The Kayak en Patagonia excursion was really wild and maybe more than I had anticipated, but that is also why it is certainly memorable. We all pushed ourselves into uncomortable territory that day, and we all did it pretty successfully. I'm glad that I sometimes jump into these adventures without knowing everything. If I knew exactly what it would be like, I might back out.

Great holiday

Patagonia Camp was amazing and took care of everything. I didn't have to worry about any logistics the entire time we were there. This allowed us to enjoy Torres del Paine, which was the whole reason we were there to begin with. Of course, we were in an amazing place that millions of people flock to each year. However, the professionalism of Patagonia Camp staff and their contracted excursion leaders was absolutely amazing.

The park is beautiful around every turn. The hike to the base of the towers was an adventure. The smaller hikes we did were stunning as well. I highly recommend the French Valley for its rewarding beauty. The entire park basically circle the Paine, which just ensures stunning scenery no matter what part of the park you are in.

The hiking at El Chalten was almost exactly what I expected. I really enjoyed the hikes, and I loved seeing Cerro Chalten when the sky cleared up and the sun shone brightly on it. The hiking in this area didn't seem as aggressive as the hiking in Torres Del Paine which made it just a little more lovely. Perito Moreno was also very impressive. I can't help but feel like there is more to this park that has yet to be truly explored, and I wonder if more types of tourism might develop around seeing more glaciers or more water sports in the park and more adventure hikes. It seems like one of the only places in Patagonia where you can still hike on the glaciers, and that is definitely something worth considering.

I am SO glad we added this onto our vacation rather than rushing home straight from Patagonia. I thought that we were going to be potentially too tired to have fun in yet another destination, but it was a perfect way to transition from the Patagonia wilderness back to the real world. The n The food culture, tango culture, art culture... wow. I really loved getting to see some of the personality of Buenos Aires and its neighborhoods, their different personalities and their various architectures. I did appreciate having car transfers and not having to figure out public transportation on my holiday. We stayed in Recoleta, which was easy to access the places we had in our itinerary, but Palermo might be a fun place to stay for the markets, food and fashion. The Recoleta Cemetary did not disappoint and is a unique feature of the city. There is so much history in Buenos Aires, and I appreciated learning just a bit of it in the time were were able to be there. Overall, I loved Buenos Aires as a city and will recommend everyone who wants to come to South America visit this amazing city.

The hiking guides at Patagonia Camp were top notch professionals. Their English was fantastic. Their attitudes were encouraging, fun, and safe/practical. They all had great personalities and added to the quality of our hiking day. Our hiking guide at Walk Patagonia was extremely friendly and considerate to us, as we were starting to slow down at the end of our trip. He never pushed us to go faster than our bodies could handle, and he always kept us moving and provided practical short cuts when needed. He also helped us celebrate New Year's Eve by bringing sparkling cider and pan dulce don chocolate for our lunch by the lagoon. One improvement: I wish that we would have swapped our Laguna de los Tres and Laguna Torre hiking days due to the weather and chose the better weather day for Laguna de los Tres. The city tour of Buenos Aires was great, and we covered a lot of ground in that one day. It was probably a good thing to do on a Sunday when some things were maybe closed. I think the tour guide maybe wanted to show us around longer than we anticipated. It would have been good to just have a firm start and end time and maybe a quick priorities conversation before we started the tour to optimize the tour on what we cared about and how long we wanted to be walking all over the city. The tour guide did give us options as things came up, and he was very receptive to us speaking up to ask questions or just to say we had enough. I really loved getting to see some of the personality of Buenos Aires and its neighborhoods. I absolutely loved the excursion to the San Rafael Lagoon and Glacier. This was a last minute change for us, but it really was nice to experience a smaller glacier in a smaller lagoon where you could see the calving when it happened and really feel like you could get up closer to the glacier. I really appreciate having this smaller more intimate experience to compare to Perito Moreno. The marble caves were one of the reasons that we had to go to Aysen. While they weren't really as cool as Instagram and the internet make them out to be, I appreciated the opportunity to kayak there prior to our Kayak en Patagonia experience as a practice run. I also really appreciated the kayaking guide who rescheduled for us when our scheduled time had bad weather. They were also very helpful in encouraging my husband who had a lot of anxiety about the kayak.

Trekking in Cerro Castillo and Torres del Paine was definitely more challenging than El Chalten. Anyone can do any of these places, but it really just depends on what you want and what your phyical conditioning is like. It would be great if all treks came with the option to rent or borrow hiking poles so that we don't have to travel with them in our luggage.

You didn't ask for feedback on any of our Aysen experiences. For someone who wants to get away from the crowds and truly be in the Patagonia wilderness, I highly recommend this place. Cerro Castillo is beautiful, and B&B Cerro Castillo was a beautiful quiet place to unwind from our busy lives. El Puesto Hostal was so charming, cozy, and accommodating. What a great place to retreat to. I loved the visit to the San Rafael Glacier, and the Marble Caves kayak was a great activity for a less busy day. I really want to encourage people who really don't care about checking boxes (Base of the Towers, Cerro Chalten, etc) to focus on this place. Aysen is beautiful and a hidden gem.

If you like quieter, more remote places, and more wilderness, head to Aysen! But don't expect to be pampered and catered to constantly. Expect warm hospitality and rugged beautiful wilderness. If you don't know where to start, just go to Patagonia Camp in Torres del Paine. They will take care of you, and you'll be glad that they have everything covered. Anyone can find a way to have a great time here. Expect Torres del Paine to be WILD! The wind, the rugged trails, the crowds of people, everything. It seems to add some sort of vibrant energy. Hold onto your hat and enjoy the thrill. If you're thinking about doing the W or O trek, really prepare yourself mentally and physically. Also, you can have a great time without signing up for something your aren't ready for. On the Argentina side, I felt just a bit more tourism focus, but they certainly have some of the big attractions. The climate on the Argentina side is definitely drier and the weather seemed slightly less severe on that side of the mountain / continental divide. While we only stayed in Puerto Varas one night, it seemed like any sort of skiing / water sports resort town. We had some great seafood, and it was beautiful, but it wasn't what we came to Patagonia for.

I don't know how it couldn't. I now know so much more about Patagonia and what it really is. I would love to buy a property and retire in Cerro Castillo. I would love to go back and adventure to the places I missed in Punta Arenas, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Antartica. I understand now why it is considered the end of the world. It really is a place that I would encourage anyone who cares about nature, wildlife, and/or trekking to splurge on once in their lifetime.

I got the impression that our customer experience coordinator was spread really thin. It was hard to get time with her, but when we did have time, she was actually wonderful. I hope that you can get more people to help her out and provide us all with the extra touch point that puts us at ease.

I was super excited when we started planning one year out. As I had to pay the balance and life got stressful waiting for the time to come, I was just overwhelmed. However, I needed the vacation badly, and I'm so glad we went for it.

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Beyond 12 months