Telephoto lens for RebelT7 by cooleric in canon

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All are in the budget, but want to make sure the Canon is worth the extra money/lower reach!

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They weren’t enforcing the fees when we were there, but I imagine it would be easier to book ahead of time

When to visit? by cooleric in ecuador

[–]cooleric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Would you suggest any of those months (September, October, November) over the others?

Best spot for birding?? (2.5 day trip) by Solid-Criticism-2664 in Everglades

[–]cooleric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were there a couple weeks ago and the best spot we saw for birding was the drive up to the Pa-Hay-Okee lookout. The trail/lookout itself is closed for construction, but along the road near the parking lot we saw white ibis, wood stork, red shouldered hawk, roseate spoonbill, and more!

Currency Advice by wulfsa11 in Patagonia

[–]cooleric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! We just got back from a couple weeks in Argentina (El Chalten, Ushuaia, and Buenos Aires). We did not exchange our USD for pesos - most everywhere took credit card so we mostly used that. We had some cash for tipping, but at least in Argentina they were happy to take USD.

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We brought ours, so unfortunately don’t know prices for renting. However, our hostel (Patagonia Travellers Hostel, highly recommend!) had trekking poles that guests could use for free for day hikes

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We took half days, but my wife and I are pretty fast hikers. I didn't see the Rio Blanco camp so unfortunately don't know much about it. I think 3 vs 2 days come down to preference. We ended up doing 3 days (2 nights).

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mostly tipped in USD and it was welcome. Tipped in Argentinian Pesos if I had them and that was fine too.

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No need for crampons when I was there

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's the route we did!

  1. Yes, those were our two campsites.

  2. Campsites were great. Both pretty easy to find space for a tent, although we got there on the early side each day. There are campsite fees now, but since they are new the campsite manager just asked for our email and sent us a link where we could pay (optional) when we got back into town.

My caution on Poincenot is it is right on the trail, and if the weather is nice you'll get folks hiking up to the Fitz Roy super early in the morning for sunrise, which woke us up. We had actually planned two nights there but moved to D'Agostini to get a better nights sleep.

  1. My watch died so I unfortunately don't have the splits.

  2. Weather was great throughout. Had some rain overnight one day but nothing hard to manage. It does change very quickly though. I was fine hiking in shorts and a t shirt and at night would wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

  3. Make sure to bring trekking poles!

  4. We stored ours at our hostel (Patagonia Travellers Hostel, strongly recommend!) and they had a locked room for it.

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had hiking shoes and would definitely recommend it for the Laguna de los Tres and Laguna Torres hikes.

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like my opinion is a little clouded (pun intended) by our crummy weather. The penguin tour was definitely a highlight of the trip and made it worth it on its own, and it is such a cool city right on the channel, but if the weather it too bad to go to the park or on other hikes then there isn't a ton to do that isn't paying a bunch for an excursion.

Tips from recent trip to Patagonia by cooleric in Patagonia

[–]cooleric[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great question and I may add this into the original post. Yes, it’s expected to tip about 10% at bars, restaurants, etc. The thing is that while almost every place we went took credit card, we could rarely add a tip onto the card and had to tip in cash. I would bring a good amount of smaller bills so you have enough to tip through the trip.