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The Chile Travel Cheat Sheet: Surviving Patagonia & Atacama · Phil and H Travel - Is It Worth It? Top Travel Destinations Explored!

• 0:00
  OK, let's get into this. I want you to start just for a
• 0:02
  second, by picturing a map of the world.
• 0:04
  Just get the globe in your head and then zoom in on South
• 0:08
  America. You'll see this, this incredibly
• 0:12
  long, thin sort of ribbon of a country clinging to the absolute
• 0:17
  western edge of the continent. Right, that's chilly.
• 0:21
  It almost looks like just the coastline.
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  It does, and looking at it on a flat map, you know, a 2D
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  projection, it completely fails to convey the reality of what
• 0:29
  that place actually is. Oh absolutely.
• 0:31
  The scale is just, It's completely lost.
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  Before we even get into the logistics of travel or where to
• 0:35
  find the best pisco sour, we have to get our heads around the
• 0:39
  sheer mind bending scale of this country.
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  It's a total geographic anomaly and the sources we looked at,
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  they provided this visualization that I think is just perfect for
• 0:49
  this. It really refrains how you see
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  it. OK, lay it on me.
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  So imagine you could take a pair of scissors to the map.
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  You cut out the shape of Chile, right?
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  And then you flip it horizontally and you lay it
• 1:01
  across Europe. OK, I'm picturing that.
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  Where does it? Where does it land?
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  It would stretch all the way from Lisbon, Portugal on the
• 1:07
  West Coast, wow, all the way to Moscow, Russia in the east.
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  That is, that's actually hard to process.
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  Lisbon to Moscow, you're crossing the entire breadth of
• 1:17
  Europe. You are.
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  You're crossing dozens of cultures, languages, multiple
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  time zones, just in the length of a single country.
• 1:27
  And I guess that's the key context for today's deep dive,
• 1:30
  isn't it? Because when you cover that much
• 1:32
  latitude, you're not just talking about one destination.
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  Not at all. You're dealing with almost every
• 1:37
  climate zone you can imagine. You've got the driest desert on
• 1:41
  earth in the north. You've got a Mediterranean
• 1:43
  climate in the center. Like California or Italy.
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  Exactly. And then you get down to, you
• 1:47
  know, sub polar tundra in the far South.
• 1:50
  But for this deep dive, we're really focusing on a very
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  specific slice of that map. The main tourist route.
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  The main one, the source material, refers to it as the
• 1:58
  Holy Trinity of Chilean Tourism. The Holy Trinity.
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  I like that. So this is the itinerary that
• 2:03
  everyone seems to be booking right now, the sort of the
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  greatest hits tour of Chile. That's the one.
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  It's the Peaks, Atacama and Wine route.
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  OK, break that down. So you have the peaks in the far
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  South, that's Patagonia, Torres del Penn, all the jagged
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  mountains and massive glaciers. The stuff you see on all the
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  calendars. Precisely.
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  Then you have the Atacama in the far north, lunar landscapes, the
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  driest desert in the world, and then sandwiched right in the
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  middle you have the wine valleys just outside of Santiago.
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  You know, on paper that sounds like the ultimate vacation.
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  It's perfect. You get glaciers, you get
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  desert, you get a world class Cabernet.
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  It sounds incredible. It's the kind of trip that
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  generates those those social media themes that make you
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  intensely jealous. You know the ones.
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  Oh, yeah. The glowing red towers of Torres
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  del Penn at sunrise. That one solitary figure walking
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  across a giant salt flat, looking like they're on Mars.
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  And that brings us right to the heart of what we need to unpack
• 2:59
  today, because there is a massive gap between the
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  Instagram version of Chile, which is all those glowing
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  peaks, romantic solitude, and wine glasses clinking at sunset.
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  And then there's what the source is called the logistical
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  reality. And based on the dossier we've
• 3:17
  come through, that reality is not exactly a walk in the park,
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  it is not a show up and see what happens kind of country.
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  Rugged is the polite word for it.
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  The reality is 60 mile per hour winds that can literally, not
• 3:32
  figuratively, knock you off your feet.
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  It's water pipes freezing solid in your hostel so you can't
• 3:37
  shower for three days. And maybe the most painful part?
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  It's paying prices that rival New York or London for amenities
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  that are, well, decidedly basic. So we are debunking the budget
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  Backpackers Paradise myth right out of the gate here.
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  Aggressively, In fact, one of the sources we looked at makes
• 3:54
  this really bold claim that I think sets the stage for our
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  entire analysis. What's the claim?
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  They argue that Chile is essentially the New Zealand of
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  the Americas. OK, I can see that.
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  Epic scenery, end of the world sort of Lord of the Rings
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  energy. Exactly that.
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  But, and this is the critical difference, it comes with about
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  half the infrastructure of New Zealand and double the
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  logistical headaches. Wow, New Zealand scenery double
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  the headache. That paints a very, very
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  specific picture. It's the perfect frame.
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  So our mission today is to figure out if the vibe actually
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  survives the logistics. Right.
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  Does the magic hold up against the reality of the price tags
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  and the planning? Exactly.
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  We need to strip away the romance and look at the
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  spreadsheets. We're going to break down the
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  specific costs because they are genuinely shocking.
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  And we need to figure out exactly which type of traveler
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  can actually handle this trip. Is this for you, or are you
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  frankly better off looking somewhere else?
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  Let's start with the context. Why now?
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  Why are we talking about this so much right now?
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  It feels like my entire feed is suddenly full of people wearing
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  puffy jackets in Patagonia. What's driving this surge to the
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  bottom of the world? Well, we're in the middle of a
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  very specific economic bottleneck.
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  You have to remember, during the peak of the pandemic, Chile had
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  some of the most complex, strictest entry requirements on
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  the entire planet. I remember hearing about that.
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  It wasn't just show your vax card was it?
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  Not at all. It was a fortress.
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  You needed mobility passes that had to be approved daily, health
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  check INS on an app, specific insurance policies.
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  It was a lot. A huge barrier to entry for the
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  casual traveler. It kept almost everyone away,
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  but now those gates are wide open, all the restrictions are
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  gone and what we are seeing is a classic supply and demand
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  collision. All that pent up demand.
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  Years of pent up demand. Everyone who put their dream
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  trip to Patagonia on hold for three years is now flooding into
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  the market all at once. And I'm guessing the supply
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  side, the hotels, the guides hasn't been able to scale up
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  that fast. You can't just, you know, 3D
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  print a hotel in a National Park.
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  You can't. You can't just build new lodges
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  on the edge of a glacier overnight, and this bottleneck
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  is most critical in Torres del Paine down in Patagonia.
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  That's the main part. That's the crown jewel.
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  The demand for beds, and I mean literally just a horizontal
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  surface to sleep on is vastly outpacing the available supply.
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  And we're not just talking about luxury hotels here.
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  We're talking about campsites, basic bunk beds, everything.
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  Which touches on another miss. The sources really wanted to
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  highlight this idea of the empty frontier.
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  Yes, when I look at the photos of Patagonia, I see these vast
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  empty landscapes. I see a lone hiker communing
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  with nature. I don't see a line.
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  And that's the marketing doing its job perfectly.
• 6:37
  Yeah. And to be fair, large parts of
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  the country are empty. But the reality of this peeks
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  Atacama wine route is that it funnels thousands and thousands
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  of people into very specific, very narrow corridors.
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  So geographically, the country's huge, but the actual tourist
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  infrastructure is like a narrow pipe that everyone's trying to
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  squeeze through. That's the perfect analogy.
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  You're all fighting for the same square footage.
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  You might have this expectation of being alone in the Vatala
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  Luna and the Atacama, having this, you know, spiritual sunset
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  moment. Right, just you and the vastness
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  of the desert. The reality you are very likely
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  standing shoulder to shoulder next to 6 tour buses and fifty
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  other people with selfie sticks all fighting for the exact same
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  photo angle. It's a congregation, not a
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  solitary confinement. Exactly.
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  The solitude is an illusion unless you have the money to buy
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  your way far off the grid. Which brings us to what the
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  sources call the adventure prerequisite.
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  We need to be crystal clear with the listener here.
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  This is not a beach vacation. Not even close.
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  This isn't Tulum or Bali where you just sit by a pool and the
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  biggest stress of your day is deciding what cocktail to order
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  next, right? This itinerary requires
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  constant, and I mean constant, often grueling movement.
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  We are talking about a minimum of four domestic flights just to
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  connect these three regions. Four separate flights just to
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  get around inside the country. Minimum Santiago to Kalama for
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  the Atacama. Kalama back to Santiago,
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  Santiago down to Punta Arenas for Patagonia and then Punta
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  Arenas back to Santiago to fly home.
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  That's a huge chunk of your vacation time just spent in
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  airports and on planes. A massive chunk, and it requires
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  real physical resilience. You're moving between extreme
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  climates, from searing desert heat to glacial cold.
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  You're dealing with high altitude and you're managing
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  complex logistics the entire time.
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  If you're not prepared for that grind, you are going to be
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  miserable no matter how beautiful the view is.
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  OK, so let's assume our listener is resilient.
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  They're up for the challenge. They book the ticket.
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  Now they are landing in Santiago.
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  Let's do a deep dive into Region 1, the arrival.
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  What is that first impression when you step off the plane?
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  So most international flights land in Santiago capital, and
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  geographically, Santiago sits in this giant bowl completely
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  surrounded by the Andes Mountains.
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  On paper, that sounds majestic. Right.
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  It sounds incredible. You expect to look out the
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  window and see these massive snowy peaks towering over the
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  city, like Salt Lake City or Denver, but on a grander scale.
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  It does sound like that, but living in a bowl also creates a
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  very specific meteorological trap.
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  Air quality. Exactly.
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  Without regular rain to wash the air out, all the smog and
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  particulate matter from the city gets trapped in.
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  That bowl just sits there like a lid on a pot.
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  So your first view out of the airplane window might not be
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  these crystal clear jagged peaks.
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  It might be a thick Gray brown haze that completely obscures
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  the mountains. It's not the pristine start that
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  people imagine. Right.
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  But once you get on the ground, what's the feeling?
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  The first thing that hits you is how distinct it feels from its
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  neighbors. If you've traveled in, say,
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  Bolivia or Peru, landing in Santiago is a real shock to the
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  system. How so?
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  It feels incredibly modern. You land at this slick glass and
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  steel airport that feels brand new.
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  The highways are perfectly paved and solid.
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  The whole infrastructure feels well developed.
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  It feels like you could be in Southern Europe or North
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  America. That sounds like a positive
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  though, an easy transition into the continent.
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  It is until you look at the price tag, and this is the first
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  real financial slap in the face. You decide to get from the
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  airport to your hotel in the city center, usually in a nice
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  neighborhood like Providencia or Lestaria.
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  You open the Uber app then and it's going to cost you between
• 10:17
  25 and 30 U.S. dollars. For an Uber ride, that's, well,
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  that's basically US pricing. That's a Chicago O'Hare or Miami
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  airport fare. Exactly.
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  And that one ride sets the tone for the entire trip.
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  You are not in a cheap Latin American destination where your
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  dollar is going to buy you a feast.
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  You are in a place with first world costs.
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  And beyond the cost, there's a cultural rhythm you have to
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  adjust to, right? The source is called it the
• 10:43
  Siesta Factor. Yeah, and it's not quite as
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  rigid as, say, Spain, where everything shuts down in the
• 10:49
  middle of the day. In a big city like Santiago,
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  most things stay open, but the whole clock is shifted later.
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  Especially for food. Especially for food.
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  If you're jet lagged and hungry and you try to find a nice place
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  for dinner at 60 PM, you are going to struggle.
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  Restaurants will either be empty or completely closed.
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  So when does the city come alive?
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  Much later, you know if you walk into a restaurant at 7.0 PM, you
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  will likely be the only person there.
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  The local start showing up around 8.000 PM.
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  Good to know. And what about the vibe on the
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  street? You said it feels modern, but
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  does it feel safe? The vibe is vibrant, there's
• 11:25
  incredible street art everywhere, especially since the
• 11:27
  social protests a few years ago. There's a lot of creative energy
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  and in the nice neighborhoods like Lasaria it feels safe to
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  walk around. But the word the sources kept
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  using is edgy. And is that edgy, like
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  artistically cool edgy or edgy like watch your back edgy?
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  A bit of both, but definitely the latter.
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  It means you cannot be complacent.
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  It is not a place where you can walk around staring at your new
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  iPhone, totally oblivious to your surroundings.
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  So situational awareness is key. Absolutely.
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  Snatch and grab theft is a real and common issue.
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  You just have to be present and aware.
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  Got it. So Santiago is the gateway, but
• 12:01
  most people, they don't linger there for too long.
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  They want to get to the extremes.
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  Let's head north, Region 2, the Atacama Desert.
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  OK, so this is where the sensory shock really really kicks in.
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  You take 2 hour flight from Santiago up to a city called
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  Kalama and then you take about an hour long shuttle or drive to
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  the little Oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama.
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  And what's the first thing you notice?
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  Before you even really register the landscape, it's the dryness.
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  We're talking about the driest non polar desert on earth,
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  right? Yes, and your body feels it
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  instantly. This is not a subtle thing.
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  Your lips will start to crack within an hour of arriving if
• 12:40
  you aren't constantly applying lip balm.
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  Your skin feels tight. Your nostrils feel dry.
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  And the light. The light is different.
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  The sources describe the sun as feeling like a physical weight
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  on your shoulders. It's not just bright, it's an
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  intense direct radiation if you are completely exposed.
• 12:57
  Now, what about San Pedro, the town itself?
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  I feel like because of the prices of the luxury hotels
• 13:01
  there, people might picture a sort of resort town like a Palm
• 13:05
  Springs in the desert. It is the absolute opposite of
• 13:07
  Palm Springs. The aesthetic is pure Star Wars.
• 13:10
  It feels like a frontier outpost on the planet Tatooine.
• 13:14
  I love that description. It's a dusty Adobe town.
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  The roads are dirt. There's no pavement.
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  Stray dogs are wandering around everywhere.
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  It feels temporary and raw, like a place that really shouldn't
• 13:25
  exist in such a harsh environment.
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  So where does all the money go? If I'm paying top dollar for a
• 13:30
  hotel, what am I actually getting?
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  That's the fascinating contrast. It's a place of hidden, walled
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  off luxury. You can be walking down a dusty
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  dirt Rd. eating dust from a passing truck, dodging A stray
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  dog. Sounds glamorous.
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  And then you step through a very modest looking mud wall and
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  suddenly you're in a five star luxury Oasis.
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  Manicured gardens, pristine swimming pools, impeccable
• 13:53
  service. It's an incredibly jarring
• 13:55
  juxtaposition. So you're in the middle of
• 13:57
  nowhere but sipping a $20 cocktail by a designer pool.
• 14:01
  That is San Pedro in a nutshell. OK, There was one very specific
• 14:04
  health warning for this region that really stood out in the
• 14:07
  notes. It's about the water.
• 14:09
  This is critical and it's not the usual traveler advice.
• 14:11
  Normally when we say don't drink the tap water in a foreign
• 14:14
  country, it's because of bacteria, right?
• 14:16
  You're trying to avoid getting a parasite.
• 14:18
  Or, you know, Montezuma's revenge.
• 14:21
  Sure, you boil it or filter it. In San Pedro, the threat is
• 14:24
  totally different. It's not biology, it's
• 14:26
  chemistry. What are we talking about?
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  Arthenic Due to the intense volcanic geology of the region,
• 14:31
  the ground is naturally full of heavy metals and the water
• 14:34
  supply has naturally high levels of arsenic.
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  So boiling it doesn't help at all.
• 14:38
  No, boiling doesn't remove arsenic.
• 14:40
  If anything it might concentrate it as the water evaporates.
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  You are strictly 100% on bottled water here for everything.
• 14:47
  Brushing your teeth, drinking everything.
• 14:50
  That is a serious warning. It's a geological reality you
• 14:53
  just cannot ignore. Locals have adapted over
• 14:56
  generations or have specific intense filtration systems, but
• 15:00
  as a tourist you don't risk it. OK, duly noted.
• 15:03
  Bottled water is non negotiable in the north.
• 15:06
  Now let's flip the entire map upside down and go to the
• 15:08
  complete opposite extreme Region 3, Patagonia, The Peaks.
• 15:14
  If the Atacama is all about the sun and the dryness, Patagonia
• 15:17
  is about the absolute chaos and violence of the weather.
• 15:20
  I've heard the phrase Four Seasons in a day.
• 15:23
  In most places, that's a cute figure of speech.
• 15:26
  In Patagonia, it is a literal hour by hour forecast.
• 15:30
  I feel like I've heard that about Scotland or Melbourne.
• 15:33
  You know, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes.
• 15:35
  This is different. This is extreme.
• 15:37
  Within a single 24 hour period you can genuinely experience
• 15:40
  hail, then blazing sun that burns you because the UV is so
• 15:44
  high, then horizontal rain and then snow and the wind.
• 15:50
  We have to spend a moment on the wind.
• 15:51
  I've heard horror stories, is it really that bad?
• 15:54
  60 mile per hour gusts are not a storm.
• 15:56
  That is standard. That is just a Tuesday in
• 15:58
  Patagonia and it changes everything.
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  It changes how you move, it changes how you have to dress.
• 16:03
  It just wears you down physically.
• 16:05
  You are constantly fighting the air just to walk in a straight
• 16:08
  line. And what does it actually feel
• 16:10
  like? The sources mentioned people
• 16:12
  having their prescription glasses literally ripped off
• 16:14
  their faces and blown away, or people opening their rental car
• 16:17
  door and a gust of wind catching it and bending it all the way
• 16:20
  backward, breaking the hinges. That is, that's a level of wind
• 16:24
  I can't really comprehend. It's a physical force you have
• 16:26
  to respect. OK.
• 16:27
  And what about the food down there?
• 16:29
  I would assume with all that coastline right next to
• 16:31
  Antarctica, the seafood must be unbelievable.
• 16:34
  You would think so. You're right next to some of the
• 16:37
  richest oceans in the world, but the sources are very very clear
• 16:41
  on this and it is a major let down for anyone who travels for
• 16:44
  food. You have to debunk any
• 16:47
  expectation of gourmet dining in Patagonia.
• 16:50
  The food is described again and again as purely functional.
• 16:55
  Functional food? That sounds like military
• 16:57
  rations or astronaut food. It's fuel you eat because you
• 17:00
  need calories to hike. In the cold, in the wind.
• 17:02
  That's it. But the real disappointment is
• 17:04
  the combination of high cost and poor quality.
• 17:07
  Give me an example. One source mentioned ordering
• 17:09
  king crab in Puerto Tatalis, which is the main gateway town.
• 17:13
  They paid eighty U.S. dollars for the dish. $80.00 For that
• 17:16
  price you're expecting something life changing, fresh out of the
• 17:19
  ocean, perfectly prepared, right?
• 17:21
  Instead, what they received was clearly frozen, watery and
• 17:24
  bland, completely tasteless. $80.00 for frozen crap that
• 17:29
  physically hurts to hear. Why is it like that?
• 17:31
  Is it a scam? It's what the sources call the
• 17:33
  remoteness tax. Getting any ingredients,
• 17:36
  especially fresh ones, down to the bottom of the world is a
• 17:40
  massive logistical nightmare. The supply chains are long,
• 17:43
  inexpensive. And you, the tourists, end up
• 17:45
  paying for that entire logistics chain.
• 17:48
  You do. Plus, a lot of the best catch is
• 17:51
  frozen on the boats and exported immediately to lucrative
• 17:54
  international markets in Asia and North America.
• 17:56
  Now we absolutely have to talk about what seems to be the
• 17:59
  single biggest pitfall in the entire country.
• 18:02
  The sources label it trap #1, the West Trek availability
• 18:06
  fallacy. This is where dreams go to die
• 18:08
  if you're not prepared. The West Trek is the famous
• 18:11
  iconic multi day hiking route in Torres del Paine National Park
• 18:15
  is the crown jewel of South American hiking.
• 18:17
  It's the reason most people go down there in the first place.
• 18:20
  Exactly. The problem is that many
• 18:22
  travelers, especially from North America or Europe, assume it
• 18:25
  works like their national parks. At home, you know, you show up
• 18:28
  at the gate, you pay an entrance fee, maybe get a back entry
• 18:31
  permit on the spot, and you go hiking.
• 18:32
  And I take it you absolutely cannot do that.
• 18:35
  You cannot. We have reports from the sources
• 18:39
  of people literally crying in the streets of ports in Natales
• 18:42
  because they flew all the way to the bottom of the world and they
• 18:45
  were denied entry to the trails because they didn't have a
• 18:47
  reservation. So why?
• 18:49
  How does this system work? It sounds unnecessarily
• 18:52
  complicated. It is mind bogglingly complex.
• 18:56
  The campsites and the refugio's, the basic lodges along the
• 19:00
  trail, are not run by one single organization.
• 19:03
  Oh, that's the problem. It's the core of the problem.
• 19:06
  They're run by three different competing entities, a company
• 19:09
  called Verdice, another company called Los Torres and Konaf,
• 19:13
  which is the Government Park Service.
• 19:14
  And let me guess, their booking systems are not connected in any
• 19:17
  way? Of course not.
• 19:18
  They don't talk to each other at all.
• 19:20
  And to hike the full trail, you have to book each night's
• 19:22
  accommodation with each of these specific companies individually
• 19:26
  on their separate website. And you have to do this how far
• 19:29
  in advance? At least six months, often more.
• 19:32
  And imagine trying to coordinate that.
• 19:34
  Let's say you book night one with Verdis and night three with
• 19:37
  Las Torres. But the campsite for Night 2,
• 19:40
  which is run by Konaf, is sold out.
• 19:42
  Your whole trek collapses. You can't bridge the gap.
• 19:45
  It's over. The entire plan is ruined
• 19:48
  because of 1 missing link in the chain.
• 19:50
  Can't you just pitch a tent somewhere else in the wild if
• 19:53
  you can't get a spot? You know, just wild camp.
• 19:55
  Absolutely not. You cannot just camp illegally,
• 19:59
  the Park Rangers are incredibly strict and they will find you
• 20:02
  and kick you out. Fire risk is a massive, massive
• 20:05
  issue there. They've had huge devastating
• 20:07
  forest fires started by careless tourists in the past so they are
• 20:10
  not messing around. No booking, no entry period.
• 20:13
  That sounds unbelievably stressful.
• 20:15
  So if you're listening to this now and you realize you've
• 20:17
  missed that booking window, is your Patagonian dream just dead?
• 20:21
  Not necessarily, but you have to pivot hard.
• 20:25
  The fix is to base yourself in the town of Porto Natales and do
• 20:28
  day trips. You can still see the park, just
• 20:30
  take a bus or drive in for the day, do one of the beautiful
• 20:33
  hikes that are accessible from the road and then you leave the
• 20:36
  park at night. So you can still see the famous
• 20:38
  towers and lakes. Yes, or you can book guided
• 20:41
  tours that sometimes have access to reserve spots but that dream
• 20:45
  of the multi day independent backpacking trip that requires
• 20:50
  military grade planning half a year in advance.
• 20:53
  OK, this brings us very naturally to the financial deep
• 20:56
  dive. We've hinted at it, but let's
• 20:58
  talk hard numbers. The sources all mentioned
• 21:00
  sticker shock. How bad is it really?
• 21:02
  It is significant the currency is the Chilean pace of the CLP,
• 21:06
  but for all intents and purposes the prices are effectively near
• 21:09
  US or Western European standards.
• 21:12
  This is not a cheap country. Let's break it down by
• 21:14
  accommodation style. Give me the range.
• 21:15
  Let's start with a backpacker. Sure.
• 21:17
  So if you are a backpacker, you might be used to paying maybe 10
• 21:20
  or $15.00 for a hostile dorm bed in parts of Peru or Bolivia.
• 21:24
  In Santiago, a basic hostile bed will run you about $20.00, but
• 21:28
  then you get to the tourist hotspots.
• 21:31
  In San Pedro de a Tacoma, that same dorm bed jumps to $40 a
• 21:36
  night. $40.00 for a bunk bed. OK.
• 21:38
  And on the West trek itself? This is the wildest part of the
• 21:41
  budget. If you want a bed in a refugio
• 21:44
  on the trail, which is literally just a bunk bed in a shared dorm
• 21:47
  room, sometimes, the very basic meal plan included, you are
• 21:51
  looking at 150 to 200 U.S. Dollars per night.
• 21:56
  Wait, hold on $200 for a bunk bed, a piece of plywood and a
• 22:01
  thin mattress. Yes, you are paying for the
• 22:03
  location. It is the ultimate captive
• 22:05
  market. There's nowhere else to sleep.
• 22:07
  But if you bring your own gear, your own tent.
• 22:09
  Even then, if you just want to rent a 6 by 6 patch of dirt to
• 22:13
  pitch your own tent on the campsite fees are 25 to $30.00
• 22:17
  per person. That is more than a private
• 22:19
  hotel room in most of Southeast Asia.
• 22:21
  It is now on the owner of the Spectrum, the Luxury Traveler.
• 22:24
  What's their experience like? For them, the sky is the limit.
• 22:28
  The famous all inclusive adventure lodges like Explorer
• 22:31
  or Awasi. They charge upwards at $1500 a
• 22:35
  night. But I assume for that price
• 22:36
  you're getting more than just a bed.
• 22:37
  Oh, for that price they handle everything.
• 22:39
  Private guides, gourmet food, top shelf liquor, all your
• 22:43
  transportation. You don't open your wallet once
• 22:45
  you're through their gates. Transport seems to be the other
• 22:48
  big budget killer, the one that sneaks up on people.
• 22:51
  It is the killer expense that people often forget to budget
• 22:55
  for properly. Remember those four domestic
• 22:57
  flights we talked? About Santiago to Kalman back.
• 22:59
  Santiago to Punta Arenas and back.
• 23:01
  Right. If you book those at the last
• 23:03
  minute during high season, you could easily spend 800 to 1000
• 23:08
  U.S. dollars just on domestic economy class tickets.
• 23:12
  That's the price of a flight from New York to Europe.
• 23:15
  Exactly. Even if you are a super planner
• 23:18
  and you book months and months ahead, you're still looking at 3
• 23:21
  to $400.00 for that set of flights.
• 23:24
  And car rentals have their own trap.
• 23:26
  The vast majority of cars in Chile are manual transmission, a
• 23:30
  stick shift. If you are an American who can
• 23:33
  only drive an automatic, be prepared to pay double the daily
• 23:37
  rental rate. Automatics are considered a
• 23:39
  luxury commodity there. So if we try to sum all this up
• 23:42
  into some daily budget guidelines for the listener,
• 23:46
  what are we looking at per person?
• 23:47
  OK, for a truly low budget traveler, we're talking
• 23:51
  hospitals, cooking your own pasta, taking public buses, very
• 23:54
  few paid tours. You're still looking at 70 to
• 23:57
  $90.00 a day. Which is very high for a low
• 23:59
  budget trip in South America. Very high for a mid range
• 24:02
  traveler, private rooms and decent hotels.
• 24:05
  But your rental car, a few tours, you're in the range of
• 24:07
  180 to $250 a day per person. OK.
• 24:11
  And high end. $800 plus per day easily.
• 24:15
  So what's the verdict on value? Are you getting what you pay
• 24:18
  for? That's the tricky question.
• 24:21
  You are paying a massive premium, but the counter
• 24:24
  argument is that you're paying for safety, for political
• 24:27
  stability, and for landscapes that truly are world class.
• 24:32
  You're paying for infrastructure that, while flawed and
• 24:35
  expensive, generally works. The roads are paved.
• 24:38
  The flights for the most part leave on time.
• 24:41
  It's sort of South America light in terms of chaos, but South
• 24:45
  America heavy in terms of cost. That's a perfect way to put it.
• 24:48
  OK, let's move on to the other logistical traps.
• 24:50
  We've covered the West Trek booking nightmare in detail, but
• 24:53
  there are others. Track #2, according to the
• 24:56
  sources, involves the altitude in the Atacama.
• 24:59
  Yeah, this is what I call the whack A mole game of altitude
• 25:01
  sickness. People look at the desert, they
• 25:03
  see pictures of sand dunes, and they just think hot.
• 25:05
  They forget to think high, right?
• 25:06
  The town where you sleep, San Pedro, is at about 2400 meters,
• 25:10
  or 8000 feet. That's already quite high, like
• 25:13
  a major ski resort, but it's manageable for most people if
• 25:16
  they take it easy. You might get a slight headache,
• 25:18
  but you'll be OK. Exactly, but the star
• 25:21
  attractions are much higher. The Tachio geysers, for example,
• 25:24
  one of the main tours, they're at 4300 meters, that's over
• 25:28
  14,000 feet. That's higher than any peak in
• 25:31
  the contiguous United States outside of California.
• 25:34
  That's serious, legitimate mountaineering altitude.
• 25:37
  It is, and the huge mistake people make is rushing.
• 25:40
  They land in Kalama, they get to San Pedro, and because they want
• 25:43
  to maximize their short amount of time, they book the geyser
• 25:46
  tour for their very first morning.
• 25:47
  So they go from sea level to 14,000 feet in less than 24
• 25:51
  hours. And the result is predictable.
• 25:54
  The sources are full of stories of tourists violently vomiting
• 25:57
  in the tour vans. It's a mess.
• 26:00
  Your body has had zero time to acclimatize.
• 26:03
  It's not just uncomfortable, it's physically dangerous.
• 26:05
  It could ruin your whole trip. So what is the proper way to do
• 26:08
  it? What's the fix?
• 26:09
  You have to structure your itinerary strategically by
• 26:12
  altitude. It's a game of chess with your
• 26:14
  body. Start low.
• 26:15
  Your first day, do the Moon Valley tour, which is at a
• 26:18
  similar altitude to the town. Let your body adjust.
• 26:20
  Exactly. Then on day 2 maybe you do the
• 26:23
  auto planet lagoons which are a bit higher in the mid range.
• 26:26
  You save the highest altitude tours like the geysers for your
• 26:29
  very last day. You give your body those
• 26:32
  critical few days to produce more red blood cells and adjust.
• 26:36
  That makes total sense. Now trap #3 the wine day
• 26:40
  logistics. This one sounds like a
• 26:42
  scheduling error. It's a classic geography and
• 26:45
  traffic error. People look at the map and they
• 26:47
  see the main wine valleys, like the Casablanca or Mypo valleys,
• 26:50
  or near Santiago, right? So they come up with this
• 26:53
  efficient plan. They'll fly back from Patagonia
• 26:56
  in the morning, land in Santiago, rent a car or hire a
• 26:59
  driver, and try to squeeze in a winery tour before their
• 27:02
  international flight home that night.
• 27:04
  One last toast to chili before I leave.
• 27:06
  Sounds good on paper. In reality it is a recipe for
• 27:09
  disaster. First of the vineyards are at
• 27:11
  least 90 minutes from the airport, and that is with 0
• 27:14
  traffic. Santiago traffic is notoriously
• 27:17
  bad. If you get stuck in rush hour
• 27:20
  you are going to miss your international flight.
• 27:22
  It's a huge risk. And what do you do with all your
• 27:24
  luggage from your whole trip? That's the other part of the
• 27:26
  trap. You have a rental car packed to
• 27:28
  the gills with your bags. You leave it in the parking lot
• 27:31
  of a winery while you go wine tasting for two hours.
• 27:34
  You're a giant flashing target for theft.
• 27:37
  A sitting duck? Yeah, it's a very high risk
• 27:39
  move, so the advice from the sources is clear.
• 27:42
  Don't squeeze it in. Either give the wine region a
• 27:45
  proper dedicated day at the beginning or end of your trip,
• 27:47
  or just skip it. Trying to force it into a travel
• 27:51
  day is a recipe for stress, theft and missed flights.
• 27:55
  Speaking of theft, let's talk more broadly about safety.
• 27:58
  You used the word edgy earlier. What are the specific scams or
• 28:02
  risks people should be aware of? Right.
• 28:04
  Generally, violent crime against tourists is low compared to
• 28:07
  other places in the region, but scams and petty theft are very
• 28:10
  sophisticated. The flat tire scam is a big one
• 28:13
  that targets rental car users. OK, how does that one work?
• 28:16
  There are a couple of variations.
• 28:17
  Someone might subtly puncture your tire at a gas or red light
• 28:20
  light, or they just wait for tourists to get a natural flat
• 28:23
  tire on the highway. Then they pull over, acting like
• 28:27
  a Good Samaritan, offering to help you change it.
• 28:29
  Which seems nice. It does, but while you are
• 28:32
  distracted with the tire, usually one of them is arguing
• 28:36
  with you about where the Jack is or pointing at the wheel and
• 28:38
  accomplice is quietly opening the other doors and cleaning out
• 28:41
  your car. Passports, laptops, cameras,
• 28:45
  everything's gone. That is nasty because it
• 28:47
  completely preys on your trust in a moment of vulnerability.
• 28:51
  It is another one is right at the airport.
• 28:53
  The sources are very clear. You should never ever follow the
• 28:56
  people who are whispering taxi taxi at you as you exit customs.
• 29:00
  Those are the unregistered drivers.
• 29:02
  Exactly, you only use the official via controllata
• 29:04
  counters. They're the proper taxi desks
• 29:06
  inside the terminal. You prepaid there and get a
• 29:08
  voucher. It's safe and regulated.
• 29:10
  And there was a specific warning note about the city of
• 29:13
  Valparaiso. Yes, Valparaiso is the coastal
• 29:16
  port city near Santiago. It's famous for its colorful
• 29:19
  houses built on the hills and it's old funicular elevators.
• 29:23
  It looks incredible in photos, but the sources note that it is
• 29:26
  currently very edgy. When it comes to theft, you need
• 29:30
  to have your camera physically strapped to your body.
• 29:33
  It is not a place to wander aimlessly down a quiet alleyway
• 29:36
  with expensive gear on display. Got it.
• 29:39
  OK. There is one more health
• 29:40
  specific that I found genuinely alarming in the research, and
• 29:43
  that's about the ozone layer. This is not your standard.
• 29:46
  Remember to wear sunscreen warning.
• 29:48
  This is a legitimate radiation warning.
• 29:51
  Wow. Because of the hole in the ozone
• 29:53
  layer, which is historically centered over this part of the
• 29:56
  Southern hemisphere, the UV index is frequently off the
• 29:59
  charts. The Sun is described in the
• 30:02
  sources as violent. Violent Sun.
• 30:04
  That is a powerful and scary description.
• 30:06
  It's accurate. The sources say you can get a
• 30:08
  noticeable sunburn in just 15 minutes.
• 30:11
  SPF 50 is not optional. It is mandatory and you have to
• 30:14
  reapply it constantly. You have to take it seriously.
• 30:16
  Even if it feels cold and windy outside, the UV is blasting you
• 30:20
  regardless of the temperature. OK, we have covered the shocking
• 30:23
  costs, the logistical traps, the frozen crab, the arsenic water
• 30:28
  and the violent radiation. It sounds incredibly difficult,
• 30:31
  It does. So why do people do it?
• 30:33
  We have to talk about the highs because despite all of this,
• 30:37
  people are flocking there. The experience has to be worth
• 30:40
  it. And the highs are incredibly
• 30:42
  high. That's the paradox of Chile.
• 30:44
  Despite all the logistical pain, the peak experiences are things
• 30:48
  you truly cannot get anywhere else on Earth.
• 30:50
  So what stood out in the sources as that defining This is why
• 30:54
  it's all worth it. Moment.
• 30:55
  There was 1 anecdote in particular about what they
• 30:57
  called the glacial moment. Picture this.
• 31:00
  You're on a boat navigation on Lago Gray in Patagonia, heading
• 31:05
  towards the massive Gray Glacier.
• 31:07
  It's freezing cold. The wind is howling.
• 31:09
  Sounds like a typical Patagonian day.
• 31:12
  It is, and the boat captain leans over the side with a net
• 31:15
  and fishes a chunk of ice out of the lake.
• 31:17
  Just grabs it out of the water. Grabs it.
• 31:18
  And this isn't just regular ice. This is ancient compressed
• 31:22
  brilliant blue glacial ice that is 10,000 years old.
• 31:26
  He takes it back to the little bar on the boat, chips it up
• 31:28
  with an ice pick and puts it into a glass of Pisco sour.
• 31:32
  You are drinking a cocktail chilled with ice that is older
• 31:35
  than human civilization while looking at a wall of blue ice
• 31:38
  that stretches for miles. That is a moment of connection
• 31:42
  with the planet that stays with you forever.
• 31:44
  That's incredible. And in the north, in the
• 31:47
  Atacama. Stargazing The Atacama is one of
• 31:49
  the best places on the entire planet to see the night sky
• 31:53
  because of the high altitude and the absolute lack of humidity.
• 31:57
  There is 0 distortion in the atmosphere.
• 31:59
  So you get a crystal clear view. You don't even need a telescope,
• 32:02
  you can just join a tour or drive a few miles out of town,
• 32:06
  turn off the car and the lights lie on the ground and the Milky
• 32:09
  Way looks like a physical 3 dimensional cloud hanging right
• 32:12
  over you. The silence is absolute.
• 32:14
  It's a genuinely spiritual experience.
• 32:17
  And I guess just the sheer visual contrast of the whole
• 32:19
  trip is a massive selling point in itself.
• 32:21
  Exactly. To be able to see the driest
• 32:23
  desert in the world and the third largest ice field in the
• 32:26
  world in the same week. That is the unique selling
• 32:29
  proposition Chili. It is an entire continent's
• 32:33
  worth of scenery packed into one long, thin country.
• 32:37
  But, and this is the $1,000,000 question, what if you want those
• 32:41
  views without all the headaches we've been talking about?
• 32:43
  Are there alternatives? This is where we can get really
• 32:46
  strategic if the logistics we've just described, the booking six
• 32:50
  months out, the expensive bunk beds, the complicated travel
• 32:53
  days. If that all sounds like a
• 32:55
  complete nightmare to you, there are two major alternatives that
• 32:59
  the sources highly recommend. OK, let's start with alternative
• 33:02
  #1 the sources call it Lazy Patagonia.
• 33:06
  This is the town of L Shelton, which is just across the border
• 33:10
  in Argentina. Why is it called lazy?
• 33:12
  I assume the hikes aren't actually easy.
• 33:14
  No, the hiking is not easy at all.
• 33:15
  The trek to Mount Fitzroy is a beast, but the logistics are
• 33:19
  lazy. They're simple.
• 33:20
  In L Shelton, all the major hiking trails start right from
• 33:23
  the edge of the town. So you don't need to take a bus
• 33:25
  or a shuttle for hours to get to the trailhead.
• 33:28
  Exactly. You sleep in a nice hotel with a
• 33:30
  comfortable bed and a private bathroom.
• 33:32
  You wake up, you eat a good breakfast, you walk out the door
• 33:34
  of your hotel, and you start hiking towards the mountain.
• 33:37
  At the end of the day, you walk back into town.
• 33:39
  So no tents, no refugee owes, no carrying 50 lbs of gear on your
• 33:43
  back for days. None of it and no booking
• 33:46
  campsite 6 months in advance. It is significantly cheaper, the
• 33:49
  food is infinitely better, hello Argentine steak and Malbec.
• 33:54
  And it is 1000 times less stressful.
• 33:56
  That sounds incredibly appealing for people who want the epic
• 33:59
  mountain views but not the suffering.
• 34:01
  Now, what about alternative #2 the raw desert?
• 34:06
  So if the Atacama in Chile feels a bit too manicured or too
• 34:10
  expensive with its $1000 a night lodges, you look just north to
• 34:13
  the UNI salt flats in Bolivia. OK.
• 34:15
  How does that compare to the Atacama?
• 34:17
  It is Wilder, it is much rougher around the edges, and it is
• 34:21
  significantly cheaper. We're talking about 1/3 of the
• 34:23
  price of a comparable tour. In the Atacama.
• 34:26
  You still see the incredible landscapes, the massive white
• 34:29
  salt flats, the pink lakes full of flamingos.
• 34:31
  So what's the catch? What's the trade off?
• 34:33
  The trade off is comfort, safety and hygiene.
• 34:36
  The standards drop noticeably. The accommodation is incredibly
• 34:40
  basic, literally hotels made of salt blocks which sounds cool in
• 34:43
  theory but can be cold and gritty in reality.
• 34:46
  The roads are rougher, the vehicles are older.
• 34:49
  It is a true raw adventure, whereas the Iacama is more like
• 34:53
  adventure with a 5 star safety net.
• 34:55
  So the sources actually suggested a hybrid strategy,
• 34:59
  right? Combining the best of both.
• 35:00
  Yes, the expert recommendation for the perfect hassle free trip
• 35:04
  might be to combine the Atacama in Chile, because the good
• 35:08
  infrastructure there really helps you deal with the extreme
• 35:10
  desert environment comfortably. With El Shell 10 in Argentina
• 35:14
  for the Patagonian hiking part to save money, stress and your
• 35:18
  sanity, that might be the perfect combination.
• 35:21
  I love that. The best of both worlds.
• 35:23
  OK, let's wrap this all up with the final verdict.
• 35:25
  Who is this classic chili trip actually for?
• 35:27
  Let's profile the different types of travellers.
• 35:29
  Let's start with the backpacker on a shoestring budget.
• 35:31
  What's the verdict for them? Caution is strongly advised.
• 35:35
  Chili burns through cash so fast.
• 35:37
  If you are scraping by on a really strict daily budget, you
• 35:40
  risk spending your whole trip worrying and stressing about
• 35:43
  money instead of actually enjoying the incredible views.
• 35:46
  You might honestly be happier in Bolivia or Peru where your
• 35:50
  dollar goes 3 or 4 times as far. OK.
• 35:53
  Next up, the mid range couple. Maybe they have a decent budget
• 35:57
  but not an unlimited one. This is the sweet spot, but it
• 36:00
  comes with major conditions. This trip is perfect for them if
• 36:03
  and only if they're willing to do intense planning.
• 36:06
  You need to be booking flights and accommodation at least three
• 36:08
  months out and the West tracks 6 months out.
• 36:11
  You should rent a car to avoid the high per person tour fees.
• 36:14
  If you put in that homework, it's a fantastic, unforgettable
• 36:17
  trip. What about the family?
• 36:19
  It's a mixed bag. What teenagers, yes, absolutely
• 36:21
  they will love and boarding on the dunes in the desert and the
• 36:24
  physical challenge of the hikes. But with toddlers it's a hard
• 36:28
  mark. The distances are just too long
• 36:30
  to have a little kid in car seat, the wind is too harsh and
• 36:33
  potentially dangerous for a small child, and most
• 36:37
  importantly, the high altitude in the Atacama is medically
• 36:40
  risky for little bodies. Do not bring a baby to 4000
• 36:43
  meters. That's a very clear warning.
• 36:45
  And finally, the luxury traveler.
• 36:48
  For them it's a 10 out of 10. If you have the money, Chili is
• 36:52
  absolutely incredible. The private, all inclusive
• 36:55
  lodges solve every single logistical nightmare we've spent
• 36:58
  this entire time discussing. They pick you up, they have the
• 37:01
  best guides, they feed you gourmet food.
• 37:03
  You get all of the incredible wilderness with none of the
• 37:05
  discomfort. So if you can pay the price, the
• 37:07
  headache simply disappears. Completely money buys you
• 37:10
  smoothness and efficiency in Chile and.
• 37:12
  What about timing? When is the best time to go?
• 37:15
  The sources agree March or November, that is the shoulder
• 37:18
  season. You avoid the absolute crushing
• 37:21
  crowds of January and February, which is their main summer
• 37:23
  vacation period, but the weather is still decent enough to be
• 37:26
  outside without freezing to death.
• 37:28
  It's the best balance of crowds and climate.
• 37:30
  So if you had to summarize the reality of a trip to Chile in
• 37:34
  one sentence. It is logistically a beast, it
• 37:37
  can be inefficient, and it is definitely expensive, but the
• 37:41
  core infrastructure generally works and it's a place where you
• 37:44
  have to earn your views, either with your wallet or with your
• 37:48
  physical endurance and planning. You know, it brings up an
• 37:50
  interesting final thought, this whole concept of the remoteness
• 37:53
  tax we mentioned. We often complain about how hard
• 37:56
  it is to get to these places or how expensive they are.
• 37:59
  But in a world that's suffering from over tourism, where almost
• 38:03
  everywhere feels accessible and crowded, maybe the difficulty of
• 38:08
  access is actually part of the value.
• 38:10
  The barrier to entry protects the experience.
• 38:12
  Exactly. If it were easy and cheap to get
• 38:15
  to the base of Torres del Penn, it would probably look like
• 38:18
  Times Square. The struggle makes the view at
• 38:20
  the end feel earned. It filters for people who really
• 38:23
  want to be there. That's a great way to think
• 38:25
  about it. The friction is part of the
• 38:27
  product. That is something to think
• 38:29
  about. Well, if you're planning on
• 38:30
  heading down there, it sounds like you need to bring your
• 38:32
  windbreaker, bring your SPF 50, and most definitely bring your
• 38:37
  wallet. And don't forget to go online
• 38:39
  and book those campsites right now.
• 38:41
  Thanks for listening to this deep dive.
• 38:43
  We'll see you on the next one.