For five years, I’ve lived in the south of Chile, in a town that marks the beginning of the vast and wild lands of Patagonia. This is the place where I first got in touch with making cosmetics and learned about the healing benefits of wild rosehip, as an incredible solution for my own troubled skin. It’s also where my daughter Pippa was born in 2018. Ten years have passed since I set foot in Chile for the first time, and this year, I travelled back with Pippa by my side. Although I was a bit nervous at first to travel solo with my 5-year old to such a far destination, it was honestly the best decision I could ever make.
I wrote a travel report of our roundabouts to give you a taste of what it’s like to spend time in the incredible country that harvests our beloved rosehips. Enjoy!
We first set foot in the capital, Santiago de Chile, where we stayed for two nights with our dear friend and artist Loreto Figueroa. While adjusting to a new timezone, we got to relax in her green oasis in the middle of this frenetic city. She took us out for art expositions, a vegetarian lunch and treated us to a ceramics workshop amidst the garden. It was the perfect place to arrive to the southern hemisphere. Our stay here also initiated a new collab between us that will be announced soon!
Chile is a 6000km stretch of land, from the driest desert in the north to the icelands of the Arctics in the south. Santiago lies right in the middle, and so we started our trip further south. We visited Pippa’s great grandmother on her birthday, and celebrated with lots of family members under the apricot trees in the dazzling heat of Chile’s central region.
There wasn’t much time to waste, as our rosehip partners were expecting us for an entire day of rosehip-related activities. I’m still stunned by the way we were received in Los Angeles. After many hours on the bus, we arrived and were immediately invited to the family home of Margarita, our personal rosehip expert in Chile. We got to share a meal with her family. It was so lovely to see our daughters getting along and sharing time while we talked rosehip and got to connect on a personal level. The next day, with photographer Camila Cadiz, we visited the rosehip harvest and were welcomed by Isabel and Jose. Isabel has been harvesting rosehip for over 30 years now, and explained more about the seasonal lifestyle and what a huge impact the rosehip harvest has on her livelihood. In the afternoon, we visited the rosehip processing plant, where the wild fruits are received, dried and cold pressed into our favourite oil. It was so incredibly interesting, and I’m truly grateful for the warm welcome and the countless things we’ve learned. I love how Pippa was by my side through it all, creating memories for life on this beauty entrepreneurial adventure together.
It was time to continue our trip to Puerto Varas, the place where our family and friends live, the picturesque town where Pippa was born. We stayed at the beautiful home of my dear friend Maria Correa, an interior designer, foodie and lover of arts and crafts. For lunch, we would harvest potatoes and broad beans while enjoying their incredible view on the Calbuco, one of Chile’s emblematic volcanoes. Our time around the south can be best described as a rollercoaster of friends visiting, trips taken, long nights and many meals shared. I also got to meet one of my Chilean idols, Coté de la Fuente, the founder of Huiro Regenerativo. She works on sustainable algae production, a project I will share much more about in the future. So excited about this, as it could be the beginning of a very new chapter in Maiwe’s story!
To end the trip, we went to the Maiwe lake, how could we not. To me, the most beautiful place in the world, a silent, mirror-like glacier lake surrounded by native forests. A place that is so important to us and our family. One of the highlights during our stay in Maiwe was definitely our annual get together with Gladis, a resourceful lady that grew up on the shores of this magical lake, and set up a local business with her daughter Claudia. They work together with the entire Maiwe community and process the wild berries that grow around the lake. They sell Maqui liquor, blueberry jam, raspberry infusions, and yes: rosehip marmalade. I loaded my suitcase with marmalade, made from the wildest rosehips of the Maiwe lake, ready to be served at my dear Lab, shared with all of you during our next events.
Now I’m back in Antwerp, loaded with beautiful memories, and charged with new ideas for Maiwe. What I love about travel, is how it brings you to places you have not yet been, and connects you to people you have not yet met, but who were somehow always connected to who you are today and who you will become. Travel is all about transition, lived entirely in the here and now.
