3 Months in South America, route

Cakeofcups

Hey!

Just looking for some advice... planning on heading to South America in August for 3 Months (13weeks-ish) starting in Bogota, Columbia and finishing in Santiago, Chile. Anyone have any advice on how long to stay each country? Or things that are not to be missed?

Thinking roughly at the minute of...

Columbia-1 wk
Ecuador-2wks (possibly incl. Galapagos)
Peru-3.5wks
Bolivia-2wks (incl. Huyana potosi mountain climb)
Argentina-2.5wks
Brazil-2wks
Chile-1wk

Thanks!

Challo

It's not a race to see as many countries as possible! Three months in South America is nothing. What research have you done so far, what appeals to you apart from H Potosi? Don't underestimate how much time it takes to get from A to B. In Argentina, Brazi, Peru, Chile - you're looking at 15-20 hours bus journeys. Honestly in three months, I'd say highlights of Argentina/Bolivia/Peru is maybe feasible. When I was planning my trip, I looked at a few routes on companies like Intrepid, Gap to get an idea of what's feasible. And you also want to leave opportunities to stay longer in places that you're enjoying, rather than a spreadsheet schedule. It doesn't make sense that you're flying in and out of West Coast but still hoping to get to Brazil and Argentina. I think you'll really have to cut back on destinations but your trip will be the better for it, don't worry!

boardie100

as mentioned already, that is way too many countries to take in in three months, you'll be travelling every couple of days and by the end wrecked and won't get enough time to spend in the places you like..... I did Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil in ten weeks and still felt a little rushed...

you're better picking three countries and taking your time..... which ones depends on what you want to see.... would you like to do the Inca Trail, see Iguazu Falls, Galapagos, salt flats, see Rio etc.

I've been to all except Chile and you'll have a great holiday no matter which ones you choose...

Plenty to see and do in each country!.... I loved every one.... Let me know if you'd like anymore info on the places i went

shane9689

in my opinion, challo is probably right. i mean 1 week for colombia and 1 week for chile?? might aswell cut them out all together. i mean think about it. 2 days to settle in atleast, and 1 day to leave. thats 3 days. leaving you just 4 days to learn about the place. 4 days is like a long weekend, for an entire country? basically youll see the city outside of the airport and not much else.
a month, or slightly less in each country is probably the best thing to do

Cakeofcups

Thanks guys, decided to start in Ecuador and basically cut out chile, although need to get to Santiago for our flight to NZ. Going to include an internal flight, or two, to free up some time!

vinylbomb

Also, a fortnight for Brazil?? Its bigger than Europe!! You could maybe see Rio and Ilha Grande in 10 days, then do a whistle stop in Sao Paolo.
Better to scratch Brazil altogether though, unless you're flying- the bus distances are massive.

A couple of other points - The Huayna Potosi climb takes about 4 days, but its VERY tough physically, so you'll be in bed for another 2 days after it - that's one week in Bolivia gone.

Also, as previously mentioned, the bus times are MAD - for example Bogota to Quito 26hrs, Quito to Lima 20+ hrs, Lima to Cuzco 30 hrs. So you're traveling for a day, then taking 2 days to recover/settle in in each new place. Add that all up and even that little lot burns 10-14 days of your time.

BTW Dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to dissuade you from going. Far from it, South America is one of the most amazing places in the world, I loved every second of it. Its just better to give yourself a bit of time to enjoy the place as opposed to always worrying about your next bus trip ;-)

shane9689

yeah, i mean it may not look it on a map, but the place is huge...its like saying you want to spend a month in the u.s but youre taking a bus from new york to california. unless youre flying to all your destinations, travel in south america is tedious

Civilian_Target

Agree, agree! Even cutting out Chile, your plan is just far to ambitious.

For example, by bus, Rio to Buenos Aires takes at least 5 days. You've budgeted 4.5 weeks to see *the whole* of Brazil and Argentina - which is much larger than Europe, with slower, uncomfortable transportation. You'll spend half your trip trying to travel, and then you'll exhaust yourself, and abandon the second half of the plan, having wasted the first half. (Trust me, I've done that before!)

Based on geography alone, I would say either pick the east or the west, so either Brazil -> Argentina -> Chile or Columbia -> Equador -> Peru -> Bolivia -> Chile.

Civilian_Target

Also, it's worth adding that internal flights won't really fix this. If you're planning on a budget, you'll be eating and drinking local food and drinks... it takes a couple of days to adapt, during which time your body is exhausted. It's worth factoring this into your plans

Handy11

Cakeofcups wrote: »

Peru-3.5wks
Bolivia-2wks (incl. Huyana potosi mountain climb)
Argentina-2.5wks
Brazil-2wks

The posters above are pretty much on the mark about rushing through countries. It is possible to do, but don't plan on it, as South America can always throw some surprises your way. Just looking at the places you've mentioned above, I thought I'd make some comments on the time constraints and possibilities:


Peru - 3.5 weeks.

This can be done. Not in a very relaxed manner, but can be done. Say it takes you 3 days to get to Lima down the coast, you could just get straight on a bus in Lima to Nazca. Overnight there and see the lines the next day. Can stay near there another night, or overnight again to Arequipa. Nice 4 or 5 days there, with a trip out to Colca Canyon. Then short hop flight to Cuzco. I'd recommend this, as there can be a lot of delays taking buses on that road (could lose a day there handy). You'll need to be there ideally at least 4 days before you do the Inca Trail to acclimatize. I'd recomment LlamaPath to do the trail with. Excellent tour, both service-wise and ethically. Overnight bus from Cuzco to Puno and a day trip out to see the Uros Islands. Spend a night in Puno and then get a packed bus to Copacabana over the Bolivian border.

- You can see it can be done in 3 weeks, but be prepared for it to be a bit of a whirlwind trip at times. I never minded putting a couple of overnight bus trips close together, as long as I got a stretch of a few days at some of the better points (Arequipa - loved it, and Cuzco).





Bolivia - 2 weeks

You'll struggle with this, to be honest. It'll require a lot of discipline. Firstly, you'll probably want to spend a day out on Isla Del Sol at Copacabana. That's worth doing. Then there's a grand short bus (few hours) to La Paz. Here's where the discipline is needed. Stay in either Loki Hostel or the Irish Rover hostel. Both are top class, and I think the Loki beds are the best of any South American hostel. Craic is unbelievable in them, but it is a trap. We landed in La Paz intending to spend 4 days before heading for Sucre, Potosi etc. Ended up leaving over 2 weeks later with a tattoo, a mohawk, and having done the death road and Huayna Potosi. It's a weird city but you can easily get caught up in stuff there and it will delay the hell out of you. be aware that you'll have to be at Copacabana/La Paz altitude for at least 8 days before they'll allow you attempt HP. You'll need a day or so after it in La Paz as well, just to recover. If you have 2 weeks, then you'll probably have to decide between Potosi etc and HP. I'd recommend the climb. It is an incredible experience.

If you wanted to do just that in Bolivia, then you could just get the overnight bus to Uyuni (worst bus in SA for me), see the salt plains that day, and then get the overnight train for La Quiaca, on the Argentine border. You can cross there by foot into Villazon (this can take 3-5 hours depending on queues) and get a bus to Salta. Massive amount of robberies there, so watch every item you have with you. The old cholitas pick up anything they can find and just stick it in the big parcels on their backs. if you leave something down you'll never see it again.





Argentina - 2.5 weeks.

This is tough. We spent 5-6 weeks there and I'd go back and do another 10 in a heartbeat. You'll start in Salta, which is worth a day or 2, and you'll love breathing thick air again. You'll have tons of energy and you'll have a huge appetite. Restaurant there called El Viejo Jack was the best steak I've ever eaten. From Salta you'd have some options:

1 - Overnight bus to Mendoza (12-15 hours if I remember right). Mendoza is beautiful, and from there you can do all sorts - white water rafting, Mr Hugo's wine/bike tour, horse riding etc. Great city with great nightlife too. Worth at least a couple of days. Stayed in Break Point hostel and it was perfectly good, but any of the hostels down that street would be A1.

2 - from there on to Bariloche. It's like a swiss town, and it's very expensive, but it is verey beautiful. PuDu hostel there is supposed to be class. Great hikes can be done from there like the Paseo De Los Nubes hike, which takes 2 days.

3 - People talk about El Bolson as a place to see. Don't. It's sh*t. It's not the hippy commune it was, and you could easily end up trapped there for 3 days. We did.

4 - Head in BA direction and go to Cordoba. Again, worth a couple of days there.

5 - BA. You should spend a week there, or close to it. Lots to see and do. San Telmo antiques market on a sunday is (surprisingly) brilliant and really interesting to walk around. La Bomba Del Tiempo play the Konex venue on monday nights and it's not to be missed. Like a 90s rave except with this amazing samba band playing big heavy grooves. Go to a match. Recoleta Cemetery could take half a day. La Boca the same. Make this the focal point of your Argentina stay.

If you're only spending 2 weeks, then you're not going to get to see everything - you won't get to El Calafate or the Valdez Peninsula (the bus journey in between the 2 is 29 hours). Just give yourself time in BA and one other place before you take the 18 hour bus to Iguazu. You'll need at least 2 nights there because the falls will take a full day. The HI Hostel in iguazu is class - swimming pool and BBQs, the lot. Good nightclub in town too - Cuba Libre.





Brazil - 2 weeks.

This is bare bones. The only way I'd recommend 2 weeks is if you got the bus straight from Foz da Iguacu to maybe Florianopolis for a couple of days (armacao beach there is class - stay at Bells Company hostel), and then up to Paraty for a couple of days and then to Rio for the guts of a week (I was in Rio for carnivale, so I don't know what it's like normally - lots to see there). Substutute Sao Paulo for Florianopolis if you want to see it. You won't have time for anything else. Each of those buses is 12-18 hours, so travel will take up a lot of your time. You'll need to fly from Rio to santiago, as the bus journey in between the 2 would be in the 50-60 hour direction. Not worth it.





My recommendation:

1 - Leave out Brazil, and spend the extra time in Argentina. Get down to Calafate and see the Glacier. Fly back to Mendoza or BA if you can - give you more time in other places. Visit Brazil some other time, and give it proper time.

2 - Allow yourself more time for travel than is necessary. That way if you like a place you can have extra time there, and if there's bus/road/protest problems, then it won't impact on the rest of your trip. Conversely, if you don't like a place, you can just get out of there and you have more days in the bank for somewhere else.

3 - Be prepared to meet people as you travel and to end up going places you hadn't intended. I'm an avid planner, but we still stalled in Bolivia as I said above (didn't regret it, though. Didn't miss Potosi or Sucre, and had a blast in La Paz), and ended up going to Valparaiso for New Years, via Santiago, and I hadn't planned on visiting Chile at all. It can happen, just go with it.

4 - Don't feel guilty. If you want to blast through a country and see everything you can in a short space of time, then go for it. I know when I went I knew there was a possibility I'd never be back, so I wanted to see all I could. You'll burn out every now and again and need a break, but whatever you see and how much you see of it, just enjoy it. There'll be plenty you'll meet there that are on 6 months or 12 months trips, and they'll be travelling at a relaxed pace. That's fine for them. Do the trip you want to do, try to make it as realistic as possible, and then just go for it.

Handy11

For reference, in 4 months we did:

Peru (Lima, Nazca, Arequipa, Cuzco, Puno),

Bolivia (Copacabana, Isla Del Sol, La Paz, Death Road, Climbed Huayna Potosi, Uyuni - salt plains, La Quiaca),

Argentina (Villazon, Salta, Mendoza for Christmas),

Chile (Santiago, Valparaiso for new years),

Argentina again (Bariloche, hiking in paseo de Los nubes, El Bolson, Esquel, Calafate, Rio Gallegos, Puerto Madryn and Valdez Peninsula, Buenos Aires),

Paraguay (Just for one full day - Encarnacion and the Jesuit ruins, Ciudad del Este),

Argentina again (Iguazu),

And ended in Brazil (Florianopolis, Armacao beach for a few days, Paraty, Sao Paolo, Rio for Carnival)




Never felt rushed, often went off the plan, enjoyed the buses, never got too tired, had a blast. Only tip - avoid Paraguay. Sh*thole.

phatkev

Handy11 wrote: »

Bolivia - 2 weeks
then you could just get the overnight bus to Uyuni (worst bus in SA for me),

Ha couldn't agree more with this statement, worst bus journey of my life

token101

phatkev wrote: »

Ha couldn't agree more with this statement, worst bus journey of my life

It was horrific. Even at a tenner it felt like I was ripped off beyond belief.

Handy11

token101 wrote: »

It was horrific. Even at a tenner it felt like I was ripped off beyond belief.

Our driver was very drunk, and he was absolutely bombing it. Bus was weaving all over the shop and I could only sit back on one side because of a fresh shoulder tattoo. I remember nearly crying with joy when we hit Uyuni!

wicorthered

I'm just back from 5 weeks in SA. Brilliant time but have to admit I ruined it a little by trying to do too much.

I spent 2.5 weeks in Argentina and didn't see nearly enough. I'd only be getting to know a place, then I'd be off again. Bus journeys really eats into your time. It's a massive country. If you can only give 2.5 weeks here, I'd be tempted to scrap Argentina and give the time elsewhere.

My other 2.5 weeks were in Peru, which was fantastic. I could have spent another month there. Loved Arequipa but had to rush off to get to Cusco, which was even better.

The majority of travellers I met raved about Bolivia. I'm hoping to go here for a month later in the year based on the reviews I heard!!