Red hot Chile: Deserts, mountains, wine and cowboys in the home of the rescued miners

By COLIN BARRACLOUGH

Out of this world: Chile boasts spectacular scenery, including Moon Valley in the Atacama Desert


No-one knows if Camp Hope, the settlement built near the San Jose copper and gold mine in northern Chile, will become a tourist destination. President Sebastian Pinera has pledged to build a monument honouring the heroics of the rescue, but it's likely to be in Copiapo, the gritty industrial city that's home to most of the 33 freed miners.

Even so, the world has been looking at Chile and it likes what it sees. This is a country with a rich culture, steeped in history and blessed with spectacular natural beauty.

It has five sites on UNESCO's World Heritage list, while its capital, Santiago, is one of South America's liveliest, most progressive cities.

Squeezed between the Pacific and the imposing Andes, Chile is a sliver of a country, rarely more than 100 miles wide yet nearly five times as long as Britain, stretching from the tropics to Antarctica.

Its awe-inspiring landscapes - from the Atacama Desert to the lush forests, tumbling glaciers and steep fjords of Patagonia - encompass eight World Biosphere Reserves.

Cynics may sneer at the slogan 'Chile does things well', but other South Americans can only admire their neighbours' ability to achieve results in testing times.

Chileans have largely succeeded in forging a common identity since winning independence from Spain in the early 19th century.

A touch too reserved at times, they have nevertheless built a stable society based on conservative, Catholic, family-orientated beliefs.

For many, the country will always be remembered for the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who seized power from Salvador Allende in a bloody 1973 coup. But since the return of democracy in 1989, Chile has changed dramatically.

Mining has existed in the mainland's arid north since Neolithic times, when the Atacameno tribes quarried rough-hewn Talabre slate from its parched hills.

Today, Atacama is one of Chile's most spectacular regions, a lunar landscape of vast, ochre valleys, salt flats, geysers and hot springs. It is also one of the world's driest regions.

From the oasis village of San Pedro de Atacama, a nexus for Atacameno tribes since ancient times, outdoor enthusiasts can reach the summit of the snow-capped volcanoes that rise above the desert or head out by mountain bike to marvel at how life survives in the arid terrain.

Others prefer to browse the llamamotif pottery and colourful woollens or drive out to admire geysers and gorges, salt cathedrals and flamingo-packed lakes.

Visitors return each evening to elegant, adobe-and-stone hotels - among the best are Awasi, Tierra Atacama and the Alto Atacama.


Sons of the soil: Chilean huasos on horseback are a regular sight in the country's vineyards


As burning logs keep the cool night air at bay, you can sit under shadow-flecked carob and pepper trees to sip Pisco Sours, Chile's national drink, before dining on local produce such as quinoa, charqui (air-dried llama or beef) and oasis-grown herbs.

The Milky Way illuminates the path to bed.

Patagonia is at the opposite end of the country. One of the world's last true wildernesses, it is an untamed region of temperate jungle, glacier-cut valleys, tumultuous rivers and icy peaks.

Luxury estancias (ranches) and fishing lodges dot the region, some accessible only by air or boat. Cruise ships nose among the coastal archipelagos, offering upclose contact with bountiful marine life, submerged glacial valleys and dramatic seascapes.
Adventure seekers flock to Patagonia to paddle sea kayaks along the rocky shore, saddle up with Chilean cowboys or fish for monster-sized trout.

Hikers stomp off along the challenging trails at Torres del Paine national park, which is isolated from the rest of Chile by permanent inland ice caps and deep fjords that jut almost to the country's eastern frontier.

Vineyard-hopping in Chile once merited little more than a day trip from Santiago. But today there are high-tech wineries and designminded tasting rooms to visit.

Eighty vineyards are spread around the country, but the Colchagua Valley, Chile's most successful wine-growing area, is an easy, two-hour drive from Santiago, the fast, well-signed Ruta 5 highway paralleling the Andes until it emerges through a ridge into Colchagua.

Ten years ago, aficionados scoffed at Chilean wine, mocking its overly robust, big-bodied cabernets and merlots. Now, after investment in new technology and the adoption of European advice, its winemakers are notching up accolades and competition medals.

Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle, whose family produces Grand Marnier, fell in love with Colchagua when she emigrated here from France in 1994.

She set up her award-winning Casa Lapostolle vineyard in its sun-baked soil, unveiling a stateof-the-art winery and sculpting its hauntingly lit storage chambers from the solid granite hillside.

The investment paid off. Two years ago, Wine Spectator singled out Lapostolle's Clos Apalta 2005 blend as the most exciting wine in the world.

Guests come to Lapostolle to stay in the four secluded cabins, each roofed in laurel and filled with the fragrance of fresh blossom.

From the cabins' private wooden decks, guests can survey the lodge's cactus-edged infinity pool and a shimmering vista of merlot and carmenere vines below.

British visitors to Chile usually pass through Santiago, a clean, modern city that reflects the country's enthusiasm for innovation, design and new technology.

In Las Condes, a business district kept neater than London's Docklands, thoughtfully built offices and public buildings line wide, well-planned boulevards.



The rescue of the Chilean miners - including 30th man out Raul Bustos - focused the world's attention on Chile


The capital was once seen as a tiresome overnight stop between the country's more compelling highlights. In the past three years, however, innovative chefs have refreshed the city's food scene.

In upscale Vitacura, chef and showman Gianfranco Vanella reduces swordfish, octopus and oil fish to foam and emulsions at Mercat Restoran, a foodie's favourite in a Sixties building.

Other attractions include haggling with fishmongers in the bustling, wrought-iron Mercado Central, sipping a beer in the buzzing bars of bohemian Bellavista or catching an avantgarde art show in up-and-coming Barrio Brasil.

Climb 2,800ft Cerro San Cristobal, which dominates leafy Parque Metropolitano. Its sweeping views stretch all the way to the Andean Cordillera.

Believe me, if you were gripped by the 69-day captivity of those stoic miners, you'll be enthralled by their heart-stopping country.


Travel Facts

Black Tomato (020 7426 9888, www.blacktomato.co.uk) can arrange a ten-night itinerary in Chile visiting Santiago, Colchagua Valley, Patagonia and the Atacama Desert, from £4,499 per person. This includes all flights, transfers and accommodation with breakfast, based on two sharing.


source: dailymail