(Pre-Wedding) Honeymoon, Part VII - Torres del Paine - Explora Patagonia!

Finally, we were en route to Explora Patagonia – one of the most anticipated highlights of our trip.  A 5 star resort set in the middle of the Torres del Paine national park – one of the most untouched areas of deep Patagonia.  It seemed like the perfect blend of adventure and pure pampering.  The only question was would it live up to our expectations?

And the answer, quite simply, was yes.  In fact, I’d say it even crept a bit past our expectations.

Our driver to the Chilean border, Patric, was extremely nice.  By coincidence, he is a professional guide as well, so his English was perfect and he pointed out interesting wildlife spottings along the way, including hares, guanacas, reas and even pink flamingos!  The journey was not a short one – about a  4 hour car ride to the first border and then a short journey in no-man’s-land – a very strange 10km stretch where we were neither in Argentina nor Chile – until we reached Chile and our Explora transfer point.

Straddling the border...

We arrived a bit early, but the Explora van was already there waiting so we rendezvoused in a coffee shop while the others arrived at the border.  From that moment onwards, we were taken under the Explora wing…

About 12 or so people were arriving at the border so we took a van with a family from Clifton, NJ – parents and twin 26 year old daughters who live in NYC.  So, yes we traveled thousands of miles from home to be surrounded by, well, many people from our home.  In fact, most of the folks we met were from NYC there with a sprinkling in of some California people and a few more local South Americans.  I guess that's not too surprising considering the type of accommodations for such an adventurous type of getaway.

The scenery along the way was breathtaking – rolling hills, flat plateaus, snowcapped mountains, clear turquoise glacial lakes – it was absolutely amazing.  Two hours later, we pulled up to the hotel Salto Chico and checked in to the hotel where Carlos, the manager, showed us to our room.

I had made it a point to mention our honeymoon when we booked our reservation and we were pleasantly surprised with an upgrade to their top room – a corner suite with both lake, mountain, and waterfall views, along with a bottle of wine and a note about our complimentary massage!  Life is good.

It pays to be (almost) married...

View from our room...

And here's a video tour of our room!

We visited the dining room for a late lunch before heading out on our first excursion.  The dining room was surrounded by windows and a similar view to our room’s view.

We were seated and handed a menu for a three course meal with two options for each course.  I opted for a grilled swordfish and vegetable entrée which was quite tasty, surprisingly so, for us being situated in basically the middle of nowhere.  In fact, we learned they get their food supplies via truck once per week, so it’s extremely impressive how well stocked and prepared the hotel is for its guests.

After a quick bite, we were able to participate in our first excursion, a medium level hike called the Condor because we hiked from the hotel to the top of a mushroom shaped mountain where condors keep a nest.  Our NJ border transfer friends joined us and we were off.  Clothing-wise I was a bit unprepared and hiked along in my J Crew khaki’s.

The hike was scenic, not too rigorous, and we actually did ascend a fairly high promontory – about 400M, I believe.  When we got to the top, the wind was quite brisk, so we took some pictures and then started back down.

Our destination - top of that rock - far far away...

"Mother-in-Law" bush - extremely prickly plants covering the entire mountainside...

we made it!

After a little relaxing in the room, our next step was the guest orientation from the guides to explain a bit about the resort, the park, and how the next few days would be structured.  Basically, each day there would be several full day excursions and several half day excursions, from which you select what you would like to do the evening before.  If you did full days, you ate lunch on the excursion and if you did half days, you came back to the hotel for dinner and a rest before heading out for the second half day trip.

After orientation, we hooked up with a guide and listened to our options.  We opted for 2 half day excursions…We were feeling pretty confident and signed up for the most difficult hike for our morning excursion, called the Ferrier.  Very cocky of us.  In the afternoon, we opted for the beginner’s horseback ride so I could start learning how to do that in preparation for hopefully a better ride with GG, since she is a rather advanced equestrian.

Next was dinner time where I was banned from taking pictures by GG.  After all, the food was not the focal point of this stop, it was the time in nature and our surroundings that took top billing.  Fair enough.  The food, throughout our four days, was quite good, especially considering the challenge around getting it to the resort in the first place.  The one major standout for me was their pasta - a spinach and ricotta ravioli that was clearly home made and absolutely delicious as well as a gnocchi – I was surprised and inspired that they’d venture to make such a dish from scratch.

Homemade gnocchi - snuck this pic on my blackberry when GG wasn't looking...

Following dinner, and the fact that the sun set so late, we were inspired to take a walk around the hotel property.  They’ve built wooden trails to various points from the hotel, so we put on our jackets and headed out into the elements to get some air and burn off our dinner. 

We wandered to the platform overlooking Salto Chico which is the small waterfall near the property.

Solid self-portraiture

Our hotel looking from the falls...we've got the entire top left corner!

Then we headed around to check out the spa facility – a separate building about 100 M from the hotel which included a pool, some open air jacuzzi’s overlooking the water, and the massage facilities.

From there, we next walked in the direction of the dock on the other side of the hotel.  Upon getting halfway there, we saw a fox walk by us.  When we arrived at the hotel, we also saw him and a guide mentioned that he lives near the hotel but everyone has co-existed peacefully.

So, the fox walked by us, literally, and GG snapped some up close pictures after he sat down not too far from us.  He was so cute and we know GG loves her animals.

Our future nemesis...

We continued to walk and, to our not so pleasant surprise, the fox followed us.  So we became slightly unnerved and changed course to head back to the hotel.  He continued to follow us.  Like right on our heels.  GG and I were now getting nervous.  We continued to keep our composure as we moved closer and closer to the hotel.  Meanwhile, the fox was literally inches from us following briskly behind us. 

Before we could get to the hotel, he was now in front of us.  Circling us.  Bearing his teeth.  This was not good.  We visibly remained cool, but we were not happy at all.  We attempted to walk around him, but he was not letting us.  We tried to make ourselves look big and scare him off, but he wasn’t going.  Finally we scampered by him to get to the door.  GG was there first, but turned the knob and couldn’t get in.  I began to bang on the door in hopes of someone hearing us while GG snuck off to a few nearby windows to try to get someone’s attention.  I continued to bang – with each noise the fox grew more and more aggressive.  We were not happy – this situation went from cute and cuddle to downright frightening.

Finally, I tried the knob again, hoping I could maybe jimmy it open.  I turned it and it was unlocked.  I guess GG turned the wrong way.  I yelled for GG and she came over and we slid in unharmed.  The fox sat right down outside the door and didn’t move.

We were both a bit shaken, GG especially so.  We found the hostess of the hotel and told her and she informed us that right under that door, just recently, the fox had a baby and that was her den.  We literally were heading right towards the den which is why the fox got as aggressive as he did.  If only we actually knew that fact, we would have just walked away to another door.  They were quite apologetic and warned us that we should take a hiking stick out with us next time, just in case. 

Definitely spooked, we headed back to our room and finally calmed down a bit through the soothing scenes of Mad Men on our iPad, the perfect escape from the pure wilderness outside.

So, yes, we survived our first fox attack.  And today was only day 1…at least day 2 was less physically threatening.