The Trip That Changed Everything
and how it led to 2016, the most pivotal year of my life (so far)
Hi, I’m Sabine, founder of Hedwig Travel. I craft meaningful journeys that move with your pace and connect you deeply to the world around you. My approach blends thoughtful curation with authentic cultural immersion. You can explore more about what I do here.
I’m not usually one to jump on Instagram trends. After seeing absolutely everyone post the same content for a while, with the same song and caption, it all starts to feel repetitive and boring. But there’s a theme going around at the moment where people are sharing about their 2016s. I admit I had to Google why everyone suddenly started posting about that year. Besides the obvious fact that it’s a 10-year anniversary, it’s part of a viral nostalgia trend, reflecting on a time that felt simpler.
I’m always in when it comes to nostalgia. I love looking back and reflecting. It’s usually years later that I tie the knots, once things finally start to make sense.
So I started thinking about 2016, only to realise that it has been the most pivotal year of my life (so far). Pretty categoric, but true. My life’s path redirected then, and it’s taken its own course ever since.
A few life-changing moments from 2016:
I’ll never forget one of my favorite concerts ever: seeing The Rolling Stones live in Santiago, Chile.
At the beginning of 2016, I spontaneously moved from my mom’s house in the big city to a beach town 3.5 hours away, a place I had been visiting since I was 16. I had finished my journalism degree a couple of years earlier, and after trying the 9-5 routine, I knew it wasn’t for me. I then had my first real experience in the hospitality industry, working at one of my favorite hotels in the world. Little did I know that three years later, I would be studying Hospitality Management in Australia!
Later that year, I left Chile, where I had been living for 10 years, and never moved back.
It was also the year I faced a very hard decision. I was offered my dream job as a journalist in an environmental organisation, or I could take the opportunity to travel to Oregon, US, to work on a farm. Back then, I already knew that if I left for the US, I might never come back.
So the question, really, was: should I stay or should I go? I went. I knew I had to, but as often happens when you’ve made up your mind about something, the Universe puts a very attractive offer on the table. I’ve learned to keep my head cool and stay in my lane, even when there are sweet treats tempting me down other paths.
But life-changing years like these don’t happen out of nowhere.
This shift started back in 2015.
With my family, we traveled to the Peruvian Amazon in February and participated in my first plant medicine ceremony with our shaman, Amador. It was a transformative experience that cracked my head open in a thousand little pieces and changed how I navigated life.
In March, my friends and I went on a month-long trip to Bahia, Brazil. After a couple of weeks relaxing on the beach and sipping caipirinhas, we headed inland.
Chapada Diamantina, a national park roughly 400 km northwest of Salvador, had been calling me for years, and I finally knew I had to go. We grabbed our backpacks and took a 10-hour bus ride through dusty roads and a landscape very different from the beaches we were used to.
Chapada Diamantina
It is a true hidden gem and a must-see if you’re visiting Brazil and want more than just cities and beaches. Far from the usual tourist crowds, the nature feels untouched and awe-inspiring. Picture a landscape of towering plateaus, deep valleys, sheer cliffs, mysterious caves, and a breathtaking variety of cachoeiras (waterfalls).
Chapada Diamantina is huge, 1,520 square kilometers, like everything in Brazil. It’s no wonder the country is often called “País mais grande do mundo” (the biggest country in the world).
There are several towns within the national park. The bigger ones are Lençóis, Mucugê, and Palmeiras, which also tend to host most of the tourists. We were craving a more authentic experience (I’m telling you, I’ve always been like this), so we landed in Vale do Capão, a small, picturesque village known for its bohemian, eco-friendly community.
We felt at home straight away, like you do almost everywhere in Brazil. It’s such an expansive, fulfilling, happy, and inspiring country. I’ve visited many times and could keep going back forever.
We quickly made friends from all over the world and of all ages, sharing adventures along the way. After only a couple of days, we became close. There’s nothing quite like those backpacker trips where you connect so deeply with a group of strangers that they become your family and your new reality very quickly.
Trilhas
During this trip, I discovered the magical world of trilhas, hiking trails woven through the land. It was love at first sight.
I had gone on hikes before, but never with this level of intention. For the first time, I understood what it feels like to truly connect with the land while moving through it, step by step.
Somewhere along the way, we came across The 10 Principles of a Walker. I’ll never forget them, because during that time, I was able to fully embody each one. They go like this:
Never gauge the height.
Never measure the time.
Never measure the distance.
The trails do not belong to us.
Breathe deeply and step lightly.
Do not walk as if it were an obligation.
Face the sun and the rain as companions.
Do not treat the trails as a challenge.
SPEAK WITH THE SILENCE.
Share your bread and water with everyone.
Trilhas offered me a new perspective on what it means to walk this earth, and after Chapada Diamantina, I never walked the same. When I’m on a steep hike and everything starts to feel a bit too much, I repeat those commandments over and over again, like a mantra.
Since then, I always try to sneak in a hike or two during my travels. Sometimes they’re long, like my three-week trekking journey through the Annapurnas in Nepal. Sometimes they’re mid-length, like the many hikes I’ve done around Chilean Patagonia. And more often, they’re single-day hikes. Volcanoes are my favorite, and I chase them wherever I go.
Freedom
Chapada Diamantina also showed me what freedom felt like. I had finished my journalism degree not long before, and for the first time,my life felt truly mine.
I was free to make decisions that felt right. I could dream big. I had the privilege of choosing any path I wanted. I was also lucky to have parents who always supported every dream and every radical idea I had.
During that trip, we met people from all over the world, living all kinds of lives. Back home in Chile, my social bubble seemed to follow a traditional and linear path: school, university, a well paid job, marriage, kids. In Brazil, I understood, with every cell of my being, that my life would be different.
I also integrated a thought that had been slowly brewing since my trip to the Peruvian Amazon just a couple of months earlier. I was going to leave Chile, with no fixed plan, no return ticket, and see how it would all unfold.
So in October 2016, I packed my backpack and flew to Oregon, in the US. I took an opportunity to work on a farm, where I met beautiful people living unconventional lives, many of them doing seasonal work. For the first time in my life, I realised that we don’t necessarily have to work all year round just to get three weeks of holiday. There are other ways of making it happen. They require sacrifice and determination, but they are possible.
I left Chile in 2016 and I haven’t moved back yet. It’s been ten years. When I think about it, I find it extraordinary. I picture my 26 year old self standing next to that tiny Alaska Airlines plane flying from LA to Medford, her head full of dreams and her heart hungry for adventure.
Yes, 2016. The year that changed everything.
Best is still yet to come!