BLACKBOOK THE HANDBOOK Santiago Chile Buenos Aires price to pay in exchange for experiencing one of the greatest conservation efforts of the 21st century. Kristine believes that to appreciate nature, you have to experience it. Thus the first thing she and her husband established in Patagonia Park was two trails, both accessible from the lodge. One is the 22.5km Lagunas Altas Trail, and the other is the 7km La Vega Trail to the park’s West Winds campground. (More trails are being constructed.) I did the fairly flat La Vega hike my first day, but I didn’t feel experienced enough to do the longer, mountainous trek the second day, so lodge manager Daniel Casado suggested I hike to the confluence of the Baker and Chacabuco rivers. It recently became an official trail, and the location has special meaning: It was the site of one of the five proposed HidroAysén dams, a megaproject whose construction the Tompkinses and other conservationists successfully lobbied against for eight years. “To be part of something that changes the possibility of an entire region and country will go down as one of the highlights of our lives,” Kristine said. Lodge guide Sergio agreed to hike there with me. From above, the Baker River’s churning turquoise water, with its milky-looking consistency, seemed out of a chemistry lab. The hike was 45 minutes downhill, the final 15 minutes of which were fairly steep. When we got to Pumalin Park is a temperate rain forest that sits at the southern end of Chile’s Lake District the riverbed, the beach was filled with small pebbles. We were the only humans for miles. We sat at the junction of the rivers and ate our brown-bag lunches (a turkey sandwich on multigrain bread, trail mix with nuts and dried fruit and an almond chocolate bar, all provided by the lodge). I pulled out a glass mug I had brought from our base and drank out of the glacier-fed rivers, which are some of the purest in the world. A condor flew overhead. Guanacos were running wild. To a soundtrack of the running water, I looked up into the sunny blue sky, and a heaviness filled my heart as I imagined what it would have been like if the dam had been built. Where I was sitting would have been deep underwater. Never in my 34 years have I been so moved by Earth in its natural state of being. At dinner that night in the park’s restaurant, I sat in the same booth as I had the previous two evenings. I had got to know the restaurant’s sole waiter, Nick, a Dane whom the Tompkinses had met while he was working at a sushi restaurant in Iceland. Glancing around the large, empty dining room, I could almost see and hear the ghosts of generations to come. I said to Nick, “Wouldn’t it be something to see this place filled up with people in 20 years?” Standing there, with a window behind him acting as a canvas for the dancing stars dusted like glitter across the black night sky, Nick said, “When it is, I’ll have your table waiting for you.” W H A T T O E X P E C T Pucón Argentina Puerto Montt Balmaceda Patagonia Park El Chaltén Glaciers National Park El Calafate Torres del Paine Puerto Natales A Patagonia trip is not about ease and comfort Punta Arenas The Chilean Airlines Latam and Sky fly routes that go south but not always north (and vice versa), and there isn’t a helicopter culture to ferry travellers across great distances. This means a two-week trip, for example, could include at least seven gruelling drives – between two and eight hours each, sometimes on unpaved roads – to get from airports to lodges. Even flying privately doesn’t guarantee easy access. SUVs haven’t made their way to all of the remotest areas; a pickup truck can be considered a luxury ride. It’s often a two-hour drive from a lodge to the start of an excursion, whether it’s hiking, horseback riding, fishing or cycling. Meanwhile, the terrain is rugged. The wind, which can reach up to 130kph in Torres del Paine, is challenging. All four seasons can be experienced in one day. There are times when, even at an upmarket lodge, you will feel at nature’s mercy. This means that the right gear is essential. At minimum a spring (October) or summer (December through February) traveller needs hiking boots and trousers, a down jacket, a layering fleece, long underwear (pants and top), rain jacket and trousers, a hat, mittens, wool socks, a hiking pack and a water bottle. PHOTOS FROM TOP: ISTOCK (MAP), CARLOS QUEZADA/AP PHOTOS/PICTURE ALLIANCE 36 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
