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Vanilla posted:Anyone here experienced with Patagonia? Obviously it's a massive area with lots to do but it's hard finding information about the various areas and best place to start for someone who doesn't really know what they want. I lived in Santiago for 18 month. For most of Chile you can feasably travel with a cheap coach, but Patagonia definitely not, you'll need to fly to Punta Arenas. From there you can make your way to the national park with a coach. Keep in mind that March is early autumn in Chile, and it's going to be a little cold in Patagonia at that time. Especially at nights. Personally I'd find a month in Patagonia a bit much. Two weeks could be fun if you include a stay in Punta Arenas. Patagonia is not a cheap area, its one of the most expensive in Chile, because its such a popular tourist destination. I guess it depends on how much you enjoy hiking. If you choose to visit other parts of Chile, I really recommend staying some days in Santiago which is a lot of fun. The bar districts there are great (you have to try terremotos). Also its worth visiting Valparaiso which is the nearest coastal town, very popular, google images will show you why. Also a little further up north La Serena will be really nice in March. From Santiago its really easy to cross over to Mendoza in Argentina. $20 for a 9 hour bus journey city to city, Mendoza is cheap with lots of good food and good wine, and if you have time its a good place to visit.
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Oct 11, 2012 21:23
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nubdestoryer posted:I lived in Santiago for 18 month. For most of Chile you can feasably travel with a cheap coach, but Patagonia definitely not, you'll need to fly to Punta Arenas. From there you can make your way to the national park with a coach. Keep in mind that March is early autumn in Chile, and it's going to be a little cold in Patagonia at that time. Especially at nights. Thanks for the input, have noted it all down. i think for this holiday i'm going to avoid Patagonia for reasons for a few reasons i've noted a few posts up. What you have suggested is very similar to what i'm thinking of doing. I'm going to land, explore Santiago. Visit Valparasio > Mendoza > BA > Iguazu > San Miguel > over to San pedro de atacama and then up into Bolivia!
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Oct 13, 2012 09:50
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I visited Costa Rica specifically Puerto Viejo on Caribbean side. Ask me anything !!
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Oct 16, 2012 02:29
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Macunaima posted:useful stuff Thanks! I don't need office space, a quiet room should be enough. Will borrow or buy a monitor, though. And will definitely check the expats forum. As for Mendoza, I'd like to see the Andes but I don't care much about wine. Looking at the map, it's almost as far away from Buenos Aires as Asuncion is. Would a trip to Paraguay be more rewarding?
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Oct 17, 2012 00:04
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I'm off to Ecuador on Saturday for a week long riding trip at Cotopaxi. I hope I don't die of altitude sickness 
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Oct 17, 2012 00:40
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Change of plans! I just bought a ticket to Lima because the discount was good. I'd still like to go to Bs As, though. So I could spend a week or so in south Peru because that's where the interesting locations are, and then I guess a bus ride to La Paz and a plane to Bs As. How does that sound? Would it make any sense to try to go by bus all the way? Is it that much cheaper and are there interesting sights along the way?
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Oct 19, 2012 01:01
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Going from La Paz to BA by bus without going through Chile gives me pause, but looking back it says you'll be in SA for 3-6 months. It's still going to be a long trip. That sounds like a lot of fun, although that many bus miles on trecherous mountain roads sounds less fun. If I had the cash I would almost certainly fly though. The first 2-3 four hour bus rides are fun, especially in scenic areas, but bus rides get old very quickly, especially longer ones. Every hour on a bus is an hour not drinking beer in a restaurant*, which is what you came there to do. *or whatever your activity of choice is
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Oct 19, 2012 02:02
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Doctor Malaver posted:Change of plans! I just bought a ticket to Lima because the discount was good. I'd still like to go to Bs As, though. So I could spend a week or so in south Peru because that's where the interesting locations are, and then I guess a bus ride to La Paz and a plane to Bs As. How does that sound? You could take the bus from Lima to Arequipa to Cuzco/Lake Titicaca and then on to La Paz or some variation of that. Afterwards, you'd probably want to bus to Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, possibly Tarija, and then across the border into northern Argentina (Salta). I can't comment on the rest of the trip, but I don't think it would be that difficult to continue on from their to Buenos Aires. There will be some long bus rides in there (Lima to Arequipa, La Paz to Sucre, but it's certainly feasible if you have the time and patience. If you want to make some of the legs easier, you could fly in country. La Paz to Sucre will be a 12+ hour overnight bus ride, but you could drop ~$60 and fly it in an hour on one of the national airlines. Probably a $40 difference between the bus and flight. You could also do Lima-Cuzco (if you don't want to go to Arequipa) and save yourself some time, but it will be more expensive (circa $120, I'd wager).
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Oct 19, 2012 18:20
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Hadlock posted:you'll be in SA for 3-6 months. Only 2 months. I guess that means La Paz > Bs As by plane. Thesaurus posted:good advice Thanks to both! I didn't even know Cuzco has an airport. What about Arequipa? And what is internet connection through mobile phone like? I will have to work throughout most of these 2 months so it would be sweet if I could go on overnight comfy bus rides to work on my netbook and sleep.
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Oct 19, 2012 19:50
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Arequipa does indeed have an airport with daily flights to Lima, and I think Cuzco and Juliaca (near Lake Titicaca). I don't know about mobile data connections but I was in Perú in July, and a few of the people I was with mainly relied on wi-fi for their internet needs.
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Oct 19, 2012 21:16
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Flying in to Cuzco is worth it just for the landing. How they managed to squeeze an airport in to that tiny, steep valley, I'll never know. The FAA would never allow something like that, but they do probably 40+ flights a day with zero incidents, so... Sorry for the poor quality, this was shot on a 2008 era consumer grade point and shoot (or maybe even my blackberry) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qneEEKFPaCY I'm from a flatlander state so this might be more impressive to someone like me.
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Oct 19, 2012 23:03
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Hey guys, my friend and I have recently started looking for tickets to SA and I was hoping that you guys could help me find some good prices. We'll be leaving from New Jersey (or the surrounding area) to the Jose Maria Cordoba airport in Medellin, Colombia. The date we'd like to leave would be December 19, 2012 but that can be pretty flexible. Our ideal price would be 600-800$ish and the maximum price would be 1100$ish. So far I've been checking Spirit, Avianca, American, and Taca airlines. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
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Oct 21, 2012 20:56
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Razor Ramon posted:Hey guys, my friend and I have recently started looking for tickets to SA and I was hoping that you guys could help me find some good prices. Try using matrix.itasoftware.com. You are trying to fly during the holiday peak travel season, so expect to pay more than you might during the off season. Also you didn't specify how long you wanted to stay so it's difficult for me to come up with a good price estimate, but it looks like it's going to run you about $1000 round trip for a one week stay.
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Oct 21, 2012 21:05
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Razor Ramon posted:Hey guys, my friend and I have recently started looking for tickets to SA and I was hoping that you guys could help me find some good prices. Consider flying into Fort Lauderdale (or MIA), and catching a Spirit flight from Fort Lauderdale. FLL is their hub in the US, and you can often find stupidly-cheap fares to Colombia (I've had as little as $59 each way to Colombia). If you're flexible, check flights into Cartagena, Barranquilla, and Bogota on Spirit too. They are utterly awful as far as service, but the flight from FLL is only about two hours. Bear in mind that MDE is in Rionegro, which is a fair distance from Medellin's downtown and Poblado (where you'll probably be staying in Medellin). Is your price range for a round-trip? Coming back, give yourself a LOT of time between your first and second legs, if the first one is Spirit and the second on another carrier. You can usually find reasonable direct fares out of JFK on Avianca too, which hasn't struck me as terrible in the past.
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Oct 21, 2012 21:21
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If you are flexible, you might try flying down on the 24th or 25th. I was in BA dec 23-28th and that was a huge mistake. Unlike the US, Argentina takes their religious holidays very seriously. The city felt half full (half the stores were closed) on the 24th and other than some of the largest corner stores, the city was completely shut down on the 25th. Some things were open on the 26th but the city wasn't fully spun up again until the 27th. Personally I would rather travel on those "dead" holidays than be stuck there trying to find something to do those days. I paid around $580 return (dog-leg ticket) from BA->MIA->DFW. It's a 5000 mile flight(roughly) so most of your ticket is going towards the fuel cost I suspect. $59 tickets are awesome, but in those cases you're just buying extra capacity on a mostly booked flight and are probably pretty rare. Worth checking out if you can grab one though. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Oct 21, 2012 |
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Oct 21, 2012 22:48
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Hadlock posted:If you are flexible, you might try flying down on the 24th or 25th. I was in BA dec 23-28th and that was a huge mistake. Unlike the US, Argentina takes their religious holidays very seriously. The city felt half full (half the stores were closed) on the 24th and other than some of the largest corner stores, the city was completely shut down on the 25th. Some things were open on the 26th but the city wasn't fully spun up again until the 27th. Personally I would rather travel on those "dead" holidays than be stuck there trying to find something to do those days. The other thing about BsAs is that anyone who can afford it leaves for Punta del Este late-December to early-January. New Year's Eve is a pretty sedate affair in that city. A lot of Colombians will be at beach spots like Santa Marta for the holidays, and transport will be jammed. The Christmas-New Year's and Easter holidays are generally good periods to find a place to hunker down in Latin America. If that place is at the beach, you need to reserve far in advance.
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Oct 21, 2012 22:52
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23 Flavors posted:Try using matrix.itasoftware.com. You are trying to fly during the holiday peak travel season, so expect to pay more than you might during the off season. Also you didn't specify how long you wanted to stay so it's difficult for me to come up with a good price estimate, but it looks like it's going to run you about $1000 round trip for a one week stay. Ah okay, we're planning to stay 3 weeks and the ticket will be round trip Hadlock posted:I paid around $580 return (dog-leg ticket) from BA->MIA->DFW. It's a 5000 mile flight(roughly) so most of your ticket is going towards the fuel cost I suspect. $59 tickets are awesome, but in those cases you're just buying extra capacity on a mostly booked flight and are probably pretty rare. Worth checking out if you can grab one though. What is a dog-leg ticket? Booking rooms and etc. are irrelevant since my friend has plenty of relatives down there that are more than happy to accommodate us 
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Oct 22, 2012 00:32
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Google has a better description of it than I can provide. It's a round trip ticket that has more than two destinations. For example I flew Dallas to Columbia, but the return trip was Argentina to Dallas. Price difference to fly out of Argentina instead of Columbia was less than $50, and allowed me to structure my trip as north-south, instead of as a loop through northern Brazil. Also I saved a day in the air not having to do a layover in Columbia.
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Oct 22, 2012 00:40
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Hadlock posted:Google has a better description of it than I can provide. It's a round trip ticket that has more than two destinations. For example I flew Dallas to Columbia, but the return trip was Argentina to Dallas. Price difference to fly out of Argentina instead of Columbia was less than $50, and allowed me to structure my trip as north-south, instead of as a loop through northern Brazil. Also I saved a day in the air not having to do a layover in Columbia. I've usually heard this called an "Open Jaws Trip" but those are always a good option.
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Oct 22, 2012 07:41
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Razor Ramon posted:So far I've been checking Spirit, Avianca, American, and Taca airlines. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance. Have you tried Copa? They fly JFK-Panama City-Medellin. Also don't forget to add on all of Spirit's incredibly high fees when you make a decision. I personally would avoid them like the plague. Side note: Ecuador is pretty awesome, the people are friendly and the prices are cheap. Cotopaxi is gorgeous and doing a 5 day riding trek was amazing. AND I got out on the last flight before they closed Dulles, so life is good.
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Oct 29, 2012 13:48
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Crossposted from Ask/Tell:keykey posted:My wife is studying abroad from January 8th - May 1st of next year. She's going to be in Desamparados, San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm trying to find information about internet providers, cell services, etc.. She'll be taking her laptop with her so I'm thinking that's going to be the best way of communication, however a cell phone would work out great too. However, I don't know how data/communications work there. If someone who has ever been there knows how communications there works and what options are available, I'd be greatly appreciative. In the very least if she can get a local ISP for high speed internet that'd be the best thing to do since we can do video chat, etc. for a monthly fee as opposed to a per minute basis.
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Oct 29, 2012 18:50
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I found a fare to Columbia for $385 taxes and fees included, plus I have six days in a row off over thanksgiving without having to take any vacation days. Is there any reason why I shouldn't be seriously considering Columbia as a destination later this month? I've been there before and it was beautiful, I'd love to go back. Just wondering if there's going to be some sort of religious/state holiday I need to know about Nov 22nd-28th. edit: what's going to be the cheapest way to get to cartagena? I was thinking about maybe flying Bogota->Cartagena and then bus back through Medellin taking night buses, spending 2-3 days each there. I already hit the top 10-15 tourist spots in Bogota Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:43 on Nov 1, 2012 |
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Nov 1, 2012 08:12
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Just found out that I'm going to be in the Dominican Republic for two years with the Peace Corps...  Can anyone recommend any books/texts/resources on the DR? I want to go in with as much info as possible.
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Nov 2, 2012 16:31
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My trip is slowly shaping up and I ran into problems already. I'm flying to Lima late November and I will be going to Rio a little before Christmas to spend 10 days there with friends. Until now my plan was to fly Lima - Cuzco, go around south Peru and Bolivia by bus and then after three weeks fly La Paz - Rio. However I just found out that there are no flights La Paz - Rio or even Lima - Rio. I'm being offered 26+ hour flights through Iguacu or Sao Paolo. Any advice?
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Nov 4, 2012 20:35
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Doctor Malaver posted:However I just found out that there are no flights La Paz - Rio or even Lima - Rio. I'm being offered 26+ hour flights through Iguacu or Sao Paolo. Any advice? Looks like Taca flies Lima - RDJ, but that's it. Did you try them? You might also be able to do Copa but it will route you through Panama City.
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Nov 4, 2012 23:18
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TheLizard posted:Looks like Taca flies Lima - RDJ, but that's it. Did you try them? Interesting, Matrix didn't find these flights. Taca web site shows them but prices are mean. A one-way ticket 7 weeks in advance is almost $900, that's just a little less than what I paid for a round-trip from Europe to Peru.
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Nov 5, 2012 00:36
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I travelled basically the same route about this time last year. I found that the cheapest way to get from Bolivia to Rio was to buy a TAM flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Rio, Brasil (routed Santa Cruz->Asuncion, Asuncion->Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo->Rio). I used Cheapoair to find the flight.
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Nov 5, 2012 13:22
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Doctor Malaver posted:Interesting, Matrix didn't find these flights. Taca web site shows them but prices are mean. A one-way ticket 7 weeks in advance is almost $900, that's just a little less than what I paid for a round-trip from Europe to Peru. After you PM'd me, I found something significantly cheaper, but it is a very interesting itinerary. LPB-LIM-GRU//CGH-SDU for $340USD. Mix of LAN and TAM flights. So you do La Paz to Lima, and then Lima to Sao Paulo, but you must then change airports in Sao Paulo from the international airport to one of the smaller regional airports, so you have some ground transport time and cost to factor in. I'm not terribly familiar with Sao Paulo but a sample itinerary shows a tad over four hours to make the transition to CGH. You'd then fly the final segment from CGH to SDU, SDU being the smaller regional airport in Rio. I'd personally do it for the dots and the lines, but it contains long layovers and a red eye segment. But I'm far from the expert on South America.
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Nov 5, 2012 14:33
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The ghost who walks posted:I travelled basically the same route about this time last year. I found that the cheapest way to get from Bolivia to Rio was to buy a TAM flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Rio, Brasil (routed Santa Cruz->Asuncion, Asuncion->Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo->Rio). I used Cheapoair to find the flight. Do you remember how much it cost? The best Cheapoair can do at the moment is $491, routed Santa Cruz > Buenos Aires > Rio. Mackieman posted:After you PM'd me, I found something significantly cheaper, but it is a very interesting itinerary. LPB-LIM-GRU//CGH-SDU for $340USD. Mix of LAN and TAM flights. So you do La Paz to Lima, and then Lima to Sao Paulo, but you must then change airports in Sao Paulo from the international airport to one of the smaller regional airports, so you have some ground transport time and cost to factor in. I'm not terribly familiar with Sao Paulo but a sample itinerary shows a tad over four hours to make the transition to CGH. You'd then fly the final segment from CGH to SDU, SDU being the smaller regional airport in Rio. Thanks. Boy I'll become an expert on South American airports. Where could I get that ticket?
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Nov 5, 2012 16:25
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Doctor Malaver posted:Do you remember how much it cost? The best Cheapoair can do at the moment is $491, routed Santa Cruz > Buenos Aires > Rio. I found it on ITA. Let me check a couple of places and see if I can get it to price.
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Nov 5, 2012 16:38
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Mackieman posted:I found it on ITA. Let me check a couple of places and see if I can get it to price. Orbitz prices just fine. Safe travels. Edit: Orbitz is pricing it $10 more for flying into GIG. Either is really fine; you might be able to do a multi-city segment search and save the  .
Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Nov 5, 2012 |
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Nov 5, 2012 16:44
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Doctor Malaver: It cost me $348.
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Nov 6, 2012 01:35
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I'm going to be flying down to Rio for 5-6 months in January to train Jiu-Jitsu. Any goons in the area right now? I'm looking for a room in or around Gavea. It'll be my 2nd time in Brasil; I lived there for 7 months in 2008, up in Fortaleza. I'm also considering taking some short trips to Argentina and Colombia.
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Nov 8, 2012 06:07
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So I'm headed to Bogota Columbia in two weeks. Is there a way I can get a cheap local "commuter" flight to Medellin or Cartagena? Is $120 round trip to much to ask? Or have I been spoiled by Southwest Airlines too much?
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Nov 8, 2012 22:59
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Hadlock posted:So I'm headed to Bogota Columbia in two weeks. Is there a way I can get a cheap local "commuter" flight to Medellin or Cartagena? Is $120 round trip to much to ask? Or have I been spoiled by Southwest Airlines too much? Try looking at airlines like Viva Colombia and Satena which might not show up on a website like Kayak.
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Nov 8, 2012 23:21
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All the travel routes through Peru and Bolivia focus on Inka ruins, high altitudes and regions of moderate or even chilly climate. Looking at the map of Amazon rainforest, it covers large parts of these two countries. Is it possible to see the "real" rainforest there? The hot and humid, machetes and jungle vines stuff?
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Nov 13, 2012 17:35
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Doctor Malaver posted:All the travel routes through Peru and Bolivia focus on Inka ruins, high altitudes and regions of moderate or even chilly climate. Looking at the map of Amazon rainforest, it covers large parts of these two countries. Is it possible to see the "real" rainforest there? The hot and humid, machetes and jungle vines stuff? There is lots of rainforest to be had in Bolivia and Peru. I only have personal experience in Bolivia, where Rurrenabaque is the jumping off point for many jungle expeditions. Lots of different types of tours to be had with different focuses (animals, plants, local communities, ecotourism, etc.). I stayed at a very sweet ecolodge for three days, which is located in the protected Madidi National Rainforest. We had a private local guide and got a satisfying jungle experience. http://www.sanmigueldelbala.com/ My understanding is that you can get a similar experience in Peru, but it will probably cost you more. I think most people go via Puerto Maldonado. There's also other routes into the jungle from other cities (e.g. Iquitos in Peru).
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Nov 13, 2012 20:23
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AffirmMe posted:I visited Costa Rica specifically Puerto Viejo on Caribbean side. Ask me anything !! Did you get robbed at gunpoint too?! I was planning on just staying in Costa Rica for a few months and figured out how awful it is once I got there. Bussed down to Panama City, and island hopped through the San Blas archipelago via Carti, terminating in Capurgana, Colombia. Water taxi to Turbo and bus to Cartagena. Hello Miss Colombia! I have a buddy that's trying to bus from Panama City all the way up to Antigua Guatemala, any suggestions?
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Nov 14, 2012 05:10
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Thesaurus posted:There is lots of rainforest to be had in Bolivia and Peru. I only have personal experience in Bolivia, where Rurrenabaque is the jumping off point for many jungle expeditions. Lots of different types of tours to be had with different focuses (animals, plants, local communities, ecotourism, etc.). I stayed at a very sweet ecolodge for three days, which is located in the protected Madidi National Rainforest. We had a private local guide and got a satisfying jungle experience. http://www.sanmigueldelbala.com/ I also stayed at san miguel del bala last year. Highly reccomended, more expensive than some of the other ones, but you support a local community and get local guides who know their stuff.
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Nov 14, 2012 10:36
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I've been reading about Bolivia and everybody talks about locations that are in the west part - Uyuni, Potosi mines, Death Road, even Rurrenabaque. Is there any reason to travel east, to Santa Cruz? I can continue my trip to Brasil from either La Paz or Santa Cruz.
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Nov 16, 2012 01:03
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