South America

Au t h e nt ic experience

At the ends
of the Earth
Renowned as one of the most beautiful, unspoiled and
remote places on the planet, Patagonia boasts spectacular
mountain ranges, lakes, flora and fauna, making it the ideal
Photos: Explora

destination for adventure. By Brett Atkinson

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 South America
Au th e nt ic experience
Aut

F
or some strange reason, I’m thinking Keith Richards
on a horse. Normally anyone wearing a beret, scarf
and leather chaps couldn’t be classed as cool, but right
now the laid-back Patagonian gauchos I’m riding with
seem like the hippest guys on the planet. With their legendary
equine skills, they’re right at home in the dramatic mountains
and valleys of the Torres del Paine National Park in southern
Chile. As my mount follows their languid path downhill, a
gossamer-light fall of snow is suffused with late afternoon
light. On the periphery of this vista, I see waterfalls and a
compact lake concealed in an alpine valley. The confident posse
of dogs following us obviously knows the way, lured by the lip-
smacking promise of a South American asado (barbecue).
Three days earlier, I woke after a good night’s sleep to my
first experience of the improbable landscapes of Torres del
Paine National Park. A long day’s travel from Santiago has
included a four-hour flight to the windswept southern city of
Punta Arenas, followed by a 400-kilometre journey by road.
With shearing sheds, sheep and rustic letterboxes announcing
the McGregors and the Evanses, the Patagonian farmland is
strangely familiar to a Kiwi traveller. That’s before a flock of
ostrich-like ñandú, or South American rhea, is spied mingling
with the merinos.
After 250 kilometres the ramshackle lakeside town of Puerto
Natales emerges, and it already feels as if we’re at the ends
of the Earth. Dusk is less than an hour away, but we’ve still
got 150 kilometres on unsealed roads before we reach South
America’s most spectacularly located luxury accommodation. So
it’s only when I open the curtains the following morning that I
realise my ten-hour trek south from Santiago has delivered me
to heaven. My sudden switch from the world’s driest desert to
the alpine expanses of (almost literally) the end of the world is
pleasantly disorienting. Head south and the only thing stopping
me from reaching Antarctica is Cape Horn.
With pink-tinged and snow-capped peaks tantalisingly close
across Lago Pehoé, it’s impossible to imagine a more wild and
spectacular location than the lakeside setting of Hotel Salto
Chico. The name of explora en Patagonia’s southern Chile lodge
refers to the “little waterfall” that rushes outside the hotel’s
huge picture windows. Only in Patagonia would the thrilling
cascade be called little, but in the ludicrously scenic Torres del
Paine National Park everything is relative.
Explora en Patagonia shares a lot with explora en Atacama
at the opposite end of the world’s thinnest country: the same
laid-back, enthusiastic and informative guides, and a relaxed
atmosphere tinged with a distinctive Latin-American flair. But
the Patagonian explora is more compact and intimate; Hotel
Salto Chico feels more like a private lodge than a hotel. My
short-term membership of this exclusive explora club only LEFT: Hotel Salto Chico, Patagonia. TOP: Guanaco, close cousin of the llama.
Photos: Explora

lasts the minimum four nights, but most other guests are ABOVE AND PREVIOUS PAGE: Horse-trekking in the vast Torres del Paine
staying for twice that. Lucky buggers, but I’ll just have to be National Park

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 South America
Au t h e nt ic experience
ABOVE: Spectacular views of the ends of the Earth, from Hotel Salto Chico in southern Chile. BELOW: Andean fox, a condor and stars at dusk
doubly active to experience the best of the park’s abundant and
overachieving beauty.
I kick off with a fourteen-kilometre hike to and from the Grey
Glacier, circumnavigating alpine lakes with bobbing icebergs
of intensely turquoise ice, and negotiating glacial moraine and
beech forests very reminiscent of the South Island. (If anyone
from around Glenorchy, Haast or Arthur’s Pass has lost some
scenery, I think I know where to look …). But even the South
Island was never this big or dramatic, and I’m yet to see any
imposing Andean condors with three-metre wingspans cruising
the thermals above Coronet Peak or The Remarkables.
Patagonia’s wildlife action is not only airborne. Explora’s
exclusive access to less-visited areas of the Torres del Paine
National Park ensures that at times it’s also like the best of an
African safari, with the added bonus of jaw-dropping scenery.
Just a few decades ago the llama’s close cousin the guanaco
was endangered, but there are now more than 3,000 of the
quizzical camelids in the park. That’s more than enough to
sustain the growing population of pumas. Like any cat, pumas
are solitary and independent creatures, so any sightings are
restricted to bigger-than-expected paw prints in the snow.
Beside mum’s robust tracks, the more delicate prints of her
cubs are carefully pointed out by my guide Christina. In the
brutally pragmatic Patagonian ecosystem, it’s not just pumas
targeting the guanacos. Minutes after descending from a
cliff-top cave concealing primitive cave paintings, we chance
upon an Andean fox dining on a guanaco carcass. The fox is
obviously pretty hungry and keeps eating as megabytes of
close-up action quickly fill my memory cards.
Back in the lodge, evenings are spent huddled around the
incongruous combination of Chilean wine and relief maps of
the surrounding national park. Explora’s guides work with
guests to establish their active agenda for the following day,
with 25 different half- and full-day activities ranging from
easy to difficult on offer. Semi-flush with fitness after a week
acclimatising at altitude further north on the Andean Altiplano,
114 Winter 2009
A Patagonian gaucho, one of the hippest guys on the planet
I’m keen to get as far into the mountains as I can. A nine-
hour trek to the base of the legendary Torres del Paine is my
preferred option until a heavier than normal early autumn
snowfall makes the route impassable. Instead I trek in a small
group of three to the Toro Heights with 360-degree views of
the park. Patagonia’s notoriously strong winds surge up from
expansive Lago Toro, and we scurry quickly down and across
a slipping, sliding scree slope to the shelter of our transport.
The welcoming glow of the hotel’s unfussy shape soon emerges
from the Patagonian dusk, and, across Lago Pehoé, stars are
suspended like dimmed spotlights above the grand granite
stage of the Paine Massif.
The hotel’s interior also plays it smart design-wise with
an uncluttered but luxurious ambience that doesn’t detract
from the spectacle outside. Huge windows provide cinematic
vantage points from all rooms, and nearby a pool and spa
complex punctuates a rugged bluff just downstream from the
rushing Salto Chico waterfall. Most nights in the hotel there’s
the option of interesting presentations on the geology, flora,
fauna and history of Patagonia, or the less geeky attraction of
a leisurely dinner while recounting the day’s active adventures
with fellow guests. Even more leisurely is a tasting of premium
Chilean wines with hotel manager Marcello: in explora’s cosy
bar, topographical maps are rolled up out of sight and the
conversation turns effortlessly from terrain to terroir.
I’m back with the gauchos, their dogs becoming increasingly
excited as we reach the asado, where explora’s relaxed luxury
is effortlessly recreated in a pavilion near the stables. Chinook
salmon from nearby rivers are delicately steamed, and three
“Torres Del Paine National Park is an sheep are being grilled whole in the traditional upright style.
I wash down an empanada (stuffed bread) with a local Austral
extremely large area so the longer beer, and the sheepdog lying at my feet licks his lips as a
you can stay, the more time you’ll gaucho pulls a big knife from his waistband and starts carving
Photos: Explora
the perfectly grilled meat.
have to enjoy and explore the beautiful Outside, snow is falling heavily, and the dog and I both know
surroundings.” – Louise Murray there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.  
inspiremagazine.co.nz inspiremagazine.co.nz
need to know >>
Expert advice from Louise Murray, South America
specialist, House of Travel
getting there: LAN Airlines operates flights
daily except Fridays from Auckland to Santiago
taking 11½ hours. From there, LAN Airlines
operates daily flights from Santiago to Punta
Arenas, the gateway to Patagonia. Flights take 4 hours. You can
also fly into El Calafate in Argentina and overland into the National
Park by crossing the border into Chile. It is a long drive from either
airport into the park so it is best to book the first flight of the day.
When to go: Patagonia’s seasons are much the same as New
Zealand’s, but summer can often see a bit of rain due to monsoons.
This creates lush vegetation in autumn providing great scenery for
trekking and horse riding. Winter drops to negative temperatures
in some regions. The best time to travel is summer as
temperatures are generally warmer and trails are more accessible.
The months either side of summer—October, November, March
and April—are slightly cooler but there are smaller crowds and
less wind.
WheRE to stay: Explora en Patagonia offers 4-night packages
from NZ$5,299 per person twin share with return transfers from
Punta Arenas Airport to Hotel Salto Chico, 4 nights’ accommodation,
3 meals per day including the bar, daily explorations in Torres
del Paine National Park with bilingual guides, equipment, boats,
horses, vehicles and food (groups no larger than ten per guide).
For more, visit inspiremagazine.co.nz/10/patagonia or phone
House of Travel on 0800 838 747
Grey Torres del Paine
Glacier
Hotel Salto
Chico
Lago
Pehoé
Lago del Toro
Torres del Paine
National Park
Puerto
Chile
Natales
Argentina
Patagonia
Torres
del Paine
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