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It’s that very “unknownness” that inspired me to visit the region and experience it for myself.
This region was essentially inaccessible until 1995 when General Pinochet initiated construction of the Carretera Austral, the Southern Highway. From Puerto Montt in the north to Villa O’Higgins in the south, this almost 800-mile highway passes through some of the most magnificent scenery on earth.
Turquoise lakes, caves and rivers in the South
After a night in Coyhaique, a one-hour drive from Balmaceda, the only airport in the region, my wife and I headed south to Mallin Colorado Ecolodge, tucked into a protected cove on the southern edge of the massive General Carrera Lake, the second largest lake in South America after Lake Titicaca.
It’s not an easy drive. Most of it is on an uneven two-lane gravel highway studded with bone-jarring potholes. Fortunately, we had an experienced local driver who was unfazed by the challenge so, was free to gawk at the wall of mountains looming like sentries over the broad river valley and the broken clouds wrapped around pointy peaks.
Purple lupines lined the road, adding a touch of color to the monochromatic scene.
The scenery got even better when we reached the lake. Now we were looking at jagged peaks and glaciers across a wide expanse of turquoise-hued water. As the day wound down, the grey massifs across the lake glowed orange in the rays of the setting sun.
We stayed in the family owned Mallin Colorado Ecolodge, a serene, peaceful place with outstanding views of General Carrera Lake and surrounding mountains.
Eduardo and Maria Artega, parents of seven, purchased the property decades ago to serve as a family retreat. Eduardo, a professional agronomist, cleared the overgrown weeds that blocked views of the lake, planted trees, and with help from other family members, designed and constructed all the buildings on the property.
In the early 2000s, the Artega family converted the property into a thriving business, renting rooms to adventuresome tourists.
We easily could have spent our four days at the lodge sitting on the porch outside our room, gazing at the panorama before us but there was much more to see and do. My favorite activity of our stay was the three-hour kayak to, around, and through the Marble Cathedral, Chapel and Cave — graceful, colorful, layered marble formations jutting out of the lake.
We also visited the dramatic confluence of the Baker and Nef rivers where the waters, jade-colored from glacial silt, roared over rocks and falls. Later that day, we toured a misty, drizzly Patagonia National Park.
Free-roaming guanacos (a distant cousin to the camel and llama) nibbled on the grass surrounding the tiny cemetery where conservationist Doug Tompkins, the founder of the clothing companies Esprit and North Face, is buried. Tompkins, who helped establish several national parks in Chile and Argentina, died from hypothermia on an ill-fated kayaking trip in 2015 on the very lake we gazed at every day.
On our last full day, we visited the town of Puerto Guadal, just a few miles away. This may sound morbid but I love visiting cemeteries in foreign countries, especially in far-flung corners of the world. Each grave, often decorated with moving displays of grief and love, tells a story of a person, of their family, of the community and culture of which they were part.
I try to imagine their lives in a place and era much different than my own. Where did they come from, how did they live, how did they die?
The view from its cemetery is impressive but it gets even better a couple of miles down the road with a full-on vista of the lake looking back in the direction of the lodge. The jagged peaks and glaciers of the southern ice fields loom over the scene.
If we had another day at the lodge, we would have hiked four hours over the ridge behind the lodge to the best viewpoint to contemplate the ice fields in all their vast, gleaming glory. |
