4The Drake Passage:the body of water extending from Cape Horn to the Antarctic Peninsula. “Satellite weather surveillance images consistently depict cyclonic lows of hurricane strength travel through the Drake Passage on the average of once every three weeks….under best condition, you can expect rolling seas of twelve and upwards of twenty feet.”
Decision: Quickly lost interest in attempting a crossing of the Drake Passage…..so much for seeing Antarctica. Will attempt venturing no further south than Cape Horn.
Research: Mare Austrials sails the inside passage, with daily zodiac excursions and indicates a 70% landing rate for Cape Horn….good enough for us.
Research: Patagonia is generally defined as that large land mass lying between 37° to 51° S (777,000 sq km), primarily in southern Argentina, south of the Rio Colorado and East of the Andes, but also includes extreme Southeast Chile and Tierra del Fuego.Mariano Cash, an Argentinean guide youtube iceberg kayak jump….and example of adventure experiences in this part of the world.
Explora - Hotel Salto Chico Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile
We recently completed three weeks of driving, flying, and trekking in Patagonia.This is a region of the world which still lends itself to a sense of exploration and adventure, whether enjoying simple level one trekking or accepting the challenges and risks of more aggressive hikes or technical climbing.Many visitors are still attracted to the possibilities of extending solo time under wilderness conditions.
After reading a number of books and Internet postings about Torres del Paine National Park, we decided to end our South American journey in this unique destination.The park is just slightly more than 600,000 acres in size and offers some of the most awe inspiring natural sights in the world.With present governmental controls allowing fewer than 150,000 annual visitors to the park, the opportunities to soak in the solitude and natural beauty of the towering granite peaks, the incredibly deep blue lakes and the overwhelming majesty of the glaciers and fjords still exist.Torres del Paine is as much about what does not exist (noise, development, crowds, etc.) as it is about what exists – one of the last great wilderness areas on the planet. Wishing to remember Chile in luxury surroundings, we decided to spend our last four night at the Explora - Hotel Salto Chico in Torres del Paine http://www.explora.comIf budget travel is a major consideration, there are several alternative lodges inside the park and a number of additional choices just outside the park. Also a less expensive and unique camping choice is EcoCamp Patagonia http://www.ecocamp.travel/index.php .... for us, camping was not the right choice for this trip.
Explora – Hotel Salto Chico is expensive….let me emphasize, EXPENSIVE! Postings in some Internet threads complain about the costs…(maybe tents would have been a better choice for them).
We thought the costs for their all inclusive services (lodging, meals, unlimited bar service, surface transportation, guides, and almost unlimited in park activities) were acceptable.The property is rated Five Star.However, more accurately, the rating should be called a “relative” Five Star…..that is to say, the facilities are absolutely the finest available in the very remote location, but not to be confused with a lavish Five Star European hotel.
Management at Explora places an emphasis on “service” for their guests. We were fortunate to have the Sub-Administrator, Rosario Villagra, overseeing the staff and property during our visit (apparently, the General Manager was in Santiago). Rosario proved to be an experienced hospitality professional and certainly understands and executes the versatility in the supervision required to deal with the needs of visitors from all over the world. We were particularly impressed with the “rising stars” on her hospitality team, one of whom, Angela Jacqueline Gonzales Vargas, appeared to be available 24 hours a day to assist in the dining room, lounge, common and meeting areas and deal with individual personal needs of guests. Angela was fantastic!
We found the cuisine ample and satisfying….maybe not exceptional by many five star properties! However, considering the remoteness of Explora, we were constantly impressed with the freshness of the food items presented and the variety of choices (we are serious vegetarians and we were just as pleased as the carnivores among us).We made on a couple of special dining requests, which were addressed without delay.
Many Internet postings praise (1) the extraordinary architecture….we agree, (2) the incredible location and majestic views….we agree, (3) the variety and degree of difficulty or ease of treks and other available outdoor activities….we agree, and (4) the quality, flexibility and sincere efforts of the guides to accommodate participants….we whole heartedly agree!
Your treks will offer many opportunities to enjoy the expanses of the pampas and mingle among the grazing gunacos and if you are really, really fortunate (as we happened to be one morning) you might just see one of the Huemul Deer (estimated to be fewer than 2,000 remaining in the wild).
Depending on level of physical fitness and interest in hiking, you may wish to consider attempting the Glaciar de Grey or Laguna Verde, both of which will take the better part of a day to complete.Both hikes include excellent box lunches and snacks and are escorted by several of the top guides from the lodge.If horseback riding and trekking is of interest, you should consider the ride and trek around the Granite Circus of Valles Del Frances.If not a frequent rider, the lodge offers a short training session on the day prior to the exploration in order for you to develop a level of comfort. They offer both English and Western saddles (actually Chilean saddles).
Should you visit....seek out one of their top guides, "Nacho," a unique personality and always willing to take the extra effort to ensure his guided hikes or treks are never-to-be-forgotten encounters with nature.....ask him about FLYING Torres del Paine style on windy days!
Should you visit Explora - Hotel Salto Chico and not have that “once-in-a-lifetime” experience, don’t blame the staff, property or weather (we had wind gusts in excess of 45 mph, snow in the morning, light rain showers in the afternoon, and bright sunshine and blue skies the remainder of the time....and that was all in one day)!
One tip we picked up here from an Internet posting was the (extra cost) option to use NanduAir for travel between Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas, Chile….this 45 minute flight saved us four or five bone jarring hours of riding on mostly unpaved roads (we thought the fare was a bargain for the service and our "hind quarters" needed the rest).
If you have an interest, your travel agent may not know about their services, but you should be able to research, locate and book them directly on-line. If for any reason this company no longer operates, there are other air charter operations offering this service.
Granted, this is not a trip for everyone, but for those who have a taste for adventure and would like to experience one of the last expansive wilderness areas remaining in the Americas......this is a "MUST DO."
I have seen a photo of the mountains and the view across the lake used as one of the promotional photos here on LL and wondered if the Explora property was ever offered at auction. I have made several trips to South America but have never gone this far south.
btw, when you say EXPENSIVE, can you put an actual number to it?
Great posting and beautiful photos. What exacly is the old building and bridge?
j-s-2....Oh how I wish we could have gotten an auction deal from LL on this trip.....unfortunately, we had to pay full fare. We had begged LL for two years to solicit Explora as a client.....but apparently, their properties enjoy almost 100% occupancy and they have no need nor interests in further promoting visitors outside their normal channels.
However, we don't regret spending any of the money.....it was a fabulous experience! Soon the roads will be fully paved and the government will probably ease the travel restrictions (there are talks underway to increase the number of annual visitors allowed into the park) and then the experience will be totally different.
omegaet, I am one of those who would like to see more auction packages offered in other South American countires. Argentina is such a great travel option for those of us looking to maximize our weakened dollar. I did visit the web site for Explora and although it looks fabulous, there is no way I could afford to pay those prices at this time.
LuxuryLink.com recently added The Cliffs Preserve in Patagonia, which we promptly bid on and were eventually top bidders in the auction. This area of Patagonia is further north in Chile from the areas we visited during the jouney we blogged on here. We will surely add to or start another thread when we have completed the visit to The Cliffs Preserve.
Hey omegaet, what is that coding at the time of your blog? When I click on it, I was redirected to a nonsense page for technorati. What is this link supposed to do?
Thanks, t-2-f. It was an attempt to link to technorati.com, but obviously not a very good try on my part. I used the "edit" feature and just eliminated. Appreciate your keeping tabs on my blog.
omegaet, my family spent two weeks in Chile and Argentina in southern Patagonia celebrating a fabulous adventure. I had my entire family read your blog and look at the excellent photographs you have presented.
Since we stayed at the Explora Lodge as well, your comments brought back many fond memories of our family journey. We all agree with your thoughts regarding anyone who might have an interest in seeing this part of the world, should certainly consider doing so as soon as possible.
By the way, we also cruised the inside passage but were aboard the sister ship of the Mare Austrials. The cruise proved to be a little more adventure than we had planned, since we encountered a couple of days of very strong winds and rough water, causing us to miss two scheduled landings.
kapper....even though I managed to misspell the name of the ship, which is MARE AUSTRALIS not Mare Austrials, we enjoyed unusually great weather (according to our Captain and crew). You and your family must have been aboard the VIA AUSTRALIS.
Did you sail Punta Arenas-Ushuaia or Ushuaia-Punta Arenas?
We consider ourselves fortunate to have been able to disembark at Cape Horn and to have especially nice weather for the passage through the Beagle Channel for viewing of "Glacier Alley." Since we were there during January, we were treated to those 16+ hours of daylight, which allowed us to take in so much more each day (we caught up on our sleep on the return flight home).
Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your comments.
We enjoy sharing our photos with friends since looking at them again and again refresh the fabulous memories we have of southern Patagonia
j-s-2 & kapper, we didn't arrive at Explora with a group. We were traveling with six other individuals through Argentina. However, when we arrived at the border crossing into Chile, those individuals continued on to another property just outside Torres del Paine National Park and we met up with transportation provided by Explora.
In our case, since there were only two of us, the manager had emailed us and asked if we would mind riding in a 4 X 4 pick up truck, rather than a van. The pick up was quicker than the van and we made the run from the border crossing to the lodge in about an hour.
As you may recall, the road is unpaved from this point into the park and quite dusty in dry weather. Our driver was well prepared, brought covers and sealing tape for our luggage and a cooler with cold bottled water and some trail snacks. We made use of the "facilities" here at the cafe and then took the bumpy ride into one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited.
Yes, we arrived at Puerto Natales aboard the VIA AUSTRALIS. Our travel agent had arranged for one of vans from Explora to meet us at the docks. I don't recall how long the drive took us, but it was several hours.
We stopped along the way and had some food and drink at a small roadside cafe.
Since we were the only people in the van, our driver was please to stop and let us do whatever we asked. The driver was very informative and we really didn't mind the ride at all.
The scene above doesn't look familar, although we might have actually stopped at the same place.
