Days 1-3: Zapallar

Fri 11 Nov – Sun 13 Nov

This month long adventure in Chile began with a warm (literally and figuratively) welcome in Santiago. The sun beat down at 30 degrees and 10 friends from around the world stood gathered at the airport arrivals area when I rocked up after a 10.5hour (direct!) flight from Toronto. In the interest of many references to the people that made the parties I will endeavour to describe, here’s the breakdown:

Martin and Chepa; both Chilean. Martin was an ESDer and his wife Chepa is an honourary one. They are currently living in Santiago and have been the generous hosts during much of my stay in Chile thus far.

Fernanda and Dirk; both Peruvian and they are friends from University in Lima. Fernanda was an ESDer who is now living and working in Santiago and Dirk traveled from Peru for the weekend and makes a mean pisco sour (more on that later).

Mercedes; an Argentinian ESDer who made the trek from her hometown just outside of Buenos Aires to join us in Chile.

El Quattro; Alex (Belgian), Julia (German), Ryan (South African) and Jon (“Gringo”)- four ESDers that have been traveling South America since mid-September.

Ally; British ESDer and my partner in crime for the month to come.

Fernanda and Ally outside Martin's beach house in the town of Chachagua

The 11 of us immediately set off from the airport towards Zapallar and Chachagua, two adjacent coastal towns about 1.5hours northwest of Santiago and home to Martin and Chepa’s beach/summer homes. Along the way we stopped for “completos” (a fast food specialty combo meal including hot dog smothered in avocado, mayo and ketchup), or in Ryan’s case an accidental order of  dos completos, courtesy of his wobbly Spanish. Ryan’s laid back South African mentality in such cases is best summed up in his catch all expression for when things go bad: “It’s okay guys, I just accept it and move on.”

Ryan (hammock), Julia (hammock pusher) at Martin's

Our first stop was the town of Chachagua, Martin’s old surfing stomping grounds. The water was frigid but the sun was beating down and the sand warm under our feet. To think that I fell asleep lifting off from a city expecting light snow and woke up virtually on the beach…. it was an easy transition to say the least. Nearby was a small island just off the rocky part of the shore which was home to a small penguin colony. Julia and I discovered a mutual love for penguins as we watched the “penguinos” waddle around from afar. Most fascinating was when we learned from Martin that when these penguins are likely to die, they swim to the main beach, leaving their colony behind. They then stand on the beach until they die, often in the night, and they tip over and are rolled into the sea in the wash of the waves.   

Chachagua Beach, with the penguin island beyond

Taking in the view: Ally, Ryan, Fernanda, Mercedes, Me

With the late afternoon sun waning (albeit the southern hemisphere was bringing the extended sunlight hours I had come to miss), we were off toward Chepa’s house. We weaved along the oceanside and shortly arrived in Zapallar, a small town right on the coast overlooked by rolling hills of deep forest. We climbed the roadway into the hillside and took a sharp turn into Chepa’s driveway where a lush garden spread out around us. The short driveway zig zagged down to the foot of a long country home, perfectly nestled in the hillside with the golden sun glowing off the rooftop.

Part Mediterranean style, part farm house, part Chilean, this home was truly one of a kind and would become the weekend playground for a Cambridge reunion.  

The Chilean representation grew when we were joined early in the evening by Tomas (ESD) and his girlfriend Cote, both now also living in Santiago. In the same wave were Fiorella (ESD) and her boyfriend Eric, two more Peruvians bearing Peruvian pisco (boasted as the best), savory banana chips, and puffed maize and corn snacks. A recipe for a party, Peruvian style.

Dinner that evening was a spectacular meal of creamy sweet chicken and rice in an exotic formal setting. The room was flanked by roman murals and a tropical lit garden sat behind a glass wall directly behind the head of the table where there sat our newest college fellow, Fellow Jon.

As is Cambridge tradition, Fellow Jon shared a suitable latin grace in excellent latin tongue: “Benedictos, Benede, welcome to Chile. Que bueno, que rico.”

Rather than bumbling onward to Lola Lo or Fez, we took the party back outdoors to the sprawling deck and weekend highlight- a wood-fired hot tub under the stars with views of nothing but the silent, towering hillsides.

Saturday was kicked off with a trip to visit another Cambridge alumnus at the nearby riding stables sitting between the hills and the sea. By now our group had grown to 15 and we saddled up for a 2.5hour ride through the hills. It was one of the best trail rides I’ve ever done; not only because the horses were well-trained and seemingly keen to keep a good pace, but because it was with this particular group. Suffice to say it was an amusing adventure, not to mention entirely surreal, to see classmates I’d met in far off LR11 bobbing atop cantering horses passing a quiet pond in the Chilean mountains.

We returned to Chepa’s for a late lunch of fresh raw fish mixed in a lemony sauce with red onions, served with toastatas from fresh bread and white wine. And that was only the first course, served under giant umbrellas on the deck in the warm sun. Backpacking holiday? Right.

We napped and enjoyed the gardens and the view that afternoon when we had two more arrivals: Juan and Ignacia, both Chilean, and parents to three energetic little people, with Ignacia expecting one more come mid-December. After a trip into town to stroll along the main beach in Zapallar, we added one more country to the mix: Daniel had just arrived all the way from Brazil (Brasilia, to be precise) after a 12 hour journey.

The night was spent under the stars getting prune-y in the hot tub, listening to music, enjoying top-notch pisco sours (a lemon/limy frothy chilled drink often served as an aperitif) and most notably, endless cuts of the best meat I have ever had. Martin mastered a massive grill, cooking up the tastiest pieces of beef to be passed around and enjoyed with delicious Chilean red wines. We ate and we drank, and we ate and drank some more…holding off bringing an end to the perfect day until 5:30 the next morning.  

Sunday was indeed a day of rest. The sun continued to shine, and despite not getting everyone up and going until 2pm, we managed a trip to the beach until 7:30pm, thanks to the summer season creeping up on Chile.

We packed up that evening, sad to leave the Zapallar paradise, but excited to return to the bustling city of Santiago to continue our ESD reunion adventures.