Just over an hour from Santiago, it’s cooler and quieter here. All of the photos by Yours Truly.

Acquiring a country home

By following rather vague (but surprisingly effective) directions, we arrived by subway, bus, and foot at the picturesque home of my former host mom, Laila, and her dashing dude, Francisco.

On the bus with Francisco & Laila.

Francisco is a gregarious architect with a passion for making his own wine and practicing his incredibly adorable English with us. The house and patios are full of Laila’s sculptures.

These two are truly angels. First they fed us homemade ceviche, bread baked right next door, and avocados from the backyard tree. Then they washed our clothes. Then they left us their house as a home base while they headed north to a family beach vacation.

The cows don’t always stay in their pasture. We woke up this morning to a bovine neighbor right outside the door.

So we’ve found ourselves with a Chilean country home with wifi for trip planning, fruit trees for snacking, a pool for the hottest hours in the afternoon, and cows crooning is to sleep at night.

But don’t worry, despite landing in this peaceful oasis four days ago, we’re still running around Santiago like heat-crazed tourists, thanks to the 24-hour bus service right outside the front gate.

Our skeptical roommate wonders why we’d ever leave this place for the congestion of Santiago.