Ahead of us, the Andes: the spine of South America. I was viewing the formidable mountain range from the cockpit of a Boeing 767 as we began our descent to Santiago, capital of Chile.

This jagged, snowcapped barrier posed a seemingly insurmountable challenge to early aviators, but they were not deterred. In their flimsy wood and canvas airplanes, they boldly steered through treacherous valleys and across mountain passes.

The National Museum of Aviation and Space, at the disused Los Cerillos Airport southwest of downtown, commemorates those fearless pioneers. In the main hall, historic aircraft of all shapes and sizes jostle for floor space and hang from the ceiling. Even in this hermetic environment, the oldest of them look perilously fragile. Outside, as we stroll among a collection of retired airliners, the Andes loom oppressively in the background, and our admiration for the first pilots soars.

Santiago is the product of Chile’s curious geography. The country is 2,610 miles long and 115 miles wide, with the Andes on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. At the heart of the city, the hilltop of Cerro San Cristóbal, located among landscaped gardens, provides a panorama which, on a clear day, sets the city firmly within its difficult environment.

Santiaguinos acknowledge the practical problems posed by the sheer length of their country, but the narrow width has advantages. A two-hour drive west of the capital is the colorful bayside port of Valparaíso and the adjacent upmarket beach resort of Viña del Mar. Lazy days on the sand are an instant antidote to the traffic and noise of Santiago.

Driving in the opposite direction, within 45 minutes we reach the rolling vineyards of the Maipo Valley, where wine has been produced ever since Catholic missionaries planted vines in the 1540s. Tours and winetasting are offered within the refined estate of Concha y Toro.

Continue along the valley, and the terrain closes in. Gentle, vineyard-draped hills cede to severe mountainsides. Eventually we arrive at Cascada de las Animas, Waterfall of the Spirits, a family-owned ranch from which we will trek on horseback into the high Andes.

We scale narrow, switchback trails etched into the rock and eventually break onto a grassy plateau nestled among the white peaks. It feels completely remote, yet the intense blue sky tells a different story. There, luminously written in straight lines of vapor, are the routes that connect Chile to the world, the paths first forged by those brave pilots a hundred years ago.