Portrait of a thin country
Published: 01 September 2008
A country that stretches from the frozen South Pole to the arid Atacama can be hard to get to grips with. We present to you Chile – a land of remarkable contrasts.
From the pool deck of explora’s Hotel de Larache, the sun slips below sculpted sand dunes, tingeing Licancabur volcano a deep plum-purple. The Atacama in northern Chile is a desert stripped of almost everything but beauty.
It’s among the driest places on earth, where rainfall is yet to be recorded. But with next to no vegetation, visibility is exceptional. Wide windows look out toward a backdrop of striated volcanic cones rising 20,000ft – pink, purple, tawny and as red as embers, depending on the light. The night skies are clearer than anywhere else on the planet; so clear that astronomers will soon be able to see the earliest known galaxies from a billiondollar observatory. Below the volcanoes are giant salt lakes, lunar valleys, bird-filled lagoons and rocky scrub where guanaco roam free.
Closer still is the town of San Pedro de Atacama, 7,500ft above sea level. Pepper trees shade its sandy streets and colonial plaza. Amid the stone and adobe houses are a whitewashed church and well-organised museum. San Pedro is the only base for exploring the Atacama’s extraordinary landscapes, and explora’s Hotel de Larache is among a new breed of all-inclusive designer hotels explora was founded in 1989 to encourage a new way of travel in the remote regions of southern South America. Born from a philosophy that embraced nature, liberty and local culture, its three hotels – others are in Patagonia and on Easter Island – allow guests to tailor their own itineraries amid stylish, boutique surroundings.
The comfortable lounges, bar and restaurant of Hotel de Larache are on a raised platform with the rooms in single-story blocks below, rather like stables at a stately home. A wooden walkway leads to an L-shaped infinity pool and elegant pavilions, each with its own sauna. It’s the kind of place where you return from a day’s trekking to a chilled pisco sour, a soak in a huge bathtub and soft, luxurious linens.
Included in a stay, as well as all meals and house wines, is a choice of up to 40 adventures: climbing in the Andes, treks at 12,000ft, cycling, horse riding and archeological tours. An absolute must is catching the sunset in Moon Valley, an otherworldly universe of escarpments and hollows, dunes, cliffs and intricate formations of salt and sediment.
Competing for the top sunset spot is Chaxa Lagoon, in the midst of the 3,000km2 Atacama Salt Lake. Pink flamingoes stare at their own reflections in its ultramarine waters, surrounded by a crust of salt as rough as coral that stretches as far as the eye can see. In the nearby village of Toconao, locals use cactus spines to weave garments from llama wool. The most popular of all excursions is to the Tatio geysers, where the collision of cold water and volcanic magma fires water over 10m high through a series of crusted fissures. It takes an early start to catch sunrise at the world’s highest geyser field, but it’s more than worth the effort.
Over 1,000 miles south of San Pedro is the Chilean capital of Santiago. To the east are the uptown haunts of the rich and powerful – all wide avenues and golf clubs. To the west are rickety pastel houses and Dickensian alleyways. All around are yet more volcanoes. A trip to the statue of the Virgin, 2,800ft up on Cerro San Cristóbal, is essential – the views are spectacular. In the city’s old heart is the Catedral Metropolitana, a baroque masterpiece, while street performers gather along the banks of the Río Mapocho.
If the mist does occasionally roll in then don’t worry, it’s one of the reasons for the area’s vinicultural prowess. The high altitude, humidity and cooling currents from the mountains and ocean make Chile a wine heaven. Cooler vines give the grapes structure and a pure fruitiness, where hotter climes can induce sweat and slightly stewed flavours. The best wine routes are all within an hour of Santiago.
You’ll find herbaceous Sauvignon Blancs, well-defined Cabernets, pungent Pinot Noirs and plummy Syrahs. The grape of the moment is Carmenère. Thought lost to the phylloxera plague that struck French vineyards in the 19th century, Carmenère was rediscovered in Chile in 1994 and has become the taste à la mode. Pick up a bottle of reserve before you go home.
As the country thins towards its tip, the scenery changes again. Chilean Patagonia is a remote, desolate, untamed wilderness of quite spectacular beauty. Unlike the arid north, this is a land of rushing rivers and groaning glaciers, of waterfalls, forests and windswept lakes full of slowlymelting icebergs.
Condors stretch their 12ft wingspans among its peaks. Guanacos – orangecoloured cousins of the llama – stand around on bluffs looking dopey. And hungry-looking pumas forage in the foothills. Torres del Paine National Park lies just north of Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world. Its 10,000ft towers of rose-coloured granite are an icon of South America, as photographed as Machu Picchu or Iguazu Falls.
By day you can play the plucky pioneer – ride, trek, climb, cycle, boat or four-wheeldrive – then at night be pampered like a pussycat. explora’s Hotel Salto Chico sits on the shores of the glacial Lake Pehoe, beneath the brooding twin-peaked towers.
At first it feels strange to find a modern, minimalist hotel in an area unmapped until the 1930s, but you soon get used to the jacuzzi-with-a-view and deep feather beds. Think about it, after a day in the saddle, riding gaucho-style across a vast, empty plain, who wouldn’t want to rest their aching gluteal muscles by a log fire, drink in hand, gazing through a huge picture window across a cobalt-blue lake towards towering mountains while a waiter took their order? We know we would.
Tailormade travel: Three of our Latin America specialists have visited Chile this year. Rachel Mostyn completed a full tour of the country. Both Clare Plummer and Patrick Griffin were guests at explora hotels. To benefit from their first-hand knowledge and expertise call 020 7838 5966 or email americas@wexas.com.
Editor: Pete Mathers
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