Chile
/ Argentina / Brazil 2008 Travelogue
Trip
Summary:
Destination:
Chile, Argentina, Brazil
Travel
Company: Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT)
When:
03 October – 22 October 2008
Duration:
17 Days of sightseeing
Photos
taken: Kathy took 2820, Bob took 3650 (total 6470).
Prologue:
If you read my Ecuador travelogue, you
may recall the story where I was standing in line waiting to buy
train tickets for the Devil's Nose train ride in Ecuador and I asked
a fellow tourist where was the most beautiful place he had ever seen
in his life. I prefaced it by saying that Machu Picchu was, without a
doubt, the most beautiful place I had seen. And I've seen a few.
I'm not much for bragging, because I
feel that spirituality is more important than anything purchased,
seen or done on this Earth. But I have seen a lot of beautiful places
in this world: the stunningly beautiful hills of Guilin China, the
Three Gorges of the Yangtze, the breathtaking overlook of Machu
Picchu, the painted desert and Grand Canyon in Arizona, the untamed
wilderness of Alaska, the Black Forest of Germany, the paradise of
Hawaii, the rolling green hills of Ireland. I've seen a lot of this
world's most beautiful places. And so far for me, the most beautiful
was Machu Picchu.
The tourist said in a matter-of-fact
way that Machu Picchu was nice—I almost wonder if he yawned at the
thought—but nothing compares to Torres del Paine. Where's that? He
said Southern Chile. Talking with that man, I knew in my heart that I
had to see Chile.
Click
on the photos to see comments I wrote and photos we took on each day:
|
No
photos
|
Day 1
|
Fri
Oct 03, 2008
|
Minneapolis
to New York to Santiago
|
No
photos
|
|
|
Day 2
|
Sat
Oct 04, 2008
|
Santiago,
Chile
|
Bob:
108,
Kathy:
62
|
|
|
Day
3
|
Sun
Oct 05, 2008
|
Santiago,
Chile
|
Bob:
180,
Kathy:
128
|
|
|
Day
4
|
Mon
Oct 06, 2008
|
Valparaiso,
Chile
|
Bob:
195,
Kathy:
87
|
|
|
Day
5
|
Tue
Oct 07, 2008
|
Puerto
Montt, Chile
Chilean
Rodeo
|
Bob:
229,
Kathy:
149
|
|
|
Day
6
|
Wed
Oct 08, 2008
|
Puerto
Varas, Chile
|
Bob:
267,
Kathy:
147
|
|
|
Day
7
|
Thu
Oct 09, 2008
|
Punta
Arenas, Chile
Patagonia,
Sheep farm
|
Bob:
148,
Kathy:
121
|
|
|
Day
8
|
Fri
Oct 10, 2008
|
Torres
del Paine, Chile
|
Bob:
438,
Kathy:
273
|
|
|
Day
9
|
Sat
Oct 11, 2008
|
Torres
del Paine, Chile
|
Bob:
129,
Kathy:
117
|
|
|
Day
10
|
Sun
Oct 12, 2008
|
Cruise
on Skorpios III
Glaciers
|
Bob:
114,
Kathy:
125
|
|
|
Day
11
|
Mon
Oct 13, 2008
|
Cruise
on Skorpios III
Pious
(Pio) XI Glacier
|
Bob:
237,
Kathy:
348
|
|
|
Day
12
|
Tue
Oct 14, 2008
|
Cruise
on Skorpios III
Visiting
Glaciers
|
Bob:
354,
Kathy:
363
|
|
|
Day
13
|
Wed
Oct 15, 2008
|
Cruise
on Skorpios III
Chilean
Fjords
|
Bob:
228,
Kathy:
230
|
|
|
Day
14
|
Thu
Oct 16, 2008
|
Puerto
Natales to Santiago
|
Bob:
82,
Kathy:
44
|
|
|
Day
15
|
Fri
Oct 17, 2008
|
Santiago,
Chile
|
Bob:
144,
Kathy:
75
|
|
|
Day
16
|
Sat
Oct 18, 2008
|
Buenos
Aires, Argentina
|
Bob:
210,
Kathy:
145
|
|
|
Day
17
|
Sun
Oct 19, 2008
|
Iguazu,
Argentina
|
Bob:
342,
Kathy:
213
|
|
|
Day
18
|
Mon
Oct 20, 2008
|
Iguazu,
Brazil
|
Bob:
245,
Kathy:
193
|
|
|
Day
19
|
Tue
Oct 21, 2008
|
Brazil
to Buenos Aires to New York City to Minneapolis
|
No Photos
|
The "Wild OATs"-
Click here to see additional photos of this trip's OAT group members.
What
we did right:
Like Ecuador, the
hardest part was packing for the trip because of the weather. In the
Patagonian ice fields, the temperatures were well below freezing. In
Iguazu falls, it was well into the 90F's. So we had to plan a wide
variety of clothes: shorts and long pants, both short and long sleeved shirts.
And lots of layers. For that reason, it seemed like we overpacked, although
we used almost everything and I'm not sure what I could have possibly left
behind. OAT gave us a list of things to pack, but we found a few things
missing, like Zantac.
What
we did wrong:
We
brought too much American cash. I used American dollars when
tipping, but still I returned with more than twice as much cash as we
needed. The ATM worked just fine in Santiago and I'm sure it would work
in Buenos Aires too.