Thewesternprovinceblog

Watch the recap video on Instagram. Read on for blog and summary on each place visited

Hola todos! As my time in South America comes to an end it’s time for the post mortem recap of Act 7 – El Cono Sur. This will be the last post mortem of this blog though we still have one more chapter to cover.

What to say about this one then? Well let’s start with the people. In general compared to other chapters of this trip people generally seemed to be more to themselves and generally showed less interest in what I was up to as I went through, especially in Argentina. I have to say I didn’t really talk too much with the locals as they generally were disinterested and as a result most people I hanged round with were more foreigners there.

One of the more unique things to the Cono sur was the changing geography going from Altiplano to fertile farmland in the north to Flatlands in the centre and then the mountainous Andean regions which had volcanos, hot springs and in places glaciers then the vast steppe lands of Patagonia. The geography is exciting but at the same time gets boring rather fast especially on the Atlantic coastline.

Food has been a bit on the bland side here as pretty much everything is salted meat to a degree and yes is great but sometimes you need a salad just to get the vitamins in but here meat is cheap and greens are expensive so yeah have had a fair bit vitamin deficiency through this leg especially the 2nd Argentina leg once we crossed back in from Chile. That said while it has been cheaper than Peru it hasn’t been that cheap and Patagonia especially was one of the more expensive legs of this trip, in fact Chile was the most expensive country of the trip by a fair bit.

Overall though it has been one of the less exciting legs of the journey minus Patagonia as generally not much happened, was a slow but relatively easy drift to the end, not having the higher energy of other parts of this trip such as the extreme climates of Peru and Bolivia or having to navigate through sketchy places like in Colombia or parts of Centroamérica. That said there is definitely revisit potential and while it does not look so on a map this region is huge and especially in Patagonia, even the furthest south I gotten it was still 1500 miles to the very bottom. 

As much of South America as I have done there is still a whole lot more to see and I have a feeling I will be coming back here in the future. When exactly I do not know but it will be a fun time when I do that much I know.

Summary of places visited:

Argentina 🇦🇷:

• Humahuaca – Humahuaca I only stayed one night in on the way down to Salta after crossing the border from Bolivia. It is a pretty nice town though if I will be honest it felt like an extension of Bolivia being still on the Altiplano. Well after all the province it sits, Jujuy did used to be part of Bolivia back in the 1800’s! Another note though is there is a lot of nature things you can do around here including another salt flat similar to Uyuni though I skipped on these having already done this back in Bolivia.
• Salta – Salta is where you end up in the north of Argentina when you properly drop off the Altiplano, Salta was a very relaxed small city and had a European vibe to the place, honestly felt like you could have been in Northern Spain or somewhere like that, Salta was probably my favourite spot in the north of Argentina.
• Termas de río Hondo – Another place I only stayed a few nights at. Now this place sells itself on being a hot spring destination and there is a public pool in the centre with hotels apparently having their own pools with springs too, the weather was a bit crap here and of the communal pools only one small one was open when I was here so didn’t get in the water, of other things to see here there is a casino and a classic car museum which is a fair way out of town so I never went there. Apparently there is also another Dino park near but was also shut. Honestly it felt like the kind of place Argentinian Boomers go for a holiday which meant it was rather boring and I moved on quite quickly from there.
• Córdoba – Córdoba is a fun city being a combination of a history colonial city with a large new side of it that is a big university city. Córdoba has a lot of history in it’s old town as well as a vibrant nightlife scene and lots of green space in its new part. I enjoyed Córdoba and met some cool guys here. Okay I would later have a falling out with one which would then kill the group but hey was fun while it lasted.
• Mendoza – Argentina’s Vino Country. Being in a desert microclimate at the foot of the Andes it is one of the best places in the world for winemaking and it shows. The main attraction here is as you can already guess, vino 🍷 and lots of it, particularly vino tinto. Red wine. It is a hill I will die on when I say vino from Mendoza is the best in the world. There are over 1000 wineries here so take your pick if you visit and definitely do a vino tasting your you won’t regret it! As great as the vino is here there didn’t seem like much was going on outside of it though there are some tours you can do into the mountains I passed on it given the distances and timings involved.
• Bariloche – After going into Chile and entering Patagonia from the Chilean side I came back into Argentina at Bariloche. Bariloche is an alpine city sitting on Lake Nahuel Huapi and is still in the Andean part of Patagonia. Bariloche is a cool small city with a central European mountain vibe and while it is a cool place the real attraction is not the city but what’s around it, in the national park there are mountains, glaciers lakes, woodlands etc lots of outdoorsy stuff you can do and in the winter you can ski there too. I liked Bariloche and spent about a week here and there was still enough I didn’t do for another week though I would say if I came back here or any region of Argentine Patagonia for that matter hiring a car would be the way to go as these tours did clean me out of cash quite quick and that was with the discount of paying in efectivo!
• Trevelin – The first town I visited of The Welsh Patagonia settlements in Chubut, collectively known as Yr Wladfa 🇦🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇷. It is a small and sleepy town but it is rich in history from the colonial times and was a relaxed place, while I did get to some waterfalls out of town there is another national park and other places I didn’t get to. Once again if I come back here hiring a car is a must.
• Comodoro Rivadavia – The furthest south I went on this trip and as far as that is it’s still nearly another 1500 miles to the very bottom of South America. This was purely a one night pit stop place to avoid a night bus that arrived at a stupid hour in Trelew so while the place seemed okay it didn’t feel like there was much to see as a tourist there.
• Trelew – The biggest of the Welsh towns of Patagonia, Trelew has grown into a modern city and is the largest city in Chubut from what I could see, as such there is not much of its Welsh past left here save the old train station now turned into a museum, it is a typical small working city outside of that so while not much to see here it is a good central spot to base yourself in while visiting the Chubut valley.
• Gaiman – Gaiman is the most famous of the Welsh Patagonian towns and is by far the best preserved of the time period, visiting here is like stepping back to the early 1900’s. You can spend a full day here getting immersed in its history and go inside the different buildings from the day. I wrote a full blog post covering each place here in detail so read that one for more information (The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa: Gaiman).
• Dolavon – Dolavon is a smaller version of Gaiman, like with Gaiman I did a detailed blog post on what is here so will refer you to that however not one to skip.
• Rawson – One of the towns of the colonial era you probably could skip is Rawson, just an ugly place with lots of government buildings that look like they were built in the 80’s and houses not much else. There is a beach called Puerto Rawson but I never got there so can’t really speak on that.
• Puerto Madryn – While it is the first of the Welsh settler towns of Chubut like Trelew it has developed into a modern city and largely lost it’s past save some old buildings and a monument to the settlers on the waterfront. It is known for whale spotting excursions but I never went on any in my short visit here as the weather turned foggy after arrival.
• Río Colorado – Another pit stop destination while leaving Chubut and heading northwards out of Patagonia, not much to see here but an okay place to break up a journey somewhere further north from Puerto Madryn.
• Bahía Blanca – This is another modern city but not much to see here from a tourist perspective, my take on it was it is another pass through place you might spend a night or 2 before travelling to Buenos Aires or further south.
• Buenos Aires + Tigre – If I’m being honest I’m struggling to write about Buenos Aires because while my time here was a little underwhelming it certainly does not mean the place itself was a let down, I think the reasoning behind this is because firstly on both of my stays here I had a bit of bad luck, first with the passive aggressive Airbnb landlady on the first stay here and then getting sick and being bedridden for half of the second stay here. Secondly while there is a lot to see in terms of history, museums and different cultural stuff you can do here I had pretty much more or less already done it on different legs of the trip. Museums? How many more pre Columbian pots do we need to see? Dancing? We did enough Salsa in Cali and should I have learned Tango? Well if I wasn’t snotting every 2 seconds with a cold I probably would have given it a go. History? Well a lot of it we learned through other places in Argentina. What about meeting people? Well it seems like as it’s probably one of the most popular destinations for gringos after Mexico city it generally seems like the locals want to distance themselves from the foreigners who have came here in numbers in more recent years with the increase of remote work and digital nomads. In general anyone I did talk to here were just foreigners passing through. The tinder scene was also dead for me here. Your mileage may vary though if you visit.Given Buenos Aires’ popularity it is often an entry point to South America for people doing backpacking trips such as myself though didn’t really meet any backpackers as Winter in the northern hemisphere is the most popular time to visit here. Fair chance if my trip was done the other way round going south to north fair chance it would’ve been the first stop instead of Mexico city and I would have probably had a lot more to say about the place. Oh well es lo que hay!There didn’t seem like much out of town stuff to do here either outside of going across to Uruguay but there wouldn’t be here as think of it as a city comparable in size to London or New York that said one day trip away you can do and I would recommend is going out to Delta Tigre and doing a boat trip. It is an hour away on a train or bus and offers it’s own vibe, maybe stay out there if you have time and want to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life.
• Buenos Aires + Tigre – If I’m being honest I’m struggling to write about Buenos Aires because while my time here was a little underwhelming it certainly does not mean the place itself was a let down, I think the reasoning behind this is because firstly on both of my stays here I had a bit of bad luck, first with the passive aggressive Airbnb landlady on the first stay here and then getting sick and being bedridden for half of the second stay here.  Secondly while there is a lot to see in terms of history, museums and different cultural stuff you can do here I had pretty much more or less already done it on different legs of the trip. Museums? How many more pre Columbian pots do we need to see? Dancing? We did enough Salsa in Cali and should I have learned Tango? Well if I wasn’t snotting every 2 seconds with a cold I probably would have given it a go. History? Well a lot of it we learned through other places in Argentina. What about meeting people? Well it seems like as it’s probably one of the most popular destinations for gringos after Mexico city it generally seems like the locals want to distance themselves from the foreigners who have came here in numbers in more recent years with the increase of remote work and digital nomads. In general anyone I did talk to here were just foreigners passing through. The tinder scene was also dead for me here. Your mileage may vary though if you visit. Given Buenos Aires’ popularity it is often an entry point to South America for people doing backpacking trips such as myself though didn’t really meet any backpackers as Winter in the northern hemisphere is the most popular time to visit here. Fair chance if my trip was done the other way round going south to north fair chance it would’ve been the first stop instead of Mexico city and I would have probably had a lot more to say about the place. Oh well es lo que hay! There didn’t seem like much out of town stuff to do here either outside of going across to Uruguay but there wouldn’t be here as think of it as a city comparable in size to London or New York that said one day trip away you can do and I would recommend is going out to Delta Tigre and doing a boat trip. It is an hour away on a train or bus and offers it’s own vibe, maybe stay out there if you have time and want to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life.

Chile 🇨🇱:

• Santiago – My stay here was shorter than I initially planned it to be due to falling out with those guys I was hanging around with from Córdoba. What to say about the Chilean Capital? Santiago is a decent enough place from what I seen of it and you have enough to do here in terms of sightseeing with historic streets, museums and miradores. I can’t however say much about the nightlife as was in a quiet part of town and having to cut my stay short here.
• Viña del Mar & Valparaíso – while I stayed in Vina del mar I spent more or less a full day out in Valparaiso so might as well put these together. Viña del Mar is a smaller, more modern city which looks like it is quite a popular holiday destination in the summer with a beach and different hotels while Valparaíso is a very historic city famed for it’s street art and the port which was one of the biggest in south America for a while. Valparaíso also looks European due to it’s design being influenced by the different European groups to emigrated here during its construction. I have done a full blog on the streets of Valparaíso so read that for a more detailed account on the place.
• Concepción – This place was a pit stop on the way to Chilean Patagonia. I only stayed 2 nights here and if I’m being honest as a traveler that’s enough here as it didn’t seem like there really was anything for a tourist here only a mirador which I never got to because the weather was boggin’ when I was there. Now what Ed Sheeran told me is it’s a different experience if you have friends there and he has a few down here. Shame he didn’t hook me up so I could have seen for myself but oh well is what it is I guess.
• Pucón – This was the best place for me in Chile and I almost never come here; I only found out about this place because the tour guide in Valparaiso recommended it to me but I have to thank her for that because this place was very much my kind of town. I have done several blogs from when I was here but to sum it up it’s a quiet town in the mountains that sits on a lake and is near a snowy volcano. Despite it being a small place it has everything you need and a good nightlife scene for the size of it. Around it there are loads of cool places to go such as hiking trails, mountains and of course lots of hot springs too, though like other Patagonian places to properly do it hiring a car would be needed as while there are colectivos They don’t drop you exactly where you need to be and I personally don’t want to hike 2 hours up a road just to get to the trailhead on these hikes. Still if there was any place I could live in Chile this would be it.
• Puerto Varas – This place has to be one of the strongest contenders for biggest let down of the entire trip given how everyone from Salta to Pucón Who I told of my travel plans talked it up only to be met with discrimination and disappointment when I actually got down there. Read the vibes of Puerto Varas blog for the full story but the Tldr here is the town is pretty enough but everywhere I went I got told buy more food or we won’t serve you a drink and they weren’t doing this with anyone else it seemed. Not worth it if you ask me but your mileage may vary if you visit this place. One thing I did miss out on was some of the tours you could do in and around here which includes Chiloe island, more hot springs and hiking trails.

Uruguay 🇺🇾:

Montevideo – Now Montevideo was one of those places that I flip flopped on quite a lot through these last 3 month as to if I would even get her or not. If I’m being honest has Buenos Aires been a better time right off the bat and Ed Sheeran wasn’t close enough to link up with fair chance I wouldn’t have come here but come I did and so how go sum this one up?

Well Montevideo is quite a sleepy place for a capitol city and especially for a city of a million people but that is also good especially if you were looking for a break from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires. As for what there is to do in Montevideo itself there are several museums and parks one could visit, there is also the fort on the other side of the bay which is interesting for the history buff. It has a pretty decent nightlife scene here for what it is too. Though one downside is it is quite an expensive place and you can find yourself paying prices comparable to Western Europe here. Staying a week here was a little long and if I hadn’t had company I think I probably would have done 4 days here and maybe 2 in Colonia if I was on my own. Despite that though I did like Montevideo and could happily go back and do more of Uruguay.