The Glorious Parques

During the semester I studied in England, I joined a lot of groups, among them the gentle sounding “Walking Club.” The only “walk” I joined had me spending two days half-jogging up steep rocky trails while icy rain whipped against my face and seeped into my clothing. With this experience very much in mind, we signed up for a Patagonian “soft adventure” tour package. As the 3rd septuagenarian boarded our tour bus, we realized we probably could have gone with a more strenuous version.

Having said that, a bus tour was the perfect way to spend our first day, given the limited amount of time we had to explore the parks. We were able to see a lot of the area surrounding the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, including several lakes and the cave where Captain Hermann Eberhard found the remains of a milodón (giant 15-foot sloth) in 1896. The enormous cave now hosts a replica of the herbivore, which menaces tourists in hundreds of photos just like these.

At the conclusion of the tour, we waited for our ride to the next night’s accommodation inside the park. The refugio was in no way what I expected – we had clean sheets, hot showers, excellent food, and access to the comforts of bar, hot tub and masseuse. We reserved these accommodations because we didn’t have our own camping gear, but once we arrived we realized that renting equipment would have been simple. If we make it back, we will most likely opt for rented tents.

Day one we hiked to the base of the Torres. As expected, I was much slower than Jason and Brandon, who were reluctant to leave me behind and trek off on their own. Eventually we made it up the path, along the edge of a mountain, through a forest* and over a boulder field to reach the hidden lake below the towers. As with most of the lakes in the park, mineral and sediment runoff turns the water a milky blue-green that is impenetrable to sunlight, inhabitable to life. We worried only about temperature, not creatures, as we waded slightly into the pool.

On our second day, we rode through the park on horseback. Some confusion about the location of the horses resulted in a late start, but we were saddled up and on our way by mid-morning. Our group included a gaucho (cowboy) and a guía (guide), both of whom spoke mostly Spanish. The guide was extremely knowledgeable about the park’s flora, fauna and history, and seemed a little disappointed that we didn’t take more photos as we skirted Lago Nordenskjöld. At the end of the ride, he invited us to share mate, which was my first communal mate experience. It tasted like a bitter green tea, which was lovely for me, short about 1/4 cup of sugar for Jason. Brandon thought enough of it to buy a souvenir bowl and pipe once we returned to Santiago.

Our final tour left from Puerto Natales, and took us by boat to enter Parque Bernardo O’Higgins. The highlight of the boat-access-only park is Glacier Serrano. The glacier is enormous, although shrinking. Jason blames the daily allotment of ice chipped from its sides for tourist drinks. I suspect there may be other factors at play. In addition to conservationally-unsound beverages, the tour included a parrilla (grill) lunch. This is essentially a massive platter of meat – lamb, chicken, sausage and steak – grilled with no spices to speak of; it is probably the most traditional meal in Chile, and most Chilean parties are parrilla-centered asados (barbeques).

This was our last day exploring the southern parks. There were no flights directly from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt, so we took a bus to Punto Arenas and spent the night there before catching a flight. Punto Arenas is home to the world’s most southern brewery, Chile’s only Hindu temple, and several other things we didn’t have time to see during our brief stop. In fact, our only photo from the entire city is of the Magellan-honoring statue in the center of Plaza Muñoz Gamero.

*This section of the park consists of fairly new growth. In 2005, a Czech tourist started a wildfire that destroyed 55 square miles 500-year old forest (7% of the park). He was fined the maximum amount of CP$120,000 (about US$250 today), which angered a lot of Chileans in light of the severe damage and US$7 million or so restoration is costing. Embarrassed by all the bad press, the tourist donated another US$1,000 and the Czech government contributed US$185,000.