Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
Puerto Chacabuco is located at the tip of the dramatic Ais é n Fjord at the foot of the soaring Andes peaks. It is a tiny Patagonian enclave and getaway into the spellbinding beauty of the rugged wilderness. Tendering ashore (no place to dock a large ship), we were struck by the pristine beauty surrounding us. Because of its remoteness, the area's first settlers only arrived in 1929. Today, Puerto Chacabuco's population is just 1,000 residents. We journeyed inland through rolling pasture lands with snow capped peaks of the Andes set as the backdrop. When the first settlers arrived in 1929, they set massive fires to clear the land for farming. The fires burned out of control for more than 20 years destroying much of the region's lush forests . During the last decade, reserves have been established to restore some of the area's original beauty. We stopped at the Rio Simpson Nature Reserve and enjoyed a scenic walk viewing the...