The Guesthouse concept

My first week in Chile was spent in Santiago, to take care of paperwork and do some medical tests (football player style...). During this week I was accomodated in a very special house owned by ESO: The ESO Guesthouse. It could be called a hotel, but no, it is very different. In fact, it is even better than home. It is arranged in a way that we don't have to worry about anything else except... relax and enjoy! This seems to be the general ESO philosophy, by the way.

The Guesthouse is a one-floor house with 12 rooms, each with its own bathroom. It is ruled and managed by one person at a time, which sleeps there as well. It has its own cleaning staff, its own chef and its own helpers. The house is U-shaped with a garden in the middle and a small fountain with goldfish. In the backyard, there's another garden with a swimming pool.

In the Guesthouse there's no chance of making friends, at most just contacts. The house is normally just a checkpoint before or after going to one of the observatories in the desert. Therefore, during this week I met different people each day (mainly astronomers), some of which I also met afterwards when I took up duty. There was a couple of exceptions though, people who came to Chile to work in the office in Santiago and that stayed longer at the house. With these I will keep contact.

The meals is were things get really interesting. They have fixed times and it is up to us to decide if we want to have a certain meal or not at the house (letting the person in charge know in advance). The food and the variety is just astonishing, but what makes this house unique is beyond that.

15 minutes before dinner is pisco hour. Pisco is an alcoholic apéritif made from grapes, very good and quite strong indeed. Everyone is called to the living room where the drink is served. This is when we see different people every day and where we start the social evening. After the pisco the dinner is served in the dining room, with everyone sitting at the same table, family style. This is only possible, since the meals are served at a fixed time and it is this familiar concept that really distinguishes this place from a simple hotel.

The meals are cooked by a chef and are served in a very cerimonious way. The lady in charge normally sits with us at the table and the helpers (calling them waiters is a bit out of the picture, but that is the concept nevertheless) are called by pressing a button. There is chilean wine, red and white, which are both absolutely delicious. In the end, some go to sleep (flights are very early in the morning), the house staff retreats to work and the few left just grab the rest of the bottles of wine and a glass and moves either to the garden or to the living room. It is at this time, around a bottle of wine, that the gossiping and all the off-record information I would never get to know otherwise begin.

This is the concept. All is arranged for us. If we need a taxi to go anywhere, they call it for us (if it is for an organization issue, it is paid); if we need a taxi somewhere in the city to get back, we pay it and it is refunded; if we need to book a flight to go to the observatories, it is done and paid for; if we come late evening, we can ask for a sandwich and a glass of wine. We are spoiled!