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Traveling to Chile/Argentina

EMNofSeattle

No Russian ever called me deplorable
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So I'm saving money towards a trip I would like to do

I would like to visit parts of Chile, mainly Tierra Del Fuego, along the way there's other historical sites I would like to tour around Puerto Montt and the Island of Chiloe. so probably making a V shaped trip, fly to one part of Chile, then fly to Punta Arenas.

Then the Argentine border is pretty close to there and I would like to maybe visit that country as well, mainly I'm interested in visiting lighthouses which appear to have open sites for photography and visitors as historical monuments in both countries. I have traveled much of the Western US and parts of Canada visiting lighthouses and taking pictures and would like to visit some of these lighthouses in South America.

Basic things, I am learning to speak spanish at a functional level and I checked with the both the US State Department and UK Home office travel advice and it seems neither country is really unsafe for western travelers, although It seems Chile is the better of the two.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience travelling to either country?
 
Make sure to constantly mention the Falklands War in Argentina.
 
So I'm saving money towards a trip I would like to do

I would like to visit parts of Chile, mainly Tierra Del Fuego, along the way there's other historical sites I would like to tour around Puerto Montt and the Island of Chiloe. so probably making a V shaped trip, fly to one part of Chile, then fly to Punta Arenas.

Then the Argentine border is pretty close to there and I would like to maybe visit that country as well, mainly I'm interested in visiting lighthouses which appear to have open sites for photography and visitors as historical monuments in both countries. I have traveled much of the Western US and parts of Canada visiting lighthouses and taking pictures and would like to visit some of these lighthouses in South America.

Basic things, I am learning to speak spanish at a functional level and I checked with the both the US State Department and UK Home office travel advice and it seems neither country is really unsafe for western travelers, although It seems Chile is the better of the two.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience travelling to either country?

Santiago is a great place, and a short trip to Valparasio, which is an amazing city, I want to go back. As for Arg...I went to Buenos Aires, very nice city, very European feel.

Also...the Spanish down there is a hell of a lot more different than the Sonoran Spanglish I speak...more Castilian in Argentina.
 
Make sure to constantly mention the Falklands War in Argentina.

Falklands ? Where are those? The only Islands I know of are the Isla Malvinas which rightfully belong to Argentina ;)

I'm a Yankee not a Limey, I'm uninvolved to that dispute
 
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Santiago is a great place, and a short trip to Valparasio, which is an amazing city, I want to go back. As for Arg...I went to Buenos Aires, very nice city, very European feel.

Also...the Spanish down there is a hell of a lot more different than the Sonoran Spanglish I speak...more Castilian in Argentina.

A friend of mine worked for US government, he was an engineer on a NOAA ship that did scientific survey off the Chilean coast during the 80s. He grew up in CA and and said Chileans constantly told him "he talked Mexican" when he talked in Spanish.

I'm thinking of flying to Santiago from Vancouver Canada, then book domestic flights to Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. I think I'll have to go to either Santiago or Buenos Aires for a flight home, but I hope to spend time in the southern portion of both countries and not spend too much time in the big cities
 
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A friend of mine worked for US government, he was an engineer on a NOAA ship that did scientific survey off the Chilean coast during the 80s. He grew up in CA and and said Chileans constantly told him "he talked Mexican" when he talked in Spanish.

I'm thinking of flying to Santiago from Vancouver Canada, then book domestic flights to Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. I think I'll have to go to either Santiago or Buenos Aires for a flight home, but I hope to spend time in the southern portion of both countries and not spend too much time in the big cities

I wanted to go to Punto Arenas, but I worked for the airlines and couldn't get a pass on Aerolinas Argentinas. I wanted to do the boat trip from there to Antartica...only continent I haven't hit...
 
Santiago is a great place, and a short trip to Valparasio, which is an amazing city, I want to go back. As for Arg...I went to Buenos Aires, very nice city, very European feel.

Also...the Spanish down there is a hell of a lot more different than the Sonoran Spanglish I speak...more Castilian in Argentina.

Here's kind of what I want to see,

Island of Chiloe, to include the old spanish fort on the Island, the Faro (lighthouse) Corona, and see some of the Catholic Churches, which are designated world heritage sites and have unique architectural style.

Punta Arenas, a whole list of lighthouses, both in Chile and Argentina, maybe a boat cruise through the Beagle Channel, which I'm showing as being quite a good value in US Dollars.

Tierra del Fuego park in Argentina.

perhaps a stopover in Buenos Aires for a day just to say I've been. but I'm mainly interested in historical sites along the coast.
 
I wanted to go to Punto Arenas, but I worked for the airlines and couldn't get a pass on Aerolinas Argentinas. I wanted to do the boat trip from there to Antartica...only continent I haven't hit...

Yeah that would be cool, in my case I have to think realistically about what I can afford to do, I am shooting for fall of 2018 and I can probably save 10 grand for this trip by then, and will probably have two weeks of vacation time to do it, how long does it take for a boat to go to Antarctica? I would like to see a few different places, I considered the idea of taking a ferry from BA to Montevideo and add Uruguay to the trip, but that might require re-entering Argentina since it seems the Airport in Montevideo doesn't offer as many flights.


What do you do for the airlines btw?
 
Yeah that would be cool, in my case I have to think realistically about what I can afford to do, I am shooting for fall of 2018 and I can probably save 10 grand for this trip by then, and will probably have two weeks of vacation time to do it, how long does it take for a boat to go to Antarctica? I would like to see a few different places, I considered the idea of taking a ferry from BA to Montevideo and add Uruguay to the trip, but that might require re-entering Argentina since it seems the Airport in Montevideo doesn't offer as many flights.


What do you do for the airlines btw?

HR. But, I took early retirement, then my airline bought another one out, then merged...now I can fly to Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay...for free.

But, time...
 
I had about 10 days, I flew from LAX to Buenos Aires with a stop in Lima and Santiago, then went backwards from there. Lima is a rough town, not a lot of nice there.
 
So I'm saving money towards a trip I would like to do

I would like to visit parts of Chile, mainly Tierra Del Fuego, along the way there's other historical sites I would like to tour around Puerto Montt and the Island of Chiloe. so probably making a V shaped trip, fly to one part of Chile, then fly to Punta Arenas.

Then the Argentine border is pretty close to there and I would like to maybe visit that country as well, mainly I'm interested in visiting lighthouses which appear to have open sites for photography and visitors as historical monuments in both countries. I have traveled much of the Western US and parts of Canada visiting lighthouses and taking pictures and would like to visit some of these lighthouses in South America.

Basic things, I am learning to speak spanish at a functional level and I checked with the both the US State Department and UK Home office travel advice and it seems neither country is really unsafe for western travelers, although It seems Chile is the better of the two.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience travelling to either country?
I spent six months living in and traveling around Chile, mainly in Temuco, where I met my then girlfriend, Santiago, Vina del Mar/Valpariso...loved the country and the people. Very clean and has, as does Argentina, a more European feel. The Chileans are warm and friendly folk and its a beautiful country with the snow covered mountains and volcanoes, the coast line never far away, the nice lakes and streams, the deserts o the north gradulally growing more verdant as you proceed south into their agricultural regions to the colder and rainy (similar to when I visited Washington state, actually, so you shouldn't feel too out of place) when I was there, 1991, Puerto Mont where the road basically ended and you needed to arrange for travel to Chiloe. I was on a budget and so did not make that trip, but it looked wonderful.

They were just transitioning away from Pinochet's total dominance when I was there and so much has probably changed. Do remember that their seasons are opposite of ours in the Northern hemisphere. In our summer I went over the snow laden hump that they call the Andes from Santigo into Argentina at Mendoza then to BA and later to Cordoba in 2000, loved Argentina almost as well though things were a bit less stable with their economy in shambles at that time, but a fantastic value as a traveler.

The more Spanish you know the better, but you can always get by ...just know numbers for money exchanges, donde esta el bano when you need a restroom and the ubiquitous quiero una cerveza (key yare oh una sir vase uh) if you want a beer...and those numbers come in handy if you want more than one lol.

You should have a wonderful trip, bon voyage.
 
I spent six months living in and traveling around Chile, mainly in Temuco, where I met my then girlfriend, Santiago, Vina del Mar/Valpariso...loved the country and the people. Very clean and has, as does Argentina, a more European feel. The Chileans are warm and friendly folk and its a beautiful country with the snow covered mountains and volcanoes, the coast line never far away, the nice lakes and streams, the deserts o the north gradulally growing more verdant as you proceed south into their agricultural regions to the colder and rainy (similar to when I visited Washington state, actually, so you shouldn't feel too out of place) when I was there, 1991, Puerto Mont where the road basically ended and you needed to arrange for travel to Chiloe. I was on a budget and so did not make that trip, but it looked wonderful.

They were just transitioning away from Pinochet's total dominance when I was there and so much has probably changed. Do remember that their seasons are opposite of ours in the Northern hemisphere. In our summer I went over the snow laden hump that they call the Andes from Santigo into Argentina at Mendoza then to BA and later to Cordoba in 2000, loved Argentina almost as well though things were a bit less stable with their economy in shambles at that time, but a fantastic value as a traveler.

The more Spanish you know the better, but you can always get by ...just know numbers for money exchanges, donde esta el bano when you need a restroom and the ubiquitous quiero una cerveza (key yare oh una sir vase uh) if you want a beer...and those numbers come in handy if you want more than one lol.

You should have a wonderful trip, bon voyage.

You ever done car rentals over there? And how is the argentine border? Like fairly easy to cross at land ports as a non citizen of either country?

Yeah Chiloe is connected by ferry, although I read they're starting construction on a bridge in a couple of years.

Yeah My friend who's a merchant engineer told me he sailed up and down the Chilean coast and by the time one gets to Chiloe it looks remarkably like the inside passage from Canada to Alaska, I guess it's on "the same " latitudes just in the Southern Hemisphere.
 
So I'm saving money towards a trip I would like to do

I would like to visit parts of Chile, mainly Tierra Del Fuego, along the way there's other historical sites I would like to tour around Puerto Montt and the Island of Chiloe. so probably making a V shaped trip, fly to one part of Chile, then fly to Punta Arenas.

Then the Argentine border is pretty close to there and I would like to maybe visit that country as well, mainly I'm interested in visiting lighthouses which appear to have open sites for photography and visitors as historical monuments in both countries. I have traveled much of the Western US and parts of Canada visiting lighthouses and taking pictures and would like to visit some of these lighthouses in South America.

Basic things, I am learning to speak spanish at a functional level and I checked with the both the US State Department and UK Home office travel advice and it seems neither country is really unsafe for western travelers, although It seems Chile is the better of the two.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience travelling to either country?

https://scottscheapflights.com/
 
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