El Meandro

Our Trip in a Nutshell

We have created a separate page that describes our trip in a nutshell listing all the highlights and the best campsites.

As a complement, this last blog post summarizes some of our best moments in pictures.

Colombia

Colombia is a country that is very easy to travel in. People are extremely friendly, beyond anything we have experienced elsewhere in South America. Campsites are good and easy to find. This all makes up for the relatively few real highlights considering its size.

Ecuador

Ecuador probably has the best roads on the continent, something which does not really add to the real off road experience. Being located at the equator it is a relatively green country and receives quite a bit of rain. We did not catch the best weather while we were there. Nevertheless we enjoyed a few great highlights here.

Peru

We were positively surprised by northern Peru and not disappointed by the touristic southern part of the country. Peru is the Andean country per se and as such we quickly fell in love with its mountains and culture.

Bolivia

Bolivia remains a country offering highlights in abundance for us, especially considering that we only visited half of the country on this trip since we have seen the other half some ten years ago. And still we have not seen it all. While people are more reserved at first encounter, it is very easy to communicate with them after short time. They also speak one of the most comprehensible variants of the Spanish language.

Brazil

We only cut through a very small part of Brazil. Yet it was absolutely worth the detour. Friendly people everywhere and excellent wildlife watching.

Paraguay

Paraguay ended up being mostly a transit country for us. We did enjoy some of the best campsites of the trip here though.

Chile

Chile just did not live up to our expectations that had been set by other travelers in terms of highlights. Too many forests and too much resemblance to our home country may be the cause. Nevertheless, we spent a relaxing time in all parts of Chile enjoying some of the best food in South America. On the upside, the people where nowhere close as unfriendly as we had been warned by many travelers. In our opinion this is a prejudice that does not become more true through reiteration.

Argentina

The far north and far south of Argentina are among our biggest highlights. Those places also offered some of the best wild camp spots. Official campsites are a mixed bag though. While they are available in abundance, the regular municipal camping is of mediocre quality and mostly geared towards the typical Argentinian party crowd.

Uruguay

Uruguay was always going to be the place from where to ship back our vehicle and spend a few days at the beach before doing so. While it is often touted as the South American country where things actually work, we did not notice much difference to say, Argentina or Brazil, except for a considerably higher cost of living.

Uruguay

Uruguay is the smallest Spanish-speaking country in South America, yet it is more than four times bigger than Switzerland. It is famous for its beaches, some of which we visited traveling mostly along the coast.

The country is mostly flat, the highest peak being at 513m above sea level, and thus the roads not very interesting to travel.

Colonia del Sacramento

Colonia del Sacramento is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and sports a small center.

The Beaches

We stopped at a few beaches traveling northeast along the coast.

Paraíso Suizo is located directly at a very nice and flat beach. It is a well known spot for overlanders to prepare their vehicle before or after shipment.

We spent a couple of days in La Predera at Playa Rubia before heading to PN de Santa Teresa. We wild camped directly in front of Playa Grande.

Are you still traveling?

The short answer is: no. But it has been a little more complicated than that.

Right now we are back in Switzerland since late Tuesday evening. We were lucky enough to be taken on a repatriation flight to Frankfurt/Germany and from there it was an easy train ride back home.

For all of you who have been following our trip over the last year and as we obviously receive many questions, here is a summary of the last couple of weeks of our journey.

We came to Uruguay, the last country we planned to visit, in early March. We spent a few days here and there, mostly traveling along the coast northeast. By mid March the headlines about the Corona pandemic coming from Europe got us more and more worried. We were more scared by the government measures taken than by the virus itself, which would prove to become our main concern for our return to Europe.

By that time the situation in Latin America was still very relaxed. Nobody expected the virus to become a serious topic in South America anytime soon. We were even discussing options of extending the length of our trip for a few months, instead of going back to virus infected Europe, and thus travel north again through Brazil towards Colombia, where we had started roughly 11 months earlier.

To everyone's surprise, anyone's plans, including ours, were turned upside down within no more than two days. Even though the number of cases were still very low in Latin America, Uruguay had zero cases (!), one by one, every country started to take drastic and immediate measures including border closures within hours. This is when we realized that travel as we know it will no longer be possible.

The question now became: should we stay or should we go. Our vehicle was scheduled to be shipped backed to Europe in early April. We had made that booking already back in January. Therefore for us, unlike other travelers, it was not so much about ending our trip early, but more how to get ourselves organized and get out of this mess that had been created around us within only a couple of days

A lot of flights had already been canceled. Other flights had become extorsively expensive. Airlines were selling flights that were about to be canceled or already had been canceled. At some point the only flights leaving Montevideo, Uruguay's capital and only international airport, were going to Brazil with the associated risk of getting stuck in São Paolo. Thus, buying a flight ticket had become a poker game.

Another dimension in this gamble was the question if and when to drop off our vehicle at the port for shipping. The minor concern was storage cost at the port as the ship had now been delayed to April 8. Our major concern was to be left without our vehicle and home and without a flight to Europe. This would at the same time increase our cost of accommodation and reduce our mobility.

Even though we always considered all our options, we figured that staying in Uruguay and keeping our vehicle with us was one of the safest alternatives providing a limited amount of freedom under the given circumstances. At the same time we knew that if things continued to go in the same direction, it could mean that we would have to stay in Uruguay for 3 to 6 more months without the possibility of moving around a lot.

We spent the good part of our last two weeks in South America trying to get a safe flight to Europe. Some flights were still going through Brazil, but it was impossible to determine which were not going to be canceled. Rebooking in case of cancellations had also become a problem because airlines were hard to reach under the rush of requests.

We had registered with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA) very early on. However, and despite big announcements in the news, this was not going to be our rescue right away. While Uruguay is a hot spot for overlanders due to very simple procedures and relaxed regulations for vehicle shipment and temporary import, it is definitely not a mass tourist destination. Switzerland was never going to charter a plane to get back a dozen or two citizens out of one of South America's wealthiest countries. While we weren't told that fact directly, it was obvious to read between the lines.

We were closely in touch with the Swiss embassy in Montevideo since March 18. A first repatriation option was mentioned on March 21 with a flight leaving from Buenos Aires. We immediately subscribed. Argentina had closed all its borders almost a week before, no flights in and out, no more ships between Uruguay and Argentina. Nevertheless it sounded promising that diplomacy would find a way around these obstacles. Long story short: the flight from Buenos Aires eventually took off on March 30, but a means to travel there from Uruguay never came to be.

The next option came into play on March 23. Iberia was planning a direct flight from Montevideo to Madrid on March 28. We were put on a list and started to wait for feedback. The "Iberia flight" became famous because after very little time all stuck travelers seemed to be listed for that flight. Time passed. On March 25 it was confirmed that this flight would indeed take off on Saturday. But still no confirmation for any seats for us.

On Thursday afternoon March 26 we got offered a Swiss repatriation flight leaving from Santiago de Chile. We should take off by noon the next day to Santiago, then spend the afternoon and night in the airport transit area and board the plane to Switzerland the day after before lunch time. Since this new possibility came up on pretty short notice, our vehicle was not scheduled for drop off before taking this flight and we did not feel like spending the night in the transit area with a small kid and potentially no food or drinks, we finally decided not to take this opportunity. After all, we were still waiting for news from Iberia.

More time passed. We prepared our vehicle for drop off at the port on Friday March 27 (the port being closed on weekends). Obviously we would know by then whether we would be on that Iberia flight or not. Well, no. The last possible appointment at the port was at 2pm on said Friday, which we decided to forego for lack of any news from the Iberia flight. It turned out that Iberia had "offered" this flight to all European embassies in Montevideo while giving priority to passengers that had already bought a ticket from Iberia before. We did not have such a ticket because we had never planned to directly fly home from Montevideo and we had refrained from buying any new flight tickets in this situation. Knowing this, in hindsight, our chances of getting unto this flight had always been close to zero. And indeed, on Friday evening we got the news that the plane was going to leave without us the next day.

At the same time we got the news of a direct flight to Frankfurt/Germany organized by the German embassy in Montevideo and scheduled for Monday March 30. We were told right away that this flight was going to be overbooked with no guarantee for any seats for us. We had already heard about this flight from our German friends. So hopes were high that our neighbors would finally take us to Europe.

On Saturday we received a Standby Confirmation for the German flight, unlike our German friends who all received a Seat Reservation. Our interpretation was that we would only be allowed to board the plane if someone with a seat reservation did not show up. So we had to go to the airport and try our luck in any case. But it did not sound all that promising anymore.

We sensed that this was going to be our last possibility to leave Uruguay for the next few months. At this point we started to make backup plans. We tried to book a commercial flight going through Brazil and UK. It took us an entire day to reserve this flight because LATAM was unable to accept our payment. As it had to be expected, this was the useless part of our plan. Not only was the flight canceled a day later, but it simply disappeared from the system as if it had never been scheduled. We also reserved a bungalow at a nice place we knew where we could stay if the German flight was going to leave without us. At the same time we decided to drop off our vehicle in the morning before we would potentially board the flight late in the evening. So now we were prepared for all eventualities.

On Monday March 30 we brought our vehicle to the port in the morning. Drop off was done within a matter of 15 minutes. Since we had quite a bit of luggage and nothing else to do, we went straight away to the airport. Never before had we seen an empty airport like this and indeed there was only one flight scheduled at 22.45pm to Frankfurt.

It turned out that all German citizens had been given a seat reservation while all other nationalities had been given standby confirmations. In the end there were enough seats for everyone including us. From here on everything went very fast. After the flight and a train ride through southern Germany we were back in Switzerland only about 20 hours later.

After all, we also have to say that our situation had still been pretty comfortable in Uruguay compared to travelers in other Latin American countries. At the time of writing people are still stuck in Argentina, Peru and other countries under much worse conditions than we had experienced.

We are grateful that it all worked out for us in the end. A special thank you goes to the Swiss embassy in Montevideo who did a tremendous job with the limited options they were given. The German embassy was also very professional and helpful.

Patagonian Atlantic Coast

The Patagonian Atlantic Coast essentially is about driving thousands of kilometers to get up and close with mostly marine wildlife every now and then.

This time we were prepared for some of the most boring roads this planet has to offer. We reached the Atlantic coast on a straight back road from El Calafate. Further up to the Uruguayan border that is roughly 4000km in about 2 weeks in total.

Parque Nacional Monte León

Our first stop was the Pingüinera in Parque Nacional Monte León. Here we almost stumbled over some Magellanic penguins that had set up their nests on the well-marked footpath.

San Julián - Camino Costero

A short 30km gravel road leads along the coast north of San Julián. A colony of sea lions can be observed here when looking down from the cliffs.

Some sections close to the sea were still wet. We just escaped the muddy mess because we noticed the problem soon enough.

Cabo dos Bahías

Another lesser known Pingüinera is located at Cabo dos Bahías near Camarones. Here a pedestrian overpass is built to avoid disturbing the wildlife. For some reason many Magellanic penguins find some shelter underneath the bridge-like construction. So we literally stepped on the penguins heads.

Gaiman

Gaiman (as well as nearby city Trelew and other villages) were established by Welsh immigrants in the 19th century. While some of the old brick houses clearly display their origins, the village itself is not really pretty. The reason to come here is to visit one of the traditional Welsh tea houses.

Península Valdés

While Península Valdés was supposed to be a highlight for wildlife watching, it turned out to be a rather disappointing experience. Camping on the peninsula itself is no longer tolerated. So we had to stay at the municipal camping in Puerto Pirámides. Furthermore, some road sections and observation points were closed. The Orcas that roam around this region from February to April did not show up, they had last been seen 6 days ago. So we ended up doing a lot of driving only to see another, albeit large, sea lion colony.

Sunsets

We got to see some of the very best sunsets almost every night.

El Cóndor

El Cóndor sports one of the largest parrot colonies nesting in the cliffs right at the sea. We camped at the top of the cliff right beside the Malvinas war memorial. And indeed, at sunset, and even more so at sunrise, countless parrots were flying above our heads.

Sierra de la Ventana

This small mountain range is not exactly spectacular but a nice change for the sheer fact of having driven 3000 km on flat land and straight roads to arrive here.

Southwestern Patagonia

As soon as we had crossed the border from Chile to Argentina at Paso Roballos we were in off-road and outdoor heaven again. Lonesome gravel roads, sunny weather, great views, perfect wild camps.

Paso Roballos is the last border crossing to Argentina before the Carretera Austral ends in Chile. The back road down to PN Perito Moreno was one of our most epic off-road trips.

From Lago Posadas to PN Perito Moreno

Rather than taking a 250km detour to RN40 we were tempted to take the direct path southwards from Lago Posadas. This road had only been opened one month ago and does not yet show up on any maps. But we were assured it is there and can be driven with a 4WD vehicle. So we stocked up on fuel, water and food and off we went.

What a nice surprise. No other soul on this track. It was a very bumpy ride and extremely steep and inclined in some parts, but the views were all worth it.

As it became clear that we would not make it to the other side at a reasonable time we found this overnight spot at Laguna La Oriental. No complaints.

The next day we drove down to Perito Moreno national park.

PN Perito Moreno

This national park is one of the least frequented but also one of the most beautiful in our opinion. It only offers a few simple refugios with pit toilets but no other facilities. We were also lucky enough to experience almost no wind and sunny 25°C daytime temperatures during three days.

Lago Belgrano impresses with its shining turquoise color.

We hiked up Cerro León on a pretty steep path to enjoy a fantastic 360° view of this part of the park. We were the only human beings on that mountain all day long.

Cerro Fitz Roy

Next we were up for some touristic highlights we did not want to miss while being in this region. First we went to El Chaltén where we experienced our first real strong Patagonian winds.

On the only sunny day we did a hike up to Laguna Capri with wonderful views of the famous Cerro Fitz Roy.

Glaciar Perito Moreno

Our other mandatory stop was in El Calafate. From here we went to see the impressive Perito Moreno glacier, once in the afternoon and once in the morning the next day. We easily spent half a day here walking around and enjoying the fantastic views from every possible angle.

While this region receives the majority of tourists in Argentina, on the up side there were a handful of really good restaurants to eat out a few times.

The Turnaround

At this point we decided for a number of reasons to cut it short and ended our journey southwards (which meant skipping Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego). We took a turn to the east heading to the Atlantic coast.

Carretera Austral

We did find our highlights along the famous Carretera Austral as you will read below. A large portion of the road itself did not quite live up to our expectations though. Part of it may be due the quite common rains that we experienced during our driving days. Especially the northern section is almost entirely paved and goes through forests again, which therefore does not offer very exciting views. The whole area is also overcrowded and very touristic. It seems that this route has been hyped enough so that everybody wants to do it, including hundreds of cyclists and hitchhikers.

Playa Santa Bárbara

The ferry crossing from Chiloé to mainland Chile was delayed and we arrived only after 11pm. It seemed that this was pretty much the regular procedure though and schedules are just guidelines. In turn we got some nice sunset views from the ferry.

We camped at the beautiful Playa Santa Bárbara where dolphins and seals can be observed (not pictured).

After we got ourselves ready for the Carretera in Chaitén we headed southwards and stopped at the well-organized Termas El Sauce. These hot springs were a welcome change in-between rainy days. Since we camped there, we had the springs almost to ourselves in the evening and the next morning.

Ventisquero Colgante

Another boring hike through forests offered rewarding views of this "hanging glacier" at the end of the walk. Some ice broke off the very moment we arrived at the viewpoint. Standard park entry fees of US$10 per person (foreigners pay double fee) and park closure at 5:30pm are the more annoying part of the experience. We were guided to the park exit by a ranger at 7pm.

Southern Section & Lago General Carrera

After Coyhaique the trees disappear almost completely. This makes for a lot better views than during the first stretch.

We found the most beautiful landscapes in the larger area on and around Lago General Carrera, all described below.

Cerro Castillo & Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez

Approaching Villa Cerro Castillo, more snow capped peaks appear.

Cerro Castillo is one of the most prominent, but hid itself behind clouds most of the time during the three days we were in sight of the peak. Therefore this is the only meaningful picture we have.

We spent a sunny evening and a windy night directly at the shore of Lago General Carrera in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez.

Rain set in during the night and would continue the next day when we drove towards Villa Cerro Castillo again.

From here southwards the road remains gravel. We have been warned on multiple occasions to drive carefully. Here is why:

Capillas de Mármol

These marble caves must be visited by boat in the morning when the sunlight makes the colors shine of these tunels, chapels and cathedrals.

Valle Exploradores

The Valle Exploradores leads to view and access points to a huge ice field. Already when driving through the valley, glaciers can be seen in every corner.

Glaciar Exploradores is the most easily accessible and a view point is reached within 20 minutes from the access road.

Sidetrack on signboards

Most South American countries do not have many road signs in general. Many do however signpost tunnels and bridges with their respective names. Because they do this very strictly, this leads to this type of sign every now and then.

Lago General Carrera

On the western side the road follows the shore of Chile's largest lake and offers stunning surround views of the turquoise waters.

More snow capped mountains after every turn.

Río Baker

Río Baker originates from Lago Bertrand which in turn originates from Lago General Carrera. It therefore has the same turquoise color. The cascadas just before the confluence with Río Nef are very beautiful and we could get close up with the water.

Chiloé

Because the ferry runs only once a week from Chiloé to Chaitén on mainland Chile, we spent almost an entire week on this island, which is known for its wooden churches. What we enjoyed most during our stay though were our overnight places which were always directly at the sea.

Northern Chiloé

We first arrived in Ancud and then did a tour around Lacuy Peninsula, visiting the lighthouse at Punta Corona and the Fuerte Ahui.

Our next stop was at Bahía Pumillahue and nearby Puñihuil, which hosts a penguin colony.

Villages, churches and the weather

We then drove through a number of villages further south, of which Tenaún sports a colorful wooden church.

The small village of Quinched ended up being our next overnight spot.

After a short stop in Chonchi we took a another detour to the western side. Here the island is directly exposed to the harsh Pacific Ocean. We called off our short hike to the sea when we encountered big areas of mud and it started raining.

Castro is Chiloé's capital and famous for its Palafitos, colorful stilt houses.

Volcanoes & Lakes - Chile's Lake District

After a few days of rain, something we are not accustomed to, we hit Chile's Lake District. This region was of more interest to us again thanks to its picturesque volcanoes set along lakes and rivers. Hiking also became rewarding as soon as we were able to leave the dense forests of the lower regions behind.

The lakes are located at altitudes between 50 and 250 meters and the volcano tops barely reach 3000 meters. Thus, by now we are pretty much done with the famous Andean high altitudes.

Parque Nacional Huerquehue

Camping Olga is located at the end of the tiny Lago Tinquilco. The hike up to Lago Chico and Lago Verde was rather steep and went through a dense forest, whose highlight were vistas of the lake below and Volcán Villarrica in the background.

Parque Nacional Villarrica

A very nice hike leads up to Glaciar Pichillancahue at the foot of Volcán Villarrica. Some beautiful Araucaria trees line the path, very typical for this region of Chile.

Lago Llanquihue

Volcán Osorno towers above Chile's second-largest lake, Lago Llanquihue, on its eastern shore.

We spent a couple of nights in the tranquil village of Llanquihue in the west before heading to Ensenada at the foot of the volcano.

A road leads up to about 1200m altitude offering great views of the lake, the volcano and the mountains.

Cochamó

The final stretch led us to Cochamó and along the Estero Reloncavi, which is actually an arm of the sea.

Crossing Borders - Central Chile & Argentina

Relative to the distance traveled (3600km in about 3 weeks), this has been the least interesting part of our trip so far, which prompted us to cross the border between Argentina and Chile a few times to at least get some mountain driving and views every now and then.

The Roads

First we quickly drove southwards a few hundred kilometers on rather boring roads. Further south the roads should become even less interesting, not even worth a picture.

Paso del Agua Negra

A large portion of this road is already paved and really wide. Only some 70 km across the top of this 4780 m high pass are still gravel.

We maybe crossed some 20 vehicles while driving across the mountains. They are effectively counting and monitoring number plates with hand-written papers and they go searching if a vehicle does not make it to the other side for some reason. We were number 3. This is going to change when the tunnel that is planned since 2009 is going to be built. This inter-oceanic project is supposed to connect the ports of Coquimbo in Chile with Porto Alegre in Brazil.

Valle de Elqui

This is the Pisco producing center of Chile. Some wineries can also be visited.

Valparaíso

The only bigger city we visited in Chile. It is pretty dirty in parts but some alleys are very beautiful with welcoming cafés and restaurants.

Paso de Uspallata - Paso Los Libertatores

This is one of the main connections between Chile and Argentina. Besides the usual annoying and often thorough check for prohibited items between those two countries, we here also had the pleasure to queue for the border crossing, something we are not accustomed to as we usually cross borders in remoter parts.

Of course we opted to drive across the higher Paso de Uspallata rather than taking the tunnel Paso Los Libertatores. As a consequence we were then lacking another hand-written paper at the border control. Luckily they could just "create" another scrap of paper for that purpose at the policia.

Mendoza

Not much to say. We did not visit the city, had a quick lunch at Bodega Ojo de Agua and off we went.

La Payunia

This is a region with one of the highest densities of volcanoes.

Paso Pichachén

This will be the last border pass we crossed in a while. The scenic road follows the Río Neuquén and as we came closer to the border the green came back to the landscapes.

Laguna de La Laja

Laguna de La Laja is the first lake after the border crossing, surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. A great overnight spot by the water.

Valles Pemehue & Cautín

In many cases when hopping from one valley to the next in Chile, one has to go all the way down to the main highway 5 first. For Valles Pemehue and Cautín there is a back-road connection. Still, we did not see much more than roads winding through the forests. To be fair, we also did not take the time or did not encounter the right weather to hike further up the mountains.

Parque Nacional Conguillío

A nice little national park dominated by volcano Llaima (hidden behind the clouds), lagunas and rivers.

Argentinian Puna

In Argentina we did another great road trip. The Puna is the Argentinian highlands, not as high up in the Andes as in Bolivia, but equally as impressive. It is easily possible to find overnight places below 3500m. The volcanic origin of these landscapes is glaringly obvious. During the two days driving from Antofagasta de la Sierra to the Salar de Arizaro we did not cross a single car on that 200 km stretch.

Salta

First we went down to Salta to get a few things organized. We took the RN51 down from San Antonio de los Cobres and then the RN68 further on to Cafayate which leads through a number of beautiful rock formations.

El Peñon

Driving up to El Peñon is where our exploration of the Puna began.

Piedra Pómez

This large field of white rocks is of volcanic origin and shaped through erosion.

Carachi Pampa

Carachi Pampa sports a wide black volcano, whose lava field we drove through, and another laguna that changes its color to reddish depending on the position of the sun.

This is also the place where we managed to get stuck in muddy terrain. Luckily only one wheel was affected, thus the problem was quickly resolved with the right equipment.

Antofalla

We spent a night in Antofagasta de la Sierra, the last village with supplies of fuel and food before heading into the remote part of the Puna. The road to Antofalla goes through the Quebrada de Calalaste and across a pass of 4635m altitude before reaching a viewpoint of the impressive Salar de Antofalla.

Antofalla is a small village a two hours drive away from anything else. Eight families live here, thus roughly 40 inhabitants. They mostly live from agriculture and and livestock farming. One guy works for the generator which is operated every day from 5pm to midnight to generate electricity for the entire village. It is also during this time that a satellite internet connection becomes available.

Ojos del Campo

One of these nicely shaped waterholes near Antofalla once had a bright orange color. Why this is no longer the case is beyond our knowledge.

Salar de Arizaro

We then took the road that goes along the Salar de Antofalla through Antofallita, a tiny hamlet consisting of a couple of houses, and across another pass at about 4000m altitude.

The Cono de Arita is not of volcanic origin. This perfect cone was created through erosion.

The Salar de Arizaro is hard to walk on and impossible to drive on in its original state. But unlike other places in South America the Argentinians maintain good roads across the Salar. The reason is that many mines are located in different corners of this high altitude region and obviously the various extracted materials need to be transported.

Ojos de Mar

After passing through Tolar Grande, we reached these blue eyes. Age-old bacteria still live in these waterholes.

Desierto del Diablo

This small red desert surrounded by red hills made for a great overnight spot.

More mountain passes

The next day we drove through Los Colorados, across the Salar de Pocitos and across the Abra del Gallo (4660m) back to San Antonio de los Cobres.

The final stretch led us along the Ruta 40 and across the impressive and sometimes steep and narrow Abra El Acay (4995m) down to La Poma, Cachi, Angastaco and Cafayate again.