South America

Rupert C Percy

There is a bunch of us (10 lads) headin to South America next month. Flying into Rio and making our way across to Santiago in Chile over a 7 week period. Planning on going to Ilha Grande, Igauza Falls, Montevideo, Bueno Aires and various other towns/cities in Argentina (Rosario, Mendoza, Cordoba etc). We have nothing set in concrete at the moment.
Any advice/suggestions would be very welcome (recommendations regarding hostels, restaurants, nightlife and general activities etc). Also places to avoid and possible hazards/hinderences would be useful.
Cheers.

Aura

Ah ya can't miss Bolivia. You can fly to Salta in the north of Argentina from BA and then bus it to the border from where you get a train to Uyuni in Bolivia. You can do a three day jeep trek across the Salt Flats "Salar de Uyuni" then to cross into San Pedro in Chile which is very laid-back but if you can swing it at all time wise you have to head north to La Paz. I'm back a few weeks and would go back in the morning if I could. It's crazy, hectic, frantic and ridiculously cool! BA is brilliant too so leave some time for that. Didn't make it to Mendoza but heard good things.

I'm green!

How Strange

OP, how long are you going for? That will determine your itinerary. Regarding travelling around Argentina, it can be quite frustrating to get one from place to another and you might find you have to get a bus to a different place and get a bus from there.

Mendoza is nice and there's lots of trekking and adventure things to do from there, Buenos Aires is great and Igauza is fabulous. If you are going to be in Argentina for any length of time then go to the glaciers in the south. You can get a flight from Buenos Aires and do two single day tours to see the Moreno and then go out on a boat to see the other glaciers. It would be a shame to get that far and not see them.

Bolivia is great too but imo travelling to where Aura suggested would take a week or a little more. Also, that train journey is supposed to be absolutely freezing as you gaining altitude as well so you'd have to bring fleeces, sleeping bags etc.

To do all this comfortably, including the Brazilian part, would take 6 weeks especially if you're including Bolivia and then going into Chile to cross back into Argentina by bus over the Andes. You don't want to spend all your time in buses travelling and you want to be able to spend a few days in each place.

*edit* I see you said you are there for 7 weeks. I'd say you'd jus have enough time to do all this but you'll have a packed schedule. Are you going from Rio to Argentina and from Argentina to Chile? That's the most logical way to travel. Domestic flights are cheap but international flights can be expensive enough. Anyway, good luck. If you want any specific info PM me.

Rupert C Percy

Thanks for the input lads. As I say, our general route is what I descibed in the first post. We dont want to make to rigid a plan, just want to go with the flow. We are going to be busing it all the way. I realise some of these trips can be extremely long. That is why I am trying to find cool places to stop off in between the major cities.
As anyone been to Montevideo? For some reason, I really want to check it out. I think we can get a ferry pretty much direct to BA from there, so it would be fairly handy. Are the steaks in Argentina all there cracked up to be (if so i cant wait)?

Aura

If you're planning on heading to Salta which is worth the trip then it'd add 4 days to do Salt Flats in total ( 3d trek & 1 d for getting there) but yeah if you're not doing elsewhere in Bolivia then I'd probably stick to Argentina only too and check out Cordoba and Mendoza. That train btw was actually really enjoyable. Yeah the altitude is a factor but only in that your beer fizzes like mad when you open it. Didn't find it too cold at all!

jrar

Not sure if it's still running or not, but if you go to La Paz, consider the LP to Arica (Chile) train trip - takes the guts of a day, dropping from serious altitude all the way down to the Pacific coast, but the scenery (ranging from salt flats, altiplano. desert, mountain rivers, lunar-like rockscapes to greener elements nearer the bottom etc.) are breath-taking.

Did it 12 years ago and as a rail journey enthusiast, I'd rate it up there as the best I've been on

PunyHuman

Yes, the steaks in Argentina are the best I've ever had. Prepare yourself for a meatfest. Three course meal with wine for less than ten euro. Marvelous.

Regarding Montevideo, it's a nice enough place; I was there for three days and there was enough to keep me interested. The ferry only takes a few hours from Puerto Madero in BsAs.

Be careful in Rio. Everyone I met there had been mugged or robbed. Myself included. Happened mostly in Copacabana and around. If there are ten of you then I suppose it should be fine. I recommend staying in Ipanema, anyway. There are plenty of hostels and (relatively) cheap hotels.

A memorable thing to do in Rio is to go clubbing in one of the sweatbox discos in the favelas. There are local lads around in the bars who'll drive you there and back and try to make sure you don't get killed while you're there.

Meathlass

PunyHuman wrote:

Yes, the steaks in Argentina are the best I've ever had. Prepare yourself for a meatfest. Three course meal with wine for less than ten euro. Marvelous.

Regarding Montevideo, it's a nice enough place; I was there for three days and there was enough to keep me interested. The ferry only takes a few hours from Puerto Madero in BsAs.

Be careful in Rio. Everyone I met there had been mugged or robbed. Myself included. Happened mostly in Copacabana and around. If there are ten of you then I suppose it should be fine. I recommend staying in Ipanema, anyway. There are plenty of hostels and (relatively) cheap hotels.

A memorable thing to do in Rio is to go clubbing in one of the sweatbox discos in the favelas. There are local lads around in the bars who'll drive you there and back and try to make sure you don't get killed while you're there.

I wouldn't bother going to Montevideo, not much to see and not a patch on Buenos Aires. You could easily spend a week in BA just exploring stuff. On the way from Igazu to BA I recommend stopping off at the Jesuit ruins on the Paraguay border, it's on the direct bus route. Name escapes me at the moment. Rio is great, stay in Ipanema though. Make sure you go on a favela tour (www.bealocal.com is a really good company which gives a lot of money back to these communities) and to a football match in the Maracana, amazing experience. Mendoza and Barlioche are good outdoor pursuits areas but quite expensive. The lake district in Chile is great, really beautiful. I recommend the salt flats tour as well, a completely different side to south american than chile, argentina and brazil. You could always go through Argentina, paraguay, into Bolivia and back down to Chile.

lydiabehan

hey guys,myself and my boyfriend are thinking of headin to SA next summer(2008).thinking of going to argentina(iguazu,BA and patagonia(as far south as weather/money allows)) , bolivia(potosi,salar de uyuni,laguna colorado etc. maybe la paz ),peru(llima,cuzco,macchu pichu,nazca lines) and then the galapagos(perhaps via quito) . would 2weeks per country be realistic?? also,if we travel by bus(except from patagonia to bolivia),stay in cheap hotels/youth hostels and budget for food etc. how much would we be looking at spending? we thought about €2000 max each ex.flights........(note: we're cheap ass students and have no prob roughing it!!) if anyone could answer those questions it'd be great!! thanks!!:)

How Strange

lydiabehan hey guys,myself and my boyfriend are thinking of headin to SA next summer(2008).thinking of going to argentina(iguazu,BA and patagonia(as far south as weather/money allows)) ,

That could be done in two weeks but you would have to take internal flights to at least one of the destinations. You could get bus from BA to Iguazu (10hrs I think) and bus back to BA and then flight to Patagonia. By bus I think it takes a few days because its usually broken up along the way. Another option is to look into taking a tour from BA to Patagonia so you are seeing things on the way.

bolivia(potosi,salar de uyuni,laguna colorado etc. maybe la paz ),

This could definitely be done within two weeks. Where are you planning to start from? Peru? It would make most sense to get bus from Puno or Cocacobana (sp) to La Paz and then get the standard tour. Is well worth it! Are you planning to go across into Chile at the end of the tour? There is an option to go into Argentina but when I looked into it, it was very difficult. We went to Santiago with a stop over along the way for a couple of days. Got an internal flight in Chile.

peru(llima,cuzco,macchu pichu,nazca lines)

I think this might be a bit of a stretch. Are you planning on doing the 3 day trek to Macchu Pichu? I would recommend it otherwise if you arrive in a bus it just looks like another Inca site. It could be done but if you want to go to Bolivia a stopover in Puno or Cocacobana (sp) is practical because it breaks a long journey. Buse journeys can be hellish so don't go booking ones that are more than 12hrs at a time.

and then the galapagos(perhaps via quito)

Can't comment on Ecuador but IMO you should use that 2weeks to relax into your trip. AFAIK you need to go into Chile from Bolivia. As I said there is a crossing into Argentina but it is complicated. From Santiago you can bus to Argentina in 8-10hrs.

if we travel by bus(except from patagonia to bolivia)

Just saw this. Have you any idea of distance in SA? The flight from BA to Patagonia is over two hours. That's like flying to France. Also I don't think this route is possible. You would have to stay over in different places and make lots of bus connections. That alone would take 2 weeks. Travelling by bus can be frustrating because you might have to go out of your way to make a connection to another place.

how much would we be looking at spending? we thought about €2000 max each ex.flights........(note: we're cheap ass students and have no prob roughing it!!)

It depends. I'd say for 8 weeks you should have €2500 and you should consider some internal flights especially if you really want to fit that itinerary into your timeframe. If you don't go out drinking every night and you don't do lots of tours and take the cheap buses everywhere then €2k might get you through but bring a little extra to treat yourself to tours and even a decent hotel once in a while to clean yourself up.

Hope this helps. BTW, the thorntree forum on the lonely planet website is excellent. You'll find threads answering all your queries there. PM me if you have any more queries and I'll see if I can help