We didn’t want to miss seeing “the mummies”we had heard so much about from the Extreme Team in the tiny town of Quillagua, Chile.

But when we arrived there, it was siesta time.  The town park and streets were deserted.  Thankfully, 7-year-old Antonio was not the siesta type.  This bright young child came running to see the “motos” (Harley’s) and quickly offered to be our guide.  We later met his mother and older brother, both of whom were as sharp and “buttoned up” as Antonio.

When Antonio understood we wanted to see the mummies, he led us straight to the house of the wonderful lady who keeps the key to the little town museum, scrambled up on a box to reach the door knocker, and got her attention right away.

We met several people today in Quillagua.  While most of them weren’t alive, our two favorites were very much alive: a little boy we’ll never forget; and a gracious lady whose hearty chuckle punctuated the ancestral stories she tried so hard to tell us in Spanish.