labor day". Ademas, Thomas no tuvo reunion de grupo el sabado, aunque no lo supo hasta pasadas las 14. De todas formas, para nosotros eso es un fin de semana ultra largo!! Llevabamos tiempo pensando en ir a visitar una region "amish" (explicare todo lo que se de su historia y cultura en proximos textos) en Indiana.
Last weekend was special since we also had labor day ;) the 6th of September. On top of that, Thomas didn't have group meeting on Saturday. We didn't know it until 2 pm, but at least we had some more hours for us. We were thinking of visiting an Amish region in Indiana (I'll talk about their history and culture in next posts).
En Estados Unidos, los amish viven mayoritariamente en Pensilvania, aunque hay comunidades muy grandes en Indiana y Ohio. Nosotros fuimos a Indiana; en el norte de este estado, que esta a unos 200 km de aqui, viven varias comunidades amish y conviven en armonia con el resto de gente. Su modo de vida llama la atencion, se basan en la austeridad y en autoabastecer sus necesidades diarias sin emplear los metodos modernos que el resto de la humanidad usa.
Here in the States most of the Amish live in Pennsylvania, even though there are big communities in Idiana and Ohio. We went to the North of Indiana, just 130 miles far from Chicago. Their way of life is pretty curious, they are humble and they don't use the modern ways of energy. They live in communities and almost don't have contact with the rest of the people.
El sabado condujimos hasta el norte de Indiana. La primera cosa que me llamo la atencion fue conducir en el sur de Chicago, no tiene nada que ver con el centro, es ahi donde de verdad se ve el contraste entre el Chicago de los rascacielos y la parte mas humilde y peligrosa en algunas areas, desafortunadamente.
We drove to Indiana last Saturday. First of all, we had to drive through the South of Chicago and it was the first interesting thing to see. I noticed the contrast between the skyscraper zone and this other part, poorer and dangerous in some parts unfortunately.
Nos alojamos en un complejo llamado "The Dutchman Essenhaus". Un lugar muy tranquilo, donde la cultura amish junto con su decoracion y alimentacion, mantienen vivo el lugar. La mayoria de la gente va a descansar y disfrutar de la tranquilidad que alli se respira, ademas de atiborrarse a comer los platos tipicos amish :) Aqui os muestro unas fotos del hotel y su decoracion, muy rustica, nada de minimalismo y feng sui ;)
We stayed in a typical Amish inn called "The Ducthman Essenhaus". It is a very quiet place, dominated by the Amish culture, decoration and food. Most of the people go there to rest and enjoy the peace and also, to stuff themselves with Amish food :) Here you can see some pics of the inn and its decoration, very rustic and not minimal or feng sui ;)
Dutchman Essenhaus
Jardines del hotel. Inn gardens
Decoracion tipica en los pasillos del hotel. Decorations in the hall ways
Nuestra habitacion. Our room.
El hotel con bordados amish. The hotel decoration with Amish quilt.
Entrada del hotel. Hotel lobby.
Amish cerca del hotel con sus carros. Amish people at the hotel entrance with their buggies.
Estabamos hambrientos al llegar y por supuesto, ya teniamos una recomendacion sobre un sitio para cenar. El complejo hotelero tiene varias tiendas, una pasteleria y un restaurante enorme, uno de los comedores de estilo familiar mas grandes de los Estados Unidos :) La experiencia requeria tomar la cena tipica del lugar, podia ser a la carta o "todo lo que puedas comer estilo amish" :). La recomendacion era para la segunda opcion. Entramos en este restaurante, decorado rusticamente, por supuesto y lleno hasta la bandera. Las camereras llevaban un atuendo amish y servian comida en bandejas gigantes.
El menu consistia en pollo frito acompañado de pure de patatas, judias verdes, "dressing," que es un revuelto hecho con pollo, verduras y pan rallado y noodles. Por un dolar mas, tambien incluia carne estofada, asi que fuimos a por esa opcion. Si terminabas la bandeja o querias algo mas de lo ofrecido, solo habia que pedirlo. Nosotros no terminamos ni la primera bandeja, comida mas que suficiente para una familia de 5 miembros al menos ;). Lo cierto es que la gente que habia alli tenian "buen saque", hablando coloquialmente, jeje! Habia ciertas diferencias en "volumen" entre la gente de Chicago downtown y ellos :) Estos, claramente disfrutaban de porciones mayores de comida.
El postre tambien estaba incluido y se podia elegir entre mas de los 20 tipos de tarta que tenian, yo me pedi la de melocoton, que tenia fruta de temporada, muy light, jeje! Thomas tomo la de chocolate con platano. Las fotos se pueden ver a continuacion.
We were very hungry when we arrived and we already had recommendations for dinner. The inn has several shops, a big bakery and a huge diner, familiar style. It is one of the biggest diners in the country ;) The experience required eating the familiar style dinner. You could choose the menu cart or "all you can eat Amish style". Of course, we did the second one ;) The place was decorated in a rustic style and it was completely crowded. The waitresses were wearing the Amish outfit and serving food in big trays. The dinner consisted of fried chicken and some side dishes: mashed potatoes, beans, dressing and noodles. For an extra dollar we could also have steak. Of course, you can order more food after finishing the first one or finishing one of the side dishes or the meat. We couldn't even finish the last tray, which had food for a family of five ;) People there were also pretty hungry and I could see some differences between Chicagoans and local people in terms of "body volume" :) The latter clearly enjoy big portions of food.
Dessert was also included and we could chose among the more than 20 kinds of pie. I had the peach pie because it had seasonal fruit (very light, hehe) and Thomas ate the chocolate and banana pie. The pictures are shown below.
El comedor. The diner
Abi, nuestra camerara. Abi, our waitress.
Thomasito sirviendo el pollo frito y la ternera. Thomas serving the chicken and the steak.
Acompañamiento. Side dishes.
Mi plato, imposible de terminar. My plate, impossible to finish.
El postre. Dessert.
Decoracion del comedor. Diner decoration.
After dinner and with our bellies about to explode we walked around the inn. There were many beautiful gardens, playgrounds, shops and terraces, everything nicely decorated. There was a gym and we visited it to burn some of the million calories we ate :) apart from torturing myself with two workouts of "asylum" (in the next posts).
Pasamos una tarde estupenda y la cena fue de un rollo de pueblo brutal, pero lo pasamos "chachi" :)
We had a great evening and dinner was a bit "redneck" (no offense, please), but we enjoyed a lot and had lots of fun :)
Mas aventuras amish vienen, cultura, historia y curiosidades!
More Amish adventures are coming, culture, history and curiosities!
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