Doug Orens

Santiago is huge, 7 million people, almost half of the entire population of Chile lives here. We had a tour of Santiago with an architect as our guide. It was great to see the city through his eyes. He had a unique perspective on the current development, architecture, and history of the city. We visited the main park in the middle of the city, Parque Metropolitano, a central government center (the building is all glass to convey the idea that the people in the building have nothing to hide), and went to the top of a San Cristobal Hill where we had an amazing view and a huge statue of the Virgin Mary watches over the city.

We took zodiacs to and from the ship twice a day for the various excursions, as you can see we had amazing weather. The Via Australis is very nice. It’s a great size and very easy to become familiar with. There are 64 cabins that are all the same size and spread over four decks, with the majority on deck 2. Most of the cabins have 2 beds, about 15 have a queen bed, and a few have fold down bunks for a third person. Cabins are on the small size compared to a traditional cruise ship, but very typical of an expedition size vessel and all of them have a nice big window to enjoy the beautiful scenery as it goes by. Very well appointed with nice amenities, a blow dryer that actually blows enough air to dry you hair, nice heavy comforters, and 220 volt power. We had one day of rain and the blow dryer proved very useful in drying my clothes. That is not a picture on the wall. This is the view out the window of my cabin on the Via Australis.

The schedule is very well planned, no rushing, able to sleep in, etc. Great visit to Ainsworth Bay. At the end of most excursions, before boarding the zodiac for the ride back, we are served hot chocolate with or without whisky. I was surprised at how good hot chocolate with whisky tastes, and we all looked forward to that little treat at the end of each excursion. While each excursion was different, the process was the same. Load the zodiacs, about 12 per boat, go to the beach, off the boat, do the excursion, about 2 hours. We did 5 over the 2 ½ days onboard. Our first glacier of the trip, it was calving every ten to fifteen minutes due to the warm weather. So, when a huge chunk of glacial ice falls off, it makes the trip back to boat kind of exciting. On this day, we probably got stuck at least 5 times. There was no ice in the water when we left the boat a few hours earlier.

Wildlife everywhere, this elephant seal was being very lazy. We did the Elephant Seal excursion in two shifts. We were the second shift, which worked out very well for a couple of reasons. We could stay at breakfast longer and relax before the excursion, but more importantly, since there was nobody waiting to go after us, we actually stayed out a little longer than the first group. Gotta have a penguin shot from Magdalena Island!

Singular is a beautiful property. It is a converted meat packing plant, but don’t let that fool you, it is luxury all the way. Some of the best food I have ever had at a resort, and the staff is amazing. They are so accommodating and friendly and truly seem like they want to make sure they meet your every need. The excursion staff stayed late to help us choose our trips for the next couple of days. Sunrise view out my window, 5:30 am start for our towers hike at Torres del Paine National Park, we wouldn't get back to the hotel until 9:30 pm.

Singular has 57 rooms that all are the same with the exception of 3 suites, one at the end of each hall. The rooms are spread over three floors, and all have views of the fjord right in front of the hotel. As I mentioned this used to be a meat packing plant, and much of the machinery is still on display throughout the property. There is a small spa with a small indoor/outdoor pool, a steam room, and a sauna. There is one main public area that includes a very nice bar area, huge fireplace, and a restaurant spread over two floors. The wonderful buffet breakfast is served on the second floor, while lunch and dinner are served on the first floor. All areas of this room are so beautiful and well decorated, it is a great place to just relax and chat. One day at lunch, a few of us sat and relaxed for over 2 ½ hours, it was a great part of the trip.

We pretty much broke up into two groups, active and not so active. The active group chose a half day hike to the Condors nest, then a bike ride to town, and horseback riding the next day, and finally a full day hike in Torres del Paine National Park to the base of the towers. The other group chose a full day navigation with a visit to an Estancia for lunch, sheep shearing, and horseback riding, and then a full day tour of the national park in the van. Everyone was so happy with their guides the first day that we all requested the same guides for the other excursions to follow. So nice, knowledgeable, friendly, etc.

I don't usually post food pics, but this crab club sandwich was amazing!! Happy hour with snacks in the lounge before dinner every night. What a great way to end the day...and start the night!

Next stop, Alto Atacama, located about 8,000 feet above sea level in the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world. Our morning flight to the Calama airport was quite interesting. The transition from seeing the peaks of the Andes, to the vast openness of the Atacama Desert in such a short time was very unique. Driving from the airport, the desert looks very different than the deserts at home. The main distinguishing feature is the lack of any plant life, at least for the first 45 minutes or so. As you get closer to San Pedro De Atacama, where the resorts are, there is more foliage, including trees.

This is one of the very few places in the desert where there is water and a flock of Flamingos lives here in the salt flats. One of my llama friends at Alto Atacama.

Finished up the last day with an amazing mountain bike ride courtesy of Matias, the manager of the property, who happens to be 34 and training for an Ironman. He was very nice and took it easy on me. Chile is an amazing country with so much to offer. It is very long and skinny, about 2650 miles from north to south with the widest part being only 217 miles wide and the narrowest just 40 miles. It has many similarities to the Pacific Coast of the US, California, and Los Angeles. Santiago is almost exactly the same distance south of the equator as Los Angeles is north so the climate and foliage is almost the same.

Shoot an email to: doug@plazatravel.com if you have any questions or want more details about this, or any of my other trips!

Chile onboard the Via Australis, Patagonia, and the Atacama Desert, October 2015