Seriously, where do I even start?!

These are the highlights from the beginning of Megan & Stephen’s epic wedding adventure. And when I say EPIC and ADVENTURE, I do not, repeat DO NOT use those terms lightly. Megan is my travel hero. She put together the most incredible, possibly insane, itinerary for her dream wedding and I still can’t believe I had the honor of capturing it all. 

We began at the end of the world. We made our way overnight from Tampa to Santiago and picked up some of Stephen’s friends who had a head start. We then kept going on 2 more domestic flights all the way down to Punta Arenas and then drove our bad ass mini van to Puerto Notalas, home base #1. 

From way down there we made excursions into Torres del Paine National Park. We kayaked like mad to reach icebergs downstream from Grey Glacier and hiked 9KM (18 round trip) to the Torres del Paine, or The Towers, themselves. IT WAS AMAZING! My body felt broken and I definitely brought up the rear! In my defense I didn’t have the greatest set up for hiking with my gear AND we had unexpectedly gorgeous warm weather and my fleece pants almost killed me right off the bat. Thanks for the swap out Stephen hahah! Luckily the view from the top was absolutely worth it. 

While we adventured we saw Guanacos, Flamingos, hot head wild street dogs (they would try to fight cars!), and I think penguins! But the Puma eluded us, much to Megan’s disappointment. It was the most intense and surreal way we could have started the trip and I loved it!

From there we headed back up to Santiago to meet up with the wedding guests and head to Pucon for the festivities! Megan timed everything eerily perfectly! We all arrived from different states and countries all within about an hour of each other and were ready to hop on our flight to Pucon together! Nuts! 

This group of their closest friends and family all piled into a shuttle headed for the resort, fueled by a few stops to the local mercado for a steady supply of Pisco and beer 🙂 When we arrived to the Hotel Atumulal we were all FLOORED! The resort hosted THE QUEEN in the 60’s and it is incredible. It’s set on essentially the cliffside of Villerica Lake, surrounded by not 1 but 2 VOLCANOS. 

Our first night there was perfection. We had the most delicious Asado welcome dinner…I can still taste the beef. 

The next day we were off to the local government office to secure the Chilean marriage license! These two made sure they were legitimately married in Chile and it will be recognized here in the US. How cool! After that it was time to gather the group and head to have a traditional Mapuche lunch before lounging in natural hot springs. Our adventures also included white water rafting, more hiking, and an incredible “rehearsal dinner” at a local farm. SO MUCH AWESOME!

Next up are highlights from the wedding day itself followed by our time in the Santa Cruz wine region before heading home. Stay tuned!