ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

April• 2018 | 95

READER’S DIGEST

Hedoesn’trealiseI’malreadysa-
vouring the idea of living for a few
dayslikeamodern-dayAlexander
Selkirk,theScottishsailorwhowas
marooned here in 1704 and inspired
Daniel Defoe to writeRobinson
Crusoe, published in 1719.

“BRING A RAIN JACKET,just in case

• the weather here is
  hormonal,” says Nicole
  Marré, watching preg-
  nant clouds shuffle
  across the bay from the
  living room at Más a
  Tierra Eco-Lodge. Over
  a breakfast of bread,
  mashed avocado and
  cheese, she and her
  husband, Guillermo
  Martínez, who co-owns
  the four-room guest
  house, have given me
  the lowdown on the island’s hiking
  trails, the best – and, let’s face it, pretty
  much the only – way to see the mist-
  soaked peaks, festooned with plants
  found nowhere else on the planet.
  “The Juan Fernández Islands have
  about 130 endemic species – more
  than you’d find on Galápagos,” says
  Martínez while handing me a trail
  map that outlines the entire archipel-
  ago, named after the Spaniard who
  irst land-ahoyed here in 1574. (In ad-
  dition to Robinson Crusoe, the region
  includes Alejandro Selkirk Island and
  Santa Clara Island.) Inspired by the
  promise of naturalist booty, I head

off to the Selkirk lookout, where the

banished sailor is believed to have

watched and waited for ships to res-

cue him from his four-year stint in

solitary.

Attheupperedgeoftown,asteep

pathwendsthroughafragrant

eucalyptus forest to the island’s

national park boundary. On the

“wild”side,Ipauseat

abloomingcabbage

treebuzzingwithJuan

Fernández irecrowns,

red (male) or green

(female) humming-

birds that only f lut-

ter their wings here. I

also come across a few

gnarly canelo and luma

trees, the latter being

theirecrown’sfavour-

itenestingspot.The

higher the altitude, the

morehumidtheairandthedenser

thevegetation.Anhourandahalf

into my hike, I ind myself in a Henri

Rousseau painting: cushy moss car-

petsthegroundandtreefernstower

overme,asdogiganticgunnera,rhu-

barb-likeplantsthatblockthesun

with their umbrella-shaped leaves.

WhenIeventuallyreachthelook-

out,IcatchupwithaSpanishcouple

andawomanfromthecontinent.(So

much for the illusion of being cast

away on my own: a Chilean nav y

ship carrying dozens of tourists has

dockedinBahíaCumberlandfortwo

days.) I unpack an oatmeal cookie

I FIND MYSELF

IN A HENRI

ROUSSEAU

PAINTING: MOSS

CARPETS THE

GROUND, TREE

FERNS TOWER

OVER ME