As we were nearing the end of the Base of the Towers hike in Torres del Paine, I wasn't sure my legs were going to let me finish the hike. I then looked up and saw a condor soaring above my head. It was awe-inspiring to see this majestic creature against such an incredible backdrop. It was as if the condor was there to encourage me on, my energy spiked and my body was ready to continue to the base. What a magical experience!

Life changing

Tierra Patagonia was INCREDIBLE. I am so glad we were able to make this stay happen. The hotel exceeded our expectations. Our rooms were lovely, the views to die for and the comfort was a blessing after our long hiking days. The excursions were fanstastic. We were pleased that we could pick and choose what we wanted to do rather than being told what we could do like some other resorts have done. They listened to what we wanted to see while we were in Torres del Paine and organized our excursions to fit our goals and intersets. They were very accomodating when only 2 of the 4 of us would want to go out on a hike. Everything was truly spectacular, I couldn't remcommend this place more. I was particularly impressed by the respect and support the resorts seems to give their employees. The guides felt as though they were truly valued and supported which is not always the case. We heard a few stories about the hotel in the park where they treat their employees very poorly. I was glad we were not supporting that hotel with our business.

Santiago was nice, our tour was good although a bit fast paced. We had wandered through a market and would have liked to just stay and browse but weren't able to since the dirver was meeting us on a busy street. I think the highlight was the view from the Virgin Mary statue at the top of the hill (I"m forgetting the official name). Being in Santiago when the prostests were happeneing was definiately an interesting experience, it's unfortunate to not be able to stay directly downtown, but I also understand from saftey and ambiance feel.

I'm assuming with the Fjords this is the more about the Australis cruise we took. The cruise was wonderful, we were glad it wasn't more than four days, but that was a nice amout of time to spend cruising through the Fjords, getting out and hiking a bit as well as making our way to Cape Horn. The excursions were nice, we did the high exertion hikes each time and even those were not that strenuous, but it allowed us to get away from the bigger crowded and have more personalised attention from the guides. The guides on Australis weren't as personal as the ones at Tierra Patagonia. They didn't try and get to know your names, but they were still very knoweledgeable. The Pia glacier was probably my favorite part of the trip. We were able to see the glacier calfing which was an incredible site. Overall the cruise was a great way to go from Punta Areanas to Ushuia. I think the one thing that was missing for our family is that we would have loved to be a bit more active, like kayaking in some of the bays or going for longer, more strenuous hikes.

Tierra del Fuego is incredible with so many sites to see. here I will talk about our penguin tours. Our King Penguin tour was well organized from meeting the guide at the hotel to taking our short flight to our 2 hour drive to get to the penguin colony. Our guide was very knowledgeable and fun! The King Penguins were simply breath-taking. What an experience to be able to see them so close. We were happy that the guide had a spotting scope as it allowed us to get some even better pictures with our phones through the scope. Our second penguin tour from Ushuia to Martillo Island was amazing. We really didn't know what to expect and were tired so were a little daunted by the 1 hour 45 minute drive, but it was well worth it. To be able to walk amongst the Gentoo, Magellanic and one lone King Penguin was such an amazing experience one that we will not soon forget. I was very happy to also see that the estanica took conservation seriously and it wasn't an island filled with tourists. they took care to only have 12-15 of us on the island at a time and were clear on the rules. The ropes helped us keep our distance so as not to disturbed the nesting birds too much. I was also pleasantly surprised by the research efforts going on at the museum and the volunteer program with the skeletons. What an experience to share that with our two teenage sons who are both intersted in marine biology and conservation. Who knows, maybe one of them will end up volunteering there for a month one summer!

What a fun city! I wish we would have more time to explore the city and perhaps even have had an organized tour. But by the end of our trip we were ready for just some down time. It always takes us a bit of time to get used to places being closed in the afternoon or not opening up until noon. But once our Palermo neighborhood woke up it was such a fun place to explore! We were very happy to have stayed there. We were a little disappointed that we didn't think about making reseravtions at one of the top steak houses in town. Many of them were booked up for the next couple of months. That may be something for Swoop to share with folks going to Buenos Aires or to help them make reservations. But that being said, the steak house that our hotel recommended was wonderful, the best bottle of Malbec I have ever had (also the most expensive).

Thank you so much for your dedication to making our trip magical every step of the way! We will definiately recommend you to our family and friends!

Layers are the key to stay on top of Patagonian weather! Waterproof rain jacket and pants are a must even if the weather looks nice. It can change in an instant!

This trip has made us want to spend more time in Patagonia as well as save up for a visit to Antarctica! Getting to Cape Horn was amazing, but now we want to go even farther!

You did an amazing job and we couldn't have asked for more! Thank you so much!