Chile or Argentina in May?

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D. Nelson Altamirano

I've been to both Chile and Argentina, so I might have some ideas... I don't know how long you're gonna be there, but if you like beautiful landscapes Chile south of Santiago is just beautiful. Very remote places, gorgeous "lake district" and south of Pto. Montt you can find cold rainforest (a week's drive from Santiago if you take a lot of time). There are some tourist places like PucÃ³n where Chileans and foreigners meet, but it's pretty touristy.
My advice would be to rent a pickup truck (Nissan and Toyota trucks are common there) in Santiago (Hertz have a good offer), take a tent and drive around. Get off the paved roads and you will utterly enjoy it. Buses are available but you can't get off the main roads! And in Chile buses are very much of an... adventure sometimes. The people in Chile are unbelievably helpful and open, there is literally no crime outside the cities - no robberies, even wild camping is toally safe (although not officially legal, but nobody cares as long as you don't harrass people). Camping on lakes and the shore is fully acceptable, everybody does it.
Unfortunately food is one of the lowlights, one sort of bread, one brand of cheese, little canned food for travelling around with (apart from canned fish)

Argentina would propably see you starting in Buenos Aires, which is a great city (compared to the rather dull Santiago). The food is just heavenly and much cheaper than in Chile. Around Bs As you will find loads of agriculture, nothing special. The south is filled with wide pampa, a windy, barren and lonely place, but impressive to see. The north west has impressive landscapes, but much bigger distances than Chile. And more paved roads, which means less fun driving ;-)
Camping is not possible everywhere thanks to many fences and just little nice spots but still possible.

The Andes are just wicked, if you have the time go into the Altiplano, across one of the 4000+ m mountain passes. Be sure to get up slowly to give you and the kids the chance to adapt to the altitude. And get a turbocharged car, all others don't have power in the thin air.

In general: Chile is more up to a european/US standard, A. is still recovering from the economical crash. The countryside is still very "simple" in both countries.

bcn_mimosa

Argentina..

I hate Hillary Clinton

Go to Argentine.
It's a lovely country.

Alfredster

In Argentina you would not feel so different because of the population and the western/occidental influence. However, if youâ€™re coming to south America looking for a country more similar to a common Latin American country, Chile is more similar to those.

the answer is within you

that's fall for both of those countries but the weather varies depending on latitude and altitude. argentina is awesome. it's a very european country. the people all have white skin and like to sit in cafes loudly discussing wine and politics. chileans are more meztizo (indian blood) but even they feel european compared with, say, peru. if you like the outdoors, san pedro de atacama in chile is in my opinion about the most incredible place on earth! otherwise, buenos aires is the place to go. truly one of the great cities of the world!

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