Monthly Archives: December 2017

A Year in Review: The Highs and Lows of 2017

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“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”. – Confucius

As the year draws to a close, I always find it important to take the time to reflect upon the last twelve months of my life. It never ceases to amaze me how frighteningly fast time goes. In a blink of the eye, my children are 11 and 13 and I’m nearing 50 (well still four years to go but still the number lurks inside my head). I see now where my dad came up with this funny way of telling his age to others. Instead of 46, I am 36 + 10.

Yet on a more serious note, I reflect back on a year filled with many wonderful highs and of course those not-so-pleasant-but-part-of-life lows. To be quite honest, I was off to a rocky start in 2017 with the change in our nation’s leadership and all the threats to my uttermost, sacred beliefs that followed. I unexpectedly found myself in a downward spiral of anxiety and despair as so many of my values and beliefs on human rights, the environment and just being a decent human being, were and continue to be threatened. Thankfully I caught myself about eight months later and am back on track with the help of some serious soul searching, mindfulness meditation, spending more time outdoors and with family, and an overall avoidance of the depressing, hateful news which oftentimes feels like a powerful, never-ending machine in this country.  

As the year comes to a close, I look back with bittersweet memories and continue to move ahead and hope. I hope that the world is a better place for our grandchildren and all the people suffering even though it terrifies me to think of all the issues they will have to face.

As I complete my seventh year of blogging, I realize more than ever why I started blogging in the first place. To have a voice and to offer some sort of inspiration in a world filled with so much ugliness and sadness. There is so much beauty in the world. So much hope. I found it on the streets of Haiti and in the eyes of the children all around. In all the amazing people around the world doing good and putting in their effort to make the world a better, kinder more just place for all.

I hope that you have found some inspiration in my pictures and words. I greatly appreciate all of the truly special friendships I’ve made through my blog. It keeps me writing! So, without further ado here are the highlights of 2017. It was hard to pick the right pictures since I tend to take so many but alas I found these ones that each had a special memory attached to it. Hope they will do!

Exploring the remote Osa Peninsula

White-faced or Capuchin monkey

White-faced or Capuchin monkey is one of four kinds of monkeys found in the Osa.

A view from my horse (looking back to where we came from)

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At the Doorstep of the Andes: A Hike to El Morado Hanging Glacier

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When most people plan a trip to go hiking in Chile, they immediately head south to the Chilean Lakes District and Patagonia, a landscape lover’s paradise awash with too many stunning national parks to count. While some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Chile are found south of Santiago, I was surprised to discover that equally as divine landscapes exist right outside of the bustling cultural mecca of Santiago, where over half of Chile’s population live.

When my dad planned a week’s getaway to Chile basing ourselves in Santiago, I confess that I was a bit skeptical that we would find any good hiking in Central Chile. As an avid hiker who has trekked in some of the best parks in Patagonian Chile and Argentina, I naively thought that the best hiking would be down south. However, I was proven wrong and was wonderfully surprised with the intense, dynamic beauty of the day hikes we found right outside our base in Santiago.

While the Andes stretch all the way from the southern tip of Chile to their terminus in Tierra del Fuego, it is in Central Chile where the Andes rise to some of their highest elevations. Just east of Santiago near the Chilean border with Argentina lies the mighty Aconcagua which at 22,841 feet (6,962m) is the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere.

Perhaps what makes Chile such an exciting destination for hikers is the amazing diversity of its landscape. In the north is the Atacama, the driest desert in the world with its salt flats and open barren stretches of land. In the Center, the Andes rise dramatically high with vast glacial valleys and snow-capped peaks whereas in the South, their appearance is startling different: Craggy, jagged mountains rimmed with glacial lakes and temperate rainforest. Finally, at the southernmost tip in Patagonia it is filled with ice and glaciers and is home to the second largest contiguous ice field in the world, the The Southern Patagonian Ice Field. No wonder Chile is such an amazing place to explore! 

Flying over the incredible Andes as the morning sun rises

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Staying at the CasaSur Charming Hotel in Barrio Italia, Santiago

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One of the best ways to ensure a fantastic trip is to do your homework before traveling especially when it comes to finding the perfect place to stay. Thanks to TripAdvisor (and my dad is does all the research on it), we found the intimate CasaSur Charming Hotel – a boutique hotel with only six rooms in the lovely tranquil Barrio Italia. It was truly a treasure of a find!

The CasaSur has only been open for a little over two years but in that short amount of time, it is already ranked #1 on TripAdvisor of all 200+ hotels in Santiago. An impressive feat for this tiny little hotel. As soon as we arrived and met our hosts, the owner Eduardo and his delightful, charming staff, we realized what a special place it was.  Eduardo was awaiting and welcomed us by name. His charismatic personality made us instantly feel at home and that is how he intends his hotel to be: Something a little bit different and unique.

After traveling the globe as a Civil Engineer, Eduardo decided to change his career path and open up his own boutique hotel running it the way he thought travelers would like best. A place that surrounds and welcomes guests with harmony, serenity and peace. A home away from home with inspirational quotes written by hand on the chalkboard each day and where each guest is treated as a part of the family.

After a bit of searching, Eduardo found the perfect place for his hotel: The lovely, tree-lined neighborhood of Barrio Italia located only a short walk from the trendy, more rowdy Barrio Bellavista. In 2013, he purchased the old run-down house on Eduardo Hyatt street and put his skills as an engineer to use fixing it up. In 2015, the doors to CasaSur Charming Hotel opened for the first time and his gorgeously-appointed, intimate hotel has been open ever since.

The immaculate white CasaSur Charming Hotel with sits at the end of a quiet street outside and is walking distance to several amazing restaurants and shops.

Eduardo, the owner of CasaSur Charming Hotel doing what he loves best…talking to his guests

Eduardo put his engineering skills to work to create a lovely hotel with beautifully -appointed rooms, a stunning open air terrace and a delightful reception area. A freshly-made breakfast is served every morning on the outdoor terrace or inside if it is cool out. There is even a self-serve bar where you can purchase a bottle of Chilean wine or a beer without having to leave the comforts of the hotel.

The entrance to the CasaSur Charming Hotel
My favorite place to be...on the outdoor terrace
The lovely breakfast area at the CasaSur
I loved listening to the singing of the birds in the mornings
Filled with beautiful plants
Fresh fruit, homemade yogurt and eggs to order was the daily breakfast
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Every morning the quotes are changed on the chalkboard and the new guests are added to the list. It is a very welcoming place!

The inspiring quotes on the chalkboard are new every day

The location of CasaSur couldn’t be more perfect. Located in the Barrio Italia (formally known as the Barrio Santa Isabel), this historic neighborhood has been up and coming for the past decade with dozens of fabulous restaurants to choose from, gorgeous boutiques and lots of interesting shops such as antiques and even furniture restoration. What I loved best is that I didn’t feel at all like a tourist in Barrio Italia. We walked, talked and ate with the locals. It was the perfect way to experience local culture and practice sustainable travel. After staying at locally-owned and run boutique hotels, I’d have a very difficult time ever staying at a big American hotel chain again. You miss half the experience of truly traveling and engaging with the country you are visiting.

The tree-lined streets of Barrio Italia are loaded with open-air restaurants, boutiques and bars.

View of the Andes from a rooftop restaurant and bar in Barrio Italia.

And the jacaranda’s were all in full bloom and gorgeous!

We had an endless amount of delicious restaurants to choose from for dinner. Every meal was fantastic and there is food from all around the world just within a few tiny blocks. Best of all, we ate dinner with all the locals and even at local time (normally 10 pm). It took some getting used to the late dining hour yet once we did, we loved it.

The Bar at CasaLuz
Dining open air at CasaLuz
Street art
A pretty storefront
Drinking my favorite, Carmenere
Ciudadano, our favorite place
The inside decor at Ciudadano
Murals too
More art
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Towards the end of the stay Eduardo and his staff felt like family. My only regret is that I didn’t have more time at the CasaSur. I would have loved to have learned more about Eduardo’s fascinating family history. Both his grandparents had escaped WWII and the Nazis, fleeing Berlin and Hungary before the mass extermination of the Jewish population. They met in Chile and were so afraid of being persecuted that they baptized their children and raised them Christian. I had no idea until that moment that Chile even had a Jewish population. These are the tiny pieces of cultural knowledge that I’d never have learned without staying at a small, locally-run boutique hotel, and these are the stories I will always remember from my trip.

If you go:

CasaSur Charming Hotel is very small and fills up fast. Book well in advance! Eduardo and his staff can also provide you will tons of fantastic day-trips and excursions. You will love it there!

A Stroll through Bellavista in Search of Santiago’s Vibrant Street Art

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I have always loved street art and while Valparaiso is world renown for its amazing, slightly overwhelmingly large collection of street art, in my opinion Santiago is not too far behind. Despite not having the sheer size and scale of murals as found in Valparaiso, the street art scene in Santiago is equally as colorful and fascinating. If you adore street art, it is definitely worth your time exploring the Barrios Bellavista, Brasil and Yungay. Since our time was limited, we picked the trendy Barrio Bellavista for our first flavor of Chilean street art. We were not the least bit disappointed.

We began our stroll from our wonderful hotel, the CasaSur Charming Hotel in the Barrio Italia -an up and coming tree-lined neighborhood loaded with delightful restaurants, boutiques and shops- and followed the Parque Bustamante towards the Plaza Italia and the Rio Mapocho, the main river that meanders through the heart of Santiago.

It was a typical hot, summery day in Santiago and the city was alive with the bustle of people and students going to and from class at one of the country’s top universities in Bellavista. As we crossed the bridge at Pio Nonio, I couldn’t help but notice that even the walls surrounding the river were painted in graffiti. It was a sign of what was to come. I also wondered why the water was so brown in color and was soon to learn that it was due to all the sediment coming from the melting glaciers that feed and nourish the entire Maipo Valley surrounding Santiago with water and life.

As we crossed the river, I saw that the bridge was covered in locks. Curious, I asked our hotel what it meant and they said that the locks are placed on the bridge by couples to represent unbreakable love. The couples write their initials on the locks and then throw the key into the river to symbolize everlasting love. I found it quite interesting.

The Bridge

After we crossed the river, we were finally in the infamous Barrio Bellavista, a bohemian neighborhood known for its artists and intellectuals as well as dining and late night partying given its numerous bars and discos all smooched together within the narrow streets between the river the the Cerro San Cristobal. Bellavista is also home to “La Chascona“, the historic home of Chilean Nobel laureate poet Pablo Neruda, which is now a museum open to the public. We didn’t have time to visit but did see his other house in Valparaiso which is definitely worth a visit.

While the nights are known for its wild carrete (nightlife), the quiet, calm afternoons in Bellavista are perfect for exploring its colorful streets and snapping photos. I felt ridiculously giddy at my luck at having such brilliant sunshine and not a soul in sight as we wandered the charming streets.  I instantly noticed that the colors felt like they were bursting off the walls and sides of the buildings. They were so incredibly vibrant and bright.

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A Father/Daughter Trip to Chile

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On the morning of my departure to Chile, I woke up feeling the normal jittery rush of anticipation and excitement that travel brings me. You would think that after all these years, I’d somehow get used to it but that same restless nervousness about going on an adventure far from home never seems to leave me. After a restless night’s sleep of tossing and turning, it was finally time to start the long haul to Santiago. The babysitter had arrived to help out with the kids and our family dog, the dinners were made and frozen in the freezer, and my bags were packed with everything I’d need for the next nine days. All I needed to do was get into the cab and I was off.

This trip marked the 13th trip I’d taken with my dad since I graduated college. Over the years, we have been to many special places together ranging from the Himalayas of Nepal, to the vast stretches of rugged earth of Iceland, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the bush of South Africa, the urban jungle of China, and the mountains of Argentina, Bolivia, France and Peru. Together we have experienced a lot of adventures, and in all of my travels, I have never ever met another father-daughter traveling duo before.

It took me some time to realize that it was unusual and not something you see every day. Mother and daughters traveling together is much more common and I too have been fortunate to have traveled with my mom. But a father and a daughter traveling together was something unique. Despite the occasional awkward stares of those who thought I was his much younger wife, traveling as a pair has started many conversations of curiosity among strangers and opened many unexpected doors. It is something I would never trade for anything and an experience I hope to continue with my own children down the road.

Sunrise over the Andes

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Serenity Found in the Chilean Andes

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“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity”.- Thich Nhat Hanh

I just returned from a little over a week in Central Chile and am filled with the serenity of being in one of the places I love best, the mountains. While I have much catching up to do, I will take it slowly and allow myself time to reflect on what a remarkable experience I had. There is nothing like being outside in the mountains to take you away from all the worries and problems in this world. Far away from the internet, the ugly news and media, I feel so utterly free I could cry in tears of joy. If only I could keep that serenity inside me forever. But we all know it is not possible. The constant bombardment of news is difficult to ignore and hard to bare. So I will work on trying my best to avoid it.

I look forward to sharing my trip with you. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from my six-hour hike to the Juncal Glacier, located two hours outside of Santiago in the heart of the Andes.

“Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people”. –  Jawaharlal Nehru

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