Piya

Me and my husband are visiting Chile and Argentina from Nov 9th to the 30th. I have been following the news about distruptions due to the Volcano near the Lake region whihc could potentially interrupt our trip to Puerto Montt. Now, i recently heard about another Volcano Hudson which could erupt and cause major disruptions in patagonia and distrupt air travel to Ushuaia, El Calafate and Punta Arenas. All these destinations pretty much sum up our trip. There isn't much information about Volcano Hudson on the internet and i am extremely anxious now to find out more from may be the locals. What should i do??? Has anybody been in such a situation recently while travelling to these countries?? Should i just cancel the whole trip and get a partial refund instead of travelling all the way to Santiago from US and eventually getting stuck there and not being able to go anywhere from Santiago. PLEASE ADVISE..

avrooster

I don't really know what I am talking about, Piya, as the whole situation is quite uncertain, considering it depends on volcano activity, which way the wind blows and that kind of totally unpredictable thing.

It looks to me like a situation in which the most prudent thing to do would be to cut your potential losses, both of money and time.

Do you have any not awfully expensive chance of changing your ticket to Buenos Aires instead of to Santiago? Just thinking out loud...

If that is possible, post again and I'll give you other alternatives for your 3-week holiday .....

qwovadis

Get trip insurance and stay flexible quotewright.com

Personally I go

Iceland Volcano and Ecuador Banos volcanes were

erupting when I made 2 trips last year...

I did fine just had to deviate a bit...

Personally might fly into BsAs or LIM

(although they had an earthquake there yesterday)

and work my way around where eruptions are not...

travel.state.gov will have any major travel alerts

always monitor those sites... Have fun,

yestravel

Not a local, but just some thoughts as we were in Chile & ARG last year. Tough situation...I read about Hudson just the other day. R u flying between destinations? You could always take buses if the flights get disrupted. If u get to Santiago and problems arise, u could go into ARG from there. I can't imagine u would get stuck in Santiago. I don't blame u for being nervous, Mother Nature is so unpredictable. If it were me, I'd take my chances and be flexible about changing where or how u get places.

Huentetu

From Santiago you can take comfortable overnight buses to the lake district. You could cross the Andes to Mendoza. You could go to the north and the Atacama desert. You would hardly be stuck in Santiago. None of the above is affected by ash.

The Hudson has gone quiet for the moment. If it should start spewing out ash it will affect the Province of Santa Cruz in Argentina more than anywhere else. With the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle mid-year, despite the problems created in Argentine airports, Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt only closed their airports twice.

Are you going to Torres del Paine? You don't give your exact route. TdP, Calafate, Ushuaia? And from there? Up to BA? Back to Santiago?

Piya

Thanks all for ur responses.
Huentetu, yes i am going to TDP. My route is as below

Santiago-Puerto Montt-Bariloche-BA-Ushuaia-El Calafate-Punta Arenas-Santiago

Huentetu

The Hudson was reduced from red alert to yellow. That is how it is at the moment.

You will be doing Bariloche to BA by bus as the airport is closed in Bariloche?

yestravel

Looking at your itn I think u could adjust should the Hudson start acting up again and cause problems. Ushuaia is the one location that is pretty far (about 1500 mile from BA) and might be a really long bus journey. But if u had to skip on that, u could do buses for getting around.
Have a great trip - the places u r going are fabulous!

Piya

Thank you all so much for your thoughful responses...just keeoing my fingers crossed.
@Huentetu, I am taking a bus from Bariloche to Neuquen (which i am hoping to book once i get there to be flexible..Is is ok??..anyways i see that i can't book any bus trips from outside Chile)and then have a flight booked from Neuquen to BA. Also, I am going to book the one day lake crossing trip from Puerto Montt to Bariloche once i get there..should be ok..right??

Huentetu

You can book Argentine buses online and sometimes you can book their route in/out of Chile. Check out Via Bariloche buses. They go in/out of Bariloche from different points including BA but not sure about Neuquen. Sometimes they use one of their partner companies. I have taken Via Bariloche from Bariloche to Osorno in Chile and the bus was a Del Valle bus. Andesmar is another good company. Both will have an online help contact if you need it. Have a look at both online and see how it goes. Bariloche is probably listed by its full name San Carlos de Bariloche.

yestravel

We booked buses once we got to our departure city. Never had a problem. We would buy the ticket upon arrival in the departure city so it was usually a day or 2 before we would be taking the bus. We either went into a travel agency or to the bus station for purchase. We took the bus from Bariloche back to Chile and as I recall none of the TAs in Bariloche could book it for us. We had to go out to the bus station which wasn't a big deal (just took a city bus to the station.). Don't know if that is true for internal travel within ARG.

We did the lake crossing in March and there was plenty of room on all portions of the trip. We booked in advance, but I'm sure we would have had no problem if we waited. I have been reading that while the boat crossing was not affected by the volcano ash, less people are taking the trip. U could also book it when u get to Santiago.

Huentetu

Those people who live in the 45 km radius from the Hudson and who were evacuated have been allowed to return to their homes. So far, things are looking good.

Piya

Thanks you so much yestravel and Huentetu for all your responses and helping me keep my spirits high!!

yestravel

Have a fabulous time and pls less us know about your trip when u return!

blueberry5203

I'm also going to Chile-- to Santiago and then Patagonia from 11/16-11/26. I hadn't heard about the volcanic activity until now. Piya, let's just stay positive!!

Huentetu

Have a great trip, Piya! You too blueberry!

Piya

Guys, Can you please recommend some tour companies in Puerto Natales/Punta Arenas and El Calafate. I need to book day tours of TDP, Cruise of the Fjords, Perito Moreno Glaciers..etc. I plan on booking these once i get to the destination. Again, should be fine right??
Also, I will nee to book a bus trip from El Calafate to Puerto Natales and then from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas.. Via Bariloche and Andesmar should be able to help me with that once i get there right?? Do you see any issues??

yestravel

Once u get to el Calafate there are tour agents everywhere. They all seem to be agents for the same company which runs tours to Perito Moreno Glacier. We walked around and checked several out and they all seemed to offer the same tours for the same amount of $. We ended up working thru our hotel who we paid and arranged our day tour trekking at the glacier. Can't speak to tours of the other places. If the TA can't do the bus tickets for you, you can walk up to the bus station which is close in and buy your tickets there.

I can't recall which bus companies we took. Puerto Natales has a bunch of them and again u can walk around and check it out in terms of schedule and price. PN is a small town and it seemed all the tour agents and bus companies were located near each other.

I think u will be fine booking upon arrival. If u r nervous, u can go to a TA when u arrive in Santiago and they could book things for you.

yestravel

Meant to add that I was a bit apprehensive before leaving for our trip -- I was concerned about everything working out ok and not getting lost or totally messed up. As it turned out we found Chile very easy to explore. We had no problems at all with anything. People were very nice and helpful and many spoke really good English - far better than our Spanish.

Piya

Thanks Again yestravel..I hope it turns out the same for me..