Chile was a very mixed experience. It is one of the richest countries in South America and some say it is more European than South American. We were looking forward to a more familiar mentality, but we experienced the Chilean people to be unfriendly or only interested in cheating us at several occasions. It turned out some of the bad experiences was due to the fact that we were travelling with two Israelis, but other times it was simple because..? We argued several times with employees different places, which we hadn’t experienced anywhere else. When we met the locals in the country, they were often hospitable and friendly which counterbalanced the many bad experiences. We rented a car in Santiago along with Eran and Gali from Israel and travelled down through Chile and Argentina, crossing the border a few times. After visiting Ushuaia in Argentina we split in El Calefate. Julie and I continued to Buenos Aires and Eran and Gali went back to Chile. Chile is incredibly beautiful. It was the most expensive country we visited, so we decided to camp out in the open. It was indescribable beautiful and an experience I’ll never forget. Torres Del Paine must be one of the most beautiful places on earth and scenery changes every day. Some days the trekking was pretty hard, but it was always worth it!

Visit as many parks in Chile as possible (they are wonderful and almost turist-free - except ofcouse Torres Del Paine):

Parque Nacional Conguillío
Parque Nacional Huerquehue
Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta
Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Pucón (Parque Nacional Villarrica)

- Generally the turists pay a lot more to enter the parks than the locals. The entrance fees are not really cheap ($8-20 p.p) and to reach most parks you need a car. We rented a truck for 4 people in Santiago. We spent about four dayes in Santiago to find the right offer and we got really lucky. We found a small family owned company, who didn't lie and who rented the car including insurances, permission to cross the border etc. for less than $50 a day. We also bought tents etc. in Santiago (CHEAP) and went out into the open land. Many places we just camped out in the open, but the camping grounds are often of pretty good standars (the locals like to camp as well) and normally they charge $3-6 p.p. or per tent tu camp. In the free you can do it for free (Clean Up!) or you can chose to stay with private families (ask around - cheap, cozy and personal).

For me, renting a car is the only way really to see Chile!