India, Aug. 25 -- Chilean Patagonia is well known as one of the world's natural wonders. But within it lies a territory so remote and untrodden, international visitors are only now waking up to its charms. Explore with us the towering mountains, unsullied lakes, and sublime glaciers of Aysen. Text by Simon Willis; photographs by Stefan Ruiz

There were six of them: two adults and four kids, cycling up an unpaved mountain road on three tandem bicycles. As my girlfriend, Charlie, and I careered past, we looked at the family and wondered momentarily whether our choice of transport was the wimp's way to get around. In our sturdy, air-conditioned 4*4, we felt insulated from the rigours of the road, from the extreme geography and the sun reflec...