Best of Chile Tour

Castillo del Diablo at Concho y Toro Winery east of Santiago
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Setting off at the crack of dawn from Cape Town, South Africa and travelling via Johannesburg this intrepid group of 17 travellers, spent our first night in Sao Paolo, Brazil at the Marriott Airport Hotel.  This was strictly a comfort stop to break the long journey ~ and certainly well worth it despite the excellent flight on SAA's new A320-200 which is generous in its spacious 2-4-2 seating configuration. Unfortunately most of our luggage was earmarked on to Santiago, so we spent a night sans luggage ~ and just "made do".

The Santa Rita Winery
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The next day we flew on LAN from Sao Paolo to Santiago, a comfortable 3 hour flight.  After passing through Customs & Immigration, and collecting our luggage that had arrived on an earlier flight, we were met by our long time friend and guide, Cecilia Moreno, who took us to our Novotel Hotel in Viticura where we were to base ourselves for the next 3 days.  Novotel is one of the new breed of hotels ~ contemporary and minimalistic ~ however quite adequate, affordable, clean, cheerful and situated in the leafy, upmarket, safe-to-walk-in streets, close to shops, restaurants etc.  What I really liked about it was the hydro-therapy pool and jacuzi which are free of charge to hotel residents.  What wasn't so good were the twin-sharing rooms.  In fact, management had to give us a free upgrade to two single rooms because the beds were totally inadequate and unacceptable for two ladies or gents sharing.

The Santiago Skyline with the Snow-capped Andes in the background
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Our first afternoon was at leisure to relax.  Some relaxed while others went out exploring the area, shopping etc and in the evening we found a quaint little restaurant in the area, where we tried out local specialities and quickly learned how to use our Spanish phrase books and dictionaries.  Nobody speaks too much Ingles in this part of the world and no hablamos muchas Espanol.

While in Santiago we had a halfday tour of the city and a full day excursion to the country to visit the vineyards and wineries in the Cajol del Maipo valley est of Santiago.  We visited the impressive Concha y Toro Winery and had an impressive lunch at the Santa Rita Winery.

An aerial view of the Torres del Paine massif.
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From Santiago, our journey of discovery was really only beginning.  We flew via Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas at 54 deg S.  Our flight across the snow-covered Andes was most spectacular especially when the pilot flew over the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia affording us a taste of what we were to experience up close and personal.

From Punta Arenas we travelled overland 3 hours to Puerto Natales where we embarked on MV Skorpios III, an expedition ship that carries 110 passengers for our 6 day/5 night cruise.  It was from here that we commenced our adventure into the fjords to see the biggest glaciers in the southern hemisphere.  Skorpios III navigates 600 miles towards the glaciers of the Southern Ice fields visiting the Pio XI, Amalia and Calvo Glaciers.  We also visited the village of Puerto Eden, cradle of the ancient indigenous people, the Kaweskar, who navigated through these latitudes in fragile canoes.  It is to these indigenous people that the Skorpios gives tribute by baptizing this route "Kaweskar Explorers Route".  The scenery is quite awe-inspiring as it unfolds along the way. This is an unparalleled experience.  These glaciers are considered to be the third largest deposit of fresh water in the world.  The Southern Ice Field has a surface area of 13 000 km2 and a length of 350 kms.  The immense ice mass is found in the highest peaks of the Andes Mountains; its size is equivalent to 6 times greater than that of Belgium.  It posses 48 glaciers, on of which, Pio XI, the largest glacier in the southern hemisphere, with its 1 263 km2 mass, is almost equal to the total land area of the city of Santiago.  It has a length of 64 kms and a face surface that measures 6 kms.  Its ice towers reach upwards to 75 meters in height.  Without doubt the Amalia is a colossus of nature.  Twice a day we participated in excursions in motorboats that took us amongst the ice floes as we enjoyed a toast with whisky on millenium old ice.  Skorpios III is a perfect expedition ship for cruising the narrow fjords of this area and getting really close to the glaciers. The extraordinary generosity of Captain Kochifas (owner of the Skorpios line), the amazing culinary experience and the attention to detail paid by Senora Mimi Kochifas, will certainly be remembered by all who travelled on this vessel for a long time to come.  All drinks and cocktails are included in the fare and there is no shortage of king crab and other such lavish seafoods. 

Coming in to land at Puerto Montt with Orsorno volcano in the background
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Alas, as all good things come to an end, Skorpios III eventually, ahead of the rapidly deteriorating weather, arrived back in Puerto Natales, and we continued our overland tour into the Torres del Paine National Park visiting the Miloden Cave, home to the extinct Milodon Bear, a large herbivore which became extinct in the late Pleistocene era and roamed the area together with the saber-toothed tiger.

As we approached the National Park, the scenery became very dramatic with the Torres del Paine massif covered in heavy cloud.  We made a couple of stops to take photographs and just absorb the spectacular scenery.  Lunch at the Pehoe Hostelry overlooking Pehoe Lake is an inspiring stop from which to admire Nature at her very pristine.

Pio XI Glacier. A very awe-inspiring sight.
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Two nights were spent at the Rio Serano Lodge just outside the park. A relatively new lodging, the views from each room were just magnificent ~ chocolate box stuff.  Here we based ourselves for the bliss of exploring this gorgeous area.  We saw supreme waterfalls and lakes in which the reflections were picture perfect.  We took a boat across Lago Grey to the Grey Glacier and saw icebergs, the likes of which I have never seen before ~ these icebergs have carved off the face of the glacier and been blown and shaped by the wind, each one totally different in shape, size and colour.

The view of the Torres del Paine Massif from Rio Serano Lodge
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A definite must if one is in the park, is to visit the Museum at the Park Headquarters.  We were fortunate enough to see the National Geographic video on the Mountain Puma of the Torres del Paine National Park.

While we were in the Park, the weather improved and eventually we were able to get the full grand picture of the Massif.