before plunging over the cliff edge in a series of waterfalls that crash into a milky green lake below. Framed by dense rainforest, it seems too beautiful to be real — a glacier hidden inside a jungle.


Into the fjords Still sodden from the hike, I continue my journey north along the Carretera Austral. Built in the 1970s, the 770-mile road links communities that, up until then, relied on horses and boats to get around. On the drive, I pass towns where wood smoke rises from tin-roofed cabins with hand-painted signs advertising pancitos (bread rolls). I stop for one, eating it with homemade jam made from calafate berries, which are native to Patagonia. Outside, saddles and stirrups hang from metal fencing and the air smells of damp leather and earth. I get back into the car to continue the journey and


within minutes the road is swallowed once more by rainforest, with little sign of human life beyond the occasional beat-up truck or a gaucho on horseback driving cattle. Then, through a gap in the trees, I catch my first glimpse of the steel-grey waters of Puyuhuapi Fjord: a deep glacial channel where rainforest-covered mountains meet Pacific waters, and where I plan to spend the next two nights. Waiting at the water’s edge is a small white boat,


bobbing gently beside a jetty hidden among the foliage. “The journey won’t be smooth,” says our captain. “But don’t worry, it’s worth it.”


12 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL


Within minutes, rain is hammering on the


windows and waves are crashing against the hull. Unable to sit on deck, I retreat to the belly of the boat, where a handful of passengers hunch silently in waterproofs. I strain my neck to peer through a tiny porthole, but our breath has fogged the glass. Beyond the waves and a Chilean flag whipping wildly in the wind, I can make out almost nothing. By the time we reach Puyuhuapi Lodge, the


light has almost gone. Sheltered by dense forest, everything is eerily quiet and the water is as still as glass. A lone streetlamp glows through the fog at the end of the jetty and firelight flickers through a window. When I reach my room, a hummingbird is feeding on a blooming chilco plant covered in electric pink and purple flowers that hang like pendant earrings.


Wild encounters “There’s magia [‘magic’] here,” says my guide Dani Varga as we set out on a wildlife cruise of Puyuhuapi Fjord the following morning. The sun’s out, but she’s head-to-toe in waterproofs, including a pair of mud-splattered white wellies. Overnight, the fog has lifted. Mountains I hadn’t


known were there rise directly from the water, their upper slopes dusted with snow. The ford has gone from grey to emerald, absorbing the forest that surrounds it. A cormorant skims low across the surface, leaving a trail in its wake. Then, a dark


From left: Earth River offers rafting expeditions in Aysén; hiking trails in Queulat National Park wind through the Valdivian temperate rainforest; South American sea lions can be seen surfacing alongside boats in Chile’s fjords Previous pages, from left: Fed by the Queulat Ice Cap, the Ventisquero Colgante is one of Patagonia’s most celebrated hanging glaciers; the hummingbird is one of southern Chile’s most beautiful birds


A RIBBON OF ICE-BLUE CLINGS IMPROBABLY BETWEEN TWO SLATE-GREY PEAKS BEFORE PLUNGING OVER THE CLIFF EDGE IN A SERIES OF WATERFALLS THAT CRASH INTO A MILKY GREEN LAKE BELOW


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