Chile in May 2012
 

I am planning on taking my son to Chile/easter island for his college graduation - hence I am limited to a May time frame and about 3 weeks. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on where to go in Chile in May - seems like southern chile may not be feasible due to winter weather - or am I off base on that?? I do not want to do a structured tour and am fine driving but I do not want to waste time driving either. We like to scuba and hike, be outside. I do not like high end fancy type hotels - i would like to find interesting small inns or something like that. thanks

weather2travel.com Chile climate guide not conducive

to SCUBA(freezing cold) Easter Island expensive treeless

no decent scuba lots of local resentments/unfiendly

For best adventuring/SCUBA in May EQUADO/GALAPAGOS

www.exploradiving.com

www.guanguiltagua.com

[email protected]

was a great driver/guide/dive master for me there last year

on my road tip... cool places I stayed with discounts

www.hosteriamandala.info

www.bellavistacloudforest.com

www.huaorani.com (best deep amazon)

www.haciendapinsaqui.com Bolivar stayed there

Many great Galapagos boats ecoventura.com my fav

Careful many scammers on the boards particularly

on Tripadvertizer boards where the spouse of an agent

scams clueless newbies on crap bunk bed motorsailers

at inflated prices on Archipel Samaba Fargata Eden

so use only REPUTABLE locals for best discounts.

Do Chile in Jan/Feb when warmest...

Happy Planning!

Arica/Atacama/Salar area into Peru would be ok then

still gets cold and the water still VERY chilly

but May is a great time to go up to Cusco/MP

incalandadventures.com no SCUBA though

May will be too cold in the south of Chile.

I assume your son picked the destination? If not you may want to consider what Qwo has suggested.

"Easter Island expensive treeless no decent scuba lots of local resentments/unfiendly"

Someone has never been to Easter Island.

I loved Chile and Easter Island on my winter visit (mine was July into August, rather than May) but didn't go to the south due to the weather. (It was the only time I could go.) I really recommend spending some time in the Atacama, and Rapa Nui/Easter Island was a marvelous experience. Here's my trip report with a few ideas; I went solo and independently, except that I did an all-inclusive trip to the Atacama: http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...rip-report.cfm

I remember your wonderful trip reports, Amy, and enjoyed reading them again!