Days 3-7: EcoCamp Patagonia

February 12^th –16^th, 2017

Torres del Paine is a massif to the east of the main Andes and is a major tourist attraction for general tourists, hikers and serious mountaineers. There are several hotels in and near the national park, each of which also has camping grounds. And then there is EcoCamp Patagonia …

EcoCamp Welcome Dome with Torrres del Paine in the background

The EcoCamp is an amazing place in its own right, let alone its location and the services it offers! It provides accommodation for tourists and a series of easy, moderate and hard guided nature-based activities within the national park. You get very comfortable accommodation, excellent food, and make new friends, and if all you do is sit around the camp all day, you have a terrific view! The physical structure and furnishing of the whole place make the EcoCamp a creative and inspiring work of art, and there is an overwhelming sense of peace.

To me it feels like a retreat centre!

The yoga dome with the foothills of the massif in the background

There is a yoga dome, and yoga sessions are freely available for all. The vast majority of the art work decorating the public spaces were mandalas of some sort, but not specific to any spiritual tradition. A meandering trail through the natural vegetation on the site is called the “Contemplation Trail”. It is dotted with strategically placed picnic tables and benches, all offering views of the mountains. The live trees are mainly Nothofagus species and their growth habit here is rather stunted and quite naturally like large bonsai. There are burnt and dead trees, fallen logs, rocks, all in their natural state. In fact, the area has the feel and look of a Japanese garden, but without the man-made artefacts. Finally, the manner in which the various programs and meals are integrated in the daily rhythm of the camp encourage group bonding. For a retreat centre it is outward looking, rather than inward looking.

In the Contemplation Trail at dawn

When I questioned our guides about any explicit underlying spiritual or other philosophy of the place they emphasised sustainability and a low environmental impact, and engendering a connection with the environment. One echoed the feeling I had: that the physical structures and the environment naturally create feelings of peace and harmony.

Sunrise on the massif from the Contemplation Trail

There was no mobile phone reception at the camp – nor anywhere in the Park – and we had no access to the internet: one of the flyers I read talked about the EcoCamp being a place for digital detoxing! Power was limited, too: it was solar, with a generator as backup. Many of the accommodation domes had neither power nor a stove. Hot water was solar, toilets were low on water demand, waste was composted, and grey water was treated by a reed bed (I think that’s what I was told) and then released as a stream into a forest below the site to eventually find its way into the local river system.

The structures are geodesic domes: small and medium sized domes for accommodation, and large communal domes for meals, a bar, meeting places, etc. They are clad externally in green and blend quite well into the low vegetation on the site. The internal linings are a brown fabric or timber, and all fittings are wooden and quite artistic in their own right, often simply adapted from what nature has given. Heavy duty plastic windows allow superb views of the Paine Massif towering above the camp, as well as allowing ample natural light. Small circular windows are decorative and have macramé mesh placed over them as a very artistic touch, and in places are the painted circular mandalas.

Communal Domes at dusk and at night

The communal domes are joined by corridors

Looking into The Bar through its plastic window

 

The dome roof, and some of the interior decorations

The accommodation ranged from 3.5m diameter domes with a king-sized or twin beds bed but no power or heating, to significantly larger domes with power and heating and accommodating several people, and a few had their own toilet. Ours was one of the small domes, and proved very comfortable. We used the communal toilets and showers which worked well, and the hot water was hot. On our one clear night it cooled down significantly in the dome by morning, but warmed up after the sun struck the external fabric. The bed was wonderfully comfortable, and the doonas kept us quite hot at night at times.

Our Standard Dome, amidst Nothofagus trees

Inside our dome, with a view of Torrres del Paine

So much for the physical base for our EcoDome experience. You can read about our three daily activities, and how the unfolding of our days was structured around these and also encouraged group bonding: Laguna Azul, Lake Grey Navigacion, and the French Glacier hike.