Among hot-blooded and ice-cold adventurers

To really understand the city, you should do as the locals, the porteños, do: sit down in one of the many sidewalk cafés and observe the most exciting thing about a city of millions - the people.

But also visit the artists' district of San Telmo, La Boca, a neighborhood dominated by Italian immigrants, Recoleta, where Evita Peron's grave is located in the cemetery, and one of the many haciendas where the legend of the mate-drinking gauchos is still perpetuated today.

Santiago de Chile is the metropolis between mountains and sea. To approach Santiago, it is worth, with a certain distance, to admire the city from the top of Cerro San Cristóbal.

At the foot of the white statue of the Virgin Mary you have the best overview. Once back down, you may find the scenery familiar: Spanish-style arcades, a spruced-up palace there, a bit further a modern mirror-glass tower next to the neoclassical cathedral.

Make your way to the Plaza de Armas, surrounded by old town houses. Here you are in the eye of the hurricane: while the hustle and bustle of the city of millions reigns all around, here the people fall into a languid pace, no one lets themselves be disturbed. Chess players, shoe shiners, even a string quartet.

The perfect contrast to the sea of houses in Santiago de Chile is the maritime gem of Valparaíso. The city of 45 hills confuses with an intricate web of small alleys and delights with its charming harbor flair of Victorian corrugated iron architecture.

Here, let your eyes wander over the ship-speckled bay...breathtaking!

Starting in the charming colonial city of Salta, you will travel with your private guide in a jeep on a route into Chile that few travelers have ever seen.

It is probably no exaggeration to say that this is the most breathtaking border crossing South America has to offer. You will pass the legendary route of the "Tren a las Nubes".

The destination of this stage is San Pedro in the heart of the Atacama Desert. The mystical Atacama is the driest desert in the world with its huge salt lakes, vast lava fields, massive volcanoes and bubbling geysers.

The air here is so pure that during the day the sky is the purest blue and the nights are filled with the clearest starry skies.

In the middle of this desert, at the northern end of the Salar de Atacama, lies like a small oasis the small town of San Pedro de Atacama, where the staff of your hotel will pamper you in the coming days.

From the Chilean port of Punta Arenas, the expedition ship "Stella Australis" departs for Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world in the Argentinean part of Tierra del Fuego.

The voyage leads through the unique, labyrinthine fjord landscape of the sunken peaks of the Andes, past mighty glaciers that push their ice masses into the sea in front of them, islands and untouched, dense virgin forests.

Expert expedition guides provide information at sea and on land about the flora and fauna on this legendary route at the edge of the world. Set out on motorized inflatable boats for daily excursions ashore to explore the home of elephant seals, Magellanic penguins and cormorants.

A shore excursion (weather permitting) at Cape Horn, at the mystical southern tip of the American continent where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans merge, is another highlight of this adventure.

The grand finale of this impressive journey through Argentina and Chile will be at lively El Calafate, in the middle of Los Glaciares National Park, where you will see Perito Moreno, the world's only glacier that is not retreating but still gaining land.