Zoom in
Zoom in
Esta es la zona del hemisferio sur más pródiga en tales fenómenos descontando, por supuesto, «la reina del hielo»: la Antártida./ This is the region in the southern hemisphere that features more glaciers than any other, with the sole exception of Antarctica, the “queen of ice.”
Zoom in
Los turistas quedan encantados con esta reserva de la biosfera de la UNESCO. / Tourists are swept off their feet by this UNESCO-declared biosphere reserve.

ON ITS CHILEAN STRIP, THE ANDEANS HAVE NO BETTER ALLY THAN THE GLACIERS. THE JAW-DROPPING MOUNTAIN RANGE HARBORS THEM ON THEIR PEAKS ONLY TO LET THEM SLIP DOWN LIKE FROZEN BUSSES ON THEIR HILLSIDES. VARIED RAINFALL ON THIS BELT OF CONES ROUNDS OUT THE WORK OF NATURE: NOURISHED BY THE RAIN, THE SNOW SLITHERS DOWN THE HEIGHTS AS IF IT WERE A SLOW-MOTION CHILEAN-MADE ROLLER COASTER

Thus, the extremes of this landscape sways from a baby glacier that sprinkles ice bear the top of the Nevado Ojos del Salado –the world’s highest volcano- to San Rafael, a glacier whose tongue licks the ground right at sea level.
Though less abundant on the rain-meager north side, the central part of the planet’s thinnest country –at least in a map- is full of them, though nothing compares to the chilling bash they throw in the breathtaking beauty of Patagonia, the region in the southern hemisphere that features more glaciers than any other, with the sole exception of Antarctica, the “queen of ice.” 
You have to go to Chile to see that: those rolling ice masses that contain three quarters of all of the globe’s freshwater are not only an expression of the force of nature; they are also a token of beauty.
What people say about Patagonia cannot be averred roughly anywhere else: on a single day, Patagonia can show you the four seasons as we know them. Therefore it’s not only about a variety of places, but also an assortment of climates.
Chile is a long coffer that treasures some of the most beautiful and less-polluted places on the face of the earth. The Torres del Paine National Park was once voted as the Eighth Wonder of the World in a poll conducted by TripAdvisor’s virtual tourist site.
This UNESCO-declared Biosphere Reserve, nestled in the Magallanes and Ultima Esperanza provinces, boasts 26 different mammals and 118 bird species in an environment in which glaciers chiseled the hefty mountain range into peculiar shapes millions of years ago.
Tourists are swept off their feet by the Torres de Peine peaks of approximately 2,800 meters high, featuring huge turquoise-hued lakes and rivers whose watercourses whisper the exclusiveness of this Latin American paradise. One particular allure is the Grey glacier, an “ice cube” that’s 6 kilometers long and 30 meters high that boat riders that swing by close to it feel they can almost touch with their bare hands.
But emotions don’t end there. Paso de los Perros, Laguna Amarga and Valle Francés are just other locations nobody can pass up. Those who get to Torres del Paine will make out the Sarmiento, Nordenskjold, Pehoé, Paine and Dickson lakes, just a few plain touches in a place where eyes never stop climbing up the mountainsides.
From one place to another, there are such special “hosts” as seals, cormorants, condors, rheas, caiquens, foxes, pumas and those wild horses that in this neck of the woods they call home, show how effectively they had been tamed… by nature.
There’s so much to look at and look up to when it comes to glaciers: the amazingly beautiful Colgante at the Quenlat National Park, where the “icebox” falls down a 300-meter cliff and forms incredible waterfalls that resemble a dangling miracle; the Pío XI, whose 64 kilometers make it the longest glacier in the southern hemisphere –ruling out the Antarctica; the Balmaceda at the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, which takes more land than any other of its peers in Chile, coming down from the mountains all the way down to the Última Esperanza fjord; and Italia, the southernmost of all and perched on the Alberto Agostini National Park in Cape Horn, a glacier that “begets” eye-popping glaciers for being right in the ocean.
The recount of Chile’s icy beauties also includes the San Quintín, Bernardo and Amalia glaciers, among so many others. There’s indeed a lot to choose from.
Way down to the south, “where the world ends” for some, Chile shows that watercolors can also be found in chilly environments. Such an array of scenery choices calls for trailblazing trips, trekking, horseback rides, climbing and adventure sports, or just the chance to become genuine voyeurs of nature. Because it’s right there, under the wing of glaciers, where life –in its purest essence- makes nothing but love… many times over.