HomeTravel JournalsPatagonia Trip and Cruise

Patagonia Trip and Cruise

By : Matthew Janes
Trip Begins April 6, 2008
Trip Ends April 14, 2008

From the first contact in Ushuaia, Argentina, to the drop-off in Punta Arenas some nine days later we were safely guided through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world and provided some of the finest in service we had ever had.

Apr 6 - UshuaiaPatagonia in Style
Apr 7 - Cape HornCape Horn
Apr 8 - Pilot and Nena Glaciers
Apr 9 - Punta Arenas
Apr 10 - Las Torres EcoCamp
Apr 11 - Las Torres EcoCamp
Apr 12 - Las Torres EcoCamp
Apr 13 - Oro Fueguino
Apr 14 - Punta Arenas

See my photos : Patagonia Trip and Cruise

Want to go? MV Via Australis: M/V Via Australis 4 Day/3 Night, Patagonia Wildlife Safari

I went to: Argentina, Ushuaia, Chile, Punta Arenas, Torres del Paine, Las Torres EcoCamp, Hostal Oro Fueguino, South America, Patagonia, Magdalena Island

[enlarge map]

[reduce map]

April 6, 2008

Top

Patagonia in Style

Ushuaia, Argentina

My first trip to Patagonia was in 2004, when I visited some friends at their estancia in Chile. We flew over the Andes and saw some of the remotest settlements in Patagonia and I got a chance to grasp the immensity, and the undeveloped nature of South America as well as the sheer beauty and dramatic rugged scenery.

So, when invited a second time, two years later, I decided to make the trip of a lifetime. I contacted Adventure Life and bundled a trip around Cape Horn with a hiking trek through Torres del Paine, Chile's largest National Park.

As the trip began to take shape, it became clear that it would be fourteen days of memorable experiences highlighting the wonders of the Southern part of South America.

We landed in Santiago and met a friend and explored some of Santiago for the day. There my son was introduced to Chilean hospitality and we day tripped to the Mount of Santiago and then boarded our flight to Buenos Aires.

In Buenos Aires we walked the downtown district, and then took great pleasure in watching the Tango and other Argentine artists perform. Buenos Aires has a beat all its own and what a perfect introduction to a country for my then twelve year old son!!

From Buenos Aires we flew to Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the continent. A shipping port and jump off point for Antarctica, Ushuaia is a hillside town that was a remote outpost built in the late 18th Century by the Spanish as a part of their shipping route through the Magellan Straits. Later that day we boarded the Via Australis, especially designed and constructed for the route to Cape Horn and through the Beagle Channel.
My son and I breathed a sigh of relief after having traveled three days, finally aboard our small ship in comfort.

Soon we were watching a Tango show in the ship's lounge as the crew readied the ship for departure, and the lights of Ushuaia faded into the distance, the propellers of the Australis churned up the cold water of the Magellan Straits and we turned to, knowing that in the morning we would be anchored off of Cape Horn.

April 7, 2008

Top

Cape Horn

To a sailor, Cape Horn is the Everest of the Oceans. Steeped in tradition and tragedy, The Cape is undoubtedly the proving ground of shipping and endurance over the years. So to see the Cape on a beautiful March day, was a dramatic moment to say the least. The ship's boats were lowered for what would be the first of countless times. Designed to carry in safety the guest compliment of 100 passengers, the Australis was equipped with four large black inflatables and lifted on and off the ship's stern with two large cranes. Once in the water, the crews held the boats fast to the boarding ladders using the inflatable's outboard motors while the guests were assisted aboard. Chilean seamen are an impressive lot. As the passengers were taken ashore, seals frolicked in the kelp beds.

Boat by boat, grounded on a slippery rock shore, we were again assisted up a steep ramp to a stairway designed also to raise freight to the light station high above.

At this point it is important to write about the company that helped make an unforgettable lifetime experience, Adventure Life, from Montana. An energetic entrepeneur started Adventure Life and moved it quickly to become one of the better travel companies, hailed by publications such as Travel (and others). I found them simply by researching venues to explore Cape horn and southern Chile. From the beginning I could tell that they were a group of enthusiastic, hard working and adventure seekers who also knew about organization in areas of the world which are remote.

I was assigned a travel manager, and we worked together through the myriad details entailed in such a detail oriented trip as we were about to embark on.

From the first contact in Ushuia, Argentina, to the drop-off in Punta Arenas some nine days later we were safely guided through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world and provided some of the finest in service we had ever had. Adventure Life went so far as to stay in touch with us with birthday cards ever since, and I cannot imagine a more complete effort and better adventure travel company than them.