South America

shakeydude

Hi All,

Just looking for a bit of advice regarding South America. I am flying into Rio in June and hope to spend 2 months in S. America going down to Buenos Aires on my own steam, then flying to Santiago and then flying out to NZ. I was just wondering on the following
!) What is the best way of getting around S America, are internal flights cheap and who are the best company to go with?? What are the buses and trains like????
2) Where is the best place to start in Rio, does any have hostels to recommend that can be prebooked on the web???
3)How much cash would you budget for in the 2 months???
4) Places to see or places to avoid like the plague???

Thanks!!!!

PunyHuman

Hi

1) I found the buses to be fine, although I did take some internal flights with TAM, Aerolieas Argentinas and Lan Chile. These were fairly cheap - approximately $100 or so from Buenos Aires to Iguazu and Asuncion to Buenos Aires. Coaches for a similar journey would be a lot cheaper, but I'd have to check the exact amount. Forget about trains; the network in SA is tiny.

2) Ipanema is the place to stay in Rio. It's much nicer than Copacabana, and there are plenty of hostels. Although I didn't stay there, Che Lagarto on Rua Paul Redfern got good reviews from folks I met, and it's certainly well situated.

3) This is difficult to answer, because I don't know your budget. Brazil and Chile are relatively expensive compared to Argentina. I spent about €2k in two months in S America but I was staying in hotels and eating steak every night.

4) Iguazu is definitely unmissable. In Rio I'd recommend the usual: the Sugarloaf, the Cristo Redentor statue, Copacabana beach etc. Try to make friends with some Brazilians to take you to a favela club. In Argentina, Buenos Aires is a fantastic city but I also really enjoyed Cordoba and Mendoza. In fact, taking the coach across the Andes to Santiago was one of my trip highlights, so I'd recommend doing that instead of flying.

Have fun.

shakeydude

Cheers for that Puny Human,

exactly what I was looking. Jez, I cant believe how cheap South America. People keep telling me how cheap it is but I was thinking about about 2000 grand and keeping it tight then. Sounds like its Argentina Steak for me all the way