Our next port, Chacabuco, a town in the province of Aysen, was in the heart of rugged, wild, gorgeous Chilean Patagonia. Our guide said his family had moved here to get away from the chaos and pollution of Santiago. He hoped to work at a new national park being funded by Karen and Doug Tomkins, the owners of the US outdoor wear company, "Patagonia." We have a Patagonia outlet in Salt Lake City. The Tomkins bought and donated to the Chilean government huge swathes of land to be used as national parks.
We stopped at a beautiful lake and then spent an hour or two hiking to waterfalls nearby.
We stopped for lunch at an "estancia," or small ranch.
We watched as the rancher grilled lambs for his guests.
Neither Dave nor I could bear to eat the poor lambs, but we did love the freshly made sopapillas--fried bread served with chimichuri sauce, made of minced herbs, onions, and tomatoes.
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The ranch house was small and rustic, but located in gorgeous countryside.
Several large dogs lay about the estancia.
After lunch, we hiked to the confluence of two rivers, where we could see the blue one flow alongside the brown one. The day was a feast of beauty.
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