Southern South America & Antarctica

A 45-day self-guided trip to southern South America and Antarctica that my wife, Shirley, and I took Dec. 31, 2007-Feb. 14, 2008, took a great deal of planning. I’d like to share some of the valuable lessons learned from this trip.

It all cost us about $36,000, which included about $800 in cold-weather clothes for these two Floridians. I made almost all of the arrangements myself except for the B&B bookings in the Lake District, which were done through Patagonia Holidays (Ramírez 860 Depto. 905, Osorno, Chile; phone +56 64 255350 or cell +56 9 6459983, www.patagonia holidays.com).

Our entire trip began in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where our personal local guide, Pedro Werberg (phone [54 11] 4551, cell [54 9] 155 523 7255, www.amigodebuenosaires.com), was a highlight. Booked over the website at a very reasonable rate of $80 (plus a generous tip), Pedro conducted an all-day (7½-hour) personalized tour for us using local transportation.

His English was perfect (he lived in Boston for many years), plus he spoke German, and I even heard him converse in Italian with some tourists we encountered. Pedro does ask that you provide lunch for him on the walkabout. We had a great lunch in a local restaurant.

A 45-minute “fast” ferry ride away from Buenos Aires is Colonia, Uruguay, a very nice little town. It’s definitely worth a day. We stayed at Posada Plaza Mayor, a small hotel on the main plaza. We’d highly recommend this beautiful restored inn with 15 rooms centered around a courtyard. Including a $10 discount for paying in cash (U.S. dollars), the rate was reasonable at $85.

Renting a car in Colonia and dropping it off at the airport in Montevideo was a challenge. I began trying to make this reservation nine months ahead of our trip and it proved to be difficult. Avis does a lot of business in South America, so I tried them first. Attempts to make arrangements through their website (800/331-1212, www.avis.com) and by calling the international desk came up “impossible to do.”

I tried a couple of Uruguay travel specialists and only one said, “No problem.” However, more than $600 for three days was a big problem for me! Luckily, I kept trying and, four months before our trip, booking info became available on the Avis site. Apparently, foreign bookings and rate information don’t appear much before four months in advance.

I ended up with a 3-day rate of $143 plus a $100 dropoff fee, and the auto rental went smoothly (Jan. 6-8).

We found that prices for the 19-day Antarctica portion of the trip (Jan. 9-29, from Ushuaia and including the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula) appeared to be the same whether booked directly with the trip originator (in our case, Oceanwide Expeditions) or a secondary agent/consolidator (such as Polar Cruises or your local travel agent). This cruise was booked through Polar Cruises (Bend, OR; 888/484-2244, 541/330-2454, www.polarcruises.com) at a travel agency, and we paid around $21,000 for two.

Traveling to Antarctica was not difficult or physically challenging. Most landing sights were smooth beaches with only some minor hiking up hills. Our cruise was on the Professor Molchanov, a 51-passenger ship that offered the advantage of going to places to which larger ships do not dare venture.

I cannot say enough good things about the staff and Russian crew. There were people on our cruise who had sailed on this ship in the Arctic and had specifically booked it because of prior good experiences.

We had a double cabin without a bath and it was no problem, as there were two baths right outside our door. Our cabin was on the lowest deck, exactly in the middle, so it had the least “rolling” of any cabin.

In Puerto Natales, Chile, we stayed at a delightful B&B, Casa Cecilia (Tomas Roger 60, Puerto Natales, Chilean Patagonia, XII Region, Chile; phone 056 61 613560, fax 61 613563, www.casa ceciliahostal.com). What made it special was the personal service offered by the host, Cecilia, who went above and beyond to help us with planning our stay and booking various adventures. Our room cost $50.

If you are contemplating taking a NAVIMAG ferry (many offices, including Av. El Bosque Norte 0440, Piso 11, Las Condes, Santiago de Chile; phone [56 2] 442 31 20, fax [56 2] 203 50 25, www.navimag.com) up the coast of Chile, take some time to understand the booking categories. “C” class is “steerage,” or dormitory style. “A” class is only a little better — small 4-bunk rooms with no bath. “AA” rooms include a bath. In all these rooms, everyone eats in the cafeteria, fighting for food selection and limited seating.

We stayed in an “AAA” double-bunk room with a bath. There are only eight of these, called “First Class.” These rooms offer their own dining room, used by the officers, with meals prepared in an adjoining kitchen. Wine is served at both lunch and dinner.

Hearing the experiences of those in the other cabin classes, I think the extra money was well worth it. We paid $1,840 for the 5-day coastal cruise, Jan. 31-Feb. 4.

In Puerto Fonck, Chile, near Puerto Octay, we stayed at the B&B Fundo los Guindos, a beautiful old home that was a little hard to find. It is out in the country near the beautiful Osorno Volcano.

They were just starting up, but it was worth the visit. The mother spoke German and Spanish and her daughter also spoke good English. The room came with an evening meal that was the best dinner on our 45-day trip.

Our stay was part of a 6-night self-drive package to the Lake District that I booked through Erika Schmitt Meister of Patagonia Travels. The total cost was $790, including nice accommodations and three excellent evening meals for two.

For our Lake District drive, we rented a car from Avis in Puerto Montt, Chile, with the intent to take it across the Andes into Argentina. The reservation was made with that provision.

We picked up the car, arriving two days later at the border of Argentina. It was only then that we discovered we did not have the necessary documents to go into Argentina. Furthermore, there was a car tax of at least $200 to take the car into Argentina, a fact that was not disclosed to me either at the time of making the reservation or at pickup.

At the border, no one spoke English and it took two hours to discover what the problem was and to call Avis in Puerto Montt. It took another two hours for them to fax the necessary paperwork to the border control.

After negotiations with Avis after I returned home, the cost of our 6-day car rental, including the fee to take the car into Argentina, was $591.

Driving in the Lake District of Chile and Argentina was easy, orderly and fun, and the paved roads were very good, but there is one thing to understand. Some of the main roads are shown on the map as compacta, otherwise known as gravel. Many of these roads can be quite rough, very dusty and “slow traveling.”

So if your trip calls for some compacta roads, plan plenty of time and rent a larger vehicle with air-conditioning. Smaller cars have a distinct disadvantage trying to avoid “bottoming out” when hitting the ruts and rocks in the road.

The ads and tour books on Argentina’s Lake District had us believing it was like Switzerland. We did not find this to be true. The Argentine side of the Andes was very dry, and the Andes in that part of South America were not very tall or dramatic. We found Bariloche and the surrounding area disappointing. We liked the Chile side much better; it was not as arid plus it had great volcanoes.

As part of our Lake District package, in Villarrica, Chile, we stayed at Hostería de la Colina, a lovely B&B that also served good dinners. The back porch had beautiful views of the active Villarrica Volcano as well as the Llaima Volcano that was erupting during our visit. At night we had a clear view of the eruption 25 miles away.

KEN GOULD

Clearwater Beach, FL