Santiago

We booked an airport transfer through Vem Me Buscar the day before we left. The airport pickup was fine – driver was a bit late but timely response through WhatsApp. We did receive a handy re-usable bag and water, and were told that we would pay for both trips on the return. The next morning we were picked up on time and had an easy trip to the airport.

Puerto Natales

The airport doesn’t seem to have a reliable way to get to rental cars, so we asked our accommodation host for a ride. Bren from Pire Mapu fetched us from the airport (10K CLP one way fee) and dropped us off at the Europcar office while taking our larger bags to our room at the B&B. For the SUV return, Leandra dropped Eric off at the bus station with the bags, then headed to Europcar. It took several minutes before she could find a parking spot near the car rental place to return the car, but left herself plenty of time and had a leisurely 20 minute walk to the bus station. Rental cost wound up being less than expected, a nice surprise.

Our 3-hour bus ride on Buses Fernandez to Punta Arenas was uneventful – seats were cushy, legroom like a plane. Departed and arrived on schedule, no complaints.

Punta Arenas

Reserved a 7am taxi to the airport through our accommodation, showed up early and had a 10K CLP flat rate.

Puerto Montt

Picking up the rental car at Sixt was a bit of a pain, as there was no one at the service desk for over 20 minutes. Then we discovered if we declined insurance they would hold the ENTIRE VALUE of the car (north of 18K USD) on Leandra’s card. No mention of this ‘policy’ in the reservation notes. We wound up rebooking the car rental on the spot for about 15K pesos more to avoid drama.