After posting photos of newly completed memory quilts on social media a while back, I received a text from my friend, Renada. The pictures I shared were of a quilt made by me and my mom for my oldest son, Zach. It is called a memory quilt because it is made from blocks of Zach’s childhood t-shirts.

The last leg of our trip was flying from Dallas to Durango which was wonderfully uneventful. Leaving behind the mountainous views of Chile, I was warmed to see the Durango San Juans out my airplane window as we neared landing. Home was sounding very good.

Our last day in Santiago brought in a morning full of packing. Although we had been in a constant state of packing and moving over the last two weeks, now it was time for the big pack, the pack to go home.

Our morning agenda was to take a tour of Santiago. Chris loaded us in his vehicle for a tour that would include both walking and riding with Chris as our driver. We were glad to have a driver as traffic was aggressive. Quickly we found many similarities between Downtown Santiago to New York City, including the traffic.

When the party’s over…

Well, at least our Patagonia party. The travel planners (our husbands, Garrett and Tom), planned two more nights for us in Santiago to close our Chilean adventure. The thought process was that since we were already in Chile and had flown this far, we might as well enjoy the City of Santiago before flying home. Based on the warmth we had seen forecasted, I was all in.

Day 10 of our Patagonia adventure had us in our cozy domes in the EcoCamp. We enjoyed our final day of glamping with amenities and our last hike. Mariana described this last hike as ‘easy peasy’. This described it perfectly. It felt like a cool-down jog after finishing a marathon.

We reached the ‘challenge day’. Per our itinerary, this would be our biggest hike with the most miles (14) and elevation (4,500). But it would also give us the most awesome views of the mountain towers. If you Google Patagonia’s Three Towers you will find “Located in Southern Chile, Torres del Paine National Park is a top destination for hikers and climbers in Patagonia.”

Today we reached day 3 of our hike and the last night away from EcoCamp. Waking up to more rain, we were ready to get back to ‘Four Seasons’ and out of tents.

Our first indication that we were going back was Mariana asking for our dinner order. A great meal back at EcoCamp was something to look forward to.

The first day of March brought us groggily out of our tents, except for The first day of March brought us groggily out of our tents, except for Jeffrey who showed up chipper and on time. Youth is wonderful for a hangover. He was also likely the only one who slept (passed out) through the night.

As our party of four convened in the lodge, one of us commented “Well that was awful.”

We awoke for our first big hike to no rain. Still dark with our early start, we all took our turns in the communal bathrooms for teeth brushing and bladder emptying. With no waiting for the showers or applying makeup, we gathered quickly for our breakfast pre-hike meet-up.

Monday morning welcomed us with sunshine. Tom and Garrett continued to check their weather apps with an outlook of a wet week. We collectively remained optimistic enjoying the blue skies.

Our last day in Punta Arenas brought us our first planned excursion. We were to travel by boat to Magdalena Island to see the largest penguin population (60,000) in South America. This nature sanctuary on Isla Magdalena is a small island located in the middle of the Strait of Magellan.