And we arriving to our second highlight of our trip... After 5 days hiking in Torres del Paine, we made it all the way down to Punta Arenas where we are ready to embark on our cruise Via Australis, to travel via the Cordillera de Darwin, the Beagle Channel & the Cape Horn to arrive at Ushuaia. It's our first cruise so we are totally unexperienced, not sure what to expect but totally excited ! I even packed on some wine bottles just to make sure I don't run out ! :-) Well, it was really unnecessary as we will find [View Full Entry]

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Onboard the Via Australis, we went through breathtaking scenic 4 days from Punta Arenas through the Cordillera de Darwin, Parque Nacional Alberto de Agostini, the Beagle Channel, Cape Horn and finally Ushuaia. The Captain welcomed us onboard with a cocktail, Pisco Sour!, and we were explained the full program for the four days. Our first landing was on the island Alberto de Agostini where we had the special treat to see an elephant seal very close, two artistic sea lions playing in the water and the beautiful nature of the island. The other days were punctuated by visits to our friends [View Full Entry]

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After traveling for 5 weeks alone in Northern Argentina, Michael and I met in Santiago and we made our way down South via Pucon, Bariloche, El Calafate & El Chalten. Even though each of these areas certainly have their charm, we were anxious to get to Torres del Paine, one of the two highlights of our trip (the other one being our cruise on Via Australis from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia via the Magellan Strait and the Chilean fjords. But back to Torres del Paine... Having planned nothing, that's the beauty of traveling out of peak season, we headed to the [View Full Entry]

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After hours of driving on a dirty road from Cafayate to Cachi, I saw a sign "Casa de Campo La Paya", saying in French that it was the place where Europeans want to stay. An impulse of curiosity pushed me to explore that place even though I didn't necessarily want to end up in a French hangout. I thought that place would be a few kilometres from the turn but the dirt road was being endless. It was getting late and I was getting impatient to get somewhere as the night was starting to fall. I was about to turn around [View Full Entry]

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You would believe that most travelers are gone in February because the peak of the high season is passed. But this is counting without the Argentinians who are on vacation at that time of the year and do travel in their country, and as a matter of fact, the majority travel mostly only in their country right now due to the economic situation they are facing & their money not allowing them to travel abroad, not even to the neighboring countries of Chile and Brazil. I had met a lot of Argentinian travelers after about two weeks of traveling by myself, [View Full Entry]

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