We left Argentina for the last time, the tenth time we have crossed the Argentine border, and entered Chile at the Paso de Jama mountain pass. The border post is at 4,200 metres above sea …
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Salta – Andes meets Argentina
Our last stop in Argentina before heading deeper into the Andes was Salta, the capital of the North West of Argentina. Salta is an attractive town with many preserved colonial buildings and also a convenient …
Continue readingSan Miguel de Tucumán – Birthplace of Argentina
Our journey up North continued to San Miguel de Tucumán, which back on 9thJuly 1816 Argentina formally declared its independence from Spain. The city today is the major commercial centre in the North West of …
Continue readingEstancias – Gauchos and Horse Riding
To have the complete Argentine experience we booked four nights on an Argentinian estancia for a bit of horse riding and more generally to experience the gaucho and ranching lifestyle on a genuine working estancia. …
Continue readingCórdoba – Jesuits
We principally used Córdoba as a transit point for the estancia, and were pleasantly surprised to find it to be an interesting city with some very fine ecclesiasticalbuildings. Córdoba was at the heart of the …
Continue readingMendoza – Malbec and High Peaks
The journey from Valparaíso to Mendoza has to be one of the most spectacular road trips in the world, crossing the Andes at the foothills of Aconcagua, at 6,692 metres, the highest mountain outside the …
Continue readingValparaíso – Funiculars and Street Art
Valparaíso, Chile’s most enigmatic city, sits on the Pacific Ocean and grew up as a key centre of the international shipping business, however it went into decline following the opening of the Panama Canal which …
Continue readingSantiago de Chile – Final Thoughts
At 07.14 in the morning as we were getting ready to leave Santiago, Chile experienced in world terms a large earthquake, some 6.2 on the Richter Scale. The epicentre was at Punitaqui some 400 kms …
Continue readingSantiago de Chile – Centre of Chile
Chile’s capital city of nearly seven million dominates the country with nearly 40% of Chile’s population, sits in a big bowl surrounded on all sides by the Andes mountains that protect it from the Pacific …
Continue readingPucón – Smoking Volcano
On Easter Sunday we headed North out of Bariloche through the picturesque Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, with its autumnal colours and attractive lake and mountain backdrop on our journey back into Chile. The border crossing …
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