contributors this issue

WAYNE BERNHARDSON

Wayne Bernhardson, a freelance writer and guidebook author for Moon Travel Handbooks, is a contributing editor to Patagon Journal. He has been writing about travel in Chile, Argentina and Latin America for more than three decades for Lonely

Planet, National Geographic Traveler and others. Wayne has a PhD in geography from the University of California, Berkeley, including spending a year in the Falklands as a Fulbright-Hays scholar.

NICOLÁS PIWONKA

A professional photographer in Chile for 40 years, the work of Nicolas Piwonka has been so prolific that his photos even grace the backside of Chilean banknotes. Also a biologist, from 1994-2000 he helped create Parque Ahuenco in Chiloé. He has been featured in multiple expositions, and published numerous books of nature and landscape photography. His most recent book Patagonia: The Wild Side was published in July 2019.

ZOE BAILLARGEON

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Zoe Baillargeon is an award-winning travel writer and journalist. She says moving to Chile and working as the former assistant editor of Patagon Journal instilled a deep love for Patagonia and sharing its wonders and the challenges it faces with the world through her work. She now freelances in the U.S. for outlets like AFAR, Fodor’s, Huckberry, Atlas Obscura, and Life & Thyme.

ENRIQUE MARMENTINI

Obsessed with the mountains since reading a National Geographic story about Reinhold Messner when he was 7-years-old, Enrique

Marmentini has spent the last six years delving into everything to do with the heights and verticalities of the world; from journalistic work in specialized magazines such as Outside Chile and Escalando, to his own experience on the mountains and walls of Chile and Patagonia.

ALEX MUÑOZ

Alex Muñoz is National Geographic Pristine Seas director for Latin America. Formerly Oceana’s vice president for Chile, he is a lawyer with studies at the University of Chile and George Washington University. He has been a leader in ocean policy in Chile, including establishing the first regulations to reduce antibiotic use in salmon farming, and has helped establish on a regional level several marine parks and protected areas.

MACARENA SOLER

A lawyer from Catholic University in Chile, Macarena Soler was head of the legal department for Tompkins Conservation from 2003 to 2014 and led the legal and technical strategy of the Patagonia Sin Represas campaign. In 2015, she created the Geute Conservación Sur Foundation, an organization dedicated to the conservation, preservation and restoration of ecosystems, leading in the legal defense of several areas of high environmental value.