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As far as stretching cash goes you could always "work" at a hostel. Depending on the hostel you could easily have enough time to work on your business on the side as well as getting free accommodation, as well as cheap food / drink, and most importantly - quickly meeting and building a network of fellow travellers which can be invaluable to economising and making the most out of every place for months down the road. If you like the vibe of a place, just find out if there's foreign hostel staff and ask them how demanding the work is. E: I did 8 months around SA, in 2012, for 8 grand, including ten days in the Galapagos ($2,000 and worth every cent) so that budget seems doable. We didn't go to Brazil that trip though, which is considerably more expensive than Peru/Bolivia/Argentina. hoiyes fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 18:19
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Can anyone tell me about buying flights internally in Colombia? I'm in the US currently and looking to buy a ticket round trip from Bogota to Medellin in a few weeks. I did some searching on sites like kayak and I get quoted $50-70 USD. However, when I try to check out it goes up to well over $200. Every other search on Kayak/vayama/whatever includes everything, but for some reason this one doesn't? I talked to a friend of mine (who is in Medellin) and he says he typically pays ~$50 usd with almost no notice for the same flight. Anyone know whats up?
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Mar 4, 2014 02:31
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hbf posted:Can anyone tell me about buying flights internally in Colombia? I'm in the US currently and looking to buy a ticket round trip from Bogota to Medellin in a few weeks. I did some searching on sites like kayak and I get quoted $50-70 USD. However, when I try to check out it goes up to well over $200. Every other search on Kayak/vayama/whatever includes everything, but for some reason this one doesn't? I talked to a friend of mine (who is in Medellin) and he says he typically pays ~$50 usd with almost no notice for the same flight. Anyone know whats up? If you can read Spanish, use despegar.com I was able to buy a ticket from Medellin to Cartagena to Bogota for about $90, which was even cheaper then the claimed prices on Kayak. I also had the same issue with kayak saying the price was really low, then jumping up by 3 or 4 times the price when I actually tried to reserve the ticket. One word of warning, when I bought the Medellin-Cartagena-Bogota flight it worked out great, but shortly thereafter I tried to buy a ticket Bogota to Quito and it wouldn't let me use my debit or credit card to purchase the flight. They instead wanted me to go to a bank and make a deposit into their account with cash. I'm not sure if it had something to do with it being an international flight or what, but I ended up buying the Bogota-Quito ticket through cheapoair.com for a pretty low price.
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Mar 4, 2014 05:43
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ShaggiusPrime posted:If you can read Spanish, use despegar.com Awesome, that site lists the ticket plus all fees at literally half the price as through kayak. Didn't pull the trigger yet, but it looks good. Thanks! edit: looks like I spoke too soon. Not so sure if I did this correctly. These fields gave me some trouble: Titular de la tarjeta (Cardholder? my name?) Cédula del titular de la tarjeta (certificate of cardholder? I put my passport #) Also, after payment it asked me to verify my address. I tried putting my reg address with USA and it wouldn't go through. I changed the field to "other" for country and it processed, but I need to wait 24 hours for confirmation. Someone on thorntree said that was a way to sneak foreign cards through. Lets see if it works. If that doesn't work I've also found aviatur.com. Seems to work for some people. Anyone ever use that site? hbf fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Mar 4, 2014 |
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Mar 4, 2014 06:28
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hbf posted:
Yup, cardholder and the other one is your id. Passport number should work.
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Mar 4, 2014 14:48
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So despagar couldn't process my booking. The email said I could call and use bank wire within 24 hours. I am not sure about calling however, as my spoken spanish is terrible and from what I've read the operators don't speak english. Weird thing was they hit my card with several $1.00 transactions which were successful. So anyone ever use http://www.aviatur.com/ ? I might give them a try first before calling despagar,
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Mar 4, 2014 15:45
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quote:So despagar couldn't process my booking. The email said I could call and use bank wire within 24 hours. I am not sure about calling however, as my spoken spanish is terrible and from what I've read the operators don't speak english. Weird thing was they hit my card with several $1.00 transactions which were successful. Despegar has a U.S. number, which I would guess they would speak English on, but I have never called them. You can change the site to English at the top of the page. I've never used https://www.aviatur.com before, but I have used http://www.atrapalo.cl/ http://www.atrapalo.com.co/ is their Colombian site King Metal fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Mar 4, 2014 |
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Mar 4, 2014 21:18
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King Metal posted:Despegar has a U.S. number, which I would guess they would speak English on, but I have never called them. You can change the site to English at the top of the page. Just spent a lot of time on the phone with them from the US line. First off, the audio quality was terrible, it was like talking to someone underwater. Also, they don't speak english on the US line. One person spoke a little but it didn't help. Anyway, didn't work out. No one could tell me anything about other payment except to use a "check", but they had no further info as to actually do that. I even got a friend who is fluent to try talking to them, but it also didn't get anywhere. Tried mentioning the bank wire process as mentioned in the email and no one had any idea what that was. Not sure what is up considering they successfully charged me $1.00 twice, but it looks like I'm just going to try aviatur.
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Mar 4, 2014 21:49
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King Metal posted:I've never used https://www.aviatur.com before, but I have used http://www.atrapalo.cl/ http://www.atrapalo.com.co/ is their Colombian site Have you used a US credit or debit card, or other foreign card on atrapalo? should I use the .com.co or .cl site?
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Mar 4, 2014 21:53
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hbf posted:Have you used a US credit or debit card, or other foreign card on atrapalo? should I use the .com.co or .cl site? Well, that sucks about Despegar. I've used them with a US card and haven't had any issues yet. For Atrapalo, I can't remember if I've used a US card there or not. Theoretically you could use either site, but I'd pick the Colombian one or the main site (atrapalo.com). I think the only difference is the localized prices/deals.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:13
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Ok thanks. When you paid on any of these sites, did it just process right through the site and you were done? Or did you get an email with payment instructions asking you to scan your passport/credit card and email it to them? There are a few posts on the lonely planet forums and they all seem to mention this for US cards. Sounds sketchy, but they at least seem like legit organizations.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:19
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hbf posted:Ok thanks. When you paid on any of these sites, did it just process right through the site and you were done? Or did you get an email with payment instructions asking you to scan your passport/credit card and email it to them? There are a few posts on the lonely planet forums and they all seem to mention this for US cards. Sounds sketchy, but they at least seem like legit organizations. I never had to send them my passport, but maybe they require it for some purchases or something. Atrapalo and Despegar are definitely legit, they are both pretty big companies and been around for awhile. If those fail, I'd give your other one a try. They seem like a Colombian company, I don't see anything sketchy looking about them.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:32
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So tried atrapalo with a different card and it did not go through. Got an email from them saying if within 2 hours I mailed them a scanned copy of my passport, my credit card, and a signed release doc they would process the card. I don't have access to a scanner or printer right now so I definitely won't make the 2 hour time. Might try tomorrow when I will. Not super comfortable emailing passport/CC stuff though. Is it reasonable to buy tickets at the airport with like 4 days notice? or will that be insanely expensive like the US?
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Mar 5, 2014 07:28
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Not sure, I would assume it gets more expensive, but I doubt it's unreasonably expensive for such a short flight. Did you try buying directly from the airline?
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Mar 5, 2014 14:37
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My friend and I are heading down to Central America for two weeks at the end of August. We're flying into Liberia but our options are pretty wide open. We've been musing about making our way north from Costa Rica, going through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and then flying out from Cancun. It sounds lovely saying it out loud but is it feasible to do anything remotely worthwhile in two weeks? I honestly wanted to stay for three but he can only book off two weeks. What would be a smart itinerary for two weeks if it even makes any sense, and if not, what would you recommend we do for two weeks when we really don't care what we do? The only things I'd rule out are scuba-diving. We're mainly going down to do pretty touristy things: sight-see, eat, drink and get ripped off by the locals. Personally I'm very interested in seeing ruins and buying textiles in Guatemala and drinking exotic beverages.
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Mar 5, 2014 20:39
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Testikles posted:Costa Rica, going through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and then flying out from Cancun. It sounds lovely saying it out loud but is it feasible to do anything remotely worthwhile in two weeks? That sounds to me like an awful lot to fit into 2 weeks. I would try and focus on a couple of countries - perhaps Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the latter of which is well set up for Gringo tourists to travel around without any hassle. Once you decide on a couple of countries, then do some research and find where you want to go
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Mar 5, 2014 21:29
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King Metal posted:Not sure, I would assume it gets more expensive, but I doubt it's unreasonably expensive for such a short flight. Did you try buying directly from the airline? Yeah, it seems to work from their us sites, but they add +$50usd/ticket over even what kayak puts up (putting round trip Bog>Mde at over $450). Going to just bite the bullet and pay the high price for one of the legs to be sure and get the other when I'm in Colombia. frustrating, but oh well. Also, despagar called me at 5am a bunch of times which was super confusing. They kept repeating that I had to pay cash but when I asked how they didn't get what I meant.
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Mar 5, 2014 22:04
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Sorry that despegar didn't work out. Worked like a charm for me the first time, then I had the same troubles as you on my 2nd go. Hard to believe a company that books plane tickets online has so many issues accepting credit cards...Testikles posted:My friend and I are heading down to Central America for two weeks at the end of August. We're flying into Liberia but our options are pretty wide open. We've been musing about making our way north from Costa Rica, going through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and then flying out from Cancun. It sounds lovely saying it out loud but is it feasible to do anything remotely worthwhile in two weeks? I honestly wanted to stay for three but he can only book off two weeks. What would be a smart itinerary for two weeks if it even makes any sense, and if not, what would you recommend we do for two weeks when we really don't care what we do? The only things I'd rule out are scuba-diving. We're mainly going down to do pretty touristy things: sight-see, eat, drink and get ripped off by the locals. Personally I'm very interested in seeing ruins and buying textiles in Guatemala and drinking exotic beverages. Do not go to 5 countries in this time frame. 2 weeks is just enough to get a good taste of one country. Everything will seem really close but will take a long time to get to due to winding mountain roads, traffic, etc. I'd say go to Guatemala but I'm partial as I just moved here. However there are some pretty incredible things here (Tikal, Atitlan, Semuc Champey) and I think you could easily fill up 2 weeks, maybe even go to Belize if you want some nice beaches. But really, the culture is generally about taking it slow. Buses aren't going to run on time, and things will just take a while. I think you'd probably enjoy things more if you spend more time in less places and get a chance to soak in the vibe of where you're visiting. I can't provide a whole lot more advice on Guatemala as I've only been here a month. Definitely come to Lake Atitlan, and I'd recommend San Juan (where I live) as it's really nice but doesn't get the flood of tourists like Panajachel (which I think you should just get out of on a boat ASAP) San Pedro or Santiago. Also just avoid Guatemala City!
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Mar 9, 2014 03:34
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So in another turn of events with despegar, after talking with them multiple times trying to pay for my booking with no luck, and having them cancel it... they just processed my original purchase. I confirmed they canceled both on the phone and on their site too. Ended up sorting it out with my bank just fine, so hopefully it doesn't effect my other confirmed booking. I'm just hoping they don't call me at 5am again tomorrow...
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Mar 9, 2014 20:57
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ShaggiusPrime posted:Do not go to 5 countries in this time frame. 2 weeks is just enough to get a good taste of one country. Everything will seem really close but will take a long time to get to due to winding mountain roads, traffic, etc. I'd say go to Guatemala but I'm partial as I just moved here. However there are some pretty incredible things here (Tikal, Atitlan, Semuc Champey) and I think you could easily fill up 2 weeks, maybe even go to Belize if you want some nice beaches. But really, the culture is generally about taking it slow. Buses aren't going to run on time, and things will just take a while. I think you'd probably enjoy things more if you spend more time in less places and get a chance to soak in the vibe of where you're visiting. I'd love to come to Guatemala (I kept looking up materials to learn K'iche to no avail) but I wouldn't be able to get down there in a reasonable time frame. We HAVE to fly into LIR so it'd be smarter to stay closer to that. We're going to condense it to Costa Rica and Nicaragua or Panama.
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Mar 9, 2014 22:48
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I've got three days at the end of my trip in Bogota. Can anyone recommend an area to stay in? Hearing mixed things about La Candelaria. Seems like there might be some safety concerns, but I can't really tell if that's still relevant. Opinions seems to range from "yeah kind sketch, but great!" to "it's seedy as hell, do not stay there". Also wouldn't mind a hotel or hostel recommendation. Not on a tight budget at all so a decent hotel at the end of my trip to relax would be appreciated. Mainly looking to explore the city and eat some good food, rather than party.
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Mar 12, 2014 05:54
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Didn't seem that sketchy when I was there, but I wasn't staying. I was couchsurfing.
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Mar 14, 2014 18:39
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Sketchiness is all relative. Last night I was at a nice seafood reastaurant in a small beach town in El Salvador, and some Mexican Zetas showed up drunk as all hell, pistols waving. It's the first time I've seen a potentially violent situation in five months, and yet I still get the feeling that El Salvador is the best country I've been in by far, with the safest living and easily the nicest people. Please, nobody else visit this place so I can keep the hospitality to myself. Y'all can have your Zetas back, though.
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Mar 15, 2014 18:28
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They've got pupusas, of course they're nice. Best food in Central America.
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Mar 15, 2014 21:40
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I'm currently living in Panama and the selection of hiking gear is pretty bad. I'll be flying in to Cusco, Peru to go hiking and was wondering if I can get the following stuff there or should I find someone to bring it down: Nalgene water bottle, water purification tablets, gloves, hat, sleeping bag liner. Also a random other question I have. Anyone have any idea why so much stuff is written in English in Panama? Not sure if this is just Panama or Latin America but to name a few... I see billboards, tv advertisements, fast food menus (on the wall), and even some Panamanian companies that will sometimes write their sign out front in English.
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Mar 23, 2014 18:52
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huhu posted:I'm currently living in Panama and the selection of hiking gear is pretty bad. I'll be flying in to Cusco, Peru to go hiking and was wondering if I can get the following stuff there or should I find someone to bring it down: Nalgene water bottle, water purification tablets, gloves, hat, sleeping bag liner. Costa Rica has a bunch in English too. I'd assume a lot of it is the US influence. Costa Rica is because there are so many foreigners that go that they are marketing towards. Panama, thanks to the canal, attracts lots of international investment surely.
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Mar 23, 2014 21:25
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I remember seeing Nalgene bottles for sale in Cusco. They're pretty ubiquitous. There are old women knitting locally made wool hats and gloves on the street all over Cusco (you will literally trip over one at some point). They're quite warm and unlike polypropylene/nylon products, will keep your hands warm even when they're wet. They're like $2 ea. I bought a  You can probably bum some water purification junk off of someone else in trade for a pint of rum or vodka, or buy their supply off of them if they're headed back stateside. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Mar 23, 2014 |
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Mar 23, 2014 23:20
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Testikles posted:I'd love to come to Guatemala (I kept looking up materials to learn K'iche to no avail) but I wouldn't be able to get down there in a reasonable time frame. We HAVE to fly into LIR so it'd be smarter to stay closer to that. We're going to condense it to Costa Rica and Nicaragua or Panama. Panama and Nicaragua are both great. Costa Rica is Latin America Lite - not unpleasant, just far less interesting than its neighbors. If you're flying into Liberia, Nicaragua is obvious. The border crossing at Peñas Blancas is a breeze, and the perfection of Ometepe is an hour from the border.
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Mar 26, 2014 02:49
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I tried to book a ticket for an ADO bus in Mexico using their website, but it seems they don't accept foreign cards (I have a UK MasterCard). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to book a ticket? It's for a long overnight trip and is the last one that day so I really need to get it in advance. Thanks!
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Mar 28, 2014 12:15
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Lady Gaza posted:I tried to book a ticket for an ADO bus in Mexico using their website, but it seems they don't accept foreign cards (I have a UK MasterCard). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to book a ticket? It's for a long overnight trip and is the last one that day so I really need to get it in advance. Thanks! Have you also tried ticketbus.com.mx? Same company, but maybe different rules. Really though, I don't think you will have a problem unless you were arriving in Mexico right before the bus departure time and it is a super popular route on a holiday. If you are in Mexico at all before should be able to go to a station (or oxxo store) and buy a ticket for the one you need in advance. I took ado/other buses all over Mexico and never had a problem showing up at the station and buying a ticket, sometimes minutes before departure. What route are you trying to get? Also be aware that ADO buses run some serious AC. Downright cold at night. hbf fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 03:52
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hbf posted:Have you also tried ticketbus.com.mx? Same company, but maybe different rules. I think that's what we'll do, thanks. We are flying into Cancun and several days later are planning to get an overnight bus from Merida to Palenque, I wanted to get a ticket since we can't really miss that bus due to hotel bookings etc. I suppose I will try and get a ticket once I land, I assume there will be a ticket office at the airport, or I can get one in town. Thanks for the info about the AC!
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Mar 31, 2014 12:43
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Aliquid posted:... and yet I still get the feeling that El Salvador is the best country I've been in by far, with the safest living and easily the nicest people... Doesn't El Salvador still have one of the highest homicide rates in the world? Which part of the country are you living in? (Or did I misread you, and you've been traveling around for 5 months.) I'm curious to hear more about your impression of the security situation.
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Apr 3, 2014 08:59
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On a scale of 1 to 10 how screwed am I going to be if I travel to Ecuador for 3 weeks but don't speak a lick of Spanish? I plan to visit Quito, Banos, Puyo, Tena and Canoa while I'm down there.
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Apr 3, 2014 13:58
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unsanitary posted:On a scale of 1 to 10 how screwed am I going to be if I travel to Ecuador for 3 weeks but don't speak a lick of Spanish? I plan to visit Quito, Banos, Puyo, Tena and Canoa while I'm down there. Mortley posted:Doesn't El Salvador still have one of the highest homicide rates in the world? Which part of the country are you living in? (Or did I misread you, and you've been traveling around for 5 months.) I'm curious to hear more about your impression of the security situation. I'm living with a cheesemaker in Quetzaltepeque until my plane ticket home in a few days. My surgery I got a few months ago isn't healing right and I'm headed home with my brand-new Obamacare Platinum plan. It's a bitch finding spicy food, but fresh-fried quesadillas are so good and different that I'll have to resort to making them myself back home.
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Apr 4, 2014 05:56
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unsanitary posted:On a scale of 1 to 10 how screwed am I going to be if I travel to Ecuador for 3 weeks but don't speak a lick of Spanish? I plan to visit Quito, Banos, Puyo, Tena and Canoa while I'm down there. 2, unless you live somewhere like Minnesota where Spanish is an absolute rarity.
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Apr 4, 2014 07:45
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Hadlock posted:2, unless you live somewhere like Minnesota where Spanish is an absolute rarity. Funny you say that, I've lived in Minnesota or rural Wisconsin my entire life. I have a spanish-english dictionary and can hopefully gringo my way through some common phrases I'll need.
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Apr 4, 2014 14:05
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Hadlock posted:2, unless you live somewhere like Minnesota where Spanish is an absolute rarity. There is no shortage of Hispanics in Minnesota.
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Apr 4, 2014 14:28
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I live in Ecuador and although many people speak some English, you'd be way better off if you learned some Spanish. And it's also less embarrassing for Americans like me 
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Apr 5, 2014 05:02
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unsanitary posted:Funny you say that, I've lived in Minnesota or rural Wisconsin my entire life. I have a spanish-english dictionary and can hopefully gringo my way through some common phrases I'll need. I would pick up a used "learn Spanish in 30 minutes a day"cassette or see if you can find a Mexican telenovela to watch for a week or two. Or watch the Simpsons on Netflix with Spanish language turned on. House of Cards can be watched in English and Spanish as well. You won't die down there, but if you can give yourself 5-7 hours of exposure, you won't learn the language, but you can at least tune you ear to pick up individual words, and eventually back in to memorizing/understanding the top 100 words, plus learn to say things like "which way", and "how much?" I came from downtown Dallas where Spanish is spoken by about 20% of the population and all of the signs are bilingual. Other than that I have no formal Spanish language training. As pointed out they know out understand a lot of English, but being able to pick out one in 20 words (5%) is really helpful when it's late, you took the wrong bus and ended up on the wrong side of town and the last busses are about to start running, which is what happened to me in Bogota one night. Some military captain managed to point me in the right direction and get me home safely thanks to hand signals and a couple of simple words. But 99% of the time you can get by with a hearty "hola! Bunenos Dias", a big smile and throw around "Gracias senor" like it's going out of style and people are pretty happy to help the big dumb gringo get where he's going. People have always been incredibly helpful everywhere I've gone, I've found.
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Apr 5, 2014 05:24
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Exactly. And me being able to scream "mi puerta esta cerrado!" from my balcony for someone to go inside and tell the manager was a good use of vocabulary.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:22
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