12th March to 2nd Apil 2011

We will meet at Puerto Montt airport at 14.00 on 12/03/11 for the transfer to the Andes Lodge on Seno de Reloncavi, a Pacific fjord, where our Chilean horses will be waiting for us. We will ride up the Rio Puelo, cross the border and on 15/03/11 take a boat across Lago puelo to where our Argentine horses will be waiting for us. We will then cross Argentina more or less in a straight line through El Maiten, Gastre, Gan Gan and Telsen, before finishing at Estancia San Guillermo at Puerto Madryn with a gallop along the beach of the Atlantic Coast amongst the sea lions and penguins on 01/04/11. We will provide a transfer to Trelew airport in time for the 08.00 flight to Buenos Aires.

We stay in the most comfortable accommodation available. However on 12 of the nights there is no choice but to camp. There will be 2 vehicles backing us up, organizing the campsites and cooking, having chemical toilets and hot showers ready when we arrive. We will stay at simple hotels in Llanado Grande, Urutier, Gastre, Gan Gan and Telsen (definitely not luxury but the showers are a step up from the ones we will have on the back of the horse trailer!) Andes Lodge where we start, Estancia San Guillermo where we finish and the hotel in El Maiten are very comfortable.

We aim to have 2 horses each. The spare horses will be sent ahead to wait for us. We will be changing mounts every 3 or 4 days, so as to keep the horses as fresh as possible. We will be covering an average of 40 to 50 kms a day. Most days are about 8 hours riding.

The Chilean side is rain forest similar to the Chilean side of our Cross the Andes trips; the Argentine side is desert. But it is remarkable how much the scenery changes through the desert!

It is a great adventure but participants need to be able to ride and to be riding fit - really riding fit! They also need to enjoy just riding. The first few days in Chile the terrain is difficult and we go mostly at a walk but once we cross the Andes the going becomes easier and we go as fast as we sensibly can given the distance the horses have to cover.

Also, I think anyone joining this trip must understand that an adventure is really only an adventure when recounted afterwards - at the time it is usually a major problem!

Come and join us for the trip of a lifetime!