Argentina-Patagonia - The Planning

I had always wanted to go to Argentina to see the mountains and of course Iguazu falls. This year is the year!

I searched for a company that could plan for me since I don't speak Spanish. I was hoping they would make a tour for me from Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. I looked for a bunch of the standard companies but they were not able to provide extensions to BA and IF. I kept searching and found this company called Say Hueque (pronounced Saai Huaykay). The lady, Melina, said there was a tour going in March if I wanted to join a solos tour. Perfect! It would be a small group of 15 people. And they can provide me extensions for BA and IF. Also great! 

The tour itself starts from El Calafate and was about $3500 but that excluded getting to El Calafate from BA. Then I will have to fly back to BA and then to IF. They will make the reservations for me, air, hotel, transfers from airport. All would come around $6000. Sounds good to me. This does not include travel from USA. That is fine. I can do those.

So it was done! I paid 60% in Jan and the rest in March. So I am all set. The program is as follows:

21 March - Depart for BA,
22 - arrive BA,
23 - spend in BA,
24 - leave for El Calafate where the tour starts
24-2 April - Patagonia tour: El Calafate to El Chaltein to El Calafate to Puerto Natales (Chile) and back to El Calafate.
2 April - leave for BA after tour, reach IF same day
3-4 - Iguazu Falls
5-6 - BA and back to USA.

I booked my flight using Travelocity from West Palm Beach. I went to Houston to Buenos Aires and same route back (about $1000). Next time for South America I should book from Miami. One mistake I made was that I was supposed to book flight back on 5th but booked it for 6th, so ended up spending one more day in BA which actually worked out perfectly.

Argentina Map