As you all know as I have bought my ticket back in January, I am going to spend a month in Argentina and finally the day has almost come: departure is on November 10th 2016, coming back to Italy exactly 1 month later.

To be honest I still have some “blanks” in my itinerary but I know I will easily fill them all once I reach my destination(s) and by the way 1 month is not even nearly enough to see everything I would like to see. Anyway, I can’t complain: I can always go back, right?

The flights & sights

I am flying from Italy directly to and from Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city. Here, I am spending 4 days in total. Tango tango!

Tangueros!

In Buenos Aires I will stay at a friend’s place, whom I met back in 2011 when we both worked in Southern Italy. Maybe if he feels like it, I will introduce him to all of you!

Also, as most of Italians do, I have some relatives in Argentina and I am going to try and meet some of them. This is so exciting, especially since my family here is pretty small and meeting new members of the family is a big deal for me.

Then, the idea is to explore the country north to south, and this is why I have also bought the following internal flights:

Buenos Aires – Puerto Iguazu
I will only have 2 days in Puerto Iguazu, to visit the majestic Iguazu Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on the border between Argentina and Brazil. I am still not sure whether I will make it to the Brazilian side as well, but I will see how the weather treats me and decide once I am there.

Iguazu Falls – Photo © Chensiyuan @ Wikimedia Commons

Puerto Iguazu – Salta
Salta, la linda (=the beautiful) is the capital of the Salta Province. The following flight will be 6 days later and during this timeframe I am SO riding the Tren a Las Nubes (=the train of the clouds) reaching 4200 meters of altitude. Then, I will move north to the Jujuy Province to visit the Salinas Grandes (3450 meters of altitude) and the Quebrada de Humahuaca area (3500 meters of altitude). I know there are so many other incredible places to see there but I had to pick just a few and I honestly hope I will manage to squeeze in something else during the above mentioned 6 days!

Tren a Las Nubes – Photo © Nicolás Mendoza @ Wikimedia Commons

Salinas Grandes – Photo © Diego Alejandro Troilo @ Wikimedia Commons

Quebrada de Humahuaca – Photo © Idobi @ Wikimedia Commons

Salta – Trelew
Trelew may not ring any bell but how about the Valdés Peninsula? Because that’s where I am going next! Trelew is just where I am landing to reach this incredible place that inspired my trip in first place. Did you know that the famous image of the boa that ate the elephant in “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was inspired by the shape of a mountain in the Valdés Peninsula? I didn’t but then I found out and this made me even more excited. Whale watching, penguin watching at Punta Tombo, wildlife, nature. Wind, sea, elements. Ah, just take me there!

Whale watching at the Valdés Peninsula – Photo © Michael Catanzariti @ Wikimedia Commons

And then… no flights until Ushuaia, the end of the world!
Internal flights in Argentina make it faster to visit as many places as possible during a single trip, but sometimes I just don’t want to travel fast. The same way I did when I went to Canada back in 2014, ever since I decided to visit Argentina I knew I wanted to travel across Patagonia by land, as slowly as it gets. I want to “conquer” Ushuaia and it doesn’t have to be easy!
So after leaving the Valdés Peninsula area, somehow I know I want to reach El Chaltén and meet Mount Fitzroy. How will I get there? Honestly I still have no idea. There are buses, but I am hoping in a lucky carpooling. No details about this so far and this is the biggest “blank” of the trip!

Mount Fitzroy – Photo © Chreownl @ Wikimedia Commons

Next stop will be El Calafate for the Perito Moreno Glacier of course. Can’t wait to find myself in his presence.
After visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier another bus will take me to the Chilean side of Patagonia, all the way to Puerto Natales, the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. Man, I can’t even imagine the amount of beauty I will be seeing during this trip! An excursion or two to the Torres Del Paine National Park are of course in my plans.

Perito Moreno – Photo © Christof Berger @ Wikimedia Commons

Torres del Paine – Photo © Winky from Oxford, UK @ Wikimedia Commons

The last “blank” is how I will reach Ushuaia from Puerto Natales. I made some research but I still don’t have fixed plans as 1) this is going to be in a month time! and 2) it really depends when I will reach the other destinations. I don’t have exact dates yet, because moving by land can change my plans around very easily. All I know is that on December 5th 2016 I have to be in Ushuaia.
In the Tierra del Fuego province I will only have 2 or 3 days and again the plan is to do as much as possible but definitely an excursion to the Beagle Channel is a must, together with a tour of the National Park.

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego – Photo © Jerzy Strzelecki @ Wikimedia Commons

Sailing the Beagle Channel – Photo © Liam Quinn @ Wikimedia Commons

Tierra del Fuego - Photo © Andrew Shiva @ Wikimedia Commons

Sponsors – so far!

I would like to thank – from the bottom of my heart, really:

Hostelz.com for providing me with accommodation in Puerto Iguazu and Salta!
The Salta tourism board for providing me with the ticket for Tren a Las Nubes!
The Tierra del Fuego tourism board for providing me with accommodation in Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel excursion!
Latitud Ushuaia for providing me with a tour of the Tierra del Fuego National Park!
Pacsafe for providing me with a fantastic accessory that I always wanted and I will review very soon!

Should any other sponsor become available I will update the list. Of course a post on all of the above experiences will be published as soon as possible. Stay tuned!