Raphael Kessler

I have been to Chile several times now, most recently was during our extended honeymoon.

We visited Chile twice, firstly whilst we were driving around and then later when we went to San Pedro de Atacama as we crossed from Peru and then headed on back through Argentina.

The crossing over from Mendoza to Los Andes took us past the highest peaks in the Andes. Whilst the road on the way up was someone sinuous, the descent in to Chile involved so many switchbacks, the satnav screen looked like a scan of ones intestines.

Santa Cruz is where much of the Chilean wine is produced. It is a beautiful location, with the snowcapped mountains of the Andes in the background.

Pucon is in the Chilean lake district and has the perpetually active Villarica volcano next to the lake.

San Pedro de Atacama is supposedly the driest place on the planet. Consequently, it makes for an ideal location for seeing the night sky.

The Pukara de Quintor is an archaeological site, though not very old. It made for a nice walk from San Pedro.

The Valley of the Moon and Valley of Death have interesting and dramatic scenery.

The first time I crossed into Chile from the southern border with Argentina. I headed to Puerto Natales which is near to the Torres del Paine national park, which has some lovely scenery. The weather recently had been abysmal, some people I met had spent days in the park without seeing any mountains because of cloud cover. On my first real day in Puerto Natales, we could see the weather was good. So, myself and a couple of others decided to club together to rent a car to look around the park as there might not be another good day for a while.

As we were driving towards the park we had to go along a dirt road diversion because of road works. At one point there was a bit covered in water. Although the road appeared solid beneath it, as you can see from the first photo below it turned out to be soft mud, which meant that we had to wait until someone could tow us out. Fortunately a petrol tanker came soon with some chains which were necessary. After this little adventure the rest of the driving was pretty uneventful, luckily the scenery was not. Our first stop was to see a fabulous view of a mountain with a perfect still reflection in a small lake (photo 2), the lake had such a mirror finish, there was no distortion or ripples whatsoever. From there we wound through more dirt roads to the waterfalls (photo 3 & 4). Then it was mostly a case of taking in the various views of the mountains and lakes. From time to time we came across nice animals such as Guanaco (photo 6) and Rhea (photo 7). The Torres del Paine (or blue towers) themselves (photo 9) would often be hidden from view because of the clouds. Although they are impressive fingers of rock the park in general is well worth a look. One of the other attractions in the park is the Gray Glacier, a massive chunk of ice (photo 16) with attractive blue icebergs floating across the lake.

From Puerto Natales I got on a ship through the Patagonian Fjords to Puerto Montt. The ship's main business is carrying cargo, but it also serves to take paying passengers through the spectacular Patagonian channels. It is far from luxurious, with one reception area that serves as canteen and lounge. There was also a guide who gave good lectures about the flora, fauna and geology in the area. The weather for the several days we were en route was not good, with just a few clear spells. The worst bit though was traversing the Golfo de Penas which lasted about twelve hours. The wind at the start of this part of the journey was gale force eleven and it got worse after that. At times the boat was practically airborne and the aromas soon produced by the passengers and crew were not pleasant as we crashed about.

In Puerto Montt I went with a couple of people I met on the boat to Villareca, where there is an attractive active volcanoe (photo 1, not too clear due to clouds behind). Despite having agreed between us that we had no urge to climb the thing the three of us ended up booking a trip within a couple of hours. The climb up (photo 2) was hard work and required Crampons and an ice axe for the upper levels. The views at certain points were great, but the caldera itself was not interesting and the view from the top was unspectacular. The ice crystals (photo 4) and contrasts between snow and rock were nice (photo 3).

In Santiago I was lucky to stay with and be looked after by friends I had met in Prague a few months earlier. They showed me around town and explained bits to me a bit. The presidential palace (photo 1) was closed whilst I was there but we did manage to get into the Santiago stock exchange, although we had no right to be there (photo 3). I was also shown the monument to A. Prat. The Prat in question being Arturo Prat, hero of a naval battle. It is quite amusing to see so many streets named Prat.

In the north of the country near to the border with Bolivia is the Atacama desert and the Altiplano. In the Atacama the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the moon) and Valle de la Muerte (Valley of the Dead) are beautiful areas of mountains, salt areas, valleys and interesting rock formations. The second time I visited the area, two years later, Spiderman happened to be sightseeing at the same time.

Not far from San Pedro where I was based in the Atacama is the Salar. A massive salt flat with salt lakes. It is a popular resort for flamingoes (photos 1-3) and has some interesting formations.

In the desert there are several small villages, the focal point of which seems to be the church (photos 1 & 2). In one I arrived as they were skinning a sheep, ready for dinner (photo 3). It is also in this desert that one might see large cacti (photo 4), like the ones that appear to be in every Hollywood desert.

From the air things can look quite different and flying up to the north I saw what appeared to be agricultural pie charts.

From the air things can look quite different and flying up to the north I saw what appeared to be agricultural pie charts (photo 1). The shore line was also interesting from the air (photo 2), even the desert had quite a different look to it (photo 3).

In the Altiplano are the Geysers del Tatio. They are apparently the worlds highest geysers, being at over four thousand metres. There is a whole plateau covered with these boiling, bubbling, steaming and gushing spouts that makes a spectacular vista. The crystals on the geysers are interesting on closer inspection (photos 6 & 7), having been formed by the minerals that have been left from the evaporated water.

The animals in the north are quite varied and are more typically Andean. There are alpacas (photo 1), llamas (photo 2), foxes (photo 3) and hares (photo 4). Even the people have quite a different look to them, and the children are almost oriental looking  (photo 5). It was also in this area that there was some nice fox tail pampas grass (photo 6).

My friends insisted that I visit Valparaiso, the port city and home to the Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. The city is built on steep mountains facing the bay, so there are funicular elevators (photo 1) all around. Many of the buildings are painted quite garish colours, making the city a bit more colourful.