I am on a twisting country road high on an Andean plateau. We appear to be on a road to nowhere as we careen towards the jagged outline of the Andes. We zip through patchwork fields where only an occasional shepherd herds a flock of sheep or alpacas. We...
Flour, yeast, water, salt. Plus time and temperature. Those are the ingredients to make good bread. It is simple--but not easy to make. Not without a lot of practice, and patience. That’s why baking bread is a craft. To be honest, it’s a realm of the...
I am standing in an ancient forest with a tree canopy so tall it masks the sun. The trees reach high into the heavens above me. I am surrounded by the cold “jungle”, the selva valdiviana, a dense rainforest in the south of Chile. I survey my...
The word artisan is born from the Latin verb, artire, which defines an artisan as a worker, in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. The mention of an artisan immediately conjures up visions of a craftsman sitting quietly...
Quite often, people ask what my cooking style is. Today, I can define it in one word. Elemental. It’s simple, flavor-forward, and most often centered around seasonal local produce. I love dishes with only a handful of ingredients (or...
While most of the year we plan made-to-measure, private travel, our Signature Journeys (small group trips) are very near and dear to my heart. Perhaps it’s because I get to play hostess during part of each one, and meet so many of you. Signature...
I recently had a friend visit me in Santiago. One night, we sat down for a chat over a glass of wine while she was editing photos. I was curious to see how she was capturing the city in images. To my surprise, Santiago was almost unrecognizable. Sure, there were the...
For years, I dreamed about Ecuador. I had visited before but I had a specific trip in mind that included the Galapagos. I didn't have any immediate plans to go, but nonetheless obsessively researched the hotels, the destinations, the hikes, the snorkeling, and...
Ten years ago, it would have been unfathomable, perhaps even crazy, to speculate that a white grape hailing from Galicia, Spain, would be blossoming into Uruguay’s most notable white wine variety. It has adapted beautifully to Uruguay’s soil and maritime...
“Education is everything. It doesn’t matter what color your hair is, your race, how much money you have, who your parents are. It’s every child’s right. Without it, there’s no future nor change”. –Petit Miribel Meet Marie-Hélène Miribel—also known as “Petit”....
Cities are like people. They show their varying personality to the resident and traveler. It usually has to do with the lenses we project onto her. Depending on the city and person, there might be mutual love, or dislike. Friendship, or enmity. For some people,...
In South America, there’s a serious horse culture that is an integral part of life here. It’s not just gauchos, cowboys, either. The real gauchos are actually in Argentina and Uruguay, but there are Chilean cowboys, huasos in elegant rodeos throughout central...
Dear Friends, It’s been over a year since the last post on this blog. In the blogging world, that basically means forever. I would start a post here and there, but never managed to finish a single one. I wrote many posts in my head, but I never could seem to...
Machu Picchu doesn’t need much of an introduction. The ancient Incan city appears on the bucket lists of many world travelers. Perched 8,000 above sea level in the dense jungle of the southern Peruvian Andes, it was once thought to be a royal estate for the...
I am standing, or better said, paralyzed on a steep mountainside in the Chilean Patagonia. To the west in the distance, the Torres del Paine (the three granite towers from which the park takes it name) are shrouded in dark, threatening clouds. We are already a...
The last day of our Southern Cone Sampler tour, we woke up to glorious sun streaming through the hotel curtains. A mixture of clouds and golden rays illuminated swathes of the blue-grey waters of the Rio de la Plata. It was that kind of pure light that only...
The food scene in the Chilean capital is sizzling and truly having its moment. The catalysts? A new generation of chefs who have trained abroad, returned to their country and are digging deep roots in Santiago. They have forged restaurant projects focused on...
February is vacation month in Chile. Half of Santiago seems to relocate to the coast, only about an hour or so away. While many are clustering on the petit stretches of sandy beaches on those rocky shores, we have been revisiting the port of “Valpo”. Ahem, I...
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