• Raúl Marín Balmaceda, Chile • Visted in April 2016 • The fjords of Raúl Marín Balmaceda, a sleepy little fishing village on the Chilean side of Patagonia, are home to many Austral Dolphins and that seemed reason enough to make a visit. It is a little off the beaten track so getting there on…
• Frutillar, Chile • Visited May 2016 • Hummingbirds are photogenic creatures. They are pretty, graceful and elegant in everybody else’s photos —arched backs, wings spread, delicate, ethereal. But not in my photos. The only almost-clear shot I had after much furious snapping at a tree filled with hummingbirds was a fail. Beak agape and with wings…
• Reserva Jeinimeni, Chile • Visited March 2016 • Stéphane saw a skunk while taking a walk near our campsite in Reserva Jeinimeni. It came within six feet of him. Skunk spray has a range of ten feet. Most people would have run. He made a video. [Video: An Encounter with Pepe, 0min 41s] I…
• Reserva Jeinimeni, Chile • Visited March 2016 • It rained all morning then hailed for three hours on our third day camping at Reserva Jeinimeni near Chile Chico in Patagonia. Since breakfast, we had sought refuge under a zinc roof shelter near our tent. We made a fire there but that still wasn’t enough…
‘Now tell him about the Boatman,’ Dona Lucerina insisted. Don Antonio was tired now: but he stood at the window and pointed to a chain of three black rocks like stepping-stones at the far end of the bay. ‘Those rocks,” he said, ‘are the Boatman’s Landing. I once knew…
• Cucao, Chile • Visited April 2016 • I spotted a lone whimbrel poking about at the surf on Cucao beach and was struck by its long curved beak and its head which was striped like a humbug sweet. It was engaged in a very purposeful to-ing and fro-ing along the beach, jabbing its beak into the sand.…
• Cucao, Chile • Visited April 2016 • Cows. A deserted beach. Sunbathing. The Pacific Ocean. Seaweed clumps. Driftwood. Chiloé island. There was just something about this unexpected mix I saw on Cucao beach. I was thinking to myself, ‘These cows look like they are in the wrong place.’ Their squinty stares told me that…
• Cucao, Chile • Visited April 2016 • The beach of my youth was along a man-made coastline on the southeastern part of Singapore. We simply referred to it as “East Coast” and it was a narrow beach, even when the tide went out. On most days, I would see ships on the horizon. Cucao…
• Dalcahue, Chile • Visited April 2016• I saw a turkey vulture for the first time in Dalcahue and its plasticky red face and dead-eye stare instantly brought one thing to mind. Darth Maul. From the little lookout tower above the artisanal market at Dalcahue’s town square, I had spotted a committee of five vultures perched on top of…
• Castro, Chile • Visited April 2016 • I was really craving for some seafood by the time I arrived on Chiloé island in mid-April. For five weeks, wandering through the small towns of the Carretera Austral of Chile in the off-season, it had been slim pickings for food. The few restaurants that were open only…
• Castro, Chile • Visited April 2016 • When Charles Darwin arrived in Castro in 1834, he knew it as the abandoned ancient capital city of Chiloé and described it as “most forlorn” in The Voyage of the Beagle. And it poured. When I got to Castro more than 180 years later in 2016, Castro…
While the Magellanic Penguin is absolutely adorable, I have encountered one other type of South American penguin that is absolutely useful. I have only spotted this species in Argentina. In some Argentinian restaurants, but never the chichi ones, you can order a pingüino of house wine. Or a medio pingüino (half a pingüino) if you aren’t…
