Who feeds who?

Flavio and vizcachas at Salar de Surire.  They both love carrots…

Helping guests from U.K.

Due to a very slight increase of tourists’ arrivals from United Kingdom it is probably wise to give a recommendation about flying from U.K. airports.  Why are we giving tips to U.K. clients from Chile? Isn’t easier to get info from within U.K.?  Well, the reason is the following.

One of our clients booked a few nights and tours at Terrace Lodge & Tours. Whilst the guests must respect a check-in time at 8 p.m., we have been waiting until 10 p.m. before to declare a “No Show”.  Only the day after the client contacted us to tell he lost the flight.  Did he wake up late?  Maybe an accident along the way to the airport?  No.  He could not park his car at the airport parking.  We did not ask more details about that but here is the solution:  Parking4less.

As the website at “parking 4 less” states, “Compare prices of car parking at all UK airports with our unbiased search engine and save money by booking in advance.”

Biosphere Responsible Tourism

Terrace Lodge has been awarded the “Biosphere Responsible Tourism” certification.

I.T.R. the “Biosphere Hotel” certificate.

It is a trap!

Terrace Lodge, its owner and members of Alianza Gato Andino.

It is a trap connected to a camera: It is a camera trap.  Thanks to these camera traps we can see some of the rare and shy mammals that live here. Some members of Alianza Gato Andino (Andean Cat Alliance) have just left Terrace Lodge after four days spent in the area of Lauca Park.  Probably, right now, a puma or an Andean cat are attracted by the smell of the urine left in front of a camera trap. Some infrared sensors, activated at the passage of the animal, will trigger the camera.

It is not the first time that some camera traps are positioned by Alianza Gato Andino.  Some images are now in the “photos” page.  Under “Photosets” choose Andean Cat Alliance. The set includes the covers of two new books, “Field Guide To The Mammals Of Chile” and “Mamíferos de Chile”, written by biologist Agustin Iriarte Walton (far right in the photo).

Let’s wait a few weeks.  The results will be in our news.

Moonlight paintings.

Another video taken by Bernd Pröschold around Putre.  The lack of a starry sky during that cloudy night has been rewarded by “moonlight paintings”.  The coloured peaks in the foreground are at about 4,800 meters above sea level.  The highest is at more than 5,000 masl.  In the background are the “Payachatas”; Parinacota (at right)  and Pomerape volcanoes.  REMEMBER to resize the new opening window to a smaller size.  The video resolution is 320 pixel, which corresponds to about 8 cm ( 3″ ) in your monitor.

To see a frame of this video at higher resolution, click our photo page (500 pixel) or View This Photo on Flickr (1024 pixel).

DON’T FORGET! Terrace Lodge can take you there, under the sun, under a starry sky or walking under a full moon.

Starry nights around Putre

Amongst the many photographers who came to Putre and stayed at Terrace Lodge there is one who is specialized in astrophotography: Bernd Pröschold.   He spent days and nights around Putre and the Lauca Park in order to take some incredible videos.  Terrace Lodge is allowed to show two of them at small resolution.  Here you can see the first. Downsize the new window to see it better.

After Bernd Proschold another French photographer came  to shoot the landscapes by night: he is Stephane Guisard.  Follow the phographers’ links to to see their works.

On Sunday 4th of July  the second video will be available through the News of this web site.  Stay tuned…!

Who were the artists?

Who painted the caves around Putre?  And when?  To see these ancient paintings  is quite easy (at 90 minutes walking distance from the village) but to discover who painted them – and when -  is indeed a difficult task.   Thanks to a project realized by Andres Jimenez y Pedro Quevedo, a few weeks ago the archeo-anthropologist Marcela Sepulveda has been invited to report on some findings.  While it is not clear yet who painted the caves, it seems that she has some clues on when they did it:  they could be around 8,000 years old.

Some of them can be seen at Wilakawrani,  at about 6 kms from Putre.

Putre at the Olympic Games 2010

Putre and Parinacota “sponsors” of Vancouver Olympic Games.

“Terrace Lodge is very nice and comfortable, but small.  Where do I put the rest of the staff ?” Ingrid Bragemann, manager at Tantor Films, was in putre last November  in order to shoot a promo video for Bombardier, the sponsor of the Olympic Games 2010 in Canada.  The result is here.   Enjoy!

Save the Andean Cat.

A small contribution comes from Terrace Lodge. Since December 2009 we have decided to give a little help.  How?

• Giving the tips received from our guests to The Andean Cat Alliance.
• Asking our guests to refill their bottles of purified water instead of buying bottled mineral water.  Doing this way, the profit from the sales goes to the association, we limit the production of plastic bottles (which can not be recycled locally) and the guests save a little money.

Since Dec.2009 we collected CLP 29.200; in February 2010  CLP 21,900;  in March CLP 12,000 (of which 10,000 from a Belgian guest, Mr Verstraeten). Low season in May and June brought only CLP 3.000.  Better in July, CLP 12.000, of which CLP 10.000 from a generous Swiss guest: Cecilia Porchia.  Thanks Cecilia!  In August CLP 4,000.  In August: CLP 4,000.   In September: CLP 15,000 most of which donated by Sylvie and José, a couple from Quebec, Canada.

Image copyright: Jim Sanderson.  More on gatoandino.org