Slideshows

Beasts of the Southern Wild

A puma-tracking trip in Chilean Patagonia reveals the hidden life in one of the world’s most extreme and extraordinary landscapes.   Pía Vergara is looking for volunteers. The Chilean photographer is seated at the head of a long wooden table, where much lamb stew and Carménère has been consumed over the course of dinner. The […]

Vacation Homes: To Protect and Preserve

The appeal of Chilean Patagonia lies largely in the region’s inaccessibility. Its untamed beauty—an arresting tableau of glacier-fed lakes, rolling pampas, and ultramarine skies—has endured at least in part because of its remoteness. Now a bold new initiative is making this pristine corner of South America more accessible to a lucky few homeowners while simultaneously […]

Endless Winter

World-record holder Mark Jones just made a rookie mistake. Already too far down a powdery chute, he attaches skins to the bottoms of his skis and begins to climb the slope he descended moments before. The 55-year-old guide moves quickly, steadily up the steep incline, his fluorescent snow pants swishing back and forth like a […]

The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago

Like the city itself, the Ritz-Carlton in Santiago, Chile, is a fine orchestration of classical and contemporary elements. The stone, brick, and glass exterior—with its vaulted glass dome that houses the spa and rooftop pool and affords guests a spectacular view of the mountains—belies the hotel’s interiors, which recall an English gentlemen’s club. The warm […]

Journeys: High and Dry

It has not rained in the Valle de la Luna for two years, and the dusty red landscape looks otherworldly as Rosa Ramos, a guide for the Awasi hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, leads me up a sandy incline for a view of the national park’s massive mineral sculptures, salt hills, and sand dunes. […]

Grape Escapes: Clos Apalta Lodge

Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle’s favorite rock sits halfway up a narrow hiking trail at the Clos Apalta estate in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. A quick scramble up the almost perfectly round, Volkswagen Beetle–size boulder puts Lapostolle in position to admire her property: hillsides and a valley floor planted with Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Merlot; a […]