# South America?



## beejaybeeohio (Nov 21, 2017)

Has anyone ever traded to Argentina &/or Chile?  I modified an Ongoing Search with RCI that has been in place for several months already eliminating the previous search for New England for fall of 2018 to specific March weeks in 2019.  Wondering if anyone has ever traded into a resort in either of those countries via RCI....


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## vikingsholm (Nov 22, 2017)

beejaybeeohio said:


> Has anyone ever traded to Argentina &/or Chile?  I modified an Ongoing Search with RCI that has been in place for several months already eliminating the previous search for New England for fall of 2018 to specific March weeks in 2019.  Wondering if anyone has ever traded into a resort in either of those countries via RCI....


We had a fantastic month long trip to Argentina a few years ago. We used 3 week-long exchanges through II in Patagonia, plus a week of hotel stays in Buenos Aires split with a few days down in the icefields in the far south of the country. So I can't speak about RCI units, but can give you some tips on II units and Argentina in general.

Our trip was from mid December to mid January, which is the equivalent of mid June to mid July in North America. The weather was mostly sunny and very nice in Patagonia in the mountains, though a bit cool and windy at times, and not too hot yet in Buenos Aires. We stayed a week at Apart del Lago in Bariloche in the southern part of lake Nahuel Huapi, and two weeks in Villa la Angostura in the northern part of the same lake. The two weeks in Villa la Angostura were one at Bahia Manzano and one at Bahia Montana, which are run by the same company and located only a mile or two apart.

In all three of these timeshares we had fantastic upper level balcony views over the lake, which is as spectacular as any alpine lake in Europe. The units tend to be larger than a lot of the European alpine timeshares in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria that we've stayed at as well. Not as luxurious as Marriotts or Hyatts, but still pretty nice.

If you go, there are a few things to be aware of. Less English is spoken than in Europe, though still plenty of people do speak it at least basically. So brush up on simple Spanish if you need to. The people were really friendly and our interactions with them were typically very enjoyable. You also need to purchase a reciprocity voucher to enter the country, before you leave the US. They charge foreigners much higher prices for flights within Argentina than they charge residents, and we had to make a few of those. One other thing - public laundries are hard to find in Patagonia - we had to have the timeshare send them out for cleaning at a pretty steep price.

Drives are long within the country, and lots of gravel/dirt roads off the main throughways, so flights between Patagonia and Buenos Aires were necessary. But it's best to rent a car in Patagonia so you can explore far and wide. We rented one for 3 weeks from the Bariloche airport, but did not use one in Buenos Aires or at the icefields where we took a bus tour. We walked through a lot of the heart of Buenos Aires, and hired a guide to drive us to outlying areas one day. She gave us a great tour of areas we wouldn't have seen otherwise. We found excellent restaurants throughout our travels there, often with stunning lake views in Patagonia. We could walk or take a bus to the 3 different nearby brewpubs (up to a mile at most) from our timeshare in Bariloche, and the town of Villa la Angostura has a nice walkable mountain town feel with many restaurants and pubs.

All in all, one of our better and more unique foreign excursions to be sure, but it takes a bit more effort than areas that speak English more commonly.


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## Steve Fatula (Feb 26, 2018)

This is an old message, but we traded into Chile and on the same trip, stayed at the Marriott hotel at Iguazu falls, beautiful place. In Chile, we stayed at 
Hippocampus Vina del Mar Resort. Great place. Chile seems to be the most modern and "richest" of the S American countries. When we were there, didn't find a lot of English speakers though! And we don't speak Spanish, but it was fun. Some wonderful scenery.


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## PClapham (Jan 16, 2019)

Steve Fatula said:


> This is an old message, but we traded into Chile and on the same trip, stayed at the Marriott hotel at Iguazu falls, beautiful place. In Chile, we stayed at
> Hippocampus Vina del Mar Resort. Great place. Chile seems to be the most modern and "richest" of the S American countries. When we were there, didn't find a lot of English speakers though! And we don't speak Spanish, but it was fun. Some wonderful scenery.


We are leaving for iguazu next week!  What kind of clothing did you see people wear and what did you take?  We go from there to BA then to Patagonia and Santiago- really different climes so very hard to plan.
Thanks
Anita


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## Steve Fatula (Jan 16, 2019)

PClapham said:


> We are leaving for iguazu next week!  What kind of clothing did you see people wear and what did you take?  We go from there to BA then to Patagonia and Santiago- really different climes so very hard to plan.
> Thanks
> Anita



When we were there, very hot and humid, probably 90+, tropical rainforest. Might depend on the time of year, mostly American style shorts and t shirts is what we wore. The Brits wore what they normally wear, etc. i.e., didn't worry about it, at Iguazu the idea was comfort! Hopefully it will be a good year for water down there, the falls are fantastic, love to hear back what you thought. It is a great memory. Be prepared for a lot of walking. English at Iguazu was no issue since there's a Marriott hotel right there if needed. 

You will definitely not have the same climate in Patagonia, lol! Not sure what you can do about that, probably nothing. Will just have to be different clothes.


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## moonstone (Jan 16, 2019)

I know its not where you are asking about, but our oldest DS & wife are vacationing in Cartagena Colombia right now. The vacation package was purchased through Air Canada (they don't like AI's), but can be booked directly. When they checked in DS sent me a message that they were staying in a timeshare that has an RCI plaque in the lobby awarding them Gold Crown status again last year. They are at the Hotel Almirante (RCI #4370) and say it is beautiful. The units are just hotel rooms with no kitchens but there are 3 restaurants, a pizza place and a casino right in the building. The hotel is right on the beach on a peninsula just south of the city. They have an ocean view room that they can also look to the side and see the downtown area.

DS is amazed as how much there is to do in and around the area and how interesting it is. We had previously thought of the area as a huge drug cartel area and had no idea it was so nice until our DD went to an AI resort on the edge of town 2 years ago. Her photos and stories convinced her brother that he needed to visit.

~Diane


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