Though Valparaiso had mostly satisfied our cleanliness needs after the journey south from Peru, we were all pretty excited when, despite having popped online just a couple of days before arriving, the Mills’ offered to host us at their home in Pirque, just south of Santiago. David and Karen are old friends of my mom and Uncle John from Dundas. John and David grew up together and remain close to this day.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve been in a “home” – maybe since the Barragan’s house near Mexico City – and there’s just no substitute for that feeling. This particular home, though, is something special. And while the art contained in it is spectacular (Karen helps procure much of the public art you see in Toronto), the house was a work in of itself.

First order of business: lunch under the fig tree. Maria, who takes care of the house and keeps everyone fed, served up an excellent meal and the wine was superb.

After a tour of the grounds, with the heat of the afternoon sun beating down, we took a dip in the plunge pool to cool off.

An evening social with the neighbours and their visitors followed by a tremendous dinner capped off this great day.

We all promised we’d get up and go for a bike ride, despite the late socialising. It’s definitely easier getting out of bed to the smell of proper coffee and eggs being cooked than to scramble out of a tent and unpack the cooking box. So we actually did it! David is an avid road biker and keep’s a spare that Kuba and I both traded between. It was a perfect morning for a ride on the perfect road.

When we got back it was back in the pool then naptime. When we woke up, we took this perfect opportunity to reorganize the Safari.

And once we were done with that, Karen and David took us up to the spectacular steelworks studio and home of artists Francisco and Angela. More wine and hors d’oeuvres anyone?

Another spectacular meal back at the house, then David took us to the subway to get to downtown Santiago for a great night out.

First we met up with Nina’s cousin who’s husband is Chilean. They happened to be in the country on holiday from Finland (which is rather lucky!), so we had a couple of drinks with her. Before we knew it it was quite late so we went to Jammin’ Club to feel out the Chilean rasta scene. All good fun except for the absence of Nina’s camera from my pocket at the end of the night…

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We got back to Pirque around 5am and hit the sack. In the morning, we had breakfast and readied the Safari for departure. Then a route planning session under the pagoda with David…

A big thank you to Karen and David for their tremendous hospitality.