Fin Del Mundo

We began our trip in Argentina’s northwest by racing through the beautiful Quebrada de Humahuaca to a vet after Oz ate something at a campground that caused his entire face to swell up. After Dexamethasone was flowing through his veins and the swelling had subsided, we headed to Salta, a relatively sophisticated city famous for its peñas (folk music clubs) and música folklórica. Next, we headed through the beautiful Quebrade de Cafayate to Cafayete, where we spent several days exploring the wineries of Cafayate and staying with a friend of a friend at his winery. Dieguito introduced us to the art of Argentinian asados and his amazing wines including Malbecs, cofermented red blends and Torrontes right out of the barrel. Dieguitos’s wine was the best we have tasted on our entire trip. The fact that he is one of only a small handful of biodynamic wine makers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_wine) in all of South America made his wines even more special.

From Antafagasta de la Sierra we wound our way south on Route 40, stopping to admire the Utah-like rockscapes of Parque National Provincial Ischighualasto before jogging to the west of route 40 through the Sierra del Tigre to pursue some landsailing on the dry lakebeds of Barreal.

After a hike to the Aconcagua Base Camp, we finally found ourselves in another wine region, this time Maipu and Valle de Uco to the south of Mendoza. We enjoyed traditional and new cleaner style Malbecs before heading to Northern Patagonia.

Patagonia is a huge, remote region at the southern end of South America shared by Argentina and Chile. We started our journey in Patagonia on the Camino de los Siete Lagos, a beautiful road that winds its way past crystal clear lakes and through sophisticated towns like San Martin de los Andes, Villa la Angostura and San Carlos de Bariloche.

From there, we crossed the Argentinian-Chilean border in Futalefú and head through the deep valley formed by one of the most famous rivers in the world. Locals refer to the valley as “un paisaje pintado por Dios”—a landscape painted by God. And as you drive through the valley, with the summits of glaciated peaks towering 6,000 feet above and the turquoise Futalefú river flowing below, it’s easy to see why. Despite offering world class fly fishing, hiking, kayaking and rafting, relatively few tourists explore the Futalefú valley. The first settlers, who today live in tiny farming and fishing communities, began arriving to the densely forested region in 1912 and have maintained their fierce independence and hauso culture.

When the clouds lifted, we also explored the glaciated mountains surrounding the Northern Carretera Austral including Parque Pumalin and Parque Nacional Quelat.

But the highlight of our trip to Northern Argentina was a one week “expedition” down the Futaleufú, one of the world’s top river rafting destinations. What makes the river special is not only its continuous class IV and V rapids but its setting in the beautiful Futaleufú valley.

After the Futaleufú, we followed the Carretera Austral south to Puerto Rio Tranquillo where we took a boat trip to the beautiful Marble Caves before heading east back into Argentina over through the Chile Chico border crossing toward southern Patagonia.