Day 1 to 4 - Departing Santiago our destination Pucón, located at the foot of the Villarrica Volcano, this small town trebles its population every summer season. Tourist attractions and activities to be found in Pucón are: thermal baths, National Parks, lakes, lagoons, powerful rivers, rapids, parachuting, volcano climb, rafting etc. A fact worth mentioning is the effort the local Pucón community is carrying out in order that their city doesn’t loose the charm and identity which modernity tends to do away with.
Day 5, 6 & 7 - One of the best-known resort towns in the southern Lakes District is San Carlos de Bariloche, surrounded by lakes, glaciers and forested mountains. Bariloche has modern tourist amenities, as well as hiking, mountaineering and picnic sites. The nearby Nahuel Huapi National Park contains the massive Nahuel Huapi Lake, stretching over 100km (63 miles) to the border with Chile. Within the lake area lays Isla Victoria (Victoria Island). Bariloche is a special place, for the chocoholics amongst us, imagine walking down a street were nearly every other store is selling chocolate or products of it well if this is your dream then Bariloche is for you.
Day 8 & 9 - Easy start to today as we trek back to Chile leaving Bariloche with great memories and lots of the choky stuff. Destination Puerto Montt, on the shore of Reloncaví Sound, this is the departure point for our Navimag maritime cruise through the Patagonian fiords of Chile and its islands, as well as cruises to Laguna San Rafael and Puerto Natales. Puerto Montt is also one of the best places to buy handicrafts from Chile or to feast on an unbelievable assortment of fresh seafood on offer.
Day 10 - 12: Departing Puerto Montt we take a four-day all inclusive Navimag ferry ship through the Chilean fiords. Formed during the Pleistocene era, both the Central Valley and the Coast Ranges have sunk into the Pacific; what were once glacial valleys are now fiords, and what were once mountaintops are now islands. Hot springs lay revealed by coastal erosion, while great glaciers form fragment of this landscape, necessitating maritime travel. Great ancient Alerce forests home of the world's second longest-lived tree, examples of these endangered conifer surpass 3500 years of age, cloak the Andes from the Pacific shoreline to the continental divide, bisected by surging emerald rivers carrying glacial silt to the sea and providing habitat for fearless trout and salmon. In the end this has to be a highlight of any trip to Chile. Day 13 - 17: We depart the ferry at Purto Natales on the eastern shore of Seno-tima Esperanza. Purto Natales is a start point for exploration into Torres del Paine N.P of which we will see on our return through this area later in the trip. While we are here we will go and visit the close by The Cave of the Milodon. The cave is an impressive 30m high and situated on the edge of the Benítez hill, sheltering a figure encased in fibreglass of the mythical animal. The first indications of the milodon go back to 1896, when Hermann Eberhard found excellently conserved bits of skin and excrement of such an animal. This specimen, calculated to be two times the size of a man, was a mammal and herbivore. Human settlements are thought to have used the caves as refuges more than 12 thousand years ago. Crossing the Strait of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego is split between Chile and Argentina and is an island dominated by its extreme climate. Tierra del Fuego is the gateway to the Antarctic. Ushuaia the Argentine province capital is the world’s most southern city, located in a dramatic setting, with jagged glacial peaks rising from the sea level to nearly 1500m. The Museo del Fin del Mundo (Museum of the End of the World) has exhibits dedicated to the Indians, nature, local history and the many shipwrecks that happened in the area. The nearby Martial is within walking distance and yields spectacular views of the city and the Beagle Channel. Some 18km (12 miles) west of Ushuaia, the Tierra del Fuego National Park, offers many hiking trails through Argentina’s only coastal national park, comprises many rivers, lakes, forests and glaciers.
Day 18 & 19 - Returning to Chile we stock up for our next stop in Torres del Paine N.P. Punta Arenas Capital of the Magellan’s and Chilean Antarctica region, with 100,000 inhabitants is located at the base of the Andes Mountains and the western end of Magellan's Strait is a city steeped in history, from its early days as a penal colony named sandy point to a sealing and whaling port, it has much to offer the person interested in history. The arrival of thousands of emigrants at the end of the 19 th century turned the bloody outpost into bustling port and farming area and in 1868 Punta Arenas was declared a free port a status it still holds today. But the boom didn’t last, with the opening of the Panama Canal a drop in wool prices and the end off whaling precipitating its downturn, until the discovery of local oil fields giving the economy a much needed boost. Regional activities include: fishing, sheep and cattle farming, oil industry, mining and tourism.
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Day 20 - 23 - : Torres del Paine National Park is undoubtedly South America's most famous park and a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve; Torres del Paine is best recognized for its magnificent central massif, sculpted by glaciers into the unmistakable Torres y Cuernos (towers and horns). A huge variety of plant and animal species including guanacos and dozens of bird species, make this Patagonia's top adventure travel destination for hikers and backpackers.
Day 24 & 25 - Santa Cruz province’s has, as it’s main attraction the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Los Glaciares National Park, an area of great natural beauty, with rugged mountains and numerous glacial lakes, including Lake Argentino. Accessible for us from the tourist town of El Calafate, the park’s centrepiece is the Moreno Glacier, one of the earth’s few advancing glaciers. Huge icebergs calve and topple into Lake Argentino at the so-called Canal de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel), and there are nearby catwalks and platforms from which to observe this event. It is also possible to visit the Upsala Glacier via a boat trip from Puerto Bandera along Lake Onelli. Day 26 & 27 - El Chaltén draws Travellers from all over the world for a unique experience in the very heart of Patagonia. A never-ending range of adventures awaits you among spectacular mountains surrounded by beautiful glaciers and century-old forest. There are countless adventure activities you can do from town: fishing, horse riding, trekking and ice climbing to name a few.
Day 28 & 31 - We leave El Chaltén and head northeast through the vast expanse of Patagonia. Through dry plain that the main activity is sheep ranching. We take the opportunity to camp out under the stars along the way.
Day 32 & 33 - Founded by Welsh settlers, Puerto Madryn is the base for our excursions to the nearby wildlife sanctuary at the Peninsula Valdés nature reserve, where large numbers of sea lions, elephant seals and penguins frequent the beaches. A number of trails and spots in the area provide opportunities for observing colonies of sea lions and elephant seals, notably at Punta Delgada, in the sheltered bay of Caleta Valdés, below the cliffs of Punta Loma and the nature reserves of Punta Norte and Punta Pirámide – the latter also being the main base for whale sighting trips (Seasonal) to the Gulf of San José.
Day 34 - Leaving Valdés we return to our northerly heading and a bush camp about half way to Buenos Aires.
Day 35 - Argentina’s capital city is located within the Capital Federal District and forms one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. There are few reminders of the city’s glorious past, although the immense Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral), which contains the remains of San Martín, Argentina’s liberator, is a notable exception. So is the famous Theatro Colón, the world’s largest opera house (with a capacity of 2500 seats). The Palermo neighbourhood contains the Jardín Botanico Carlos Thays (Botanical Gardens), the Jardín Zoológico (zoo), the Campo de Polo (polo grounds), the Hipódromo (racetrack) and the Planetarium. North of the microcentro is the chic and upper-class Recoleta borough, famous for its Cemeterio de la Recoleta (where many members of Argentina’s élite are buried) and the renowned Museo National de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), which has works by Renoir, Rodin, Monet, Van Gogh and numerous Argentine artists. We also have time to visit Le Boca, the birthplace of the Tango or Dorrego Square antique market with live Tango music and dancing every Sunday. Eva Peron’s grave is amongst the family crypts at the Recoleta cemetery and don’t forget to try one of the many fine Guacho style barbecue restaurants found around the city.
See below for 2005 departure dates
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