Even the best organized trips can become tiring if you don’t take a few days off, so I’m chilling in a remote location hidden in the dripping rain forests on Puyuhaipi Sound. Five hours of cruising through the green labyrinth of the fjords led us to the area some call ¨South of Silence.¨ Not exactly true. The rustling ferns and dripping rain, the croaking frogs and trickling water seeping from the steaming, thermal springs fills the jet black night.

At the Puyuhuapi Lodge and Spa there are three outdoor soaking pools, at different temperatures. I soaked and paddled under a waterfall in the fern and rock grotto.  Maybe after a glass of Pinot Noir I’ll return to the soaking pools and get up the courage to splash into the freezing sound.

There are also three tubs and an octagonal pool inside. Reputed to be one of the very best spas in the country. The lodge is a beautiful wood structure with shingle walls and roofs.

We hiked into the rain forest and saw a puma’s tracks, then heard a cat meow and the guide explained the wild, ring-tailed civet cat. White boots were given to us to navigate through the mud. After an hour of hiking the guide checked our boots for tiny leeches. I was the lucky recipient of a crafty little guy who had inched his way to my jeans. Now I know why you wear white boots in the Chilean rain forest.

Kayaked through the inlet and between islands. Water so clear you can see 6 feet down to the mussel and clamshells. An eagle buzzed overhead and we paddled by heron and cormorants.

Finished the afternoon with a massage and wine therapy: a soothing, anti-aging bath with a purée of grape seed mixed into the bubbling hot water to generate a new vitality and elasticity of the skin. It just made me want to find some cheese and drink the wine rather than bathe in it.