It's the Huaso

At Chile's mid-September independence days, the huaso - Chile's rough equivalent of the Argentine gaucho - is a presence even on metropolitan…

September in Chile Could Be Yours

Thursday September 18 is Chile's independence day, Friday the 19th is Armed Forces Day, and with the ensuing weekend this will mean a four-day ce…

Wednesday Wrap-up: Punta Arenas, FIGAS, Porvenir & Santiago

Today’s post is a potpourri of items from my last several days in the Falkland Islands, Punta Arenas and vicinity, and Santiago. Summertime Snowfall…

Tunnel Vision: Driving Northern Chile's Longino

Llaima Update Redux

Tom Buschor tells me that Llaima is quiet, but the park itself is closed for the time being. He's had some drop-in guests because of the eruption…

Navimag's Off-Season: What To Expect in the Chilean Fjords

A few months ago, I wrote a preliminary accountof my Navimag voyage from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt, on the company’s newly acquired M/N Edén. G…

Quake-Stricken Chile Begins to Bounce Back

After Saturday's historic earthquake, Chile is returning to functionality, if not yet normality. The death toll has risen to more than 700, tens …

The Death of Disco? Tony Manero Plays Chile

Ferrying from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

For many travelers to Chile, the Navimag ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales is one of South America's highlights. In my role as a guideboo…

Wine by the Glass: a Chilean Novelty

Chile is rightly known for its wines but, for visitors, those wines are not always so easy to find. To be sure, there are established wine routes in …

Chunneling to Chiloé?

Separated from the mainland by the Canal de Chacao, the archipelago of Chiloé has long languished, economically and socially, compared to the rest of…

From the Epicenter: Chile, One Year Later (3)

In fact, the last leg of my journey through post-earthquake Chile took me farther from the epicenter, but not so far that the damage was not palpable…

Hanging Out in Hanga Roa

At 9:10 a.m. this morning, Santiago time, LAN Airlines flight 841 lifted off for Rapa Nui (better known to English speakers as Easter Island), and a …

Laughing at Repression

Nearly thirty years ago, when I first visited Chile, most of South America languished under repressive dictatorships, the most notorious of which was…

Tunnel Vision: Driving Northern Chile's Longino

The Chilean Diet: Fresh Fish & Fat Taxes

One of travel’s great pleasures is sampling foods that one can’t find anywhere else - such as the remarkable diversity of seafood on display at Santi…

When "No" Is A Positive

The Falklands Gourmet

When I lived in the Falkland Islands, during 1986-7, nobody would have expected to find haute cuisine in the capital of Stanley - in fact, the diet w…

Against the Wind? Chile's Patagonian Marathon Returns

November Surprise: A Patagonia Quiz

In anticipation of Tuesday's U.S. election, I am offering one of my periodic quizzes, for which the prize will be a copy of the new edition of Mo…