For New Year's 2001-02 did a trip starting in Rio (GIG) for a week, from there flew GIG-IGU (Iguassu Falls on the Brazil side) on Varig, stayed a night and then went IGR-AEP (Iguazu, Argentina to Buenos Aires domestic airport) on LAPA (now LAN Argentina), spent time in Buenos Aires with family, then flew AEP-BRC on Aerolineas Argentina and did an Andes lake crossing from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Montt, Chile, and then flew PMC-SCL on LAN Chile ending with several days in Santiago.

Had amazing weather the entire trip, so if you can't make it work before end of March as folks have suggested, perhaps wait until later in the year when it starts getting warm down there again. New Year's in Rio is amazing.

For travel, did two business award seats on Delta with an open jaw: IAD-ATL-GIG and SCL-ATL-IAD. Originally had all of our intermediate flights booked on a Mercosur Air Pass, but found a better price on Varig's Brazil website at the time for the first flight - so did one that way and the other 3 on the pass.

Was just back in Brazil and Argentina this past October and had to book GRU-GIG-EZE-GRU and found the price of the airpasses had gone up - was able to do better on on TAM's website (again, better prices inside Brazil on the brazil site). Used GRU as my gateway on AA (started in NYC and was able to go direct there, came back to LAX via MIA).

On this latest trip, had poor weather in Sao Paulo but excellent weather in Rio and Buenos Aires.

The lake crossing was called Cruce de Lagos -- I think they have changed their name to Cruce Andino.

I think I paid a visa fee and a reciprocity fee for this last Brazil trip. And Argentina is definitely adding theirs (all the hotel folks in BA said their bookings past January were already slowing down because of the fee - and that was just as the market was starting to crash in early October).