Cerro Aconcagua – 6,962 metres – 22,841 ft is highest mountain in the Americas, Highest in the Southern Hemisphere, Highest outside the Himalayas. It is 15 Km East of the Argentina – Chile border.

The bus from Santiago to Mendoza took almost 8 hours due to customs holdups and road work. I’ll be flying back tomorrow , since I have meetings in Santiago before flying up to Miami tomorrow night. The bus ride ranks amongst the world’s most beautiful !

Mendoza has been 24/7 nonstop – meetings till 9 PM and then dinners that begin at 11 and end at 2. I will catch up on ArcticTropic Blog – keep posted !

For over 50 Argentine Adventure destinations on Arctic Tropic click here.

Waves roll in from the Antarctic. The Humboldt Current keeps water temperatures in the 50s year-round.

Pichilemu is one of the world’s top surf hotspots. It’s about 3 hours from Santiago. The town has the ambiance of California in about 1960.

The picture will be upright later.

For over 70 Chilean Adventure destinations on Arctic Tropic click here.

Before surfing, I biked throughout the Pichilemu countryside – which is almost totally devoid of human population. You can bike for miles on these roads and never encounter a car.

For over 70 Chilean Adventure destinations on Arctic Tropic click here.

Yesterday afternoon I flew from Buenos Aires to Santiago. I had hoped to take pictures from the plane, but the view was obscured by clouds. I do have some pictures of the Argentine pampas that I’ll put up later today. The photos were taken in August,2004 – the middle of winter – hence the thick snow cover. Now at the end of summer, there is only snow on the highest peaks.

For over 70 Chilean Adventure destinations on Arctic Tropic click here.

Tonight I board LAN Argentina Flight 4521 from Miami to Buenos Aires. It’s the start of a twelve day trip to both Argentina and Chile. The main focus of the journey is to meet adventure travel operators throughout the region. I will be posting several times daily , with many beautiful pictures.

The world’s largest trout are caught in the streams of Southern Chile in the Andes of Patagonia.ArcticTropic has nearly sixty destinations in Chile.

In Chilean Patagonia, around 51 degrees south, is one of the most pristine areas on Earth outside of nearby (1000 miles away ) Antarctica. Though the mountain is only 9800 feet high , it is one of the most difficult on Earth to climb – due to steep grade and treacherous weather conditions most of the year. ArcticTropic has dozens of adventure travel and accommodation providers in Patagonia – both in Chile and Argentina.