Some travelers who are visiting Patagonia confine themselves to either Argentina or Chile, but many if not most see both countries, which offer similar but often complementary attractions. In 1979, when I first saw the startling granite needles of Torres del Paine, it was hard to imagine anything more exhilarating than the time I spent […]
Some two decades ago, Argentina toyed with the idea of moving its capital from Buenos Aires to the city of Viedma, in its northern Patagonian province of Río Negro. In the end, Porteño politicians preferred visiting Patagonia to permanent residence there, but Buenos Aires still offers reminders of the far south – one of my […]
Food is an important part of any Patagonia excursion, as I recently wrote in describing the one such dining option in Buenos Aires. It’s worth noting that, before or after heading to Patagonia, Chile’s capital of Santiago has similar options, as I found in one recent lunch in the city’s increasingly fashionable Barrio Lastarria neighborhood. […]
On the Patagonia cruise tours between Punta Arenas and Ushuaia, there’s plenty of wildlife, including elephant seals, sea lions and penguins, but whales are relatively uncommon. Chile has enacted legislation declaring the country a whale sanctuary, and populations are increasing, but in the eastern Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel they’re usually vagrants […]
Recently, in Punta Arenas, I paid my first visit to the Instituto de la Patagonia in several years. It’s actually an academic research institute, founded by local historian Mateo Martinic in the 1970s and affiliated with the Universidad by Magallanes, but it also features the Museo del Recuerdo, a mostly open-air museum that makes an […]
This is our proposal for a 2 weeks Itinerary around Chile.
Paraguay Unmissable Highlights Less developed and more inaccessible than the other countries that make up the Southern Cone, Paraguay requires a greater deal of pre-planning to ensure that you can safely visit its highlights. But despite its unpolished exterior, Paraguay astonishes with its huge expanses of semi-arid but wildlife-rich virgin forest and crumbling monuments that […]
An old maritime saying claims that: “Below 40 degrees latitude, there is no law. Below 50 degrees, there is no God”. Cape Horn, which lies at 55°56’ south latitude and 67°19’ west longitude, certainly fits the sentiments of this adage. Given the wildness of the waters and the winds that plague the oceans surrounding this […]
One of the greatest challenges facing visitors to Cape Horn is the weather that they will likely encounter. Cruise ship companies sometimes incorporate two attempts at rounding Cape Horn and landing on the island into their itineraries to have a better chance of success in the face of possible inclement and difficult weather conditions. What […]
As I wrote recently, my own semi-spontaneous Patagonia excursions differ from those of visitors who cannot devote so much time to the Patagonia region that I enjoy every year. In contrast to that earlier itinerary, today I’ll suggest a rather different but overlapping trip to Patagonia; it starts in Buenos Aires and ends in […]
