Welcome to our latest journey to Antarctica and South America. The idea for this trip was first thought up on a National Geographic Expedition where Carol and I, plus a number of friends, decided it would be a great idea to plan a “custom” trip along the lines of the NGS Expeditions and that we would like to explore South America. There was eight of us who became excited about this possibility - Per & Astrid, Mark & Paula, Kevin & Lisa and Carol & myself. That was back in April of 2015 so this journey was nearly two years in the planning.
During this time I heard about a unique trip to Antarctica from my friend Dave. The company - Antarctica XXI is unique in that they fly you to Antarctica instead of the 2-day sail across the Drake Passage (Cape Horn). This seemed particularly attractive to those in the group who are susceptible to sea-sickness. We decided to combine this with the South America trip. Kevin & Lisa, Carol and myself signed up. The rest of the group had already been to Antarctica so they opted out and planned to meet us in Patagonia. To our delight, additional friends Mark & Mauree Jane also decided to take this trip to Antarctica so we had six of us on this part of the adventure.
Planning was through TCS, the Company that does the logistics for NGS jet trips. I was volunteered to be point on the planning and started to piece together the itinerary with Amber, TCS’s manager for private travel. What resulted was a month-long journey through many of the unique and fascinating areas of Chile, Argentina and Brasil. Despite the additional expense, we decided to charter a private jet for a large part of the journey. It simply would not have been possible to experience eveything we did without the convenience of flying direct.
We all wanted to spend time in Patagonia, a wild and windy place with spectacular scenery and the opportunity for challenging hikes. At the North end of Patagonia is Bariloche (Argentina) with a warmer climate and beatiful scenery. We decided to go to the Atacama Desert (Chile), the driest place in the World (or so we thought) then on to The Iguacu Falls (Argentina / Brasil) - spectacular and one of the wettest places you can be. Finally, we flew to Rio De Janiero to experience the City and relax. By the time we got there we had travelled from freezing, wet & windy weather in Antarctica & Patagonia to 95Deg, high humidity in Rio. Packing was a challenge!
Here’s the itinerary:
January 3 - 4. Travel from San Francisco to Punta Arenas (Chile) via Houston and Santiago.
January 5,6. Hanging out in Punta Arenas waiting for good weather to fly to Antarctica
January 7 - 10. Explore Antarctica aboard the Hebridean Sky
January 11 - 13. Puerto Natales
January 14 - 17. Torres Del Paine
January 18 - 20. San Carlos De Bariloche
January 21 - 23. San Pedro De Atacama
January 24 - 25. Iguacu Falls
January 26 - 29. Rio De Janiero
January 30 - 31. Return to San Francisco via Houston.
Follow my blog link for the story of our journey. Unlike previous blogs, this one is being written after returning home. I may have forgotten a few details but the important stuff I’ll remember for a lifetime.