What if you could make your dream a reality? Would you sell everything you own, move to another continent, and dedicate all your passion and energy to making that happen? That’s what Michael Paravicini did. The Swiss-born owner of Vira Vira Hacienda Hotel, in...
La baguette. This slender loaf of bread symbolizes France and so much about its identity. The baguette defines the national identity, molding and giving it shape. During our time in France, nearly a month, we followed the hallowed daily ritual of la baguette....
We had no longer taken off from the southern city of Puerto Montt and we were already preparing to land on the island of Chiloé, the fifth largest in South America. Twenty minutes in the air, to be exact. As the plane descended through wispy, bumpy clouds, we...
I have been laying low on the blog in the past few months. Work has been busy coupled with a business trip to Lima and preparation to escape winter in Santiago during July and August. We decided to go mostly to Europe and a side trip to the US. We went to soak...
Desenchufar in Spanish, literally, means to unplug. A cell phone, a TV, our brain, or the art of disconnecting, for a little while, from life. In the past months, we had been running around like mad men busy with work, baby, and life so we decided it was high...
In late June, we decided to ditch the smoggy air in Santiago and head south to the clean breezes of the Colchagua Valley for one of our last (adult) weekends as a couple Little One’s due date arrived. That Saturday in Colchagua was cold but clear, typical of...
On Friday night, Santiago was overtaken by a thick, cold low-hanging fog that shrouded the city. It rolled in, unnoticed, like a sly fox. As I walked to the corner to buy a few staples for Saturday’s breakfast, I shivered in my light wool sweater. The afternoon...
In late March, my husband and I embarked on our annual road trip over the Andes from Santiago to Mendoza, Argentina, one of the most scenic routes in South America. We said tchau to the sprawling metropolis of Santiago and cruised past arid, caramel-colored...
Peruvian chocolate may not be overly mainstream yet but it’s exotic cacao, especially the white variety, is becoming highly appreciated by leading chocolatiers around the world like Pierre Marcolini, Pierrick Chouard, Jean Paul Hevin, Philippe Bernachon,...
Last Friday, we left big city life behind and jetted 2 hours north into the vast, arid Atacama Desert. We touched down in the desolate mining city of Calama. After rendezvousing with our driver, we drove past a “field” of new wind turbines that will provide...
Well, amigos, I have to confess that we have been harboring a little secret from you all for nearly the past 20 weeks. Yep, we’ve got some exciting plans brewing for later this year in 2014… Our first little world traveler is due to arrive in July 2014—and we could...
One of the most common gripes I hear among many expats here is “what’s the deal with the coffee in Chile?”…as in, it is often Nescafe or a watered down espresso. Yes, in the past it may have been slightly subpar but that all is changing--quite quickly. Today, while...
Here we are again. Valentine’s Day. Some people love this day, other people hate it, but why does it even exist? There are several theories over its origin but many point to the third century during the Roman empire. A saint, called Valentine, was about to be...
Water. The vital liquid that is abundant in nature, falling freely from the sky, belongs to everyone. Or it should be that way. We hope that some day that’s the case because at this time in Chile, it is apparently not at all. Actually, the water rights in this country...
I have been meaning to write a post on our trip to Berlin in November. Between the holidays and summer high season, here we are at the end of January already. That being said, Berlin has been on my mind. Way back in February of last year, when we decided to...
Every January, I mark off another year on my expat calendar calling Chile, and South America, home. While I certainly am fortunate to spend a lot of time throughout the year in Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay, for thirteen years (yes that’s 1-3), Chile has been...
When I first heard about the project in Chilean congress known as the “Ley Monsanto/Monsanto Law”, technically in Chile called Derechos de Obtentores de Nuevas Variedades Vegetales, I could hardly believe it. With all the energy and dedication that Chile has invested...
It is so blustery that the wooden lodge seems to quiver with each wind gust. Ominous, heavy rain clouds darken the sky to the west, shrouding the snowy peaks. The rain begins to fall, slowly, than gaining force. As the wind howls, the rain is not really...
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