This trip to South America consists of 3 parts, the first part is around the lake district of Chile in Patagonia, and the second part is Antarctica, and the last part is Torres del Paine National Park in the bottom of Patagonia. Obviously, Antarctica is the real meat of this trip. Making a trip like this during the COVID era, I just thought it would be safer to get to Chile a week before the actual Antarctica trip, in case, I test positive and require quarantine, I still have perhaps some buffer room to make the Antarctica trip.
Most of the destinations I traveled to are based primarily on the scenery. I had already visited Chile before, so I tried to find somewhere between Santiago and Punta Arenas (where the Antarctica trip begins) to visit for a few days, Puerto Varas popped up. There are a lot of active volcanoes all around Patagonia. When searching Puerto Varas on google, the Osorno Volcano and its near perfect conical peak are in almost every picture. It kind of reminded me of Mount Fuji in Japan. Osorno evidently is an active volcano, even though it does not look that way. In any case, I think it makes perfect sense for me to first stop at Puerto Varas first before Antarctia.
The Antarctica trip was originally planned for December in 2021, but it was pushed out by a year due to COVID. I usually would have done so much research before I traveled that I basically had already visited all the places in my head before I even went. But this trip somehow is one that I have done the least research on, and I have not even practiced or refreshed my very limited Spanish at all. I have not booked any tours aside from the Antarctica one. I think I am just gonna wing it this time, and let's see what happens. :) Deep down, I know there is really nothing much that can go wrong. All the accommodations are booked, I just need to get from places to places, when I arrive at a towns (there is only two: Puerto Varas and Puerto Natales after Antarctica), I will go find some local tours to join, if worst case the weather not cooperate or there are no tours available, I will just enjoy what I can. It's gonna be great!
