My husband and I have spent most of our holidays hiking and camping. When our children came along it was an important family activity. Our middle child was born with Down’s Syndrome and our youngest was born with hydrocephalus and a weaker left side. We really thought our hiking days as a family would be …
Author Archives: mamashinetravel
Entertaining children in lockdown
It’s September and we are currently experiencing a lifting of the lockdown in Santiago. Where we live, we can leave our houses Monday to Friday, but we can’t leave on the weekend and we can’t leave the city at all. We have completed 23 weeks of online home learning (as our school year runs March …
Yerba Loca
It’s September and almost Fiestas Patrias here in Chile. We may be missing out on the fondas, and big BBQs with friends, but we have some fabulous hikes in nature located within the city of Santiago! (Information accurate for first week of September 2020.) You follow this amazing blue river most of the way. From …
Day hikes in Santiago
One of the best activities to do in Santiago (when there isn’t a quarantine) is to get out and go for a hike on the hills. There are better experts than I, but I try to get out once a week and here are some of my favourites. (For how to get your children to …
Marble Caves
In Chile’s Patagonia the Marble Caves (Capillas de Marmol) offer a once in a lifetime experience. Hugging the coastline of General Carrera Lake, the waves have been shaping these caverns, tunnels and pillars for over 6,000 years creating dimples, nooks and crannies in the rock. The caves are intense stained-glass colours of turquoise, aquamarine, seafoam …
Parque Patagonia
Parque Patagonia is one of our favourite national parks with its sweeping views, wonderful hikes and pretty luxurious camping facilities. Originally a Douglas Tompkins park, it’s easy to see why Tompkins made his second home here. In 2020 the park was in the process of being transferred from the Tompkins Trust to Conaf (Chile’s park …
Jeinimeni
One of the jewels in the Chilean national parks is Parque Patagonia and the Jeinimeni section of the park. Jeinimeni, until recently its own national park, was joined with Parque Patagonia in 2019 to create one huge park. (Edit: We did not travel during Covid or quarantine, we took this trip January 2020.) We were …
El Chalten, Argentina Ruta 40
This is the third part in our Patagonia trip with children and grandchildren. The Argentinian chronicles! Read about how we got our car and camping gear to Patagonia from Santiago and hiking trails in Torres del Paine with three generations. After our five days in Torres del Paine and a night in Puerto Natales, we …
Torres del Paine
Hiking Torres del Paine with three generations In 2005 when my husband and I lived in Ecuador, we went to Patagonia and hiked the W, Mt. Fitzroy near El Chalten and saw the Perito Moreno glacier. Laughingly, we ate the calafate berry because they say if you eat it you will revisit Patagonia. Not likely, …
Ship your car to Patagonia for holidays
We live in Santiago and we really wanted to spend a good amount of time camping and exploring Patagonia with our three children. We looked at many different options for the best way to do it, and as crazy as it sounds we figured out the fastest, cheapest and most convenient option was to ship …
