Janice was due to present a paper at an international conference in Buenos Aires. and so we decided to take advantage of this by planning a post-conference tour.
Basically we travelled clockwise around Argentina and Chile, taking in an extraordinary set of contrasts, from icebergs to desert.
1. We flew into Buenos Aires from Heathrow. Whilst there we explored a little of Buenos Aires and also took a side-trip by train to Tigré, a small resort town at the mouth of the Paraná River, 30km north of BA.
2. Whilst Janice was giving her paper I took a day trip by hydrofoil to Montevideo (which took only 2.5 hours each way despite being 100 miles). Unfortunately, whilst there, I had my pocket picked, losing a small amount of cash and some credit cards. Irritating but not disastrous.
3. Transfer by plane to Trelewe (where there is a thriving Welsh-language speaking community) followed by a short drive to Puerto Madryn where our hotel faced the beach. We visited the Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes. Firstly, a boat trip from Puerto Piramides to see the Right Whales in close-up, then to the beaches on the east cost of the peninsula to see an Elephant Seal Colony.
We also drove south to Punto Tombo to see huge colonies of Magellanic penguins.
4. Internal flight to Rio Gallegos, followed by five hour car journey to El Calafate for one night. This was not a great success as there was a mist with moderate drizzle the whole time we were there.
5. Another road trip took us to the border with Chile at Paseo Dorotea. We changed cars and were driven to Torres del Paine National park.
We then took a commercial bus from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas.
6. Plane to Puerto Montt with transfer to our hotel at Puerto Varas. Whilst here we visited Volcan Osorno and the island of Chiloë.
7. Finally, we flew to Calama via Santiago, for our final excursions in the Atacama Desert. We then returned to Buenos Aires via Santiago, and home.