After being closed for more than 21 months due to the COVID pandemic, Chile finally re-opened its land borders with Argentina in January of 2022 and we were free to hit the road. After so much idle time, we were excited to put some miles on our truck and we did well, gobbling up 11,606 miles (18,678 km) in total in 2022. That road tally included comprehensive exploration of Patagonia and the very southern reaches of South America for the second time, eating our way through our favorite South American city (Buenos Aires), and finally digging into Chile’s famous Carretera Austral. Before we recap our entire 2022 road trip, here’s a look at our road trip driving route and highlights for the month of December 2022.

Leaving El Chalten in Argentinean Patagonia with Mount Fitz Roy behind us.
South American Road Trip Driving Route for December 2020 in Argentina

Part of the massive colony of burrowing parrots that I’ve around Balneario El Cóndor in Argentina.

Just a few of the famous wooden churches located in the Chiloé archipelago.

Chile’s Cochamó Valley is rightly compared to Yosemite National Park.
We then continued south, working our way down to Hornopiren where we passed a very non-event New Year’s Eve before taking a ferry to Caleta Gonzalo in Pumalin National Park on New Year’s Day.
See what we saw during our December 2022 South American road trip in Argentina and Chile in our drive-lapse video, below, shot by our dash-mounted Brinno time-lapse camera.
And check out our South American road trip driving route for December 2020, below.
South American road trip driving route 2022 recap in Argentina and Chile
First, the Chilean government announced that it would re-open land borders in November of 2021. That quickly bumped to December before sliding into January. On January 10th land borders between Argentina and Chile finally officially re-opened so we jumped into our truck on January 11, crossed the Los Libertadores border pass from Mendoza into Chile, and suddenly we were free to travel outside of Argentina for the first time in nearly two years.

Lovely Osorno Volcano behind Llanquihue Lake in Chile.
The result was a kind of travel apocalypse with coastal hotels, restaurants, beaches, and roads bursting with people. So we abandoned the coast and headed for the volcanoes and lakes of the Los Rios and Los Lagos areas further south. But the Lake District area was even more packed with vacationers and the surge meant almost everything was booked and what wasn’t booked was going for jacked-up prices. Just in time, we met Rodolfo who let us hang out in his cabin outside of Pucon, one of the most famous and most crowded destinations of all, where we hid from the February madness.
With February safely behind us, we ventured forth to explore the Carretera Austral in earnest (our time on this iconic road in Southern Chile was cut short in March of 2020 as we hustled into Argentina before the pandemic closed borders). But first, we had to make a decision: Should we drive down the length of the Carretera Austral and back north again, or should we drive a bit further south and revisit the spectacular and wild Torres del Paine National Park which we loved so much the first time around?

Smart move: taking the Navimag ferry south for 1,000 miles.

Three of the 22 individual pumas we saw around Torres del Paine National Park n southern Chile.
All of that reporting meant that we didn’t leave the Torres del Paine area until early April as Patagonian winter was approaching and many parks and hostels along the Carretera Austral were closing for the season. Yet again, the Carretera Austral would have to wait…
Instead, we headed back to Argentina where we checked into the new Explora hotel in El Chalten, Argentina on assignment, then hit a few other spots in Argentinean Patagonia before returning to Chile to enjoy the Lake District without the February crowds.
By late May, winter was truly settling in, the snow line was getting lower, and most businesses were closed or closing forcing us out of Patagonia.
We decided to ditch South American winter for a brief trip back to the US to visit family and friends, then we returned to our truck and drove to Buenos Aires where we enjoyed an indulgent three months of exploring, eating, and drinking our way through the city until December arrived and we were able to begin finally exploring the places in southern Chile that we missed on our previous two trips down that way.
Third time’s a charm.
Check out our South American road trip driving route for all of 2022 in our map, below.
Here’s more about travel in Argentina
Here’s more about travel in Chile
Here’s more about Patagonia Travel
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