Patagonia’s spectacular hidden wonders

By Don Mankin

As I guided my kayak through a narrow, twisting marble cave, I marveled at the swirls of turquoise-colored rock.

Although it was only my second day in the Aysén region of Patagonia — the remote, breathtakingly beautiful region that has inspired dreamers, adventurers and entrepreneurs for over a century — I understood why they came and why so many of them stayed.

I have traveled to the southern tip of Patagonia several times — to explore Torres del Paine National Park, to cruise through the Strait of Magellan and to Antarctica, and to stand in a blasting wind on Cape Horn. But the Aysén region, located in Chile’s southernmost third, is even more remote and beautiful.

To quote famed wilderness photographer, Linde Waidhofer, this is the “Unknown Patagonia” — the region that few know about and even fewer have visited. 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 construction of the Carretera Austral, the Southern Highway, was completed. 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.

After a night in Coyhaique, a one-hour drive from Balmaceda, the only airport in the region, my wife and I headed south to the lodge where we’d be staying. It’s 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 I 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.

Lodge with a view

We stayed in the familyowned Mallin Colorado Ecolodge, a serene, peaceful place with outstanding views of General Carrera Lake and surrounding mountains.

Eduardo Christensen and Maria Arteaga, 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 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.

Contemplative visits

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 Puerto Guadal, just a few miles away. Sometimes referred to as the “pearl of the lake,” this small village features great weather and panoram- ic views of the surrounding mountains.

My favorite stop in the village was the small cemetery. 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. The jagged peaks and glaciers of the southern ice fields loom over the scene.

If we had another day, 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.

Hiking in a humid rainforest

From the Mallin Colorado Ecolodge, we headed north, back to where we started, and beyond.

As we drove, the scenery changed dramatically. If the southern portion of the