Wayne Bernhardson first traveled to Patagonia in 1979, visiting both Chile and Argentina as far as Tierra del Fuego, the uttermost part of the earth, and has returned to the region almost every year since 1990. He also spent a year walking, sailing, and flying around the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and had the pleasure of revisiting them to research this book. He owns an apartment in Buenos Aires, near the Palermo botanical gardens, and spends four to five months in the Southern Cone countries every year.

Wayne earned his PhD in geography at the University of California, Berkeley, but abandoned academia for a perpetual Latin American road trip that many university faculty envy. He is the author of Moon Handbooks to Argentina, Chile, and Buenos Aires, and has written for magazines and newspapers including Trips, the San Francisco Chronicle, the American Geographical Society's Focus, Business Traveler, Dupont Registry Tampa Bay, Postcards, National Geographic Traveler, Latin Trade, and Travel Holiday. He often gives slide lectures on destinations he covers in his books.

When not in South America, Wayne resides in Oakland, California, with his wife, María Laura Massolo; their daughter, Clio Bernhardson-Massolo; and their Alaskan malamute, Malbec (named for Argentina's signature red wine).