Chilean hospitality

The great thing about going to an international business school (and taking an around-the-world trip) is that I now have friends all over the world!! We had the good fortune of being able to stay with the sister of Nico (my old Miami roommate) in Santiago. We even had the surprise of Nico showing up in Santiago (for work of course) and giving us a quick tour of Santiago and Valpariso. He treated us to lunch by the sea and then we drove all up and down the twisty roads, next to the Asesores, or elevators (yes, they actually have outdoor elevators going up and down the hillsides!). In Santiago, Ann and I ran around getting a few things for our camping excursion down south as well as enjoyed sushi in the funky Bohemian part of town. Definitely not enough time to get to know the city but we wanted to head south before it got too cold.

We arrived at the coastal town of Valdivia where giant, old, half-blind seals each have their own little pirch next to the stalls in the fish market. Birds flock around to pick up any little scraps the seals leave for them. We were invited on a little excursion with a sweet Chilean couple so we packed a lunch and a couple bottles of wine and took a ferry over to another part of the coast to check out a forestry project. Upon returning, we randomly ran into a Spanish woman we had met in Greece!! Crazy how we keep having these wierd encounters!! She put us up and cooked us fabulous food and gave us a tour of the botanical gardens. We can see how all of the Chileans rave about the beautiful town of Valdivia... not just because it is surrounded by wide rivers and rolling hillsides but also because of the generous and friendly people who live there!