The Hacienda Vira Vira located in Pucon near the foothills of Patagonia overlooks an active volcano. You can take a better look at the crater as the hotel had its own helicopter.
Michael Paravicini is a Swiss Banker who together with his artist wife moved to Chile and bought some land. They and a small team developed it and built a boutique hotel at the cost of £10 million pounds.
It is a simple rustic but luxurious hotel. It mixes Swiss designs with local Mapuche culture.
Giles works with the concierge Patricio Bello, one of the most charismatic characters from the hote, lwho is part Mapuche to greet the guests which means knowing them by their first names and preparing a welcome drink which ends up landing mostly on Giles shirt. Although I often joke that Giles prefers not to be as hardworking as Monica, some of the time he has spent on various hotels have rubbed off on him. Some of the rooms are not ready and the guests are due at any moment, handily Giles knows how to prepare the beds and do hospital corners.
Monica works with the Uruguayan chef who has worked at Le Gavroche. Handily the hotel has its own organic vegetable garden. It also produces a wide variety of cheeses. Monica cannot wait to rustle something up for the hotel guests.
However the show detours from the hotel and becomes more interested in the Mapuche people, language and culture. A language that was in danger of dying out during the Pinochet years.