backpackerschile.com

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Default Blue(s)? An Exchange Rate Update

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blues-by-default-exchange-rate-update.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Wednesday, June 25, 2014. An Exchange Rate Update. Preparing a new edition of any guidebook involves challenges, and one of them is to present exchange rates and prices accurately. My upcoming fourth edition of Patagonia. Covers three countries, but Argentina. Is the most challenging to predict because of its volatile politics and economy. During the research period, its peso fell from six to eight-plus per US dollar, but that’s not nearly the whole story. That&#82...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Patagonia Blue(s)? An Exchange-Rate Update

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015/03/patagonia-blues-exchange-rate-update.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Friday, March 27, 2015. For various reasons – a brief illness and a work assignment that kept me anchored to the computer for about ten days – I’ve spent less time on the Argentine side of Patagonia. Than I had hoped or anticipated. That said, it’s still given me some insight into the continuing complications of the exchange rates here, both for foreign visitors and for Argentines and their businesses. Two weeks ago, I crossed the border from Chile. Pictured above)...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Exchange-Rate Update: Argentina & Chile Mid-Year

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/exchange-rate-update-argentina-chile.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Exchange-Rate Update: Argentina and Chile Mid-Year. It’s been several months since I wrote about exchange rates, which are an ongoing issue in Southern Cone countries. The official exchange there is hovering a bit above nine pesos, but the so-called “blue rate” – a euphemism for the black market – went above 15 last year. What will happen next is anybody’s guess. As I traveled in Patagonia. Last November to 9.17 pesos this morning. After two...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: August 2015

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015_08_01_archive.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Saturday, August 29, 2015. In 1979, when I first traveled to Chile. One of my destinations was Puerto Montt. Pictured above), where backpackers hoped to catch the rustbucket freighter Río Baker. That sailed the Chilean fjords to Puerto Natales. The gateway to Torres del Paine. Before the massive 1960 earthquake, the renowned travel writer Jan Morris. At the time, nearby. Held a higher profile and, in any event, I was keener to reach. In the interim, though, I&#8217...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Firing Up the Grill: Argentina's Mallmann Does Netflix

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015/05/firing-up-grill-argentinas-mallmann.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Firing Up the Grill: Argentina's Mallmann Does Netflix. That’s why, the other night, I streamed the new Netflix series Chef’s Table. With interest, because one episode covers Argentina. 8217;s Francis Mallmann, who’s become something of a franchise with restaurants in Mendoza. But with strong connections to Patagonia. As one might expect from an Argentine, Mallman specializes in cooking over an open fire. At Mendoza’s Escorihuela. Argentina T...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Carretera Austral: Chile's Top Road Trip

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/carretera-austral-chiles-top-road-trip.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Friday, January 8, 2010. Carretera Austral: Chile's Top Road Trip. Not so long ago, to visit northern Chilean Patagonia's wild temperate rainforests, pristine lakes, rushing rivers, fathomless. Fjords, and sprawling ice fields with jagged glacial summits, you went by sea or air. Weekly ferries from Puerto Montt. Called at tiny ports like Chaitén and Puerto Puyuhuapi. En route to Puerto Chacabuco, 80 km west of the regional capital of Coyhaique. Into a burgeoning ad...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Will Buenos Aires Subway Expand Operating Hours?

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015/06/will-buenos-aires-subway-expand.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Sunday, June 21, 2015. Will Buenos Aires Subway Expand Operating Hours? Has its shortcomings, but one thing I’ve always appreciated is the ready availability of public transportation. It’s still a pleasant surprise to step onto a downtown street at 3 am and wait just a few minutes for a city bus that will take me back to my Palermo. Apartment. The fare is negligible, and the buses run all night (though with lesser frequency than they do in the daytime). If higher f...

southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com

Southern Cone Travel: Patagonia's Marbled Caverns

http://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/patagonias-marbled-caverns.html

The Best of Southernmost South America. Wednesday, August 12, 2015. Frequently, on this blog, I have described the Carretera Austral. 8217;s top road trip. I’m fortunate enough to revisit the area almost every year, but I haven’t yet described many of its attractions – which, despite the wild country, are often close to the highway. At the town of Puerto Río Tranquilo, about 220 km south of the Aisén. Regional capital of Coyhaique. It’s a huge lake, covering nearly 2,000 square kilometers in Chile. View ...