Crash Course: Argentina & Chile in 3 Weeks

You say “Patagonia” and outdoorsy folks clarify that you mean your destination is actually Patagonia, not just the outlet store.

There seem to be endless Instagram-perfect photos of impossibly bright blue skies, sections of iconic Andes mountains, sweeping ice fields, and perhaps some evidence of wind or erratic weather changes.

Okay. There are clouds sometimes. But, it’s pretty, I guess.

There is a myriad of blog posts and Tripadvisor message boards with “Know Before You Go” and “Must Do” and “Don’t Miss…” I’ve read more than a few, and several were exceptionally helpful for planning. Patagonia is a surprisingly large area of land that spans southern Argentina & Chile. You also need to plan some “city” days in Buenos Aires and/or Santiago to get from here to there. So…(look at a map)…

Where the hell do you go?

We did not plan the “perfect” itinerary and we already want to go back. We had 3 weeks and our itinerary broke down like so:

3 Days in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Domestic flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate.

Evening bus from El Calafate to El Chalten.

5 magical days in El Chalten (home of the Patagonia mountains from the Patagonia label).

Afternoon bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate.

One night/day in El Calafate spent primarily at Perito Moreno Glacier.

Afternoon bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales (border crossing from Argentina to Chile).

3 nights in Puerto Natales, Chile. Puerto Natales as our home base to visit Torres Del Paine National Park.

Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas bus.

1.5 days in Punta Arenas with one cancelled penguin tour.

Flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago, Chile.

5 days in northern Chile. Spent 4 nights in Santiago and one night in Valparaiso.

Stay with me. The logistics sound a bit complex, although our above itinerary seems to be “standard tourist itinerary #1 or #2” with a few variations of doing this itinerary backwards or forwards. There are a lot of flights and buses involved. If we did this itinerary over, we would start on the Chilean side and end in Buenos Aires. We would spent more time in El Chalten on the Argentinean side and re-consider visiting Torres Del Paine (okay, I’m glad we visited, but I will never return). We would plan in less “cushion” days since the transportation was generally on-time with minimal delays. Thank you 5 hour bus delay in Ghana to make us forever paranoid about bus delays.

Buses are generally pretty cushy. We were certainly the “kids” in the back of the bus with a beer, listening to murder podcasts.

What about Spanish?

In case you are unaware, Chile & Argentina are both Spanish-speaking countries. I am told they are not the easiest countries to learn Spanish. Chilean Spanish is ultra-fast and lacks annunciation and Argentinean Spanish contains a lot of “sh” sounds which may be unfamiliar. But, as in most countries we have traveled, it is most respectful to at least try and learn basics of the language where you are visiting (German was a big exception for me) and certainly never expect anyone to speak English.

I regret not taking high-school Spanish very seriously (“La Ice cream-ah?). Ryan (my husband) and I downloaded this app called Duolingo which is a rather fun way to learn Spanish in more of a game format. The Duolingo owl mascot will also be very happy or sad depending on how often you practice. I also worked with a native Spanish speaker from Argentina on Italki Skype sessions, which focused on a combination of grammar, reading comprehension, and speaking. Ultimately, I found that I could understand and read enough, but my accent and speaking skills are comically poor. I speak some (broken) Thai, and I kept coming up with Thai phrases in my mind instead of Spanish ones. Oops.

We were in an Uber in Valparaiso and our driver said (in Spanish), “so your husband speaks more Spanish than you?” Yeah. Humbling. But, yes. Ryan is more willing to screw up, but that also means he learns more in the process of speaking.

Ultimately, we were grateful to the poor souls (Uber/taxi drivers, waiters/waitresses, and kiosko clerks) across Argentina & Chile who dealt with our crappy Spanish skills and hit-or-miss attempts with Google translate. We did bring the Latin American Spanish pocketbook, but to be honest, this didn’t get as much use as it probably should have. Many people speak English in the touristy areas (i.e. El Chalten, Torres Del Paine), but don’t expect it and consider trying to learn Spanish like we are (still trying).

People are forgiving as hell in regards to language in foreign countries. Unfortunately, in the U.S. some folks can be complete assholes when foreigners don’t speak perfect English without any accent. English is hard. Don’t be a dick.

What about money?

This trip is going to be pricey. Flights are not cheap, unless you are coming from a big U.S. (or Australian) city. We used Flightfox, where employees find a “flight hack” for you at a reasonable price ($50-$100) and then you book directly with the airline. It is a much easier option to book directly through an airline and not a third party site, especially if you have any delays or cancellations. Flightfox saved us around 300USD for tickets on this particular trip. We did have a random add-on flight from Chicago to Vancouver (which, we obviously did not show up for) and that somehow saved us money. I have no idea how this works and this is why I pay for it.

Chilean prices are similar to U.S. prices. In Puerto Natales & Punta Arenas, for example, we paid $$$ for (usually) delicious seafood dinners. Currently, the Argentinean peso is weak which is bad for Argentina but makes cost less expensive for those of us in the U.S. We found Argentina much less expensive due to their economy at this time.

We stayed primarily at bed & breakfasts, which cut down on breakfast cost. For lunch we often bought grocery store supplies, although your grocery store options may be slightly limited. We ended up with curious combinations of chocolate cereal, canned apricots, and fresh fruits. Hard-boiled eggs are a luxury if you have somewhere to boil water (we did not bring a propane stove, but stayed in a few places with a kitchenette). Empanadas are a cheap & delicious lunch option, although in Chile the usual option is jamón y queso (ham & cheese) which was a no-go for me. We brought a few staple hiking items like Tanka bars and Honey Stinger chews from the U.S. Many places in El Chalten will sell a box lunch at a reasonable rate for you to take on a hike.

Quadritos are the bomb.

The coffee isn’t very good outside of cities (love it or hate it, you can find a Starbucks in Buenos Aires or Santiago, and hey, at least it is consistent coffee). We brought Starbucks Via individual packets along with some packets of non-dairy creamer. Sorry not sorry. Nescafe will not do and I don’t drink regular milk.

Lodging is not so pricey, especially in Buenos Aires or Santiago. Domestic flights on a budget carrier, and most buses are reasonably priced.

Remember, the Argentinean peso and Chilean peso are not the same, so make sure to spend all of your pesos in the respective countries. U.S. dollars are widely accepted in some locations like El Chalten, but having some pesos for safety is worthwhile. We ended up bringing home a lot of our cash, although it is pretty easy to directly exchange money at a Casa de Cambio (not a bank) for a good rate. Occasionally, random restaurants will exchange money at a good rate as well (i.e. Vegan restaurant in El Chalten).

Just some of the most delicious chicken empanadas in the world. Right across the street from the bus station in El Calafate. You can spend all of your pesos on empanadas.

Credit cards like Chase have no international transaction fees and credit cards are widely accepted in cities. Cash is a better option in El Chalten. Remember, just like everywhere, credit cards cost companies a large fee so they are not always accepted. We created an account specifically with Charles Schwab to avoid ATM fees. ATM fees can be exorbitant, so make sure you pick a company that is travel friendly and read the fine print. ATMs tend to run out of money on the weekends, and don’t trust any ATMs in small towns like El Chalten. Chile seems to have wider credit card acceptance and more numerous and reliable ATMs than Argentina.

If we could summarize Argentina in two words it would be: Mountains & wine.

If we could summarize Chile in two words it would be: Mountains & pisco sours.

More details on packing, cities, Patagonia, etc. on the way…To be continued…