As lovely and serene as advertised. There are 11 villas on the property, each one secluded (and, alas, a goodly distance from the main lodge!). Our villa consists of a small sitting room with a fireplace, a large sleeping area with an oversized king-size bed, a well-equipped bath and steps away, a wood-fueled hot tub. We have not tried the hot tub yet — it was too windy and too much of a fire hazard.
Hot tub is on the right.
Speaking of wind. WOW! Our first hike to a glacier-fed lake and a waterfall featured winds of 50+mph. Yes, they could nearly blow you over. I crouched down several times along the way to wait for the wind to subside even a bit. Cliff managed to topple over once due to his backpack acting like a sail — whoops! He got a pretty good sized scratch and assorted abrasions but was not seriously damaged, thank goodness. The hike was 2 1/2 hours long. We are only at about 500 feet altitude so we did not have thin air to contend with, but the terrain was up and down. I think they consider this trail to be low difficulty. We’ve got a “medium” coming up. Yikes. We hiked to two other sites after lunch — but these were of the 10 minutes out and 10 minutes back variety. At moments, I thought, well, we’ve seen Patagonia…check — let’s move on to a spa resort. Five more days filled with treks might be a bit much!
A highlight of the day (other than the scenery, which was magnificent), was a picnic lunch complete with cloth tablecloth, wine glasses and a cheese dish (a cross between quesa fundido and saganaki) cooked on a propane stove. One of the wine glasses cracked in transit, so I drank my delicious red wine from a tin cup meant for the soup!
Scenery is unbelievable (and I hope to get to a connection that allows me to post pictures soon — Awasi is definitely not the place.) I’ve taken several shots on my iPhone that could be used for one of thos Apple billboards that boast “taken with an i6”. They are that spectacular — and obviously did not require any photographic ability at all. My billboard could say “taken with an i6 by an utter amateur”!
We are the grey-beards among the guests at Awasi. Two couples look to be 10 or 15 years younger than us. The others are, at most, in their early 30’s. One brave family has two little kids — like under 6 — in tow.
Had to add a comment about Awasi hospitality. We arrived at the lodge on Saturday around 3pm — too late for lunch, BUT they have a meal interlude they call “after lunch” (Cliff decided this is something like Pooh’s elevenses.) Three courses, plus wine, of course. You can see that we look pretty happy with it!
Our location in Patagonia is BELOW the antarctic circle — but all of our time in Chile was at about the same longitude as California. The “California connection” is not very apparent in Patagonia, but a definite feeling once you are as far north as Santiago, Valparaiso and the wine valleys.
Wow, Ann, you are certainly signed up for Adventure Patagonia! Stay in one piece!
Enjoying the blog!
While you may be the oldsters, it sounds like it would be hard for anyone to keep up with you and Cliff. Let us know how the ‘medium’ goes. The tougher it is, the nicer it must be to return to your heavenly villa. The happy bookers miss you, Ann. Enjoy!