Salto, Uruguay

Back at our Workaway in Chile, we learned about an interesting place in Uruguay. We heard that Salto is a place where you can find an amazing parrilla (BBQ) and relaxing hot springs. Sounds like our kind of place! So we headed to Salto.

The more we walked around town, the more interesting it became. While walking to our accommodation, we saw several homes with horses. We didn’t see many people riding horses, but they were tied up in their front yards.

As we ventured closer to the hot springs, there were more hotels, and people were walking around in their bathrobes. Maybe they were on their way to the hot springs, or on their way home, or just felt like they wanted to be cozy. Who knows?

Our second day in Salto we went to the hot springs. These hot springs were more luxurious, or developed compared to the hot springs we visited in Chile. 

There were about nine different pools and apparently they were all different temperatures. Most of them were very hot! There were pools meant just for adults and pools that had slides and other fun water elements geared towards children.

That night we headed to the parrilla we heard about from our Workaway in Chile. And indeed it was amazing. We ordered meat for four with a salad and fries, and there was plenty to spare. The meat was served on a hot plate with warm coals underneath. Most of the meat was identifiable, some wasn’t, but it was all delicious!

It was a short stay in Salto, but it was tasty and relaxing!

Altos Eco-Village, Uruguay - Our Second Workaway

After our adventures in the far south, we decided that it might be time for another break. After a quick look on Workaway.com we found a perfect place to dig in some roots and get some work done. We found “Altos Eco Village”. An Australian family of travellers who had been travelling and working at Workaways (sounds familiar), found a beautiful country hotel in the countryside of Uruguay, and bought it! Now they are fixing it up so other travelling families can take a break from their vacations and relax in their eco-village!

The Aussie’s are a family of seven. The parents Kym and Matt have agricultural backgrounds and definitely have a love for adventure and learning new cultures. Their children ranging from 3-12 years old, are full of life and were the perfect antidote for Charlie and Adeline’s homesickness.

Charlie and Adeline had so much fun playing with their new buddies! 

The hotel had an amazing kitchen so I spent most of my time helping cook meals (all of our favourites from home)! David spent his time doing odd jobs from repairing the netting around their veggie patch, to cutting logs into chairs, to patching the tiled hallway.

When the Aussie’s bought the property, they acquired a pair of ponies. While we were there, they bought twenty chickens and two horses. 

Charlie with some of the rescue chooks!

They bought the chickens from a farmer nearby, and it was from a farm that mass produced eggs in conditions that weren’t so nice for any living being, so many of the “chooks” were missing feathers and really weren’t sure what to do once they were put in their roomy hen house and pen. But it didn’t take long for them to start dusting themselves and scratching the ground for bugs; natural behaviours of chickens that they never would have learned at their previous farm.

The arrival of the horses was pretty exciting too! I am not sure who was more excited, the people or the ponies. As the horses were being led out of their trailer, the ponies were watching intently and then running excitedly around their paddock! They must have been excited for new friends. After the horses had a day to adjust, Matt wanted the horses to start getting used to his kids. One of the horses was for Joey and another was for Mickey, so they have to take them for walks, give them water and eventually ride on them. Charlie got a chance to walk one of the horses and both got a chance to ride them. How exciting!

Horses, ponies and chickens weren’t the only animals we found on the property! There were also loads of frogs, tarantulas and fire ants! The first day we arrived, the kids found frogs in one of the swimming pools, and that provided endless entertainment for a few days.

They even had the frog olympics and the clear winner was Charlie’s “Big George”. 

The kids made a water slide for the frogs! 

Amanda found the fire ants the first day. There were several anthills in the yard, and we learned to check where we decided to stand very quickly. Luckily the nice cool water in the pool helped soothe the bites. We also learned how soothing aloe vera gel can be once the bites have turned into a ferociously itchy rash.

The tarantulas were a surprise, but luckily we only saw them outside. The kids became quite brave and collected them in an old plastic bottle.

Our two weeks at Altos Eco Village passed very quickly. We were lucky to meet some pretty amazing people. All home sickness was completely gone for the whole two  weeks and then once we left the home sickness was replaced by a longing to be back in Uruguay with the Aussies!

El Calefate, Argentina

There is a reason there is an outdoor clothing line named after the Patagonia region, it is an absolutely beautiful landscape that had us oohing and ahhing almost everywhere we went!

We took our first flight since arriving in South America from Bariloche to El Calafate. Adeline and UIKEYINPUTDOWNARROWCharlie were just bursting with the excitement to be on an airplane instead of a bus!

Finally! Back on a plane!

It was a quick flight from Bariloche and as we were landing we had amazing views of the bright blue crystal waters of Lago Argentina. It might have looked especially bluer because the rest of the landscape is rather barren and brown, but it was still pretty spectacular all the same.

Coming in for a landing in El Calefate. Look at that blue water! 

A closer view of the beautiful Lago Argentino.

Most people come to El Calafate for exciting outdoor pursuits, but the big ticket is the Perito Moreno Glacier in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Unfortunately, Adeline was too young to walk on the glacier, so as a family we decided not to. Instead we rented a car and went to visit the glacier from the viewing centre and walk the endless amount of boardwalks to see different viewpoints of the glacier. It was pretty exciting to witness pieces of the glacier breaking off with thunderous cracks and splashes into the water.

Perito Moreno glacier is pretty impressive!

The next day we took a boat ride up to the glacier. On the way, we stopped at a couple of places to get out and take some walks in the beautiful Patagonian wilderness to some waterfalls. In this part of the park, there were large trees because it is considered a rainforest. At one of the places we got off the boat, there was a beach made up of the perfect skipping rocks! So Charlie and Adeline spent as much time as they could trying to break their records of how many times they could skip their rocks.

The best rock skipping beach ever!

Another favourite part of the trip for Charlie and Adeline was probably when we learned what calafate berries look like. They resemble blueberries in look - and taste! Both kids spent some time berry picking - and eating! However, we did hear that if you eat calafate berries, you are destined to come back some day. I think that we are okay with that!

Once they found the Calefate Berry bushes, this is how they spent the rest of our hike!

Yum yum! Calefate berries! 

On another day, we drove to El Chaltén, another entry into Parque Nacional los Glaciares. The other days, we had to pay to get into the park, but from El Chatan, you don’t have to pay. This could be due to the fact that to see glaciers from this village you have to hike in.

This backpack might be a little heavy for our trip!

El Chaltén is definitely a hikers paradise. There are several treks that start here. We chose to hike to an amazing viewpoint of Mt. Fitz Roy, which did not disappoint! This was a popular hike and there were probably hundreds of other people eager to capture a view of the rugged peaks of Fitz Roy. We met people from France and a family from the United States. It is pretty neat how Mother Nature can bring different nations together in an uplifting and positive way.

For most of the day, the peaks of Fitz Roy were hidden amongst clouds. We heard that that’s the way it usually is, and to get a glimpse of the top is pretty lucky. Well, Lady Luck must have been on our side that day because after we lounged on the glacier beach with swarms of other eager hikers for what felt like hours, the clouds finally lifted for us to get some sights and pictures of the spectacular giant!

Thank you for your cooperation Mother Nature!

It would have been nice to spend more time in El Chaltén and to go on more hikes, but unfortunately we didn’t have the equipment and it might have been a bit too challenging for the kids. Maybe another day…

Bariloche, Argentina

Have you ever been sleeping at night and then suddenly woke up with a sudden memory of something you have forgotten or something you need to do rather urgently? That is what happened to David one night, about a week before our cruise. As Canadians, we are allowed to stay 90 consecutive days in Chile. Somehow, in the middle of the night, David came to the conclusion that we might run out of our 90 days while on our cruise. Since we were unsure if the days on the cruise would count, we decided to quickly cross the border of Argentina to reset our days allowed in Chile. The closest Argentinian town to us was Bariloche, so that is where we headed.

While on the bus, we read up on the town in our Lonely Planet book, only to find the words “make reservations from late December to February”. Being early January, we were going to Bariloche at high season, and little did we know how busy it was during high season! Up until now, we didn’t plan more than a couple days in advance, and since we just needed to make a quick stop here, we didn’t make any plans. When we arrived at the bus station, we had a very serious “uh oh” moment. The bus station was completely packed with backpackers everywhere! Most looked like they had been sitting there a long time. We didn’t know if this meant that they came and couldn’t find accommodation so they had to come back to the bus station to keep moving on, or maybe, hopefully, there was some bus trouble and there were lots of people waiting for their buses. When we got to the city centre, our concerns became quite realistic. We couldn’t find accommodation (at least on our budget) anywhere! Eventually we found some free wifi and went onto Booking.com and found a hotel that wasn’t too far out of our budget, and since breakfast was included, we took it! It was only for a couple of nights.

The beautiful mountains and lakes of Bariloche.

It was easy to understand why Bariloche was so busy. It is amongst beautiful rugged mountains on a beautiful crystal clear blue lake. Walking in the city centre, there was a definite Swiss influence with the wooden and stone architecture and chocolate shops everywhere!! The city was hopping! With a large pedestrian street (or mostly pedestrian street. - some cars were allowed through), it was busy with people and performers; bands, 4 string quartets and street games put on my McDonalds, it was busy and it was fun!

There were lots of interesting trees in Bariloche!

For the one full day that we were in Bariloche, we took full advantage of the beautiful mountains and went on a wonderful hike along the “Circuto Chico” just outside of town. It was an easy walk with amazing views! Pictures and words cannot describe the amazing nature we were lucky to explore. We finished our hike early in the day, so we ventured further to a beach close to the end of our trail. It was a rocky beach, but it was filled with driftwood, and being at the base of a few tall beautiful mountains, we ended up spending the rest of our day there. The children got lost in their imaginations and the parents basked in the beauty of the beach.

There is so much fun to be had in nature!

We were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t think about coming to Bariloche earlier. It was so beautiful. Exactly where we wanted to be. But we had to hurry back to Chile to catch our cruise! So we decided that we had to come back.

Four weeks later, after disembarking from our two week cruise, spending a few more days with our parents in Buenos Aires and spending a few more days on the beach for Charlie and David to go surfing again, and there we were, back in Bariloche. This time we booked our accommodation early and made a list of what we wanted to do while we were there.

This time, we stayed for a week and made plans to do more hiking and adventuring in and around the water. Unfortunately the first day we were there, the buses were on strike, so it was hard to get around. But we did find an interesting alpine slide that the kids enjoyed. It was a bit expensive for a rather short ride, but at least it got us moving for the day.

The next day we went on a very short, but very steep hike to an amazing lookout of the wilderness around Bariloche. Surprisingly, it was very sandy, so we all got very dusty and dirty!

A beautiful view of the area surrounding Bariloche.

After the two week cruise, the kids were really starting to feel homesick and many of our conversations revolved around them wanting to go home, so we wanted to make sure we were doing things that were exciting and rewarding for them. Both of the kids are great athletes, but unfortunately Adeline does not really enjoy hiking so much, and after the hike the previous day, she was not so happy with us, so we decided to have a fun day exploring the local aerial course. EUCA Bariloche, is a super fun aerial course build amongst beautiful pine trees. 

Can you spot all three Havixbeck’s?

There were 5 levels of the course. Depending on your height, you could explore different levels of the course. Adeline was tall enough for the first level, Charlie was tall enough for the first 3 levels. **Enter dark angry music here**. The first level was a blast. 

Cargo nets on level 1. 

We got to walk through cargo nets, walk across swinging balance beams, climb through tunnels and glide across zip lines, all about 5 metres off the ground. It was daring and it was fun. 

Swinging balance beams on level 1.

But level 2 and level 3 were much more challenging and was probably 10 to 15 metres off the ground, and Adeline was not allowed to do it while Charlie was. I think Adeline was trying to make it explicitly clear that the company was very wrong not allowing her to progress to the higher levels and she would sprint through the course and try her hardest to pass any other participants in front of her, and when she couldn’t because we were all strapped in for the whole course, she made it painfully obvious that she wanted to pass with her sighs and groans and rolling eyes that were fit for a grumpy 15 year old, let alone an 8 year old.

David, high up in the trees! 

Charlie, on the other hand, had the time of his life! David explored the upper levels while Amanda took pictures from below and stuck with Adeline the best she could.

Charlie on level 2.

It was very hard to keep up as Adeline sprinted through. Actually, the only time I was able to catch up was when Adeline got stuck behind another participant. When our two hours that we were allowed turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes and maybe even 3 hours, we decided to call it quits, especially since, every time Adeline would complete another lap, she would get more and more worked up that by the end she was full of tears and shooting darts out of her eyes at the workers that wouldn’t allow her to progress. At least our attempt to have a super fun day for the kids worked for one….

EUCA Bariloche was located at the top of a ski hill just outside of town. We took a very unwilling taxi up a windy gravel road to get to the aerial course, but there certainly weren’t any taxis to hail on our way down, so we walked. It was great to walk down actually. 

Blowing thistle seeds! 

We explored and played with thistles that were bursting with seeds and Adeline found a climbing rock. 

Adeline’s climbing rock! Success! 

She recognized that it would be a challenge to climb and maybe not the safest choice, but was thrilled when we told her to go for it. So she spent some time finding the best way to go up and pushing herself the best she could, and was satisfied climbing most of the way up, and once she got down she was proud and happy and declared it the best part of her day! Hooray!

The other most exciting thing that we did in Bariloche was our kayaking adventure. We spent a day hanging out at a beach trying to find a way to go kayaking on the beautiful lake, but could only find previously booked tours or rental kayaks that weren’t allowed to leave the small bay to explore the lake. So we booked a tour for the next day. 

We had a beautiful day for kayaking!

Our family were the only ones on the tour, so the owners brought their kids (ages 8 and 10) along. It was a beautiful clear day. No clouds and no waves! The family took us to a secluded sandy beach where we played all afternoon. The water was so clear and it was also very very cold! 

The water was so clear! 

But how could we not swim when we were surrounded by such beautiful water! The water was so clear that Charlie could watch as Amanda lost yet another pair of sunglasses as they slowly sunk lower and lower to the bottom of the lake. Too deep and too cold to save.

We were so lucky to get back to Bariloche! But we were excited to continue our adventures even further south! Back to Patagonia!

Our South American Cruise

Travelling for 8 months is a long time for a family, but that time can be even longer for the grandparents we left at home!

Mid-January, our Oma, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us in South America and we went on an amazing 2-week cruise from San Antonio, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was so great to see our grandparents after missing them for 4 months!

This was our first cruise and so getting onto such a large ship was a little bit surreal. We travelled on the Norwegian Sun and it was pretty spectacular. The facilities were beautiful, the food was fantastic, the programming was fun and the staff made it a very memorable experience!

This is the biggest boat we have ever been on!

There were over 2000 guests on the ship, and it was impressive how the company organized getting all the guests and their luggage onto the ship. After checking in, we went through security and onto the boat! We were amazed at the facilities of the ship from the moment we stepped inside. It was a lot fancier than I expected! The first room we entered was the atrium which had a glass roof and 4 glass elevators. 

Our first impression of the ship was pretty great! 

Riding in the glass elevators!

We immediately headed to the pool deck where we found 2 pools at 4 hot tubs. After a quick bite to eat, we changed into our bathing suits and hopped into the pools!

The best days to lounge on the pool deck were the first and last days. All the others were pretty cold!

After a few hours, we were allowed to go into our staterooms. Our room had a large double bed and a bunk bed. We were impressed with how much room there was for storing our clothes, however, backpacking for 8 months limited the amount of clothes we brought along in the first place!

Everyday there was a pamphlet listing and explaining the daily activities; from trivia to fitness classes to evening entertainment. The kids were intrigued by the children’s club called Splash Academy. Adeline was pretty adamant that she was not going to participate in any of the kids activities, but once she met some of the counsellors and learned about the activities, it was hard to keep her away. In fact, for the first few port days, we left the kids on the ship because they loved Splash Academy so much. The first question they asked when they woke up in the morning was “what time is it?”, and, “how much time until Splash Academy starts?” I’m not sure if they were more excited to be participating in all the fun activities or finally having a break from their parents! Probably a bit of both! But this suited us well. David and I got a chance to have some quality time with our parents and participate in the activities that interested us.

There were lots of really great shows every night!

Joanne wanted to bring the cruise director home with her! 

In fact, this was probably the most active we have been our whole trip. While we counted at least 12 elevators on the ship, we took the stairs almost every time we needed to change floors (which was pretty frequent) and we went to the gym almost everyday and attended the morning stretch and “Fab Abs” session. This proved to be extremely important because, while we were being very active, we were also eating so much!

Food was another thing we didn’t know what to expect! Amanda, (the constant planner) was concerned that we would need to make sure we brought some snacks on board, just in case we got hungry between meals. Looking back now, her concerns were pretty humorous as there was a ridiculous amount of delicious food available 24 hours a day.

One of the best parts of the buffet was big plates full of fruit!!

We usually ate first and second breakfast at the buffet, along with multiple mid morning snacks, lunch and afternoon snacks. Adeline consistently went to the restaurant next to the buffet to get pizza which she claims was the best pizza in South America because the crust was the perfect thickness and it had the perfect amount of cheese! We ate dinner at a sit down restaurant every night. The menu had many choices of appetizers, main dishes and desserts, and they changed every day. Everything was delicious!

The chef even made a special bowl of maple syrup bean just for Adeline! 

There were so many choices to cater to everyone’s wants and needs. There were complimentary restaurants, and then there were French Bistros and Sushi and Sports Bars where you paid off a menu. However, you never had to carry money and pay on the spot. Everyone had a key card for their room that was registered specially to them. Our names and pictures were linked to our cards. If you ever “bought” something, you would scan your card and it would be billed to your room. 

Every time we got off the ship and back on the boat, we had to scan our cards and our picture and name would appear on a screen so someone could verify our identity. A funny part was when we scanned our cards to get back on the ship, it made a cha-ching sound that was like saying “here comes the money!”

The evening entertainment was pretty fantastic. From comedians, magicians, dance and musical performances in the theatre to the fun game shows in a neighbouring lounge. They had games like ‘Sing it to Win it’, ‘The Not-So-Newlywed Game’, ‘What’s My Line’, etc. There was constant fun and entertainment. In fact, if you participated in the activities, you were given an activity card and every time you participated in an activity a box was initialled. If you participated in 20 activities, you got a prize at the end of the cruise. We won a deck of cards! Woo hoo!

While the cruise ship and its programming was fantastic, the scenery we passed and the port stops were absolutely fascinating. We passed through fjords, through the Straits of Magellan, through the Beagle Channel, past Cape Horn, past glaciers and more. 

The glaciers were so beautiful!

Experiencing the power of the Pacific Ocean will be something to remember. One night it was so stormy, the captain had to change our course to protect us and the ship. 

It was pretty stormy for part of our trip

It was incredible watching the 21 foot waves out the window of the restaurant as we ate dinner. Everyone was walking around the ship as though they had too much to drink. The poor standup comedian at night kept losing his water bottle on stage. And that night, Charlie and Adeline decided to forgo their bunk beds and slept with David while Amanda slept on the bottom bunk, just in case. There were a couple of places on the boat that didn’t smell so great the next day. However, they did a great job of placing barfbags in very strategic places all over the boat.

We made several stops along the southern parts of South America including; Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Falkland Islands, Puerto Madryn and Punta del Este. 

Out and about in Puerto Montt.

One of the most memorable stops was Ushuaia (known as the “end of the world” since it is the most southern city in South America). David did a little bit of research and found a beautiful hike that took us to the gorgeous Lago Esmeralda. 

The beauty of Tierra del Fuego! 

It was a spectacular hike that took us through tall trees, over crystal clear streams, balancing on logs over swampy bits and David’s mom was a trooper the whole way through. We have seen many natural beauties in the wilderness in South America, but Lago Esmeralda was one of our favourites. The bright blue waters sitting amongst the tall mountains was spectacular. 

Lago Esmeralda 

In fact it was so amazing, Amanda just had to take her shoes off and go wading, which drew a few claps from some onlookers because it was very cold. Sometimes it just isn’t enough to look at a beautiful lake, sometimes you just have to get in!

Another memorable stop was at the Falkland Islands, a British Colony whose sovereignty is not something everyone agrees upon. 

Argentina refers to the same islands as the Malvinas. Britain has occupied the islands for a very long time, but Argentina believes that the land really belongs to them. Most recently, Argentina tried to reclaim the land but they were unsuccessful, so now when you visit the islands, people drive on the left side of the road, you can find red telephone booths and everybody speaks English. However in Argentina, you will find signs and maps and even hotels and schools using the name Malvinas to remind the Argentinian’s of what they believe to be there’s.

Our main interest on the Falkland Islands was to see penguins! We took a tour in a 4x4 Landrover to Volunteer Point where 3 species of penguins live. The King Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Gentoo Penguin. The ride to the colonies was an experience in itself. It felt like being on a slow roller coaster! Lots of bumps and hills. It was a lot of fun! As we approached the coast, some penguins were finally in site. First we saw the Magellanic Penguins. 

Magallanic Penguins!

We learned that Magellanic Penguins are burrowing animals, so they had their small homes dug out all over the place. We also learned to stay away from those burrows because they were also host to fleas!

We were given a couple of hours to walk amongst the penguin colonies. There were some strict guidelines for the visitors to help respect the penguins. Since the Gentoo and King Penguins stand in groups, there were large circles marked by white rocks for penguins only! Many of the penguins ventured outside of the rocks, but people were not to approach closer than 6 metres to the penguins. If they came your way, that was fine, as long as you didn’t bother the birds.

Many penguins ventured out away from their colonies.

The King Penguins were pretty fun to watch. They have musical voices and they were singing to one another. Some were holding eggs on their feet and keeping them hidden under their bellies to keep them warm. Others had babies under their bellies keeping them warm. We saw the younger penguins with fluffy brown feathers but about the same size as the grown up penguins. 

A young King Penguin

We saw penguins having a fight which looked kind of like a slap dance. One of the most exciting parts was watching the penguins waddle down to the shore to go swimming (maybe fishing), sometimes by themselves, but usually in groups of two or three, marching one after the other.

Some King Penguins marching to the ocean. 

We had a couple more stops on our way to Buenos Aires (Puerto Madryn, Argentina and Punta del Este, Uruguay), but we spent the rest of the time enjoying the ship and its many amenities. Before we knew it, our two weeks on board the Norwegian Sun were over. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to spend time with our parents! Thanks Grandma!

Chiloé, Chile

While researching Chile, Amanda was intrigued by Chiloé. She was most interested in the folklore and the many stories it could offer, so this was our next stop. We decided to start our adventure in Ancud which is on the north side of the big island of Chiloé. The area of Chiloé itself, is made up of an archipelago of many windswept islands, but the cities that draw most of the tourism are on the big island of Chiloé.

There are lots of forts in Chiloe.

The town of Ancud is a very pretty town. The colourful shingled houses, the coast line as far as you can see to the south and as far as you can see to the north. Ancud is known for it’s Spanish forts and fishing. We only ended up staying for two nights and we ate seafood both nights! Adeline was excited to try mussels. Charlie wanted a whole serving of whitefish to himself, and David and Amanda wanted salmon, which is relatively cheap here compared to at home. In fact, once we ordered Salchipapas (fries with meat and cheese - kind of like a Chilean poutine), for the family, and it came with scrambled eggs, fried onions and salmon! Yum!

Adeline was excited to try fresh mussels! 

Salichipapas with egg and salmon = Yum! 

Another popular activity in Ancud is to go on a boat tour to see penguins. We decided not to do this since we would be visiting places where there will be penguins later on our trip.

Since it was the folklore that intrigued Amanda the most, she was pretty excited to find some statues with stories in the Plaza de Armas. After reading a few, we realized that the stories are quite traditional and a little PG 13, possibly a little rated R at times. We didn’t discuss the stories too much with the kids…

One family friendly story was a creation story about how the archipelago of Chiloé was formed. There were two deities that are half horse and half serpent. One lives in the water and one on land. The one from sea is angry that mankind used to live underwater but now lives on land, so he creates a terrible cataclysm to punish the humans by drowning them with water (title wave). Meanwhile, the other creature loves the humans and tries to protect them by creating more land for them the live upon (volcano erupting). It’s kind of a fun way to fantasize about natural events!

Cai-Cai Vilu (half serpent and half horse) 

However there is also the story of El Trauco who was a “deformed repugnant dwarf” so ugly he could kill people just by looking at someone but he also seduced young maidens by appearing in erotic dreams, bewitching them and attracting them into a forest where he would stimulate them to the point of sexually possessing them. We didn’t share that one with the kids….

El Trauco

Our next stop in Chiloé was the capital, Castro. We found a nice hostel to stay in, and decided to stay for Christmas. We knew that Christmas was going to be a bit different this year. We weren’t sure how that kids would handle it, being strong believers in Santa and only knowing Christmas dinner with turkey and stuffing. We were trying hard to find a place to make the traditional Havixbeck Christmas cookies (Specs), but it just didn’t work out.

Adeline and Charlie explored the almost life size nativity scene in the Plaza des Armas. 

The hostel we stayed at was also the home of an older couple, and it was evident that they were hosting their family Christmas. We had limited access to the kitchen, so our meal was going to be very simple. After a little creative shopping, and a few preparations, we wrapped our gifts and put our shoes out for Santa Claus. We went out and ordered some Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner with The Christmas Story movie in the back of our minds. We were planning on going to church, but the only mass was at midnight and how could we possibly expect Santa to come if we were out and about at midnight? So we were off to bed!

The next morning we were excited to see that Santa did fill our shoes! With chocolate bars and candy that we have learned to love here in Chile, and even some new water bottles, replacing the ones we have lost along our travels. Perfect! We opened our gifts early, ate some chocolate and sat in bed watching Harry Potter movies that were being played over and over all day.

Hooray! Santa came!

One of our family Christmas traditions is to buy our family a new board game. Surprisingly (because we haven’t seen any so far) we found a great store with awesome board games. We found one that was quite small, so it would be easy to pack, and thought that we would give it a try. It was in Spanish, so it was a bit more of a challenge getting to know the rules for this game, but it is a lot of fun.

Nothing is open on Christmas, so even though we weren’t supposed to have access to the kitchen at lunch, I thought that I would quickly make some pasta and sauce for us. I got as far as browning some meat, when the lady in charge of the hostel stopped me and said “no hay cocina ahora” (no cooking now), and gave us some of their Christmas brunch they had prepared for their family which included lamb that was cooked on a spit, potatoes and salad. A whole lot better than the pasta and sauce. So we gratefully accepted! A delicious Christmas meal.

It was a different Christmas for us, but the most important part of Christmas was being together. There weren’t a lot of gifts, but they were special. Adeline made all of her gifts. In Peru, we met a wonderful family that taught Charlie and Adeline how to knit. Adeline has been working hard and gave her first knitting project to David (a face warmer). She made a necklace for Charlie made of wood that we found in Ancud) and she made Amanda a beautiful picture. 

Adeline’s gift to Charlie this year.

Charlie bought everyone new playing cards because we use them so much! David and Amanda gave the kids each a Chilean soccer jersey and a special treat. Amanda gave David some local beer and David gave me some Storycubes (another great game) that he found at another awesome game shop. Everyone was happy, everyone was together, and that’s the way we do Christmas.

Chilean soccer jerseys for Charlie and Adeline! 

One of the other days we spent in Castro, we headed to the Pacific coast to explore Chiloé National Park. It was about an hour drive away, and it was worth the bus ride because it was a beautiful park with three very different ecosystems: marsh, forest and sandy dunes by the water. It was a beautiful and relaxing yet active day.

Pacific coast at Chiloé National Park.

We didn’t spend a lot of time in Chiloé. We were expecting that there would be more to do, but the activities weren’t very easy to find, so we moved on.