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Summary
Patagonia is twice as large as Germany. We covered just the southern part in
16 days, 3200 km. Hiking in Los Glaciares and Torres
del Paine National Parks was fantastic! Most tourist travel around on tour
busses or the overland busses. In the touristic centres you usually get around
with English. But some basic Spanish might help...
We saw a lot of wildlife: guanacos, nandus, foxes, lots of birds (penguins,
geese, flamingos, condors, etc.), unfortunately no armadillo.
Buenos Aires was a bit disappointing as I heard
people rave about it. But first there was the theft and second it was noisy,
full of smog and sometimes a little shabby. However, it does have some beautiful
old buildings and you can find tango dancers in the streets. We liked
the Buenos
Aires Design in Recoleta and Puerto Madero. La Boca was well worth seeing but we
didn't feel comfortable there. Not sure why people rave about the atmosphere in
Buenos Aires. Maybe we have missed something??
Domestic flights, car rental, accommodation
We had booked the domestic flights to El Calafate with
Aerolineas Argentinas
for 265 euros per ticket. Unfortunately just 15kg checked baggage are allowed
free of charge. However, excess baggage is not expensive.
LAN
Chile also services El Calafate, but not daily. Alternative destinations in
Patagonia would be Río Gallegos or Punta Arenas.
Rental cars are expensive in South America. While
a 4WD might have been recommended for the dirt roads, we only booked a small car,
and it was perfectly fine.
Accommodation in Torres del Paine National Park
should be booked early as they fill up quickly, and the next town is more than a
2 hours drive away. We were able to make all reservations by e-mail, in English,
and hold them by credit card. Though cash was preferred upon payment.
I would have liked to include the waterfalls of
Iguazu in this trip, however, it would have complicated the journey quite a bit
as two additional domestic flights would have been required. Also the climate is
very different, so it may make more sense to combine this with a visit to the
north western part of Argentina.
Timezones
The timezone difference between Germany and Buenos Aires is just 3 hours in
winter, plus 1 additional hour in Patagonia. Click on Argentina in this list:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/index24.html.
Exchange rates
This were the exchange rates during our trip:
1 euro = 1,30 US dollars
1 euro = 4,58 Argentine pesos (ARS)
1 euro = 821 Chilean pesos (CLP)
or
1 ARS = 0,22 euros
1000 CLP = 1,22 euros
Prices are usually cheaper than in Germany.
Food/Drinks
We had no problems with the food or water. In Patagonia you can usually even
drink the tap water, or the water from the streams coming from the mountains.
Breakfast is basic (coffee, tea, bread, jam).
For the day we often bought empanadas (pastry filled with chicken, tuna,
beef, cheese, etc.) at the supermarket, or the bakery.
Meat is great and cheap: steak, lamb, fish. Some restaurants offer homemade
pasta. Wine and beer is cheap, too. Usually we paid less than 30 euros for
dinner for two.
Weather
Temperatures in Buenos Aires can be above 30 °C in summer, while in Patagonia
you are lucky if temperatures creep above 15 °C. It's best to bring a bit of
everything: t-shirt, fleece shirt, wind- and waterproof jacket, a bonnet and
maybe even gloves. I guess you can have everything between 0
°C and 30 °C... The wind can be incredibly strong to blow you off your feet,
but we found it was mostly warm in January/February. I bet it will be very
disagreeable when it's cold.
Literature
Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, Clem Lindenmayer, Lonely Planet 2003
Patagonia Sur Tierra del Fuego, map scale 1:1 000 000
www.patagoniashop.net
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