Dreams come true!

We, Rita and Vincent, start our adventure in Santiago de Chile. A beautiful city with friendly people and gorgeous parks. One of them runs right through the city. We enjoy the view at Cerro Santa Lucia. We then continue on foot across Plaza Armas with the old cathedral to Cerro San Cristobal. We did adjust the pace though as we were in a heatwave.

We continue our journey from the busy city to Park Queulat by plane after which we also pick up our rental car. Nice to cover the distances by car. Because the roads are unpaved, it gives an extra fun dimension, but you can't really drive through. Nature makes a special impression on us. It looks like a little rainforest at times. All the accommodation had something unique about it, and certainly El Pangue Lodge at Puyuhuapi on Lake Risopatron. Not far from El Pangue Lodge, we did the beautiful hike to the hanging glacier (Vetisquero Colgante Quelat). Definitely worthwhile, but we were definitely not the only ones. Via Coyhaique, we drove further south and even that was enjoyable. The beautiful countryside towards Puerto Rio Tranquilo. There we visited the marble cathedral by boat. Separate natural phenomenon and with the lake really azure, the different colours are very impressive. Of course, the weather we had made it even more beautiful.

In Puerto Guadal, across the lake (Lago General Carrera, Chile's largest lake and continues into Argentina), we did have a very nice accommodation. From your bed you have a view of the lake. Fantastic! Sometimes it took some searching to find the hiking trails, but here too we hiked a lot. The Chileans themselves are not so used to walking, which we can hardly imagine with such beautiful nature. Via Puerto Rio Tranquilo, where we slept in a nice lodge, we drove north again for the next stage: flying south towards Torres del Paine.

We fly to Punta Arenas where we pick up our next hire car. Completely different landscape. Flat and miles of views. Welcome to the Chilean pampas. So different. We drive on mostly paved roads. Along the way, we see many nandu (kind of ostriches) and guanacos (kind of llamas). Our route encounters a gate; opening it allows us to drive on. A route through the middle of nowhere, 12 km through rugged landscape where you see nothing but a kind of steppe and then suddenly a farm looms up: Tercera Barranca lodge. Another unique place, this time with views of the Torres del Paine.

In the Torres del Paine, we walked the W trek of 3 day hikes. Also from the Paine Grande Lodge, where we could only get there by catamaran. Long day hikes, strong winds, but with clear blue skies. So nice that we could do these walks, because before we arrived and also after we left, the weather conditions were definitely less. We were really lucky. What an incredibly beautiful area.

From Puerto Natales, we went to El Calafate (Argentina) by bus. Another great fun bus experience in about 5 hours. An area with impressive views of the Pampas. In El Calafate we did an excursion with glacier hiking on the Perito Moreno glacier. With crampons and excellent guides. What a fun experience and especially at the end the whisky on the rocks with your own chopped rocks from the glacier.

And then off to what was absolutely our dream, heading to Ushuaia for our trip to Antarctica. With Oceanwide Expeditions and expedition ship Plancius as our basecamp. Absolutely a top trip.And the organisation certainly knows how to give you the trip of a lifetime. Everything was super arranged. Your own cabin, fantastic food and a very professional staff. The guides were all specialised in something (mostly as scientists), like wildlife, but also about ice, history etc. So we also got some lectures/information every day about the region or the wildlife that could be seen. This made it really special. Every day there were activities and also, again, we were lucky with the weather. All days good and so we were also able to do all the activities. Mountaineering with 2 guides; crampons and hiking on ropes, kayaking, snowshoeing, camping in Antarctica outdoors and the zodiac cruises. Everything was so impressive. The colours of the ice, the shapes and all the wildlife we were able to see. When kayaking, we were even joined by a humpback whale that swam under our kayaks and stayed around our group for a while. With the silence and mirror-smooth sea and clear blue sky, this was so impressive and soothing.

Even night camping outdoors with the setting and rising sun or just sitting among the various penguins and watching their behaviour. It was almost too overwhelming at times. Like the orcas that we were able to follow in a group of about 25, 30 orcas for a while.

The hospitality on the boat and the friendliness of all the staff made the trip complete. It was a pity then that it was already over after 12 days. Fortunately, we didn't have to return home right away, but had a few more days in Bariloche. Touristy but nice to let everything sink in and make a few nice walks. We conclude our adventure and dream trip with 2 days in Buenos Aires. We choose to explore the city by bicycle. In relatively little time we can still see a lot of the city and get an impression of many different districts.

You look forward to this trip for a year and then after almost six weeks it's over in a flash. But it was a journey never to forget. Especially because together with Avila travel we were really able to do what we wanted. The highlight was Antarctica, of course, but Chile and Argentina were also absolutely worthwhile.