Sister Trip: Cozumel, Mexico

April 9-13, Steph, Leah, Steph's best friend Thea, and I went on a girls' trip to Cozumel, Mexico. The journey for them coming from Denver was pretty straightforward. They had layovers in Houston, but then could fly directly into the airport on the island of Cozumel. For me coming from Santiago, it was a bit more complicated. For whatever reason, it was stupid expensive to fly into Cozumel. But, I could fly into Cancun, and it wasn't too bad. So, I flew on Copa Airlines 7 hours from Santiago to Panama City (same flight we had just taken to get to Costa Rica a few weeks before), and then from Panama City to Cancun, which was only 2.5 hours. From the Cancun Airport, I took a $15 bus to the bus depot in Playa del Carmen which was two blocks from the ferry terminal. From Playa del Carmen, there are ferries that run every 30 min to the island of Cozumel, $18 one way. So it extended the trip by a few hours, but it saved probably $1,000 in flight costs. And I felt completely safe 100% of the time, even as a blonde lady traveling alone. Granted, I had researched the steps I would be taking, so I knew exactly where to go, and what each step would cost. So I knew I wasn't being scammed. All in all, the trip to Cozumel was very smooth for me. I even splurged a bit by spending some credit card points to upgrade my flights to business class. This was particularly because the flights between Santiago and Panama City were overnight flights, and I wanted to try to get some semblance of sleep, especially since I had no kids to keep an eye on. 

The beach in Playa del Carmen right next to the ferry terminal. Look at that water!

My ferry to Cozumel!

We stayed at an All-Inclusive called Fiesta Americana. I had never stayed at an all-inclusive before, and it was certainly nice to do for a girls trip. No cooking, no grocery shopping. Coffees every day that I was able to drink in one sitting. Breakfast had an omelette station, a taco station with handmade tortillas, and a smoothie bar. Not too shabby. They had both pools and an oceanfront area where you could snorkel, which we did one day. Lots of pretty reef fish. And we saw two sting rays cruising around.  

I tried to eat as much guacamole as possible, which was easy to do. Nothing beats Mexican guac. I appreciate how much Chileans love avocados, but most of the time they just add it to things, burgers, hotdogs, toast, etc., and they don't flavor it at all. Let's add a little spice people! We had some salsa verdes on this trip that were no joke. Definitely nice to be in the land of picante again. 

It was also nice to have some uninterrupted beach and pool time, where the only needs I had to worry about were my own. My sunscreen. My water bottle. My beach towel. My snacks. My sandiness. And that's it. Very refreshing.

We even got to sit and watch an entire tennis match from start to finish! I can't tell you the last time I've had the space to do that. 

We definitely picked a good time of year to go. The place was pretty empty, as we went post Easter. So no spring break crowds. We didn't have to fight anyone for a lounge chairs or dinner reservations. If you're single and ready to mingle, it probably would have been a bit disappointing, as most of our cohorts were older folks without school calendars to live by. But for us, it was perfect. 

On our last full day, we decided to be adventurous and rented some bikes to ride into town and check out the northwestern side of the island. We made it there with no problems. On the way home though, Thea's bike pedal and crank arm (had to look that up), came loose and literally fell off. It wasn't broken, it just needed to be tightened properly with a wrench. The bikes we were riding were brand new, and it was like someone took them out of the box and said good to go, without testing anything. So we were the guinea pigs for sure, and the result was us waiting in town for 30 min for some guy to show up on a scooter with the tool we needed. We made it home, eventually, and now we have a good story to laugh about. Adventure's out there!

The last night, the hotel had karaoke, so Leah and I took full advantage. There were like 3 other people there, so nothing to be shy about. We sang probably a dozen songs. Some worked, some did not! But now we're seasoned pros, ready for the real thing!

While we were relaxing kid free, Drew took the boys to Playa Matanzas which is about 3 hours southeast of Santiago to car camp at the beach. He went with two other families, dads and kids only, and it looks like they had a blast. Thanks babe for watching the boys so I could take this trip. Very needed and very appreciated. 

Nosara, Costa Rica

 March 21-29 we went to Nosara, Costa Rica to meet up with friends who were going there for their US Spring Break. Our journey started by traveling on Copa Airlines from Santiago to Panama City (all Copa flights go through Panama City). I got to see the Panama Canal from the plane! From Panama City, we continued on to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We wanted to give ourselves a buffer in case something went wrong with the flights, so we stayed one night in San Jose, in a suburb called Alajuela. We had fun exploring the little town square, and the boys enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool!

The next day we took a puddle jumper from San Jose to Nosara. I was a bit nervous that I would get motion sick on such a small plane (there were only 14 people including the two pilots!), but it was actually fine. The boys loved being on such a small plane, as you can imagine. If you fly from Denver, there are direct flights into Liberia, and from there you can drive 2.5 hours on a VERY bumpy road to get to Nosara, which is the way we went when we visited Nosara 3 years ago with Mike, Leah, and the girls. However, this time it was much cheaper for us to fly from Santiago to San Jose. From there, we could drive 5.5 hours or take the puddle jumper. We decided on the puddle jumper, which was still cheaper than trying to fly into Liberia and drive from there. 

In the puddle jumper, we fly right over the Nosara beach, which is much longer than most of the others in the area. It is also protected in a bay and has a nice sandy bottom and a very consistent break. All of these features make it a perfect place for beginner/intermediate surfers, which is the main reason to visit there. It also has a very healthy, hippy vibe, with lots of yoga and workout studios. At low tide, the water is super shallow for a couple hundred feet, so it's the perfect beach for families with young kids to jump and splash in the waves. Another huge plus is the ocean is WARM! Compared to Chile where it's so frigid you barely want to stick a toe in, here the water is so warm, everyone can play. The land right next to the beach is protected, so there is no development right on the beach itself, which is nice. Makes it feel more natural. There are also lots of healthy restaurants with banging smoothies; it is the tropics after all. Mangos, papayas, pineapple, and bananas abound. I made it a goal to have a fresh smoothie everyday, and happily I met my goal. There are a few downsides to Nosara. One, it is not cheap. Basically US prices for food and lodging. Two, it doesn't feel very authentic. No one speaks Spanish, and culturally it feels more like Socal than Central America. Third, it is hot AF. Daily temps reached 95 degrees, with about 80% or higher humidity. So we would try to spend our mornings at the beach, but by 11am, it was getting too hot (and let's face it, Emerson was reaching his daily sunshine limit), so we'd often have to come in and spend 11am - 3pm inside in the A/C, or at least in the shade in front of a fan, or at a pool with shade.

The highlight of the trip was getting to hang out with our friends from the States. Included in the crew were Jeff and Amy Schopp and their two boys Wesley and Julian, and also Mike and Leah with their two girls Iana and Kaia and their new guagua Tayo. A third family Sean and Jaime Tokarz with their daughter Cora were there as well, but they unfortunately left before we took this group pic. 

We and the Tokarz family stayed at a place called Casa Romantica, and we loved it. It had its own walking path to the beach, so super convenient to go back and forth. It had a nice pool that was shaded in the afternoon and could fit the whole crew. They also served breakfast every morning, so Drew got a nice break from cooking. 10/10 for value and location. If and when we go back to Nosara, we would definitely stay there again. It was also nice to have the Tokarz there as well, as we got to hang out with them at breakfast and in down times.

On Wednesday night, the parents left the kids home with sitters and went out for an adult dinner at Coyol, a super lovely dinner spot atop a hillside with great sunset views. Thanks for planning, Leah!

Unfortunately Emerson got an ear infection early on in the trip. Despite a pretty constant fever, he was a trooper, and we were able to manage things with meds and ear drops. However, when things weren't clearing up by Thursday, we took him to the doctors and got him on some antibiotics before our flight home on Saturday. He was fine after that, but then Avery came down with a fever and sinus pressure as we were leaving. Not sure if it was the same sickness or different, but I'm ready for both boys to be healthy. 

The Dads got lots of surf sessions and volleyball as well. So nice to catchup with friends.

Start of School

On Wednesday, March 4th, the boys officially started their second year of school in Chile. Emerson began 2nd grade and Avery began 1st. About a week before we drove back to Santiago, Drew and I asked the boys if they were excited to begin school, and they both answered "What?!?! We're staying in Santiago for another year and are doing another year of school? Yay! We get to see our friends again!" Apparently they thought we were just going to live permanently in the van forever? This is our life now! Jajaja. I suppose we forgot to tell them our master plan that the trip was only for the summer? I dunno, but Drew and I cracked up. Needless to say, they were excited to go back to school. 

The start of school also means the start of school birthday parties. Two weeks in, we've already have a birthday party each weekend. And we'll miss another while we're on our trip to Costa Rica. The birthday parties are a love hate thing for me. I love getting to reconnect with the parents; it's like a built in social life. Since the classes remain exactly the same, we already know all of the kids and all of the parents, which is great. We don't have to start from ground zero again. But the piñatas and the candy I could definitely live without. One of the parties had a magician that literally pulled a rabbit from a hat. Well, from a tin pan.

The boys are going to start talleres (after school activities) in April. Avery will be doing violin again as well as sculpture. Emerson will be doing Arts and Crafts and Chess.  They will also be starting rugby twice a week after school on the AllBrads, a team affiliated with the school, hence the name. 

Summer Trip South: Camping Los Notros and Return to Santiago

 After wrapping up our time in the 7 lakes region, we crossed the border back into Chile, the last one on the trip, hooray! and made our way to Pucón for lunch followed by a night in Villarrica. Pucón was super busy. February is the month everyone takes a month long vacation from the heat in Santiago and it seems the entire city heads south in search of cooler temperatures and lake or ocean time. Pucón felt like it was bursting at the seams, probably for that reason. Villarrica was a bit better, probably because it is slightly less popular than Pucón. But, we found a free place to park at the local theater which was right by a little beach that had all these interesting clay mounds around that made a super fun playground of little pools and channels. The boys had a great time here; I'd come back to this spot again for sure. 

On Saturday we drove several hours north up to a campground east of Los Angeles called Camping Los Notros. We were meeting another family there, one of Drew's hiking Dad friends and his 4 kids, ages 13, 12, 9, and 3. We had a ton of fun together. The kids are all very sweet, and the older ones don't have cell phones, so all the kids were playing together the whole time. The Mom of this family is a higher up at the German Embassy, so unfortunately, she had to work and couldn't join us. The family really is impressive though. They move with the Mom's job every 3-4 years, so they've lived in Brazil, Germany, India, Mozambique, and now Chile. The Dad is French Canadian, so the kids speak French with Dad and German amongst themselves. And the Mom also speaks Portuguese and is now learning Spanish. So 5 languages for her and counting. Wow. 

The campsite had really nice shade structures for us, so even though it was hot and dry, we had enough shade to stay comfortable. 

The kids had fun playing Pass the Ace, a card game that's fun for all ages. Grandma and Grandpa taught the boys this game early in the trip, and it quickly became a favorite.

The highlight of the campground is it is on a section of river right before a dam, so it was very wide and calm. Our friends brought two paddle boards, and Avery made it his mission to learn how to master it. By the end, he was a bonafide paddle board taxi driver, giving trip after trip to anyone who'd join him. 

Emerson also enjoyed figuring out the paddle board, but his true love was the single person kayaks that the campground had available to use. He zipped all over the place in that thing. The river was perfect for the boys. In many sections it was so shallow that they could get out and stand up if they wanted to. 

When we weren't at the beach, there were plenty of other things to do. Grandma and Grandpa found a patch of wild blackberries, so all the kids went berry picking and got a whole box for us. This was a nice full circle moment for us, because at the start of the trip, in Frutillar actually, we passed lots of berry bushes but they were just flowering. And each place we went, because we were going south where the weather was chillier and chillier, we kept being a few weeks ahead of berry season. But the timing finally aligned in our last stop, and we took full advantage! 

Sand castle building. 

Soccer playing.

Child launching. 

And finally, volleyball lessons. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 25th, we packed up and drove the 8 hours or so back to Santiago, arriving around 6pm without any issues. The trip is officially complete! Overall, we covered more than 3,500 miles in driving, and that's a very conservative estimate. We forgot to track it using the odometer in the van, so that is simply the mileage on google maps from Santiago to Puerto Natales and back. We did lots of cruising around exploring other places, so I wouldn't be surprised if the total was closer to 4,000 miles. To put this in perspective, when Grandma and Grandpa drive from MI to Alaska, that's just shy of 4,000 miles one way. And they go out and back again on their trips! Wowzer! But, if you ask G&G about differences in that kind of driving and the driving we did, their first answer will be the road conditions. Lack of research on my part maybe, but we were not expecting the amount of grave roads we would be driving on. Basically from Cerro Castillo southwards on the Carreterra Austral, it's gravel more often than not. And while one upbeat cycler once shared that all the gravel keeps the number of tourists down, it certainly made for a slow, bumpy ride at times. But, if you know it's coming and can set expectations accordingly, it wouldn't be too bad. 

I want to spend a few minutes writing up the pros and cons of van life, as we had never done this to this extent before, as well as takeaways from the trip overall. First, the amount of quality time we got with the boys was priceless. Every morning, once the boys woke up (which was almost never with an alarm), they'd come up from their bed and cuddle with us in the "big bed" for at least 30 minutes. It was a lovely way to start the day. Then Drew would hop down and start putting the boys' bed away and make coffee while I read to the boys. We made it through the first three Harry Potter books twice! (we were also listening to the audio books on the drives), and are soon to start the Redwall Series. So alot of times we wouldn't open the van door to greet the world until 9:30am or 10am. So early risers we were not, but the slow pace of life was something I really liked. No manic rushing around to "get it all done." I will say this slow pace did incite a bit of laziness in Drew and me from a workout perspective. We had every intention to workout regularly during the trip, but that motivation seemed to fade as our pace of life slowed. That is something we would like to change for next time. How do we keep the slow pace of van life but still add a dash more routine to keep us in better shape? Gotta be a balance there somewhere. 

Bedtimes were arguably not as fun. The boys slept head to toe in a small space, so if they were overtired (or under tired from a longer driving day!) there was lots of kicking and shoving as they tried to quiet down. Many times I had to go lie between them just to create a physical separation so they could quiet their bodies and fall asleep. So next time we need a different system. Maybe one boy gets the privilege of falling asleep in the big bed while the other falls asleep in their bed, and then we move the other boy down once we're ready for bed. Many times we also went to bed basically at the same time as the boys, partly because of what I was just describing, but also because it's very difficult to physically get into our bed once the boys are asleep in their beds. But if we tried the new method, we could crawl over their bed without smashing anyone, meaning we could stay around the campfire a bit later and have more adult only time, which would be nice. But our bed in the van was amazingly comfortable, so we were getting good sleep the majority of the time. Unfortunately, I'm not sure G&G had the same experience, but for Drew and me, sleep deprivation was not a factor, as it can be in extended camping situations. Poor sleep is one of the things about normal camping that I don't enjoy. After several days of that, I feel awful, tantrums (both the boys' and mine!) become more frequent, and the experience overall becomes less enjoyable. But, because we were getting good sleep in the van, it felt much more doable long term.

As far as meals go, the cooking prep we did was super valuable. Cooking complicated meals in the van is difficult, so Drew and Brian cooked a bunch at home before we left and froze the meals in flat packs that were very easy to thaw and then reheat on the road, a system we learned from the Heebees at Burning Man! And every time we stopped at an Airbnb, we would restock and do the same thing with a proper kitchen. At times it was a bit of a game trying to finish the meals before crossing the border, but the Customs officials on either side never actually opened the freezer coolers we had, so we probably wouldn't have had any problems if we had risked it. And we never had trouble finding fresh fruits and vegetables on the road. So we ate really well, which always makes a trip more enjoyable.

The boys loved the freedom they got of constantly playing out in nature. We brought a bag of toys with us for rainy days, but the amount of times they actually played with said toys was very few. Most of the time they were building river dams or forts or sand slides or collecting firewood. They learned to whittle! They ran a massage parlor business, charging us 300 pesos for a half hour of back rubs. They befriended street dogs and local kids. It was fun to watch. 

Having two vans instead of one was a blessing and a curse. Curse because there are twice as many things to break, but to be fair, the amount of issues we had were really few and far between, mainly due to the preparation done by Brian and Drew. Never were we broken down on the side of the road, which I am so thankful for. Blessing because we could split up the packing between the two vans, so our van wasn't quite so loaded down and heavy. Going solo would require a bit more organization to keep our total weight in check. Blessing because a second van meant G&G could come! It was so nice to have them on the trip. Drew and I were able to do some bigger hikes we could not have done with the boys in tow, and they got some quality grandkid time. Having 4 adults to split the work of cooking and cleaning each day was also very helpful. Plus, we have fun together and enjoy each other's company, so win win for all. Thank you G&G! Trip of a lifetime. 

We definitely got lucky with the weather. The end of December was certainly rainy, but once we got into January, we were able to dodge most of the bad weather systems and never was there a place we went where we weren't able to see it fully because of bad weather. It was definitely chilly more often than not, but the van is well insulated enough that we were never truly cold at night, and I'd always prefer a cool van than a hot and stuffy one. 

The natural beauty of Patagonia itself was beyond belief. I felt like a record on repeat while writing these blogs: this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.... No, this one! No, this one! This one is the most beautiful! And it just kept getting better. I personally loved the water. Every river or lake we'd pass was stunningly clear and pristine. It felt very untouched by humanity, which is hard to find in this day and age. We loved it so much that our plan is to go back and do it all again next summer. We will avoid, however, driving on Ruta 40 in Argentina for several reasons. One, the pampa is boring. The wildlife is nice, but it doesn't outweigh the drudgery. The road in sections is so rough it becomes a game of chance to see if you'll escape with everything intact on your vehicle. And the wind. The wind! Patagonia is known for being windy, but the Argentinian side seemed WAY worse than the Chilean side. At least on the Chilean side there are trees and things to hide behind. Argentina was like the worst parts of Wyoming, so if we can avoid it next time, we will. 

So overall, van life for extended periods of time was great, much better than I anticipated, but I can be Negative Nancy sometimes, or as I like to think about it Realistic Rhonda. I think the boys are at the perfect age for van life; old enough to sit still and read for long periods of time, but small enough that we can all fit inside if needed. Once they get to stinky teenager size, they'd have to sleep outside in a tent; we just wouldn't all fit. The freedom and flexibility you get in a van is worth the price of admission. We could pack up and be ready to hit the road in about 20 minutes flat. Not having to pack and unpack, pack and unpack was priceless. Having a real bed was priceless. Having Starlink was very helpful; we were never going to be stranded and helpless on the side of the road. We watched the Winter Olympics during our journey! It was the best of both worlds. Disconnected as much as we wanted to be from the mania, but not disconnected from family and friends.  Things I was looking forward to at home: a scalding hot shower with unlimited water and pressure like a firehose. Not having to shit in a bag; although, to be fair, we only actually had to do that like a third of the time. Not having sand constantly in my bed. Seeing friends. Would I do it again? Yes! Will we do it again? That's the plan!