Going Wild in Chile!

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	Going Wild in Chile! By Kurt Kutay April 13, 2004

Join Wildland Adventures' Director, Kurt Kutay, as he journeys from end-to-end through Chile starting in the Atacama Desert and on to Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia. Other places of interest on the itinerary are the Lakes District as well as the wine country around Santiago.

Santiago

From Seattle to Santiago I traveled 22 hours. Actually, connecting out of Los Angeles on Lan Chile was a relatively comfortable 10 hours flying time with a short stop in Lima, Peru. As far as national carriers go, Lan Chile is superb--on time, good service and a wide-bodied Air Bus 300.

The red-eye arrived at 6 a.m. and by the time we were on the road headed into town a new day was dawning. But it wasn't any old day-- it was Springtime again! Not a cloud in the sky. Just spectacular, snow-capped Andean peaks against a deep blue sky surrounding a budding city of green trees, parks and modern buildings juxtaposed against colonial architecture to accommodate a burgeoning population of 5 million. Everyone here is sneezing with Springtime allergies and I'm wondering if I brought enough short sleeve shirts.

I spent my first day with Javier Lopez, the owner of Cascada Expediciones, one of the most professional and reputable adventure outfitters in Chile. They have 10 people working in their Santiago office and another 25 full-time guide staff throughout the country during the high season, which begins next week.

Javier's story is not unlike many Chileans, or for that matter, many people I know back home in the Pacific Northwest. As a university student, he was part of a social circle of young men studying to be engineers to fill the ranks of corporate executives in the post-Allende capitalist economy. "I became very successful in marketing for one of the world's largest telecommunications companies and my goal was to be a top executive," he recalls. As we are walking down Bernard O'Higgins Boulevard on my first evening in Santiago, I could just imagine this tall and lanky clean cut Chileano wearing his wire rim glasses, but with a black brief case and stylish European loafers instead of the pony tail, blue jeans and sandals.

He credits his French wife for the transformation. "She could tell there was more to me than I was living, and she was not going to marry only part of me." So, he developed his love of kayaking and the outdoors into a highly rated, professional outfitting service taking Wildland Adventures travelers, Chileans (including many of his old engineering friends) and other world travelers on hiking and trekking trips throughout Chile. On this warm Spring evening, Javier proudly describes himself as an "Indio moderno" (modern Indian), because he likes to hike barefooted so he can feel the earth between his toes.

I repacked my bags that night and caught an early flight the next day to begin my first sojurn to the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. Lan Chile provides frequent and reliable service throughout Chile including my flight to Calama in the Atacama Desert.

First impressions are important. The first person you see upon arrival is our Santiago transfer guide, Eugenio Cabello. He is friendly, helpful and wild about welcoming you to his beloved country.