Good Food, Good People, Good WINE!

First day in Chile was absolutely breath taking! We started out the day with breakfast at the hostel (which is the coolest little place ever) bread and yogurt and instant coffee...some team members are saving the day with the instant starbucks! On a side note I am ending the day with some decaf and Baileys...haha! Not that I haven't consumed enough liquor today!

So we started out with a half our bus ride up to the Maipo Vally at the foothills of the Andes. Here we all got on peddle bikes to tour the wine country. This is super interesting because the last time I rode a bike I sort of fell into the ditch! But I can safely report that I didn't fall once...even after consuming wine from each vineyard we visited. Although I owe all my stellar bike moves to Gayle from the mountain bike training we did last summer in Nelson. I learnt a lot about the process of wine through your tour guides and one of the vineyard owners, Mario! I have a new appreciation for the types of wine and the science that goes into each bottle. I wonder if LIB could import wine? haha

After chil'n in the shade and having some cheese and crackers at Mario's home we then went to a nearby restaurant to try some Chilean food. the restaurant owners let us use their pool out side to cool off and get refreshed!

In response to our missing team member...HFH Chile went to the airport to wait and greet him this morning...they waited there for 4 hours and there was still no sign of him...so we planned to meet back at the hostel and start the emergency phone call process again. But just before we were leaving to head back to Santiago I got a random phone call...it was he...the missing member! He was in fact at the airport waiting for us:( I feel terrible! But he took a cab to the hostel and a member of HFH met him there. He arrived safe, along with the luggage of another team member. So after all of this we are now all safely together and ready for the build day tomorrow!

For dinner this evening I took the team on a little walk about in Santiago to find a cool little patio that was suggested to us. We found it with relatively no problems and then nibbled on some traditional Chilean and Argentinean food. Over a few Pisco Sours we played out the "guess who" game that I made as an ice breaker game. It couldn't have turned out better...we had a lot of laughs and surprises getting to know the team members. My two tib bits of fun facts were: I like to slap out rhythms on my Djembe Drum and that I stayed in the same hotel as Brad Pitt!"!

And now the day is officially over as it is after midnight here...so I better get some good rest for the big day tomorrow! I will give more information on the families that we are building with. We have 3 sites with teams of 4...should be interesting!

Send you Valentines Day love:)
Hugs

Heather

Ps. Here are some random fun pics of the Day: