As mentioned in my previous blog post, we recently spent a few days in the El Cajon Del Maipo region of Central Chile. While we were in awe of the amazing landscape and natural beauty of the places we saw and visited, our most lasting memories will undoubtably be the relationships that we made while there.
As our trip has been from day one, we do not specifically plan where we will be each night until shortly beforehand. Heading to El Cajon Del Maipo was no different. On our drive there, we found a small cabin to rent on a well-known rental website, chosen for its location, photos and price (the usuals really!). However, what we got as a rental was something much more valuable than any of these parameters could offer.
Our cabin was rented from Anita and Hugo, a newly retired Chilean couple who had moved to the mountains from Santiago during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had put an end to their employment, so they took the opportunity to fulfill a lifetime ambition of living in the clean mountain air, away from the big city.
For anyone familiar with renting from such platforms, while the rental service can be efficient and effective, the interactions are often business-like at best, and often do not even involve meeting each other. This was definitely not the case with Anita and Hugo!
On arrival, we were greeted with huge hugs and fanfare, with Anita especially doting over the children like they were her long-lost grandchildren! We were brought to our cabin, where each area was enthusiastically shown to us. Given the significant drop in temperature we experienced since leaving low-lying Santiago, the electric blankets under each of the beds were definitely well received amongst the rest of the family!
The following morning, Anita and Hugo met us in the shared patio area and gave us a full debrief in terms of places to go in the region. They spared no details, which really helped us identify areas to visit over the following days.
On arrival back to the cabin after our first full day (and every day thereafter), Anita and Hugo were eagerly awaiting us, and welcomed us back full of questions about our exploration and stories of the day. We even had a concerned text from them one of the evenings as our arrival time was much later than advertised (more on this later on)!
Our final full day in El Cajon Del Maipo was memorable for a few reasons…
The day began with our 8 year old daughter asking whether she could make slushee drinks (with the snow she had brought back the previous day from the mountains) and give them out to people in the main plaza. Having acquired the other required ingredients in the local supermarket, we headed off to the plaza. Being a little hesitant of how the locals would receive the slushees of a foreign visitor, Anita and Hugo kindly volunteered to accompany us and give both moral and physical support.
The next couple of hours were wonderful to be apart of. The slushees were in demand from all ages, particularly as Anita and Hugo were known to half the town! It was wonderful to see our daughter interact with people from so many walks of life, casually chatting in Spanish without a bother at all. The sense of pride she got by putting herself out of her comfort zone will stand to her for many years to come.
Once the town had drank our supplies dry, Anita and Hugo invited us for a walk along the local riverbank. The kids has a ball, running freely up and down the “dune-mountains” and playing with the local dogs. As per usual, our hosts spared no details in explaining to us all the local history, and nothing the kids wanted to do was too much trouble. This ended in comedy/calamity when we all followed their shortcut back through the aforementioned “dune-mountains”.
Following some rain a few days prior to our visit, the area had tuned into a thick-mud texture. Having seen the kids skip through said mud without issue, the adults attempted to follow…without much success! The main victim of this was Hugo, resulting in both him and his shoes getting completely stuck. A mad dash then followed to pull him up and out of the mud (thankfully we had enough strength amongst us to get him out!). What most impressed me was Hugo’s reaction to what was quite an uncomfortable situation for him. He apportioned absolutely zero blame, and laughed off the situation without a care in the world. I am quite sure not everybody would react in such a positive way.
Our departure was one of real emotion. Anita and Hugo joined us for what seemed like endless photos, and promises were made to stay in touch. Writing this a couple of weeks later, I can confirm that we are still very much part of each other’s lives.
That day in the main plaza of El Cajon Del Maipo led to another fantastic relationship forming.
When our daughter offered a young couple a slushee, they tried to give her a “propina”, or tip, as as it is known in Spanish. Not knowing what this was, our daughter asked us the meaning before returning a “thanks but not required” message to the couple. A conversation then started between myself and the couple. Pedro and his wife Ivana had recently moved back to the region from Los Angeles, where they had spent most of their adult lives. They were very interested in our travels and very quickly invited us to a Chilean “asado” (barbecue) they were hosting that evening. I think it is safe to say that inviting a complete stranger and his family into your home for dinner is not something too many of us would have the courage or generosity to do.
Arriving at Pedro and Ivana’s home was like being greeted by people we had known our whole lives. We were hugged by three generations of family, jumped on by about ten dogs (as is the case all throughout Chile!) and generally welcomed like we were their actual family. No expense or effort was spared through the evening, from the additional (and complicated) food for our family, to the warm and genuine conversation that flowed for hours. The kids reveled roasting marshmallows over the fire pit with Pedro and Ivana’s young kids. Myself and Laura enjoyed adult conversation (a real novelty), learning all about local cultures and history. We had huge admiration for our hosts, whose motives for the move home were all about spending more time with the kids, and raising them in an environment filled with family, nature and freedom.
Departing the “asado” very late on that starry night (sorry again Anita and Hugo!), we thanked our daughter for bringing us all to the plaza that afternoon. We were also very grateful for deciding to book a relatively normal looking cabin on the edge of a sleepy mountainous town in rural Chile.
Relationships can form in a variety of ways. Usually they are not planned, and it really doesn’t matter how they occur. What matters is what you make of them and the effort that gets put into them. This can be for just a fleeting moment, or a lifetime.
It is often said that people make places. As each day passes, and I enjoy such wonderful experiences, I am more and more a believer of this.
Click here to read the “Learnings on The Carratera Austral Part 1 of 3” blog post
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