Patagonia is one of those places that you’ve got to experience at least once in your lifetime. If you love fly fishing, there’s no place like it. Spanning Chile and Argentina, the region holds a vast diversity of fishing opportunities. Trophy trout are a reality here, as are dramatic landscapes, towering glaciers, gauchos, great food, and good company.
Over the years I’ve spent a fair bit of time exploring Patagonia. I love the people, the language, the landscapes, and the fishing, so I was excited to be asked to host Montana Angler’s trip to Patagonia Baker Lodge with my wife Christine this season. This would be my twelfth trip to Patagonia and my fourth time fishing in Chile. On this trip we also enjoyed a combination trip to Magic Waters Lodge and the River of Dreams Basecamp. Read that trip report later here.
Home to the driest desert on the planet, the Atacama, and an impressive coastline cut by steep fjords and wrapped by glistening sand beaches, Chile is a country that possesses a wonderous array of natural features unique to the world. Toss in the northern and southern Patagonian ice fields and some of the best trout fishing anywhere and it's no wonder that the place is an angler’s dream. It’s a country I’ve come to love for a lot of reasons, and this trip certainly added a few more to the list.
Patagonia Baker Lodge
Patagonia Baker Lodge rests on the banks of the Río Baker a few miles below the outflow of Lago Bertrand. The lodge was purchased by Eduardo Barrueto and renovated over the last few years, opening to anglers for the 2024 fishing season. The lodge is modeled after the aesthetic established at Eduardo’s first fishing lodge, Magic Waters Lodge in Coyhaique. Exposed wooden beams, spacious bedrooms and panoramic views define the architectural style. Guests will be awed on entry to the lodge’s dining area and great room which offers commanding views of the turquoise waters of the Baker and the glacially capped Cordon Contreras. A wraparound deck provides a bird’s-eye view of the river. Rainbow trout can often be spotted feeding on dry flies or nymphing in the enormous eddy that flows below.
Anglers at Patagonia Baker Lodge have a variety of beats to explore the Río Baker, both upstream and downstream of the lodge. You can depart directly from the lodge and motor upstream to the base of the rapids flowing from Lago Bertrand, or drift downstream through densely forested banks to explore shelfs, undercut banks, and seams full of rainbow trout. Brown trout are also present throughout the river but tend to hold closer to the banks and respond best to streamers presented with sink-tip fly lines.
The culinary program at Patagonia Baker Lodge offers guests an authentic taste of Chilean cuisine and a virtual tour of the country’s wines. Asado featuring grilled meats including lamb, beef, chicken, and pork are always a hit, served with a fresh salad and grilled vegetables. I particularly enjoy the lamb, traditionally cooked over open coals on a fire fed with lenga and ñire, the local wood abundant throughout Patagonia. The asador fixes the lamb to a cross that is tilted over the coals and slow cooked for hours. The scent of smoke and the rich meat cooking over the coals, the flicker of the flames — it’s no wonder that Patagonian asado is the stuff of legend. The lamb is treated with nothing but salt. The crispy skin and succulent meat are a true delight.
Patagonia Baker Lodge features some of the largest rooms I’ve stayed in at any lodge anywhere. The spacious accommodations are a pleasure with each room offering views of Río Baker and the surrounding landscape.
Río Cochrane and Río Baker
Our first full fishing day at Patagonia Baker Lodge looked to be our best opportunity for sunny skies and sight fishing. Like Montana, Patagonia is a land of extreme weather. Rain and snow are possible any day of the year, and cold weather during the shoulder seasons should be expect. After discussing our goals with head guide Marcelo Fabian Soto Ceron, Christine and I decide to pull ourselves away from the alluring waters of Río Baker and head south for an hour’s drive via the Carretera Austral to the small community of Cochrane. Marcelo grew up in Cochrane and knows the river well. It’s a technical fishery that demands a high level of skill. Unless you’re fortunate enough to arrive during a hatch when the brown trout are up feeding over the weed beds, success here typically means no more than a fish or two for a day’s solid effort. My sense was that Marcelo didn’t anticipate great success on Río Cochrane this time of year, but if we were intent on fishing it this was our best opportunity, and we were happy to take it.
We drove south and east from the lodge along the Río Baker. Every so often I’d get a glimpse through the forest of the cerulean waters churning beneath towering, tree-clad cliffs. The beauty and volume of water in the Baker is simple jaw dropping. There’s no two ways about it. We drove on to the confluence of the Baker with Río Neff which join together at a dramatic waterfall. The Neff is a glacially fed river that alters the color and composition of the Baker downstream. The Baker continues through a tight canyon before eventually turning west and south near Cochrane and flowing into the Pacific Ocean at Caleta Tortel.
Cochrane is the southernmost town on the Carretera Austral, Chile’s famed Ruta 7 that spans more than 700 miles of Patagonia south from Puerto Montt. Road access wasn’t achieved here until 1988 with the opening of the highway. The town maintains a frontier feel with vast wilderness extending in all directions. Recent investment has brought paved roads to Cochrane and a portion of this new pavement is present on first view of the Río Cochrane which flows north and west from town before joining the Baker. Marcelo drove us through town and back onto gravel before reaching a ranch gate that followed a two track into a meadow. A few lenga and bunches of coiron dotted the meadow along the banks of the river. We rigged our rods and set out with high hopes for the day.
The Cochrane looks much like a spring creek but is in fact fed by distant waters flowing from the mountains. The guides here refer to it tongue-in-cheek as a “summer creek.” The main channel of the Río Cochrane is quite deep, but the edges of the river are full of character. Gravel shelves, weed beds and downed timber provide holding water for trout, some of which grow to extraordinary size. Marcelo, Christine and I approached the water carefully looking to spot trout. A few small rainbows were rising on this day, with a couple larger trout holding in the deeper pools. Christine took a few shots at some of the first spotted fish and made several worthy presentations to a larger brown trout. I fumbled my first cast of the trip, putting my flies in the timber on a presentation to a trout that I probably should have skipped given its position and the likely impossibility of landing it.
As expected, the cooler temperatures seemed to have most of the fish holding deep in the center of the river and beyond our view. By lunchtime we’d only seen a handful of fish and just a few mayflies. The sun and windless conditions had us hopeful that a better hatch would come off, but it was not to be. We worked our way upstream toward the truck and spotted one brown trout of superior caliber on the way. Of course, it was tucked against the far bank in the most challenging position to reach. Marcelo and Christine waded chest deep into the Cochrane to throw a few presentations before the fish spooked. I returned to the same spot after the fish had returned sometime later and failed to garner a take. One other rainbow trout presented itself and I was able to make several good presentations that were completely ignored. We were defeated on the Cochrane, but happy to have experienced the fishing in this far corner of Patagonia. My advice to anglers keen to fish the Cochrane is to arrive during the spring season when dry fly hatches are at their height. Look for brown trout hunting in the shallows above the weed beds and approach the river with a high degree of stealth.
With a few hours in the day remaining, Marcelo suggested we head back to the lodge and cast for an hour or two on the Baker before dinner. As an angler approaching the Río Baker for the first time, it is easy to be overwhelmed. The Baker is the largest river in Chilean Patagonia. Combine that with the sheer scale of the landscape and you can feel dwarfed in a heartbeat. If the size doesn’t hit you right away, the beauty of the place surely will. Influenced by glacial till, the Río Baker runs an otherworldly azure hue that is simply stunning. But like big rivers everywhere, the Baker can be broken down into manageable sections. Marcelo motored the pontoon across the river and rowed us into position to cast against the bank. We threw dry flies beneath the overhangs and Christine managed to catch a nice rainbow to cap the day.
While Christine and I were busy exploring the Cochrane, Richard Lane was busy cleaning up on the Baker. Richard netted more than 15 fish on the first day, taking several nice rainbows on dry flies while floating the river below the lodge.
Lago General Carrera and Lago Bertrand
Having swung for a big fish on the Río Cochrane and missed, things took an immediate turn on Monday. Christine and I joined guide Nico Vargas for a day’s fishing on Lago General Carrera. Lago General Carrera is the largest lake in Chile and the second largest lake in South America next to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Big lakes hold big fish and Lago General Carrera is your best shot at catching a monster when visiting Patagonia Baker Lodge.
Nico drove us from the lodge to the “Pasarilla” section of the lake, just upstream of an orange suspension bridge that gives the location its name. Here, Lago General Carrera fills a small bay before constricting through a stretch of rocky cliffs and funneling into Lago Bertrand. The best location to find a large trout here is where the current speeds up and rushes beneath the bridge. This is sink-tip streamer water and tough work for the guides who must continually row to hold the boat in the heaviest current to find the best fish. Nico got a quick break when my first cast of the day resulted in a true specimen of a brown trout. I laid the cast in the rushing water and let the streamer sink for a moment before beginning my retrieve. I gave the line a couple of strips and felt a heavy tug on the other end. In the depths I could see the shape of a fish thrashing slowly head to tail in the manner of truly large trout.
I didn’t need to tell Nico it was a big one, he began working the boat toward the shore as I positioned the butt of my 7-weight fly rod against my hip to fight the fish. Experience has taught me that fighting a big fish with patience and restraint is the way to go. We worked the fish against the current and into the net. We decided to head to shore to capture a few photos. Nico was pretty excited and began pumping hard on the oars and working up a sweat to the point where he pulled off his boina. “Tranquillo, Nico, tranquillo,” I said. I kept the fish beneath the surface of the water in the net as we eased the pontoon into the rocky shoreline just above the boat launch. The fish was pure chrome with dark spots reminiscent of an Atlantic Salmon. Christine held the fish for a few photographs before we released it back into Lago General Carrera.
With a big fish on the books, Christine and I were ready for another. So was Nico, and we were prepared to give him a workout. But our dreams of another large trout failed to materialize. We cast for a few more hours at the Pasarilla and netted a modest brown, but the bite just wasn’t on. We had lunch beneath an enormous arrayanes tree and decided to make a move to Lago Bertrand and the Río Baker rapids in search of more action.
Lago Bertrand is a beautiful lake surrounded by dense forest and glaciated peaks. The outlet of the lake shallows gradually and fishes like a giant river with ever increasing flow rates before constricting and reaching a point where it becomes the Río Baker. We navigated the southwestern shoreline of the lake closest to Lago Plomo where we caught a nice rainbow before crossing the lake. Christine picked up a fish on a streamer in the roiling water on the eastern shore just above the canyon and the rapids of Río Baker. Descending the river here is nothing short of a thrill ride. I would have been completely content to run the rapids with my eyes glued to the towering waves that rippled well overhead, but Nico insisted that Christine and I cast in the eddies along the shoreline where he said some of the biggest fish in the Baker are caught. Our attention was split between our streamer presentations and the crashing current of the river, which likely limited the effectiveness of our fishing. Needless to say, we whiffed in the rapids, but I’d still recommend anyone fishing at Patagonia Baker Lodge to float and fish this stretch of the river.
Río Jeinimeni
There are a few rivers in Patagonia (well, maybe more than a few) that have a mystique all their own. I’d first heard of the Río Jeinimeni on a previous trip to Chilean Patagonia. There was word of massive fish there, runners coming up out of Lago General Carrera that pushed to 12 pounds and beyond. It was rumored to be a challenging fishery with big payoffs for those willing to commit the time and energy to fish it. But the Jeinimeni comes with challenges beyond the fishing.
You’ve got to be there during the right time of year, and the river requires a lengthy drive from Patagonia Baker Lodge or an overnight stay in the town of Chile Chico. Christine and I thought the Río Jeinimeni might yet again remain out of reach on this trip, but after landing a trophy on Lago General Carrera the day prior we were excited to hear Nico and fellow guide Guillermo Cifuentes were game to get up early and make the long run to the river with us on Tuesday. We sent our alarms and were on the road to the river at 5:30am, well before the first rays of light crested the Andes.
Regardless of the fishing, one thing you won’t lack for at Patagonia Baker Lodge is good company. We spent the four-hour drive to Río Jeinimeni sharing stories with Guillermo and Nico, learning about their lives and generally having a grand time. Seeing the morning light rise over Lago General Carrera was breathtaking. We passed through Chile Chico, famed for its cherry trees and wineries, and arrived to the river midmorning.
The Río Jeinimeni defines the border between Chile and Argentina. It lies in an arid valley surrounded by towering rocky bluffs and bunches of neneo, the thorny bush of the Patagonia steppe. It’s a far cry from the verdant forest of the Río Baker and gave us the feeling that we’d been transported to an entirely different system within the broad reach of Lago General Carrera, which we indeed had. The day’s fishing would be on foot and I was excited to be out of the boat. I really enjoy working water and covering ground and Río Jeinimeni demands that. It’s fast-flowing with a riverbed largely devoid of vegetation. The wading here is rarely more than knee deep, but the strength of the current makes navigating the water challenging. The big browns in the Jeinimeni are few and far between and they aren’t in the river to feed, so covering water is critical. A few good casts with a sink-tip line and a streamer in any stretch is sufficient. The idea is to take a few steps upstream after each sequence of casts and to move quickly.
Sight fishing here is possible when conditions are favorable, but it’s not the typical approach. I did manage to spot a brown in the shallows taking a rest from the current and called to Guillermo, Nico and Christine on sighting the fish. I worked my way a bit upstream and put a cast behind a boulder that drew the trout’s attention. It rose to inspect the streamer, but didn’t take.
The Río Jeinimeni has a few large boulders and deep pools that just have to be fish a bit more thoroughly. I caught an 18-inch brown in a boulder garden where you got the feeling a larger trout lurked. We agreed to fish the pool again on that way back downstream. We continued to fish upriver covering water until we came to deep pool with a small creek entering from the Chilean side of the Jeinimeni. I worked my way to the top of the pool and drew one enormous fish from the depths that turned away from my streamer at the last moment. We all gasped at the sight of it.
On the way back downstream, I gave Nico my rod to fish the boulder garden. It’s great to see how locals fish their water and to learn from guides who have a lot of experience. Nico’s approach was impressive. He had an effective way of working the water by casting his fly to the Argentine side of the river and swinging his fly back through the thalweg. We were moving downstream when I heard a “Whoop!” and looked back to see Nico’s rod well bent into a heavy fish. He fought the trout to the rocks, a stunning male brown trout in brilliant fall color. We didn’t measure the fish, but my guess is that it was over two feet in length. A remarkable fish to be sure, but nothing to write home about on the Río Jeinimeni where 15-pound trout are a reality.
Anglers who want to fish the Río Jeinimeni should be prepared for a physically demanding day on the water. The river is powerful and the casting is very challenging, especially when the wind blows, which it often does in this corner of Patagonia. Spending the night in Chile Chico is a good idea. If you are set on catching the fish of a lifetime, the Río Jeinimeni might just be the place to do it.
Río Baker - Chile's Largest River
Having ventured far afield to fish the Río Jeinimeni on Tuesday, Christine and I opted to fish close to the lodge on Wednesday. Today was our day to explore the Río Baker. Our guide for the day would be Hayden Dale. Hayden had made quite an impression on guests Rick and Becky Hagan and Richard Lane who’d fished with Hayden their first days at the lodge. “He’s really good,” Rick told me after spending a day on the Baker, so I was eager to meet and fish with Hayden. I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Hayden has been guiding in Chile for several years and also guides at Magic Waters Lodge and the River of Dreams Basecamp where Robert and Jeanine Konishi, Christine and I would be fishing the following week. I was eager to learn about the Río Baker and the other fisheries we might visit in the coming days. We planned to join Hayden on the water after lunch. Christine and I needed a bit of rest following our excursion to Chile Chico and morning rain had us less than enthused about an early start. Fortunately, the sun poked out after noon and we had some patches of sunshine which help with sighting fish on the Baker.
One of the great things about Patagonia Baker Lodge is the instant access to the water. The lodge quite literally sits on the banks of the river. A dock with pontoon boats is a short walk from your room. You can choose to head out for an entire day, or just an hour, whatever suits.
We met Hayden in the guide’s lounge and rigged up a couple of dry fly rods. Our plan was to float downstream of the lodge looking for risers in the massive back eddies along the edges of the river. Christine, always eager to cast a dry fly, took the front of the boat. Hayden motored to the far side of the Baker and rowed us into position to cast our flies to the bank. Christine had her cast in order and was hitting all the right spots, but we weren’t seeing fish. Then Hayden made a turn for the middle of the river. “They’ll be up in these seams,” Hayden said. “Marcelo always skips this water, but the fish are here.” Sure enough, in the surging seamlines emanating from the main flow, rainbow trout after rainbow trout were surfing in the current sipping dry flies. I could immediately see why Marcelo blows past this water: holding a boat here was a virtual impossibility. The power of the Baker is immense and even the strongest guide is helpless to do anything about it. Instead, Hayden would make passes at likely water and wait for the trout to appear. Then we’d throw our flies and watch for a rise. Christine landed a couple of nice rainbows as the rain began to fall. It felt good to get a couple fish on dries after slinging sinking lines the past few days. Hayden told us about the River of Dreams and some of his experiences fishing around Coyhaique during our day together. “You’ll see a few really big trout on the Blanco,” he assured us. We were already looking forward to our time further north, but Hayden had us salivating.
Late that afternoon we pulled the boat into a little cove off and sighted a number of good fish rising to dry flies. Despite the fact that we saw a few caddis flying about, the fish seemed to be on something different. We made several fly changes, pushing in and out of the bank to re-rig so as not to spook the fish. I finally managed to catch one of the rainbows just before go time.
We met back with our group for dinner and were excited to hear from Chuck Sundby and Gloria Beattie who’d joined us at Patagonia Baker Lodge after fishing for a week at Magic Waters, and from Robert and Jeanine Konishi. They’d spent the day exploring nearby Parque Nacional Patagonia and raved about the park, the wildlife, and the museum. They all said it was a must-see experience.
Cerro San Lorenzo, Glaciar Calluqueo and Parque Nacional Patagonia
Too often on fly fishing trips we focus all our attention on catching fish, sometimes at the expense of other great experiences. Recognizing that we’d be in Patagonia for more than two weeks on this trip, and factoring in the rave reviews from our fellow anglers, Christine and I decided we had to see Parque Nacional Patagonia. We met with guides Guillermo and Matias Mondaca Yañez to set out for the day.
Matias presented us with a pair of potential itineraries: we could spend the day exploring Parque Nacional Patagonia, driving clear to the Argentine border, or we could head further south to see Cerro San Lorenzo, the second highest peak in Patagonia and Glaciar Calluqueo, visiting Parque Nacional Patagonia in the afternoon. Matias said the weather looked promising to catch a glimpse of Cerro San Lorenzo and that it would be a great day for photographs. Always game to explore more and excited for new adventures, Christine and I chose option two.
We jumped in Matias’s Toyota 4Runner and motored south from the lodge. Just past the Baker’s confluence with Río Neff we were stopped in our tracks by the sight of a dozen Andean Condors circle in the skies above the canyon. The birds were very close, just overhead, and I was able to capture a couple of good shots of them in the morning light. It was a thrill to see these enormous birds in their native environment.
We travelled south through Cochrane and past Lago Esmeralda before turning onto another road that paralleled Río Pedregoso. Matias had grown increasingly excited during the drive. The weather was looking good and blue skies dominated the horizon. “We might get lucky,” he said. We rounded a bend in the road and were struck with our first view of the San Lorenzo massif. Enormous rock spires caked white with snow stood before us. The view was absolutely monolithic and made all the more striking by the lenga and ñire trees that were beginning to change color with the onset of the autumn season. The view only improved as we moved closer to the mountain with cascading waterfalls dropping from ice sheets along the mountainsides.
Cerro San Lorenzo is 12,159 feet high and straddles the border between Chile and Argentina. Three distinct glaciers guard its summit, including the striking ice fields of Glaciar Calluqueo on the Chilean side. The mountain was first summited by Alberto María de Agostini in 1943, but several surrounding peaks and spires near the summit have yet to be climbed. We pulled the truck over at a viewpoint that offered tremendous views of not only Cerro San Lorenzo and Glaciar Calluqueo, but the entire glacial moraine and lake formed by the ice flow. The enormity of the scene was realized when a large military helicopter appeared overhead and flew toward the ice sheet. By the time it reached the glacier it was absolutely dwarfed by the surroundings. We ate lunch on a bench overlooking the lake in complete awe of the landscape before us.
On the way back to Patagonia Baker Lodge we stopped to visit Parque Nacional Patagonia. Donated to the government of Chile in 2018 by Tompkins Conservation, the park includes lands that reach to the border with Argentina and were once part of an enormous sheep estancia. The vision of Douglas and Kris Tompkins, the park now protects the vast Chacabuco Valley between Jeinimeni and Lago Cochrane national reserves, an area of 640,000 acres.
We began our tour of the park with a stop at the museum which features detailed exhibits on the park’s wildlife and ecosystem, as well as a sobering look at humanity’s impact on the planet. Photos and exhibits in the museum vividly illustrate the influence man has had and continues to have on the world around him. Parque Nacional Patagonia was formed with the intent of giving the planet a chance to heal itself by providing the many species that live here the space and habitat to thrive.
After exploring the museum, we drove deep into the Chacabuco Valley. Vaguely reminiscent of the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, the Chacabuco Valley is dotted with guanaco (a close relative of the llama) and ñandú (the South American ostrich), rather than elk and bison. The peaks, river valley, and abundant wildlife made the park feel oddly familiar for this Montanan, but I’d agree with the rest of our anglers that Parque Nacional Patagonia is a must-see for anyone visiting Patagonia Baker Lodge.
Following our tour of the park, we made a final stop on the drive back to the lodge to view the confluence of the Río Baker and Río Neff. There is a small gravel path that leads from a parking area just off the Carretera Austral to the falls above the confluence. Standing beside the roaring river is a visceral experience. You can feel the rush of air and mist rising from the falls. It served as another remind of the power of the Baker and the enormity of this place.
Back at the lodge we were delighted to hear that Chuck and Gloria had landed a monster 26-inch brown trout with Marcelo on the Río Baker. Chuck hooked the fish on a size 16 Copper John he’d dropped off a dry fly. We celebrated Chuck’s fish with a farewell asado and toast to great times had together at Patagonia Baker Lodge.
Marble Caves
With our anglers departing for their final night at Magic Waters Lodge near Coyhaique on Friday, we took the opportunity as a group to explore the Marble Caves near the town of Río Tranquillo. The Marble Caves are a remarkable natural feature on the shores of Lago General Carrera. Years of wind and water have sculpted the marble along the shoreline into the most incredible formations. Massive islands appear suspended above the water line. They are held in place by spires of marble that look impossibly thin. Caves cut into the mountainside descend to the lake shore with the most incredibly textured marble inside.
There are two options for exploring the Marble Caves from Río Tranquillo, you can take a boat tour with a guide or rent kayaks to explore on your own. I’m glad we opted for the boat tour, first because the wind on Lago General Carrera is not to be trifled with, and second because our guide was a great interpreter of the local geology and features.
We boarded a long, narrow boat at the launch after donning life jackets and motored north along the lakeshore. In short order we could see the caves, inverted V-shaped archways. The turquoise waters of the lake lapped at the marble walls that faded into darkness. Our guide turned the boat southward. We began motoring alongside the caves and then he suddenly turned the bow of the boat toward a cave opening. Before any of us realized it we were quite literally inside a marble cave looking up at the striking textures nature had created. To run your hand along the marble is amazing. I think it is fair to say we were all awed by the experience. It is hard to imagine how long the erosive power of water could have taken to sculpt the facets on the face of the marble. For the next hour we ducked into and out of several different caves, and even through a few that opened on another side. Marble in white, grey and orange hues, and veined with contrasting colors made the entire experience a wonder.
After returning to the boat launch, we said our goodbyes to the group. Christine and I returned to fish the Río Baker for a couple hours and then joined Robert and Jeanine for dinner. Our plan was to depart together for the River of Dreams in the morning.
Additional Travel and Cultural Information for Layovers in Santiago
The capital city of Chile is Santiago. A major metropolis home to nearly 7 million people, Santiago is the cultural, economic and political epicenter of the country. Gleaming, modern buildings with striking architecture line Santiago’s business district and reflect the wealth and power held in the capital. The city, as much of the country, is flanked by the Andes Mountains. Snow-studded peaks are visible from the city throughout the year and outdoor adventure is never far away.
The capital city of Chile is Santiago. A major metropolis home to nearly 7 million people, Santiago is the cultural, economic and political epicenter of the country. Gleaming, modern buildings with striking architecture line Santiago’s business district and reflect the wealth and power held in the capital. The city, as much of the country, is flanked by the Andes Mountains. Snow-studded peaks are visible from the city throughout the year and outdoor adventure is never far away.
Most international flights to Chile are routed through Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. Christine and I arrived on an overnight flight from Dallas with Montana Angler guests Shannon and Richard Riley, and Richard Lane and Carolina Ventura. We took a cab from the airport to Hotel Castillo Rojo in the Bellavista neighborhood just west of the city center. On arrival we were shown to our room and thereafter joined Shannon and Richard for breakfast in the hotel’s secluded courtyard. There, we introduced ourselves to Montana Angler guests Robert and Jeanine Konishi, who’d arrived the day prior and were enjoying a morning coffee.
Bellavista neighborhood has lots of shops and restaurants to explore and Hotel Castillo Rojo is well-situated for a day’s exploration of the area. With our departing flight to Balmaceda Airport and Patagonia leaving the following morning, we were free to take in the sights and sounds of Santiago. Our day in the city happened to coincide with Good Friday. As a result, many of the shops in Santiago were closed in observance of the holiday so we decided to take a city bus tour to get a feel for the capital. Part of the tour includes a funicular ascent of Cerro San Cristóbal, a high point in the city that provides impressive views of Santiago and the surrounding mountains. The funicular departs a short walk from Hotel Castillo Rojo and terminates near the summit where a statue of Jesus overlooks the city. Many locals make a pilgrimage up Cerro San Cristóbal on Good Friday, so the park was packed with observers.
Christine and I, along with several Montana Angler guests took in the bus tour of Santiago and returned to the hotel to rest and relax for a couple hours before dinner. We convened in the hotel’s lounge where we met guests Rick and Becky Hagan before heading across the street to Peumayén Ancestral Food. Peumayén is a Chilean restaurant that features indigenous foods from across the country. The land and sea tasting menu provides diners with a broad ensemble of dishes illustrating the breadth and depth of Chilean cuisine. We were all delighted with the bold flavors, variety, and unique presentations of the dishes. The meal certainly whet our appetites for the week to come.
This trip report is from veteran writer, traveler, angler, and photographer Ben Pierce. Ben's work has appeared in Big Sky Journal, Montana Outdoors, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Fly Fisherman, American Angler, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunset Magazine, Sports Afield, Delta Sky Magazine, Travel + Leisure, Fly Fusion, Boston Globe, Montana Quarterly, Flylife Magazine, Living Bird, High Country News and more.