Summer 26: Oaxaca, Hiking and 4WDing
[December 2025] For our southern hemispher summer this year I was able to do 3 backcountry hiking trips, some 4WDing in Argentina and visit Mexico City and Oaxaca. The day school got out I flew to Puerto Varas in the south with Ben, where we did a 5 day hiking loop that ended up in Cochamo Valley. The weather was very wet! We had lots of mud and the hiking was often tough going. Ben was the best partner! We had fun anyways!
[December 2025] After just one day home for a family Christmas with Robyn and Zoë, Zoë and I flew back to southern Chile, this time to Balmaceda. We worked our way to Chile Chico, where we started a 3 day transversal of Parque Pagagonia — the Jeinimeni to Aviles Valley Trek. The weather for this one was much better. The scenery was spectacular. The first and 3rd days were not too bad but the middle day was challenging indeed, we took almost 10 hours to hike just 10kms, with lots of river crossing and route finding.
[January 2026] We had planned and reserved a trip to Aruba, but our flight to Aruba got cancelled when Trump attacked Venezuela on January 3rd. So, we changed our trip to visit Oaxaca. Zoe joined us for the first ten days or so, which included Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca City. Robyn and I stayed for another ten or so days and visited the beautiful Oaxaca coast.
[January 2026] Once back in Chile, Robyn and I took a week to do a driving loop through Argentina, focusing on 4WD tracks and camping.
[February 2026] For the last week fo the vacation, I flew to Bariloche in Argentina, where I completed the five day ‘4 Refugio’ hike.
