After a gorgeous 6 hour drive through the steep and stony slopes of the Andes, we arrived in Santiago and in to the hands of our host, the impossibly ever-smiling Matthias.

Lucy met Matthias in Memphis – he was an exchange student from Germany, and as he and Lucy lived in the same neighborhood, she was volunteered into driving him across town and to school every morning — many years later Lucy visited him in Germany, and they’ve stayed in touch ever since.

The next several days of our trip were all about hospitality and the comforts of home as we stayed with Matthias and his wife Pia, daughter Antonia and boxer puppy Zuma. Though extremely comfortable and pleasant, there was an uncanny bizzareness to the whole stay in that Matthias and family are settled in a suburb just over the hill from Santiago — a suburb, legend has it, whose design was inspired by Scottsdale, Arizona. With irrigated lawns and a full compliment of golf courses, wal-marts and papa johns’ within striking distance, it is eerily easy to forget that you’re in the middle of South America.

We didn’t dig very deep into Santiago, but we got an eyeful of the sights — we took the funicular to the city mirador and enjoyed a “mote con huesillo”, a sweet “tea” with a thick layer of wheatberries and a dried peach, we took in a few government buildings, and we walked a few of the major merchant areas on a few administrative duties. Ok, so we really didn’t do much in Santiago… And frankly, we weren’t really that motivated to… We did, however, have 5 amazing days with great company, got some really excellent relaxing done, and got caught up on some Chilean intel — and here at the halfway point, I think that’s exactly the kind of thing we were needing.

We got one final chance to see the whole gang when they drove out to meet us in Valparaiso, and we enjoyed spending the day exploring the coast, watching the surfers, and taking in the breathtaking coastal vistas along Viña del Mar.

Matthias, Pia, Antonia and Zuma… Thank you dearly for everything.