Lynne's Travels : Patagonia

Patagonia

On route to Patagonia, I stopped off at Santiago de Chile for almost a day. Arriving just after lunchtime, it was pleasantly warm; and driving to the hotel, I couldn't help notice the slums and garbage that were almost tumbling into the brown, murky river. That was the only horrible part I saw, the rest of the city was modern, exceptionally clean with a first class infrastructure.

Walking along the river, which did appear more like a huge, fast flowing sewer though - especially with the graffiti painting of a giant rat on the far wall. After walking past half a dozen bridges, keeping my bearings, I came to the Costanera Center; 6 floors of shops, restaurants and the city's iconic Sky Costanera.

This building is the tallest viewpoint in Latin America, but due to the haze looming over the city, it was closed - apparently this is quite common as Santiago does have a pollution problem. It would have been good to see the surrounding mountains, but I knew there would be many more mountains to come tomorrow. I returned to my hotel by the opposite riverbank, which was far more colourful, with blossoming trees and a park containing many abstract sculptures. There was what appeared to be a metal grid running through the park, and when I peered into it, I could not believe that there was a motorway running below. I did laugh at one of the road interchanges, a man selling ice creams, ran out to cars stopped at the traffic lights - trying to sell his ices - where in a different country, you would have expected him to clean the car windscreen.

Exhausted, I opted for a relaxing swim before dinner and an early night. The next day was a long flight down to Punta Arenas, but after the halfway stop, the weather improved and it was wonderful to see the most southerly part of the Andes Mountains - in particular the Torres del Paine. Patagonia covers an area of over 400,000 square kilometres stretching across both Chile and Argentina, and straight down to the tip of the continent, having some of the world’s most dramatic landscapes.

This is what I had dreamt of seeing, snow capped mountains, granite peaks, turquoise lakes, glaciers and icy fjords. It was glorious sunshine when we touched down at Punta Arenas, where we were met by the representatives of the Hotel Remota. As they drove us away from the airport, I couldn't help but notice there were types of bunkers and military planes dotted about - which reminded me of the not so long ago Falklands conflict.

It was an enjoyable transfer to the hotel, through what is known as the Patagonian Steppe; the highway was smooth and the scenery enchanting - reminding me of the Scottish highlands. To start with, the ground was extremely flat with extensive sheep farms, but then there were miles of pampas grasses, bushes and forests - although many trees had been burnt down several years ago and only parched sections remained. We were lucky enough to see some ostrich-like Rhea and a flock of flamingoes paddling on a lagoon.

There were very few buildings to be seen within minutes of leaving Punta Arenas, as the ones now were mainly ranches and these were their own micro communities. Every building was pristine and tidy, and the bus stops outside each ranch were the most ornate bus stops you could ever imagine - in different colours with carved roofs and comfy seats. Once the majestic mountains came into view, I knew we were nearly there - it had been a delightful 3-hour journey to Puerto Natales. The sun had set only a few minutes before our arrival at the Hotel Remota and what a spectacular site it now was.

The crimson sky against the hills opposite and serene lake below made the most amazing picture; and although we didn't get our dinner until after 11pm - it was worth it to capture that scene.

As I walked back to my bedroom, the moon shone now on the midnight water, stars twinkled above and I couldn't have wished to be anywhere else.

When I woke the next morning my astonishment continued, the view of the fjord was mesmerizing - it could not have been any calmer.

The sun was shining, there was no wind and today we were going to Torres del Paine National Park. This part of Chilean Patagonia was not really mapped until the 1930's and is still an unspoilt wilderness, best known for the twisted horns or Cuernos del Paine - and the spectacular 10,000-foot smooth granite towers that are part of the rugged Paine Massif mountain range. Enroute we saw many guanaco (a type of llama), which were feeling very fruity.

The Visitor Centre at the entrance to the park stood above Lake Toro, with its meandering river and more guanaco grazing happily below. I was concerned to read what we should do if we came across a wild puma - not to run to start with (that wasn't something I had been expecting), stand tall and keep looking at the animal. As we drove through the park, passing different lookout points, taking in the picture-book views that were surpassing every one of my expectations, we were lucky enough to see 5 condors circling on the therms above.

Our guides checked to see if they were hovering over a kill, but no dead animals could be seen - and condors don't do their own killing, they wait to see what others leave behind for them to scavenge.

We stopped for the most lavish picnic lunch at a campsite on the shores of Lake Nordensskjold, where the view of the mountain range could not have been any more impressive.

Everything was perfect, the weather, the location and the incredible views. After lunch we stopped at a turquoise gushing waterfall, which was thundering down into the lagoon below; this is supposed to be one of the windiest places in the park - we even had to keep hold of our glasses.

Again the view of the snow-capped mountains was awesome, they made me feel like I could just reach out and touch them - they appeared to be so close. It looked like some of the snow was just waiting to fall off - creating an avalanche below. On our way again, the roads soon became less accessible, although far better than I was expecting, and our final trek was over a rickety swing bridge (that was restricted to 6 people at a time), through the forest to the beach of Lake Grey, another incredibly windy place.

Along the shingled shoreline, there were several huge icebergs that had floated there from Grey Glacier in the distance. It was late when we arrived back at Puerto Natales and the weather was nothing like it had been at the beginning of the day - you really do have to capture photos in that moment when you see them and never wait for another time - sometimes it never comes.

The following morning, we had an early start on a boat going into the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. We sailed up the Canal Senoret and the Ultima Esperanza Fjord, passing by cattle ranches that were totally inaccessible except by boat - a real feeling of them being last outposts.

There were cormorants nesting high above us in the cliffs and as we travelled further into the fjord, the mountains of Torres del Paine again came into view - but not as good a view as the day before.

We passed several extremely high waterfalls, being fed from the glaciers above. The boat stopped in front of Mount Balmaceda and its 1000-year-old retreating glacier, where we could admire its blue and white frontage.

Not far from here, we were allowed off the boat to hike up through the forest, and along the shoreline of the lake to the base of the Serrano Glacier, surrounded by snowy peaks. The ice that had calved from the front wall of the glacier had floated away to the opposite end of the lake where it appeared to be a broken-up frozen lake.

The photos taken through the trees, of the ice with the glacier in the background were beautiful - the dark water and trees really contrasting off the white ice. Back on the boat, we were heading back towards Puerto Natales, but not before stopping for lunch at Estancia Perales cattle ranch, which was situated in the loveliest position, in a quiet shingled cove, overlooking dramatic mountains.

The lunch was fairly basic but was served in a traditional Chilean way; huge chunks of lamb were piled up high on a metal stand with whole potatoes between. Whilst we ate lunch, there were gauchos outside, herding cattle down to the water for a drink, with help from their terriers. There were also sheep and horses on the ranch, and as the sun was shining, it made the setting even more perfect.

Once we were back on the boat, true to Patagonian form, the weather went from one extreme to another; the wind and rain picked up and it wasn't safe to go outside the boat for the last hour of the journey. They say that you can have all 4 seasons in one day here in Patagonia. Once I arrived back at the hotel, it felt good to be able to have a swim in the infinity pool and relax in the sauna before my last dinner at the Remota.

It wasn't an early start the next morning, and it was a pleasant drive back down to Punta Arenas again. The landscape very quickly changed from the high mountains through miles of dead trees - some of which were being cleared, to miles of vast savanna grasslands. There is so little tourism there; I felt very privileged to have seen it before it changed.

Even around the town of Puerto Natales, there were small chalets along the fjord, not many of them, and they were so strategically placed, they did not to spoil the landscape in any way. The guides Pablo, Rodriguez and the drivers had been a credit to the hotel, which itself had been a wonderful place to stop - it certainly lived up to its name The Remota.

As we approached our destination, the wind had picked up, and the ocean was covered in choppy white caps - when I was so hoping for it to be calm, but that was a ridiculous thought really. We arrived at the ship ready to start the next part of our adventure - sailing to Antarctica.

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On route to and again back from Antarctica, we went through the Patagonian Fjords - here are my favourite photos.