Patagonia, Futeleufu, Santiago, Valparaiso, Casablanca, Calama, San Pedro, Atacama Desert

PATAGONIA

From October 1st to October 6th, 2022

Day 1

• Landed via helicopter at Senderos Lodge

• Walked across the border at Futeleufu River

• Underwent rapids training near El Azul

• Picnic meal on the go: empanadas, meats, cheeses, nuts, fruit

• First day of rafting, class 5 rapids 

• Packed up and headed to the next rafting spot

• Checked in at camp near La Dificultad - consisted of a wood cabin with no walls, temperatures reaching freezing with the river roaring all night. Really an incredible camp.

• Jumped in the hot tub, had wine, quesadillas & guac

• Cold water plunge at the camp

Day 2

• Started off horseback riding

• Stopped at locals home near Las Escalas for breakfast/snack, all homemade food and produce from the farm 

• Bought handmade mittens, rugs, and jackets from the locals

• Horseback ride back to camp

• Gents did a cold water plunge 

• Next spot hot tub, snacks, wine 

• Lamb roast from one of the guides farm, quinoa, potatoes, vegetable mix 

Day 3

• One last day of rafting

• Burgers after we finished near Palena at Puerto Ramirez

• Flew to Santiago, checked into Ritz Carlton Santiago, we were exhausted and slept so well

• Quick touristy dinner meal at Tiramisu, walking distance from the hotel

Day 4

• Lunch at burger place called Ramblas, hipster restaurant playing 70’s American funk music

• Drinks at Siete Negronis, very cool bar, bar tender was very knowledgeable

• Went to dinner at Lolita Jones at the bottom of a mall in Las Nieves. It was a lively and hipster place. 

Day 5

• Wine tasting at Bodegas Re in the Casablanca wine region

• Lunch at some fancy place named Portofino Restaurant. You can tell that this is a locals spot, everybody was very well dressed. We felt slightly out of place (like vagabonds) after camping the past few days.

• Toured through Valparaiso, very artistic town, tour guide walked us through everywhere 

• Plenty of cute places to eat in Valparaiso 

• Headed back to Santiago, took a funicular to the Cerro San Cristobal and had a nice view of the city. 

• Walked back to the hotel 

• Dinner at a unique spot named Borago

Day 6

• Headed out of Santiago for Mendoza 

ATACAMA DESERT

From March 17th to March 25th, 2023

• Took a flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago, then on to Calama, Chile. Upon arriving in Calama, the Tierra Atacama Hotel group picks you up and takes you to the hotel in San Pedro. The drive from the Calama airport to the hotel is about an hour and a half, and the elevation of San Pedro is about 10,000 feet.

• Upon checking in at the hotel, you speak with an activity guide who helps you reserve all kinds of activities for the week. Below is a list of activities they provided listed in order of most favorite to average.

  • Purilactis Hike - all day excursion, 3 hour hiking through the “Rainbow Valley” admiring the variety of colors in the minerals that stretches for miles. We had the Rainbow Valley to ourselves.

  • Toco Nero Mountain Hike - all day excursion, 1.5 hour long hike with a gain of 1,000 feet in elevation, ending at 18,300 feet at the summit. Incredible views of Licancabur volcano. There were maybe 15 other people on the hike at the same time, not all could make it up due to the elevation.

  • Devils Gorge Hike - half day excursion, just under a 4 mile hike, walking flat through a dried up riverbed with mountainous clay peaks. There were about 30 other people passing through, both hikers and bikers.

  • Guatin Hike - half day excursion, about a 2 mile hike through a canyon with cactus and running water. There were about 30 others also on the trail, climbings rocks to stay out of the water that rushed through.

  • Piedras Rojas - full day excursion, visited multiple lagoons and a large salt flat surrounded by vibrant red rocks

  • Vallecito - half day excursion, walking alongside salt mounds, saw an abandoned salt mine and bus that would take miners in and out of town.

  • Cejar Lagoon - half day excursion, float in the small lagoon, about 40 other people at the location.

  • Salt Flat Laguna Chaxa & Flamingos - half day excursion, about 10 flamingos total that were mostly farther away

  • Geysers in Taito - half day excursion, about 100 other people also visiting, extremely windy, a large number of geysers flat on the ground.

If you’re in Chile and need a guide, we can recommend Diego from Atacama Hikes: Diegodlcv@gmail.com and on instagram at @atacamahikes.

Easter Island

From May 12th to May 15th 2024

Day 1

• We flew in from Santiago and landed midday

• Our car took us to Nayara Rapa Nui hotel where we figured our schedule out for the week. 

• We had a quick ceviche lunch and then headed out for the first tour of the day around 3pm to see the infamous Moai carvings on the island: Rano Raraku. We learned all about the stone quarry on the island and saw standing, fallen, and unfinished Rapanui Megalithic art. There must have been 300 structures in this area. This is where you can find the infamous and iconic Easter Island picture that was on the cover of National Geographic. 

• The next stop was a short 5 minute drive away to one of the well known “platforms” on the island. The platform had 15 or so standing statues, but is a well known spot for where others might be buried below. The area was actually wiped out during a tsunami in the 60s, but has since been reconstructed. The island is so naturally gorgeous. 

• We went back to our hotel, had our fill of Manhattan-ritas (Manhattan cocktails but in a margarita glass), enjoyed the evening clear stars, and called it a night. 

Day 2

• We started this day with a 6 mile hike long the north side of the island, starting on the west side, and then walking east. We were trying to prepare for our upcoming hike to Machu Picchu in Peru. 

• We walked by pineapple farms, saw Moai artifacts, cut fresh bananas off the tree, took shelter from mini rain storms, crawled in “once upon a time” caves, walked cliffside along the coast, watched horses and cows graze, stopped for lunch at a run-down rest stop/house, and finished up at one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen: Anakena. Apparently it was once the only place that the king would arrive to - nobody else. 

• We got back to the hotel, cleaned up, then went for pizza at La Pizzeria. We had some leftover pizza and fed some of the stray dogs on our walk back to the hotel. 

Day 3

• That next morning Hailey was relaxing on the patio in front of the room and was greeted by a stray dog. She didn’t want any banana or tangerine. 

• Hailey went back to Anakena Beach while Max worked on some things at the hotel 

Day 4

• We took a quad out along the island and up to the volcano Rano Kau. We then found ourselves in the Orongo site, but were escorted out as apparently you are supposed to have a guide at the world heritage site.

• Left for Lima