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Saladman posted:What's "south"? Yucatan driving is about as tricky as driving in Texas or California. I guess you mean more like Oaxaca though? I haven't been there and I imagine it's not Yucatan by any stretch, but I've driven around a fair amount of Latin America and almost all around the Mediterranean and found driving in Southern Italy to be unambiguously more challenging even compared to Nicaragua or Cuba... mainly because there's a poo poo ton more traffic in Naples. I guess the only more challenging aspect is you have to worry more about hitting pedestrians or people going the wrong way down streets on scooters which rarely happens in Mediterranean Europe, but I wouldn't psych yourself out over it. FWIW driving in Egypt is not particularly bad, except for Cairo. Yeah, we travel specifically to visit World Heritage sites and Mexico has a whole heap of them roughly on an axis between Zacatecas and Oaxaca City, plus a few more over in the Yucatan area. Normally we'd try and use PT but I'd imagine we'll have our dog with us on this trip, and I've read that dogs aren't allowed on the intercity buses. I may well be wrong about Egypt, it was the first non-first world country I ever visited and it was quite a few years ago now, so my perspective has probably changed quite a bit.
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Jun 3, 2019 02:35
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I have driven all over Mexico. It is perfectly safe and, except for DF, very easy. Google maps gives great directions even in rural areas with unmarked dirt tracks. As Saladman said, driving in Mexico is a lot easier than driving in Mediterranean Europe. The only thing I can say is that Mexican drivers are either very slow or very fast. You will have to do a lot of passing of the former on one-lane highways.
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Jun 3, 2019 17:06
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Hadlock posted:While I'm on the topic of Costa Rica, that whole country was such an overpriced poo poo show we put off getting engaged until getting back to the states rather than stay one more day in lovely Costa Rica. We live in the downtown area of a very expensive city and Costa Rica was actually more expensive than our own overpriced home town which is pretty impressive as at least once a week I read an article about how expensive it is to live in our city. Why is this, anyways? I get that it's more developed than some other Latin American countries tries, but it's still poor.
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Jun 8, 2019 05:28
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. Will revisit this tomorrow Hadlock fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jun 8, 2019 |
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Jun 8, 2019 05:41
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Thesaurus posted:Why is this, anyways? I get that it's more developed than some other Latin American countries tries, but it's still poor. It’s not that poor, it’s just not very developed. Its GDP per capita is pretty similar to Eastern Europe but since the country’s population is like 50% within greater San Jose and (like Panama) this centralization means basically al development is centered here — so good luck if you want a road anywhere else in the country. They are nominally building a highway north-south but when I was last there (2016) it seemed like it was still many years off from being serviceable in even single stretches. The country is super hilly and there are tons of rivers so I imagine construction is quite expensive. But tourist stuff in CR is massively overpriced, it’s geared towards foreigners who are afraid of Latin America and don’t know that daytrips and taxis and whatever should not cost the same in CR as they do in San Francisco or Switzerland. I don’t think CR sucks but it is massively overrated It also has the downside (for me) in that there’s little cultural history there, in striking contrast to literally everywhere else in Latin America. Costa Rica was the rear end in a top hat of Colonial Spain, (e: un-)attached to New Grenada and forbidden from trading with Panama, so it was remote and relatively unsettled and super poor historically, so you won’t find any of the old Spanish mission or colonial architecture stuff, and afaik the natives there never constructed anything out of stone that lasted to today. Basically I don’t see any reason to go to CR instead of Hawaii. They’re priced about the same and the infrastructure of Hawaii and (IMO) natural beauty of Hawaii are massively superior. If you want Latin America then Colombia or (when stable) Nicaragua are almost certainly a better bet. Saladman fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jun 9, 2019 |
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Jun 8, 2019 17:49
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^^ I agree 100% with everything above
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Jun 9, 2019 01:05
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Saladman posted:It’s not that poor, it’s just not very developed. Its GDP per capita is pretty similar to Eastern Europe but since the country’s population is like 50% within greater San Jose and (like Panama) this centralization means basically al development is centered here — so good luck if you want a road anywhere else in the country. They are nominally building a highway north-south but when I was last there (2016) it seemed like it was still many years off from being serviceable in even single stretches. The country is super hilly and there are tons of rivers so I imagine construction is quite expensive. It's also expensive because for a long time it was the place to retire/make a living online/run away with your secretary to for US citizens, so there are lots of relatively wealthy expats living there (the main private hospital in San Jose has a VA office in it's reception area, for instance). This has driven prices in the central valley sky high, if you are willing to travel and live as a local it can be pretty cheap. (Not Nicaragua cheap, but not terrible).
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Jun 10, 2019 05:39
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Anyone planning on coming down to Chile for the solar eclipse? I am situated in the best place to spend the day! My house is literally smack dab in the center of the eclipse zone, right in the valley. (Side note: the eclipse actually is going to happen in my hometown, during my birthday, on the same weekday I was born!)
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Jun 10, 2019 16:41
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I'll be in San Juan, Argentina for it. Friend of mine runs a few cabins up there and apparently everything is booked solid with Europeans paying small fortunes to see the eclipse. I'm psyched.
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Jun 10, 2019 19:09
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People are paying through the fuckin nose yo. We are over month out and I've seen more Germans than when I lived in Spain 4 months with my old man.
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Jun 10, 2019 23:35
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Planning on going to Chile in August and checking out Atacama / tour of salt flats in Bolivia. Any recommendations for 3 or 4 day tour package companies I can prebook with that departs and ends in San Pedro de Atacama? Also, any tips you may have would be appreciated.
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Jul 3, 2019 09:15
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Busy Bee posted:Planning on going to Chile in August and checking out Atacama / tour of salt flats in Bolivia. Any recommendations for 3 or 4 day tour package companies I can prebook with that departs and ends in San Pedro de Atacama? Also, any tips you may have would be appreciated. So you want to start from SPdA, do a 3-4 day tour of the Bolivian highlands and the salar, and then return to SPdA? I did it in 2015 going from SPdA to Uyuni, it's a 3 day tour (4 if you return to SPdA) -- there is a LOT in the highlands around there besides the Salar de Uyuni itself, like a bunch of stunning lagunas. A surprisingly large amount of wildlife too, like tons of flamingos. Absolutely do the 3/4 day tour and not just the one day tour that only goes to the main salar. It is very easy to book it on the spot in SPdA, there are tons of operators and it's a small town. If you book something in advance, don't pay more than like $180 a head for it, max, unless you want a private car (in which case it should be $600-$800/car/3-4 days ; the normal trekking vehicles fit 6 passengers). The Bolivian drivers are not paid by the companies (this is pretty standard worldwide btw, e.g. in the Serengeti it's the same), so you should toss in an extra like $20pp "tip" at the end for him. We paid $130pp for each of the six of us from SPdA to Uyuni on a 3day/2night trek (departs SPdA early am on day 1, arrives Uyuni early afternoon on day 3). The $130pp we paid included all food and both nights of lodging in warm little salt "hotels". If you are American, keep in mind the $160 reciprocity fee you will have to pay on the "border" between Chile and Bolivia, in cash, crisp US bills, and the new series of US bills only. They will absolutely turn you away if you don't have nice new USD and can't beg someone else at the border to pay for you. Also keep in mind you need a passport photo to give them at the border. You may or may not need a yellow fever card, depends how the border agent is feeling. The Bolivian highlands tour of 3 days is fairly different from the area around SPdA. If you stay around SPdA for additional time (I spent 4 days there) I would STRONGLY recommend renting a car, as the tours in Chile are outrageously expensive, and even worse than that, they bus like 50 people to each site near SPdA at exactly the same time, so there are like 50 people gaggling to take selfies with you. So you can rent a car for cheaper, and avoid the crowds. Driving is very well marked and largely on decent roads (depending on what you're used to) in that part of Chile. In that part of Bolivia, note that it is not legal to self-drive, and it would be a massively terrible idea even if you could legally do so as there is gently caress all signage, no track roads (all the drivers just go their own way), and even less cell phone reception. It was an incredible experience and anyone who goes to the Salar de Uyuni and only does the salar is absolutely massively missing out on one of the most scenic places I have ever been, and I've been to a lot of deserts.
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Jul 3, 2019 15:56
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I wanted to ask about SIM cards when traveling around South America. Usually when I travel I just buy a cheap data SIM from the airport to use while I'm at the location I just arrived to. I'm sure that this is possible in most countries in South America but wondering if there is a more efficient way to go about it such as an international SIM that is valid in all the countries. Is this even a thing?Saladman posted:So you want to start from SPdA, do a 3-4 day tour of the Bolivian highlands and the salar, and then return to SPdA? That's correct! Thank you so much for your detailed post. I plan on going there in the next month or so and have been researching several tour companies in SPdA. I found one reputable one that responded to my inquiry that is charging for a 4D/3N SPdA -> Bolivia -> SPdA (Round Trip) tour on 6 passenger max 4x4 in a private hostel room for $290 USD ($220 USD for shared room). Also, if I am planning on arriving to Calama at around 8 PM - do you think it's possible to find a ride to San Pedro de Atacama at that time? I'm assuming it shouldn't be an issue, correct? Thank you again for your response - I will definitely take your advice! Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Jul 3, 2019 |
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Jul 3, 2019 18:28
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Busy Bee posted:I wanted to ask about SIM cards when traveling around South America. Usually when I travel I just buy a cheap data SIM from the airport to use while I'm at the location I just arrived to. I'm sure that this is possible in most countries in South America but wondering if there is a more efficient way to go about it such as an international SIM that is valid in all the countries. Is this even a thing? For SIM: I don't think you'll find one that's valid everywhere, not with good rates anyway. But you will get literally zero reception in that entire part of Bolivia except when you're directly in the town of Uyuni, so you can skip Bolivia for internet. If you just want a bit of data for like, whatsapp, then you might want to check roaming rates with your own provider at home. For bus tickets, use https://www.turbus.cl/wtbus/indexCompra.jsf to find the schedules (I think there might be another company too). There are a lot of buses, a surprising number actually given that SPdA is tiny. Check your exact dates to make sure but seems like there's usually a 20:50 and a 21:51 bus that go there. Calama is not a nice town and not somewhere you'd want to spend any time at all in. $220pp is a little high, but that sounds similar enough to what I'd expect for the "bought the ticket online" surcharge that is common in South America (frequently booking tours online, when you even can, is 10-20% higher prices than buying in person since then there's an extra middle man who needs to get paid). If saving $40-$60 isn't worth the headache then go for it, but an extra $70 on top for a 'private' hostel room is a lot given that all it means is that you'll have a smaller but otherwise identical room to the place the rest of your group will sleep -- you'll see once you're on the spot what I mean but unless you have extreme social anxiety I'd recommend against it. In any case you're likely to sleep like absolute poo poo because the lodging in that area is > 4000m, e.g. we stayed at Laguna Colorada one night which is 4,278 meters. If you're not acclimatized you will be have a hell of a time trying to get a good night's sleep at that elevation. Uyuni is a more palatable but still very high 3600m, while SPdA is a very high but less hyperventilation-inducing 2400m. The highest elevation the trip goes to is around 5000m at the geysers de la mañana. In Uyuni itself it might be nice to have a private hostel room, but on the trip it seems unnecessary. One of our nights we had a private room regardless, while we shared with the other 4 people on our car for the night at Laguna Colorada. We had a nice, warm but quick shower one night (for something like 10 bolivianos) while the night at Laguna Colorada had no water. Anyway it is very cold so it's not like you'll be sweating, and very high altitude so you're not going to do any real exercise. I remember it being incredibly hard to find good information online about the 3d/4d trek between SPdA and Uyuni. It's a little off the beaten path, but not that far off the beaten path. There were maybe 10-15 cars of people departing SPdA the day that we went, which was probably a bit higher than average since the two days before we went the Chile-Bolivia border had been closed due to snow so people had been waiting a while. Are you spending longer in SPdA before/after or are you just going there to do the tour to Uyuni and back? The Chilean side is appreciably different from the Uyuni trek, in case you have more time, but I would only do it if you are willing to rent your own car and know how to drive manual; IIRC there is a Europcar rental place in SPdA itself so you don't have to drive to/from Calama (although we did, as it saved like half the rental price and we were enough budget sensitive for $200 vs $400 for a 4-day rental).
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Jul 3, 2019 21:32
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http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190703-bolivias-surreal-rainbow-landscape Great photos of the whole area. It’s weird how many people, the vast majority, go to the salt flat itself and no e of the rest.
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Jul 4, 2019 08:53
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I saw some recent posts in this thread about Montevideo but how many days would you guys recommending in staying there? Saladman posted:words Thank you again for your detailed response. I really do appreciate it. I'll keep that in mind about the SIM card. Regarding the bus schedule - I'm thinking about paying a little extra to have pickup at the airport in Calama and using this service here - http://www.transvip.cl/ - seems like they are reliable. I'd take your advice about the shared room vs private room. I will also look into bringing some meds for altitude sickness. I plan on just going to SPdA to do the tour to Uyuni and back. Maybe I'll have one full day to do something around SPdA but have not made my mind up yet. Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Jul 5, 2019 |
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Jul 5, 2019 10:38
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Busy Bee posted:
Just also FYI that acetazolamide (aka Diamox), by far the most common drug given for altitude sickness, is a crazy diuretic. I wouldn't recommend taking it unless you have symptoms, but definitely do take some with you if you've never spent sustained time above 4000m... which is pretty unlikely unless you've been to Tibet. I spend a lot of time in mountains, and I get fairly significant headaches above about 3000m if I'm acclimatized to near sea level, so I do take Diamox if I stay in high elevation mountain refuges etc, but it inevitably leads to me getting up to pee 3x in the night.
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Jul 6, 2019 13:47
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Busy Bee posted:I saw some recent posts in this thread about Montevideo but how many days would you guys recommending in staying there? I stayed in Montevideo for 2 nights before moving on to Piriápolis, Punta del Este and La Pedrera. I'd say it was just about enough time to see/do what I wanted. (Feria de Tristan Narvaja, Ciudad Vieja, chill on the rambla, drink mate and watch sunsets in parks).
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Jul 9, 2019 16:24
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2 nights in Montevideo sounds about right, 4 might be pushing it. I was only there for one night, it's a proper capital city, wish I had spent more time there.
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Jul 10, 2019 10:11
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George H.W. oval office posted:Going to Peru in early September. Got the Inca Trail on the mind and that’s cool and good but the girlfriend is wanting to hit up some amazon stuff for the week after. She’s a bit hesitant after seeing Iquitos being a no go from the state department. What would be a good alternative from Cusco? We're doing almost exactly this for the next two weeks. 4D/3N on the Inca trail with Machu Picchu at the end, 2 days in Cusco, then 4 days in an eco-lodge out of Puerto Maldonado. You've probably already booked all your stuff but if you're doing the Amazon, be aware of yellow fever vaccine requirements as well as flight schedules. The vaccine is very hard to get a hold of in the US and it's $250+, and for the flight, there's only one direct flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado per day and ours was completely booked up more than 4 months ahead of time, so we're having to fly back into Lima to get there from Cusco (too bougie to bus it). Anyway, I'll trip report when I'm back if you're interested.
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Jul 10, 2019 16:12
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Siegkrow posted:People are paying through the fuckin nose yo. I hear Germans all the time here (in Chile). I'd say they would have to easily be the most common europeans I've run into (not counting Spanish, but I hear fewer of them) King Metal fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jul 21, 2019 |
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Jul 21, 2019 03:58
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I'm going to be in Mexico City for a few days over Labor Day Weekend. I'll be staying in Roma Norte, but dont really have many plans. Anyone have any favorite spots? I like good food (anything from street food to Michelin starred), art museums, bars, and just about everything other than clubs and dancing. Our group has enough Spanish between the 3 of us to get by.
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Jul 22, 2019 16:25
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Hutzpah posted:I'm going to be in Mexico City for a few days over Labor Day Weekend. I'll be staying in Roma Norte, but dont really have many plans. Anyone have any favorite spots? I like good food (anything from street food to Michelin starred), art museums, bars, and just about everything other than clubs and dancing. Our group has enough Spanish between the 3 of us to get by. - Check out the mercados like Mercado Medellín / Mercado Juarez / Mercado Escandón. Most have really good comida corrida spots (delicious set meals for 50-70 pesos) as well as stands of various juices, sweets, snacks. - On Sundays, there's a sweet antique / food / etc. market: La Lagunilla - Rent bikes and ride around in Chapultepec Park (there's a place to rent inside the park or you can sign up for ecobici online) Few favorites: Bar: Pulquería "La Pirata" - really gnarly / cool pulque joint with variety of flavors Añoranza Cafe, little coffee place inside Mercado Escandón run by an ex-journalist writer dude. Quesadillas Doña Laura - late night quesadilla street food spot run by a legend Tamales Doña Emi, really good tamal and atole spot, around the corner from the house where they filmed Roma. El Jarocho de las Lomas - by Chapultapec park, street food spot, awesome shrimp cocktails served in mason jars Los Compadres - great tacos al pastor next to Chapultapec El Rayo Pibil - good cochinita pibil spot Tacos El Torito - suadero tacos in centro Casa de toño is good and cheap for pozole Good Parmesan fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jul 22, 2019 |
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Jul 22, 2019 17:07
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torb main posted:We're doing almost exactly this for the next two weeks. 4D/3N on the Inca trail with Machu Picchu at the end, 2 days in Cusco, then 4 days in an eco-lodge out of Puerto Maldonado. You've probably already booked all your stuff but if you're doing the Amazon, be aware of yellow fever vaccine requirements as well as flight schedules. The vaccine is very hard to get a hold of in the US and it's $250+, and for the flight, there's only one direct flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado per day and ours was completely booked up more than 4 months ahead of time, so we're having to fly back into Lima to get there from Cusco (too bougie to bus it). We are ending up not doing the Trail and making it into a day trip but that's fine. I'd love to hear a trip report
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Jul 24, 2019 03:28
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How did you guys determine how much cash to exchange when traveling around SA? I'm sure most of the major cities accept credit card?
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Jul 29, 2019 11:34
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Busy Bee posted:How did you guys determine how much cash to exchange when traveling around SA? I'm sure most of the major cities accept credit card? How much cash to exchange entirely depends on what kind of a spender you are and how you book stuff, especially lodging, e.g. AirBnb you'll never use or need cash (or a credit card), while if you book through hotels.com or hostelworld.com or whatever you may have to pay on the spot depending on how the hotel functions. Exchanging cash at cambio places will also almost inevitably be a worse deal than using your ATM/credit card except in Venezuela. Try and get an ATM card from your bank with no ATM fees or a credit card that allows cash withdrawals (with decent / no fees). Try not to use a debit card. This depends somewhat on your transaction fees, but it's almost certainly better to you to withdraw large amounts a few times, rather than withdrawing like $40 every single evening to pay for dinner. Credit cards are widely accepted in most large cities but it's always good to have enough cash to pay for your dinner or whatever just in case the card doesn't work. One issue that caught us up was that some ATMs require 6 digit PINs and some require 4 digit PINs, which is messed up. For instance in Bolivia we were unable to use any of our 6 digit PIN cards at ATMs, while in Uruguay, my 4 digit PIN cards didn't work in any ATM but the 6 digit worked fine. Fortunately we have both, but I think that's pretty rare. My parents have been screwed a couple times by countries that mandated 6 digit PINs, which American cards never (?) have, and the "just add two 0s at the end" trick is bullshit that never, ever works IME.
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Jul 29, 2019 12:35
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George H.W. oval office posted:We are ending up not doing the Trail and making it into a day trip but that's fine. I'd love to hear a trip report The trail was the best part of the trip. I would've hated the day trip - once we got into Machu Picchu proper it was so busy and stressful that I really didn't enjoy a good portion of it. The trail on the other hand was absolutely fantastic. It was very hard in spots (particularly having to do two mountain passes in one day), but the views, atmosphere, and food were completely worth it. We took it kinda easy in Cusco so I wouldn't say we did any one thing that we'd definitely recommend, but it was fun just walking around the neighborhoods near the plaza. I guess the one "can't miss" is San Pedro market, lots of neat stuff there. For the Amazon, depending on when you go be prepared for it to have wild temperature swings. When we arrived it was 90 degrees and muggy with sporadic thunderstorms, but the 2nd day a Patagonian cold front came through and it got up to maybe 60 degrees, with it only recovering to about 75 by the time we left 2 days later. Otherwise it was a ton of fun. Have more cash than you think you need for tips, etc. Last note, I had some real struggles finding ATMs that worked with my debit card (US Bank/VISA). A lot of ATMs said they accepted Visa and PLUS network cards but ended up not working. BBVA Continental was the only bank we found that accepted our debit cards, and every time they charged an $8 fee. The max we could withdraw was 400 soles which is only like $130, so it's a super bad deal. I normally don't recommend this but in retrospect we should've stocked up at a Travelex or something at the airport as we would've ended up paying fewer fees there than at the ATMs.
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Jul 31, 2019 17:52
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The two-day Inca trail was a lot of fun. Our group got to Machu Picchu at the end of the day while all the tourists were getting kicked out, so we had a great view before taking a bus to visit the hot springs and sleep in a nice hotel. The trail was gorgeous, had pretty water falls, and it was really trippy looking back after hours of hiking to see earlier trail sections. I'm not a frequent hiker, so this was the first time I tried using trekking poles, and they made everything easier. We took a bus to Macchu Picchu in the morning, and it was incredible to tour it, but I preferred the trail getting there tbh.
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Jul 31, 2019 21:29
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George H.W. oval office posted:We are ending up not doing the Trail and making it into a day trip but that's fine. I'd love to hear a trip report We didn’t do the MP trail but really enjoyed it nonetheless. We ended up spending longer in Cusco and did lots of day trips around the area - there are loads of tour operators but they don’t give you enough time at the various ruins. For example we had a really enjoyable time making our own way to Pisac and then exploring the site at leisure.
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Jul 31, 2019 21:43
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torb main posted:The trail was the best part of the trip. I would've hated the day trip - once we got into Machu Picchu proper it was so busy and stressful that I really didn't enjoy a good portion of it. The trail on the other hand was absolutely fantastic. We had the same experience, but it definitely depends on what you like doing and I could definitely see it varying by personality. When we got up to Machu Picchu we were like "ehh" but the hike to (Salkantay, we didn't book far enough in advance for Inca) was fantastic. I could definitely see someone enjoying doing a bunch of daytrips from Cusco; we spent like 7 days in the Cusco area which wasn't really enough time for anything outside of Cusco itself and the Salktanay Trail / MP. Also had the same weather experience as you for the rainforest, but at Iguazu Falls. It was no exaggeration like an overnight low of 35°F the first day we were there (late September), followed by a high of 100°F the next day. I've never seen such a temperature swing, and I spent 4 years living in the subtropical swamp-garbage climate of Houston. E: Apparently Houston and Iguazu Falls share the same climate type. gently caress that climate type.
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Jul 31, 2019 22:47
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Busy Bee posted:How did you guys determine how much cash to exchange when traveling around SA? I'm sure most of the major cities accept credit card? I did the poor bastard backpacker hostel thing and I was pulling out $200 USD worth of cash every so often Lodging, transport and tickets to the larger tourist traps all take plastic these days so the smart thing is to get a travel points credit card with no forex fees and just use that Other than that you have street vendors who are going to be cash only. I find $200 these days goes a really long ways. I think my 6 day trip up Hong Kong we only spent $400 cash for two people and most of that was loading up the octopus card for Transit because the airport Express train is $25/pp each way Make sure your ATM card is on one of the major ATM networks like Star. For example starting in like 2009 Wells Fargo went down to only one atm network, Plus, which only like 10% of international ATMs accept and makes life really loving hard on an emergency. Wells Fargo is pretty much the worst for travel. Jp Morgan Chase has a single physical bank location but they're on all the networks and their atm card is hooked up to a the networks, Citibank is pretty ok too. HSBC and ING seem to be the only actual truly international banks worth a drat Hadlock fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Aug 1, 2019 |
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Aug 1, 2019 01:16
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YoursTruly posted:The two-day Inca trail was a lot of fun. Our group got to Machu Picchu at the end of the day while all the tourists were getting kicked out, so we had a great view before taking a bus to visit the hot springs and sleep in a nice hotel. The trail was gorgeous, had pretty water falls, and it was really trippy looking back after hours of hiking to see earlier trail sections. I'm not a frequent hiker, so this was the first time I tried using trekking poles, and they made everything easier. Do you remember which company you booked through?
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Aug 1, 2019 02:29
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Cbear posted:Do you remember which company you booked through? I know this wasn't directed at me, but we booked through Alpaca Expeditions for the 4D/3N Inca Trail. I believe they also do the 2D/1N version, but I'd highly recommend the 4D if you can swing it. One other one I've heard is really good is SAS Travel.
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Aug 1, 2019 03:34
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torb main posted:I know this wasn't directed at me, but we booked through Alpaca Expeditions for the 4D/3N Inca Trail. I believe they also do the 2D/1N version, but I'd highly recommend the 4D if you can swing it. One other one I've heard is really good is SAS Travel. Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to decide whether to go the true 4 day or not. I'd like to, but I'd also like to throw in some day trips from Cusco and such as well so still unsure. Has anyone hiked Machu Picchu mountain or Huyana Pichu? Leaning towards the latter but looking for first hand knowledge.
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Aug 2, 2019 03:38
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If your in decent shape you can do either. Huayna Picchu is not so much hard as just loving unsafe. I’m honestly surprised they don’t get more accidents up there.
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Aug 2, 2019 04:46
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:If your in decent shape you can do either. Huayna Picchu is not so much hard as just loving unsafe. I’m honestly surprised they don’t get more accidents up there. Apparently it’s safer than it used to be. Met a guy climbing it up who first went up it 20 years before - back then no hand rail or anything.
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Aug 2, 2019 07:31
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Cbear posted:Do you remember which company you booked through? Llama Path. Our guides were really cool and knowledgeable, I'd recommend them.
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Aug 2, 2019 14:35
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Lady Gaza posted:Apparently it’s safer than it used to be. Met a guy climbing it up who first went up it 20 years before - back then no hand rail or anything. There's a hand rail now? I remember scrambling up a fractured jade looking gravel semi cliff just back in 2008/9. Everyone coming down had at least one scuffed knee or broken skin on their elbow or something. Edit: I'm thinking about the mountain on the other side of the "saddle"
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Aug 2, 2019 21:16
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Hadlock posted:There's a hand rail now? I forget which one is which, but I climbed the one you see in all the classic photos. I think it’s Huanya. They’ve bolted a cable-type thing into the side of some of the steeper sections - it helps to keep your balance but it’s in the mountain-side, there’s no actual rail to protect you from going over the edge.
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Aug 2, 2019 21:39
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 23:01 |
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Looking for personal recommendations of things not to miss in Buenos Aires, if anyone has any! There for four days next week and another three around the 14th. Staying in Palermo Soho and Recoleta.
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Aug 26, 2019 11:19
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