Terrace Lodge & Tours

Who feeds who?

flavio — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:37:01 +0000

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

Helping guests from U.K.

flavio — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:56:13 +0000

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.”

And, we add, don’t get stressed just when beginning you holidays. You could spend a night at an airport hotel and relax instead of getting crazy and nervous. That is not the best way to start your vacation. Nonetheless, the “No Show” at a hotel could cost you much more. Fortunately at Terrace Lodge & Tours we managed to resell the room and part of the tours booked to another couple, so the penalty was reduced to a very low fee.

We hope this advice is useful and encourage our guests to tell us about their experience with Parking4less so that others will benefit by starting the vacation in the best, relaxed way. We take advantage of this post to remind British citizens that when travelling in Chile they must carry their passport -together with the Chilean immigration document- at any time.

Biosphere Responsible Tourism

flavio — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:43:33 +0000

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

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

It is a trap!

flavio — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 21:42:59 +0000

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.

The summit! Finally.

flavio — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:38:37 +0000

Frosted fingers, winds at 130 km/h and a destroyed tent didn’t stop two Italian climbers from reaching the Parinacota summit, at 6,342 m (20,807 ft). They were initially stopped by the strong wind and decided to wait at the base camp. A few days later, after a second stay at Terrace Lodge, they managed to climb the beast. We thank them for the photograph and, due to their age (60 something ) we think they deserved to be in our news.

Photo: courtesy of Andrea Millesimi and Eliano Pessa.

Down to sea level.

flavio — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:10:37 +0000

Terrace Lodge was one of the sponsors for the first edition of “Desafio Atacama Norte” (North Atacama Challenge).

From Putre (3,540 masl) up to almost 3,800 and then down to the Pacific Ocean in Arica.

Tens of athletes took part in this intense competition which will be repeated year after year in the region of Arica Y Parinacota.

Want to know more? Follow this link (in spanish).

If you know somebody who wants to participate in the 2011 edition, please contact us.

Moonlight paintings.

flavio — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:44:52 +0000

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

flavio — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:50:27 +0000

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?

flavio — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:46:31 +0000

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

flavio — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:01:13 +0000

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!