Trip to Argentina from December 10-31

by philg

I decided to push back the round-the-world trip and instead spend December in Argentina.  My flights into and out of Buenos Aires are fairly fixed but everything else is open and I would appreciate suggestions.  Here’s the plan so far…



Dec 10:  leave Boston.
Dec 11:  arrive Buenos Aires at 10:07 am
Dec 12,13: sightseeing B.A.
Dec 14:  Sunday trip to Colonia, Uruguay via ferry
Dec 15:  leave B.A. for Iguazu Falls, stay at fancy Sheraton with view
of falls?
Dec 17:  fly from Iguazu Falls to Bariloche (Lake District), rent car
Dec 25:  fly to Ushuaia (the southernmost town in Argentina), take a few tours
Dec 31:  fly from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires in time to catch 10:55 pm
flight to Miami


Thoughts?

20 thoughts on “Trip to Argentina from December 10-31”

  4. I wanted to add that I think you should try to get to see Torres Del Paine National Park, even if it just a day or two. That’s definitely one of the most amazing places on this Earth.

  6. so where will the new year’s eve party take place ? Hopefully not at the airport …

  7. Phil,

    Buzz ( http://www.buzzmodo.com )tells me that you are headed for the paradise of the south. I’ll send you a link to our pictures, if you like – they are on the web. Looking at your itenarary, I see that you have planned practically the same trip my wife and I took in March, 2003. We basically flew to BA, made our other arrangements to travel there. It is cheaper to make arrangements in Argentina. There is a dual economy and if you can pass as an Argentinean or latino then you’ll get a much better fare. You don’t need to show a passport to prove it, it’s a funny system. We loved Buenos Aires. We stayed in the Broadway Hotel http://www.broadway-suites.com.ar/ , a 4 star that Creedence Clearwater Revival had just visited. They picked us up at the airport in a private car and the hotel was very modern and even the mini bar was affordable! We had a suite with breakfast for $45/night. Good by any standard. We read the http://www.buenosairesherald.com/ every day. Tango was fantastic, go to a Tango bar. The absolute best restaurant was Parillo Pena, where you get steak, scrumptuous salad and empanadas, bottle of vino and the best dessert imaginable, all in a very trendy downscale/upscale atmosphere – the kind of place you go because you live there and ‘you know’. That was around $7/person. We drank Mate’, the ubiquitous tea everyone drinks from gourds or Mate’ cocina in a cup. Mate’ is friendship – see http://www.noborders.net/mate/ and I blogged about it here: http://freezope2.nipltd.net/rodin/blog/1069856120/index_html and here http://freezope2.nipltd.net/rodin/blog/1069856017/index_html

    We flew to see the Iguazu falls, stayed in a brand new 4 star resort with a completely different style from the city, for (again, and I don’t mean to be crass by talking about the price but I would do anything to open people’s eyes to the beauty of foreign culture in AR and just get them out there.) $30/night. We then flew all the way down to Patagonia. Realize that AR is huge. It took hours to fly up to Iguazu and then hours to fly down to see the glaciers in Patagonia. The trip was a pivotal experience in my life. The history, the culture, the food, the people, all of it changed me. You’ll love it. I hope to hear about it on your blog as you go. There are internet cafes all over AR.

    The email below is from our mutual friend, Eduardo Blanchet, who is Argentinean and incidently owns a Berlitz in Orlando – see http://www.floridasmallbusiness.com/features/01.asp

    By the way, I have read your blog and writing for a long time and enjoyed it immensely. I can picture your big white dog without revisiting your website!

    Enjoy!

    Michael Levin,

    http://www.mikelevin.net

    (this is from Eduardo:)

    Come visit me at the Paris of the South!

    The new President Kirchner in less than a month is straightening things up. Just imagine:

    1. He sent home the 24 highest ranking generals who were too close to Menem and reorganized the Air Force and the Navy as well. My brother Luis, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, was appointed as the Air Force top budget administrator honoring his fame of incorruptible.

    2. He reorganized the Federal Police and sent home dozens of sheriffs accused of leniency with crime.

    3. He is promoting the impeachment of the President of the Supreme Court, a mediocre lawyer appointed by Menem that cannot even speak properly in public and is promoting a total reorganization of our judicial system.

    4. He sealed an “strategic alliance” with President Lula of Brazil to accelerate Mercosur integration and to invite other South American countries like Peru and Venezuela. Please note that the idea of inviting Venezuela has nothing to do with Chavez and is an old one. The basic idea is to strenghten the Mercosur to work with the United States, not against it.

    5. He had a meeting with Colin Powell in Buenos Aires. Powell was very impressed with President Kirchner, the open dialogue and promised Washington’s support in negotiating the foreign debt with the IMF. He was immediately invited to visit President Bush and PM Blair in July.

    6. He intervened the PAMI, a social security health provider, where corruption is rampant and promised to do the same in every agency in the same situation.

    All of this in exactly the 3 first weeks of government!

    I’m optimist again for the future of Argentina. This President seems to be a good administrator, a honest man and a clever politician in the best sense of the word.

    Vamos, Argentina, todav

  11. I just got this from a dear friend per your blog entry……

    Please tell your friend Philip not to miss Se

  12. Hi Philip

    Looks like you are planning on doing the seven lakes route from Bariloche with a car….. what no bike????? 😉 Recommend you visit San Martin de Los Andes, which is a very pretty town. The hosteria (B&B) that we stayed at was called La Casa de Eugenia which I can recommend for a few nights stay, or visit for a traditional afternoon cuppa and cake. Their website is http://www.lacasadeeugenia.com.ar

    Have fun
    Sarah

  13. Hi Philip,

    Perhaps the nicest hotel in Bariloche is the Llao Llao resort. Pretty fancy (though a bit big) with golf, tennis, etc. If you are driving over the mountains into Chile (which I would recommend), a good stopping point along the way to Puerto Montt is at the Termas de Puyehue near the volcano Mount Osorno. Another hotel, with hot springs – very relaxing.

    One adventure (accessible only by daily flights in a small plane) from Puerto Montt is Pumalin Park. This was created by Doug Tompkins (co-founder of Esprit clothing) as a preserve of some of the oldest alerce trees in the world. It is a beautiful, isolated place. Not sure what the facilities are like now, but we had cold showers (and cold shoulders from some of the staff) when we visited in 1999.

    Happy travels!
    Peter

  14. Well, there’s a dark side to everything I guess –> I just read this article entitled “Argentina warns of terror threat” which goes on to say “The Argentine Government says it has received intelligence about possible terrorist attacks in the country. Defence Minister Jose Pampuro said there could be attacks against US, British or Spanish targets. Mr Pampuro told a radio station: “We received information from national intelligence services and two foreign intelligence services that Argentina could face some kind of attack”. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3240914.stm)

  15. I’m planning a similar trip around the same time so I’ll share some thoughts.
    Re: buying plane tickets in Argentina, cheapest is to get a pass at the same time
    you buy the international flight. The passes are currently only available in conjunction.
    Tickets are cheaper in the country but Dec15-31 is definitely part of the high season
    so you may not want to risk last minute tickets.

    Falls: I heard that the Hotel in the park was worth it because it saves you time and saves you paying the park entrance twice.

    Lake District: Multiple people have recommended San Martin de los Andes and also El Bolson.
    El Bolson supposedly has a lot of day hikes available and has one of the best micro brews of South America.

    Ushuia: Just saw pictures of the Ushuia area from friends here in Chile yesterday, looks very nice. A full week here might be overkill. They said you could see the nearby parks in a few days.
    I see no mention of El Calefate and the perrito moreno galcier in your plan, if you have not already seen it
    you might take a flight there on the way from Bariloche to Ushuia. From there you could potentially
    also make the trip over to Torres del Paine in Chile but you’d probably have to budget at least 3-4 days.

    I can’t wait to try out my new fuji gw690 on this trip.

  16. I was living in Santiago in 2001 and took a trip to the Chilean Patagonia. I considered Ushuaia and was told that, besides being the the southernmost town in Argentina has not much to do (maybe it was just Chilean – Argentinian rivalry, I

  17. Hi Philip,

    I saw that you got a lot of good recommendations!

    Unfortunately, It seems that you won’t go to “Glacier Perito Moreno”. It’s an AMAZING place.

    http://www.losglaciares.com/en/parque/index.html

    Maybe you can plan a “quick tour” to it when you arrive to Ushuaia. Otherwise it could be one of the reasons to come back to Argentina soon.

    I live in Buenos Aires, so if you need any “local advice”, just ask me.

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