Farellones

This guide to Farellones outside Santiago follows a landowner named Von Kiesling, who began selling off plots of raw Andean mountainside piece by piece starting in 1937, betting that wealthy santiaguinos would pay for altitude, snow and a view in a country better known for exporting copper. It traces how a hotelier named Antonio Padros was one of the first to buy in, building the wood-and-stone Posada de Farellones in the Swiss style before the decade was out. The posada's reputation grew enough that when the Duchess of Kent came through, it threw her a mountain luncheon.