Cosmopolitan Urban: Santiago served up). I had a glorious time finding lots of flowers,
Santiago, where we lived and spent most of our time, is including an intriguing yellow orchid, and several beautiful
a large, European-style city in the center of the country. cascadas adorned with flowers among their rocks.
Its metro area is home to about 7 million people – 40%
of Chile’s population. That said, I found it to be an Grand Landscapes and Whistling Winds: Patagonia
imminently walkable city, enhanced with lots of well-used Saving perhaps the best for last, we ventured furthest
parks, large and small, as well as an array of cafes dotting south to Patagonia for the week before Christmas. Most
many sidewalks (and the temptation of gelaterias seemed of the time we were being awed by Torres del Paine
to appear every few blocks). National Park, with its towering, rocky peaks and so much
more.
The city is surrounded by mountains, including the snow
covered Andes to the east. We had a direct view of Since it was early spring at this latitude, we were pleased
them from our 9th floor porch, which offered us a daily to see many baby guanacos playing and nursing with their
source of gratitude (see image of our view at sunset). The mothers along the grassy hillsides, with rhea mixed in
downside was that this urban ‘bowl’ trapped unhealthy among them enjoying the protection offered by the herd
amounts of air pollution, which at certain times of year from area predators. It was the time for an array of flora in
would only clear if it rained. It is a major environmental bloom, including lupine, lady slippers and several orchids –
challenge. That said, they have extensive public my favorite being the extraordinary Parchment Orchid.
transportation which we (and many Chileans) used when
walking was not an option.
We enjoyed an afternoon boat trip across Lago Gray
for an up close experience of Grey Glacier. There were
Lush and Green: Puyehue numerous elements of interest, but to me two stood out.
Further south, we spent a few days at a hotel in Puyehue. The blue of the ice is fascinating and within that there is
The hospitable climate allowed for extensive, luscious an even deeper blue in places that is quite ethereal. It was
gardens surrounding the hotel – where I spent countless unlike anything I have seen in 40 years, since I first saw
hours walking and photographing. glaciers in Alaska and encountered that same gorgeous
blue. Second, in the glacier image shown here, there is
On the second morning, we were greeting with a light a large black rock mass directly behind it. Only 40 years
misty drizzle that coated the world with droplets. ago, that whole section of rock was covered over by the
Happily, it stopped shortly after sun up, so I headed out glacial ice! It is yet another dramatic reminder of the
immediately. I was blessed with a world of flora laced with impacts of climate change.
jewels. Both the Lluvia de Oro (Golden Shower tree) and
the dandelion were transformed into visual treasures by One thing that I observed in most of Chile, but nowhere
this embellishment. as dramatically as in Patagonia, was that the wind never
stopped. It might change speeds significantly, but calm
Later, hiking in the adjacent National Park afforded us air was a scare occurrence. This was of particular interest
more varieties of flora and several potent waterfalls. It and frustration to an avid flower photographer. I did
was all a refreshing retreat from city life. come to recognized, however, that it is an inherent result
of the land forms and other geographic features of this
Lake country: Coyhueque
unique country.
Chilean friends kindly invited me to join them on a fishing
trip to the wild country near Coyhueque, at the eastern The natural beauty and the ecological variations across
edge of northern Patagonia (we could see into Argentina). the vast reaches of Chile are awesome. These stories
While their guide took them in search of the beautiful and images are highlights of my time living there, but
brown trout of their dreams, my guide took me in search only begin to capture the wonders of what I saw and
of the wild flowers and cascadas of mine. They had fun experienced. I love Chile, and hope to be back again.
and caught some fish (I savored the trout sashimi they
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