If I had to sum up our Start-Up Chile experience in 3 words: La Mesa Verde.

Our apartment was passed from Bureo Skateboards (a start-up I’m a huge fan of) to us in the middle of July.

The apartment has zero awesome furniture. There are two pink lounge chairs that appear soft and cushy, but when you sit down you are immediately greeted with a stiff wood board to the tailbone. We also have two wooden benches and a couple of crappy office chairs (one of which collapsed under a friend when he sat down.) This is nothing homey or comfortable about our apartment.

Except the green table. It is officially awesome.

It all began with a Saturday asado, which turned into a party that lasted until sunrise the next day. Before that first asado, we figured the apartment was not going to be a very social place without a typical living room full of comfortable furniture. But after the asado, we realized the table was magic.

Since there is no other furniture, the green table is really the center of the house. Everyone is forced to hang out around it. It’s where we sit with our laptops working. It’s where we set up a big TV to watch movies. It’s where Thanksgiving dinner was served. It’s where we drink and argue, play flip cup and beer pong, make travel and business plans.

Now, La Mesa Verde is a Wednesday evening tradition, where our friends gather for food, drinks, laughs, music and conversation.

Every Wednesday, the table looks something like this:

And every Thursday morning…

It’s messy. It’s drunken nights, co-founder debates, midnight problem solving. (And mornings spent cleaning.) All that is what makes it memorable.

To me, La Mesa Verde is the definition of our Santiago community.

PS: For anyone in Generation 12 arriving in a couple weeks, our apartment is available for rent starting February 3rd. We’d love to hand it to another Start-Up Chile team to continue the tradition. Get in touch if you’re interested.