SOUTH AMERICA | CHILEAN PATAGONIA
Chile's wind-swept, wondrous Torres del Paine National Park
Whales may be resurfacing in Chilean Patagonia
South America's Pan-American Highway
[This story originally appeared in print September 18, 2005.]
What entices nearly 200,000 Europeans and North Americans to make the pilgrimage to Patagonia each year? Besides the region’s beauty, South America’s southern tip has a unique network of convivial refugios (mountain huts), delightful rustic inns and adventure-oriented luxury lodges. Those distinguish Chile’s spectacular Torres del Paine from other national parks, providing its visitors with comfortable beds and refined cuisine.
Wild and beautiful
The Torres del Paine rise with breathtaking abruptness out of the pancake-flat pampas. No matter how many glossy magazine photos you’ve seen of the torres, or towers, the landscape is more amazing in person. The most notable conservation success at the national park, since it was named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978, has been the native guanaco (a smaller relative of the llama), which grazes the open steppes where its main predator, the puma, cannot approach undetected. Other wildlife frequently spotted includes flamingos, comical nandues (a flightless bird related to the ostrich) and soaring Andean condors.
Giddyap, gaucho
If hiking is not your cup of tea, do not despair. Before its creation in 1959, the park was part of a large sheep-ranching estancia. Thus, one traditional way to experience the rich diversity of the 700-square-mile park is on horseback. It doesn’t get more authentic than being guided by a gaucho (cowboy) past roaring rivers and across rolling grasslands to a rustic quincho (country-style restaurant) for a lunch of vino tinto and whole young lamb barbecued on an open fire.
Not the horsy type?
The constantly shifting view of the towers is enough to distract most city slickers from inevitable saddle soreness. Less painful ways to while away an afternoon include bird-watching, sailing, kayaking among sculpted icebergs and fly-fishing for blue-ribbon trout in glacial streams.
Getting to Chile
LAN Air offers direct flights from Los Angeles to Santiago. Delta, American and Copa have connecting flights (change of plane). Restricted round-trip fares begin at $749. From Santiago, LAN Air and Aerolineas del Sur have direct flights to Punta Arenas; one-way fares start at $165. Alternatively, consider sailing through the southern Chilean fiords aboard Navimag’s Puerto Eden ferry (www.navimag.com) to Puerto Natales.
When to visit Torres del Paine
The park is open year round. Reservations are essential from December through February, the region’s summer months. Early December and March are the best times for trekking. Winter (May through September) is less windy and better for spotting pumas. Wildflowers peak during the spring. Fall is more colorful, but services are reduced, and the weather is volatile. Any time of year, come prepared for strong winds.
A fire in February burned 38,000 acres – nearly 7% of the park – in the Laguna Azul sector. All services have resumed full operation, and landscape-restoration efforts are now underway. For more information, go to www.torresdelpaine.com.
Getting around Torres del Paine
Big Foot (www.bigfootpatagonia.com) is the only outfitter authorized to lead daylong ice hikes on Grey Glacier ($75), which include rappelling, hiking with crampons, ice climbing and glimpses inside ice caves. The company also organizes mountaineering trips, climbing seminars and overnight kayaking trips ($120 to $500). Puerto Natales-based outfitter Antares (www.antarespatagonia.com) specializes in backpacking trips led by bilingual naturalists. Baqueano Zamora (www.baqueanozamora.com) offers guided half-day horseback excursions ($60) that include a country-style lunch.
Where to stay around Torres del Paine
In Puerto Natales, the English-speaking travel agency Path@gone (www.pathagone.com) handles reservations for the park’s popular campgrounds ($11 a night) and refuges ($17 to $50 per person). Well-situated Hosteria las Torres (www.lastorres.com; doubles from $149) offers free transportation to and from Guarderia Laguna Amarga, the ranger station about 70 miles north. The hotel offers a full range of spa treatments, attractive rooms and elaborate buffet meals. Near the park’s south entrance, the rambling, 14-room Posada Rio Serrano (www.baqueanozamora.com; doubles from $66; dorm bed $25) occupies a restored but still rustic 19th century ranch house. It’s a popular base camp for fishing and horseback-riding, made comfortable by a restaurant, a bar and a cozy living room that centers around the fireplace.
The steep rates at Explora’s Hotel Salto Chico (www.explora.com; four nights: $1,560 to $2,688 per person, double occupancy) include exquisite meals paired with fine wines, plus excursions led by bilingual guides.
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