96 | April• 2018
FAR AWAY FROM IT ALL
I REALISE THIS ISLANDis the deini-
tion of remote when Pía Pablo pulls
up in a golf cart at Más a Tierra. Af-
ter throwing my bag in the back, I sit
down beside her. We’re of to Bahía
Pangal, a secluded bay that lets you
get away from it all, including the
town’s rush hour, when two people
might enter the main
intersection by the
wharf at exactly the
same time. The man-
ager at Crusoe Island
Lodge, Pablo, spots
three ishermen stand-
ing by the roadside.
“What do you have?”
she yells. he ishermen
reach into a wheelbar-
row and hold up their
catch; Pablo hands
them a wad of cash.
“For the ceviche (sea-
food stew)!” she says and passes me
a bag illed with shiny yellowtail am-
berjacks before she continues driving.
When we arrive at the lodge, a pisco
sour materialises as if by magic, and
I’m whisked to a swing on a verandah
overlooking the ocean. here’s no one
else around, and when it dawns on
me that I’m the hotel’s sole guest for
the next two days, I feel like the queen
of a castle. Only a treasure map where
X marks the spot is missing. “Well, I
can arrange that, too,” says Pablo
withawink.
I’msoononmywaybyboatto
Puerto Inglés, where I’m greeted by PHOTOS BY VIRGINIA MACDONALDA PISCO SOUR
MATERIALISES
AS IF BY MAGIC,
AND I’M
WHISKED TO A
SWING ON A
VERANDAH
OVERLOOKING
THE OCEANleft over from breakfast, and the solo
trekkertakesoutathermosofcofee.
Sharingamini-picnicabovecha-
meleon slopes studded with chonta
palms,weagreethatifwehadbeen
Selkirk, we would never have left.
Backatsealevel,thesix-table
patioatMásaTierraispacked, but
Martínez brings out
asmalltablefromin-
doors. “I want what
they’rehaving,”Isay,
pointing at the spiny
rock lobsters that have
landed on my neigh-
bours’ plates. When he
servesmyorderona
platter, he’s excited to
tell me he’s just come
back from the vet,
who’scometotown
thanks to the navy,
which only anchors
heretwiceayear.“Ifwehadn’tgot-
ten an appointment today, we would
havehadtosendourdogtothe
mainland with the twice-a-month
supplyship,”hesays.(Luckilyforthe
island’shumans,there’saperma-
nentclinicstafedbyadoctoranda
nurse.Andluckilyforthedogs,there
aresofewhumansthattheycan
happilyrunaroundfree.)Iripinto
my lunch, scraping out every morsel
fromtheskinnylegsbeforeIgetto
work on the tail. Tasting the sweet
meat, I understand why the 30cm-
long crustacean is the archipelago’s
prized resource.