Bariloche to Esquel to Futaleufu to Chaiten to Puerto Montt. The Argentina to Chile border crossing. As we couldn't find any help for this border crossing in either guide book or intenet, here are the facts for anyone who stumbles across this blog when trying to research their own way of getting into Chile..... Bariloche - Esquel (Bus Via Bariloche AR$77) 4.25 hrs Esquel - La Balsa (Jacobsen Bus AR$28) La Balsa - Futaleufu (Local minibus AR$27) 2hrs (Mon &am...

The Tramat bus to Bariloche may as-well have been named "Trauma Bus". Before arriving in South America we had expected the Argentine buses to be better than the rest of the continent, but whilst the screaming brat child in the seat behind us prevented sleep, we considered how this was not the case... Frustratingly, we were shown films not only dubbed, but also subtitled in Spanish. There were no toilet or leg stretch stops for the entire 20 hour journey...

Mendoza and on... In our heads, Mendoza was going to be a bigger, slightly worldlier, more mature version of Cafayate. I expected to see debonaire Mendochinos swilling wine in sunny street bars, with the aroma of sizzling steak wafting trough the air. Their discussions of that year's Malbec grape harvest interrupted occasionally by a slurp from a Mate cup, a quick tango or perhaps a kick-about with some street kids. This day-dream was swiftly shattered when we a...

Buenos Aires If we had noticed any differences from Peru and Bolivia when we arrived in Argentina, these were fully realised upon our arrival to the capital city. The people are taller and you might see the occasional blonde. They wear similar clothes to us in Europe. They speak a slightly different form of Spanish at a faster rate. There are no obvious remains of indigenous dress and culture as in Peru and Bolivia. Dogs appear to have owners. They smoke a lot m...

Iguazu Falls It has to be said that we have encountered some frustrating bad luck during this adventure; torrential rain and snow preventing the full journey along the Inca Trail, the loss of a full days photos on that trip, protests hindering a border crossing at Puno, various bouts of illness throughout Peru and Bolivia, snow in the Atacama desert preventing a border crossing there, not to mention the ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Chile threatening our...