South America General Questions

[HP]

So I came to South America for 2 months. 3 weeks organized tour, and 5 weeks volunteering

Well, I found out I'm not the organized tour kind of person, and I'm kind of sick of digging ditches in a remote village. Me and a friend the other day changed our plane tickets to give us an extra 3 months so we can explore on our own

We're in Peru atm. We are thinking of something like:

Peru-->Bolivia-->Argentinia-->Brazil-->(fly to) Columbia, then if we have time, go up into Central America

Any input at all is appreciated.

We are not sure if we should hit up Paraguay and Uruguay, I've heard they kind of suck. Also, Chile looks kinda expensive and bland so we are thinking of skipping that

Anyone know which countries are good for hitchiking?

fwiw both of us are more into partying in cities than like hiking and stuff

[fatgirl_lover]

hey, this is bruiser i´m in bolivia if you come here send me an email clambunnyATgmail.com and we can hang out in santa cruz if you want. as far as coming to bolivia it´s not really a tourist place, i´ve never seen a place so homgoneous before and i tell all the bolivians that but they insist to me there aer a lot of foreigners, but there aren´t. i haven´t been eyt but i hear there are more tourists in La Paz for the ruins, Bolivia is interesting to me for it´s poverty, for example my ability to use the internet cafe here for a half a dollar an hour. anyway, even though bolivia probably has less to see and do then just about any place on the map it´s still a country with nice people and places to party. also august 6th is a big day here for fiestas, it´s like their 4th of july and this year i think it will be even bigger because they are rewriting their constituion although it will be done late sometime after august 6th

[imakefrush]

I've lived in Buenos Aires for 3 years and it is obv a must see. Paraguay is a chithole and has little value. Uruguay has good parts. If you haven't hit up better beaches in Brasil, then Punta del Este is a decent beach resort city. A Colonia daytrip from BA is also good fun. I would def recommend Patagonia, or at least Mendoza area, if you have the time.

[MicroBob]

When I was in Peru I was told that a beach-touristish area just south of Lima called Asia is a good club-going area.

My impression is that it was way more hoppin in the summer (right now it is winter down there of course).
We were going head down for a day and night but got sidetracked with family obligations and then decided just a few hours taking in a soccer match in Lima would be easier.

Not really sure of the quality of the clubish district there. The people who were talking of how good it is didn't have any experience in that realm and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was totally lame.

Of course, if you're a white person you can expect to not have to deal as much with lines or anything. Being a 'gringo' = money in Peru.

the girls who were friends of my GF said we would have no trouble getting in because they would be with me, a white guy.
This amused me to no end because these were pretty attractive girls and I'm just a short, bald, pudgy, middle-aged dude yet somehow I was the reason we would get in right-away (completely the opposite at most club-situations in the U.S. of course).


The MiraFlores and Barranco districts in Lima were reasonably interesting but I didn't think they were anything exceptional. It just doesn't seem like there's THAT much happening in that city.
Not enough people with enough spending money I guess (although casinos have popped up ALL over that city so maybe it was just a matter of not knowing our way around so well).
We went to a couple bars in MiraFlores where we had fun though.

In the middle of Cuzco there are some clubs for all the tourists and backpackers who are heading to the ruins at Machu Pichu.
We went to a couple clubs and enjoyed ourselves but, again, they aren't anything exceptional or anything. Just little clubs with cheap drinks (Pisco Sours among other drinks of course).

Not at all like some giant club with a huge outdoor patio that is open until 7am or something like that which I assume is available in places like Buenos Aries and Rio.

But if you're bouncing around Peru some and are there for a few days anyway you have to find something to do of course so perhaps look into those places.

The places in Asia might not be open at all this time of year for all I know. Really not sure.

I'm not much of a hiking and backpacking and tour-group type person either. But Machu Pichu is kind of the Grand Canyon of South America as far as tourism goes. It's a pretty big deal.
Seeing that you can also spend a couple days hanging out in Cuzco and trying to hook up with some Australian backpacking-type chick it might all add up to an okay time for you.

[Josem]

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Seeing that you can also spend a couple days hanging out in Cuzco and trying to hook up with some Australian backpacking-type chick it might all add up to an okay time for you.

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I understand that in the early 1900s, a group of Australians were dissatisfied with the then-newly federated Australia. They wanted to establish their own socialist utopia, and migrated as a group to some place in Peru.

I've heard that there is now an enclave somewhere where there is a group of socialists who's descendants still, to this day, speak with strong Australian accents.




On the main topic, some friends of mine who formed a boy band (Maximum Forte - you may have heard of them) travelled to South America on their "Helping the Kids" world tour. They had a great time, however, they had some serious disagreements:

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Apparently, the band is yet to recover from their very public dispute over the title of the top 10 single that has since become known as Sauna? You Know I
Wan-na!

The track was penned by controversial bad boy Aln Laing II, and was originally going to be released under the title Sauna – You Know I Warned Ya!

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Photos are online at http://community.webshots.com/user/MaximumForte and here are some of their reports from their trip - feel free to take from it what you will:
12 Nov, 2005
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Hola amigos

te quiero muchisimo

Dont say this to Mexican taxi drivers as JuJu found out it is not the Mexican equivelant of ´Cheers´.
Thanks Richie.

The travels have begun. Come join us on the frickin best World Tour ever!

The Highlights

Fiji-Richie got seduced by a local man, who took him out the back of some shop and drugged him with the local poison Kava. Then had to buy his merchandise. Anyone need a crappy coconut ring¿ JuJu became a mormon to avoid the poison.

USA - maximum Forte couldnt hold the fans back. Sporting new personalised Maximum forte hoodies they were getting alot of attention at the local gay bar. With the waitor challenging Meg for her no. 1 fan status. We did not accept his offer to go out the back and meet the real Maximum Forte. However we talked about how good Savage Garden were for a few hours.

Mexico City- >First train ride on the Metro, some 12 year old went for a cheap feel of Richie´´s arse and accidently caught his wallet at the time. Due to his mongoose like skills he pulled her groping hand off his wallet with some super fast maximum forte dance moves.She wept.


Enjoy,
Maximum Forte


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12 Dec, 2005
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Greetings friends, hope you've been worrying about me, you have every right to be, I see a lot of contempt for us in their little eyes, we're so ridiculously conspicuous, colorful clothing, jules with his blonde hair, me with a head above the crowd. Some guy rode by on a bicycle yesterday and yelled out to julian "hey gringo, go back to your country and get out of mine", what's hilarious is that he probably only learnt english so that he could insult us.

Yesterday we visited the largest cathedral in latin america and saw diego rivera's massive wall covering paintings. Julian and I went to bed last night thinking we would visit the pyramids at teotihocan which has the third largest pyramid in the world, just out of town. we went to bed at 12 and jules woke me up at 6 30 and started talking about the day we were going to have. I said its too early to wake up so we better just have an hour more sleep. we awoke and had breakfast, confirmed our plans for the day then got ready to leave. On our way out we told one of the hostlel workers we were going to the pyramids and if we could borrow their guide book. He looked at us like we were nuts and said they would be closed then pointed to the skylight. It was 5.30pm, we slept the whole day, he then proceeded to tell us how drugs are bad. So tonight we went shopping for a watch.

Over the next two weeks we'll be heading down to Guatemala City, there's a fair bit to do along the way, namely palenque, san critobal and puebla, then four fantastic cities in Guatemala before departing for Belize. We are becoming more competent at spanish, buying tickets, cervesas, minor chit chat etc. On my second train ride on the metro, a little go tried to steal my wallet, i caught her hand and she was off, but her father looked rather proud of her. So now that I'm a statistic I feel safer, but we just look so ridiculously conspicuous as you can see from our photos. Several young mexican muchachas came up to us yesterday and wanted our names and to take photos, their older boyfriend did not look too impressed.

We have covered quite a lot in this short time, particularly on thursday the 8th of December where we left our hostel in the morning to take a cruise to a beautiful fijian island where we did some amazing snorkelling. It's a whole other world and so far detached from the environment I'm used to, where these amazingly beautiful fish are swimming around your hands and nibbling at your fingers, the only comparable experience on land would be that with flies. Then we came back, picked up our stuff from the hostel, missed the free shuttle because i was waiting for my banana split, and caught the 11 hour flight to LA where at the airport Julian asked for a seat with extra leg room and she said there was only one left and she'd already given it to me, behind in the line, heh heh heh. So that was a most comfortable flight, and we arrived in LA to be greeted by my friend Katie whom i travelled around new zealand with. The first thing in LA we decided to visit was a massive op shop we spotted on the way to hollywood where we did all the tourist crap. She then took us out for a massive burger and texan margarita before dropping us off at the airport where I we lined up at the TACA airlines queue, and were directed outside to where the real line started. I've never seen so many hispanics, even now in mexico, the line was massive, a good 200m walk down the road to the end. We arrived in El Salvador on the friday morning (that was one huuuuuuge thursday), now two nights without a bed and with hardly any sleep, so when we finally made it to mexico city and took the 1hour cab ride from the airport, we were greeted at our hostel by "Hola, you're from australia, my god you guys look bad."

We're getting along really well with the other travelers, sharing bottles of tequila seals most friendships, so very much looking forward to the rest of our journey. Food is so cheap here, today we two filling tacos and a drink for under $2, and you can get a bottle of tequila for under 10.

Anyway, keep in touch,



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21 Dec, 2005
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Let's big it up for M to the Onash, and a special big up to Royal McLeod whose day of birth set off riots in Mexico, causing bus delays and intercity chaos, making it impossible for us to contact him for his birthday!!!! Hope it was massive buddy, we spent a good portion of yesterday talking about what a true champion you are and then.....[censored], his birthday, found some mariachis to sing you a birthday song but had no recording device, but this is what they sang:

Conocido Campbell, Campbell Reglas el Mundo, Wooo Ooooh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, Campbell es muy Caliente!!!

Well gang, we just arrived in Guatemala, had an interesting welcoming, definitely one to remember on first impressions. After getting kicked off the bus on the side of some highway, middle of nowhere, we stood there wondering what the [censored] to do, when another shonky bus comes hurtling around the corner with a guy flailing out the door shouting "Xela!?'. It takes off as i am getting on through the back door and just manage not to taste the pavement. On the bus, our first introduction to Guatemalan culture, i get elbowed in the face for trying to bribe the ticket collector with US dollars. Followed almost instantaneously by JuJu testing his Spanish and sparking up a conversation with the elderly gentleman next to him, who reciprocates by grabbing his hand, flopping out, winking at him, then proceeded to wee on our backpacks..... gracias senior.

We were rather stoked to get to our 3 dollar a night bed at our hostel, and when i say hostel, i mean garage, and when i say bed, i mean cot, and when i say i haven't had a hot shower since mexico city, i mean two weeks ago, and when I say our clothes are getting a tad scum-pickens, i mean we haven't done any washing yet (juju only brought 3 pairs of unmentionables). Aside from these initial laughs, Guatemala is absolutely fantastic. Another non-urinating guy I met on the bus offered to drive us to our garage and take us to the volcanic hot springs tomorrow, we may have to thank him in true guatemalan custom by weeing on his hat.

We have sent you all group emails, but we've found a lot of them have been going to junk mail. We seem to consistently be in a delirious state of laughter, like yesterday when we spent all day on a small tourist bus going to see some ruins, we thought no one else understood english, but on the return trip we found they were just shy, and would have had a 12 hour earful about the hilarious emails we are going to send steve brax, or B-Rax, in da house...... (of) Represent...(atives).

Stay in touch guys, I'm pointing to you campbell, straw, libby, maie maie and mell, whom we haven't heard from yet

Maximum Forte

PS, had an unbelievable night out in San Cristobal, where Richie tasted 4 of mexico's finest and juju tasted australia (but claiming post purchase dissonance after wasting it on an australian). The girls love us here, especially in the bars where the only language is grinding... heh heh

PS2 (copyright sony), gremlet, loved the fanmail, we're working on a larger crisis that will overcome our rift, stay strong...

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[Cancuk]

Bolivia rocks. La Paz, Rruenabaque (spelling?), Ouruo, Potosi, and Sucre were all awesome. We went farther west in the jungle, over to Trinidad (we got there by boat up the river: crazy story)... but, it's more off the beated track and probably not for everybody. I never went to Sanata Cruz, but I never heard anything good about it and wouldn't recommend going there... mostly because it's way out in eastern bolivia, while most of the sweet stuff is in central/west. Lake titicaka is also awesome, and way better from the Bolivian side (isle del sol) than the Peruvian (Puno). Chile was a little expensive (in comparison to rest of SA) but it is beautiful. Argentina is a must... go to Mendoza but also to the Lake District: Bariloche, El Bolson. Great hiking and awesome food. Buenos Aires rocks, as most everybody said. I liked Urugauy... Montevideo I liked a lot.. go to the market there and eat a steak off the open grill.. I can't believe I cant' remember the name of this style of cooking (spanish for BBQ, I think)... start's with a "v".. anyway, it's one of the best steaks i've ever had... Punta del Este was pretty good, La Palonia up the coast towards Brazil we liked too...

Anyway, there's more if you're interested. Esepcially in Boliva, I stayed a long time there on two occasions.

[Jigsaws]

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Anyone know which countries are good for hitchiking?

fwiw both of us are more into partying in cities than like hiking and stuff

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Contradictory, much? Anyway, Chile is a hitchhiker's paradise. Argentina and Brazil are okay too, but not great. Bolivia and Peru are tough. Those countries are so poor that private vehicles are rare. You'll definitely find rides, but they'll mostly be with (slow) truck drivers, and then they'll still often ask you for some money. It'll be about half the price of a normal bus ride. You'll often share the ride with Bolivian laborers - it's an accepted mode of transportation.

For partying in cities you have to hit up Cuzco. It's the backpacker capital of the western gringo trail, and there's lots of nice western-style clubs and bars. Everything's close together as well, you can walk to everything. Bolivia doesn't have much in the way of nightlife. La Paz has some, but I thought it was rather bland. In Chile and Argentina, both the capitals have some really good clubs, as is to be expected. They're usually bigger affairs than Cuzco, and often on the outskirts of the city, you'll need a cab.

[HP]

awesome repsonses guys. didn´t really have time to read them all but i will this weekend

bruiser i´ll shoot you an email later, i´ll be in bolivia in about a week

thanks again all

[Cancuk]

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Anyone know which countries are good for hitchiking?

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We hitched in every country we went to, but we saw it the most in Bolivia and Chile. Lots of Chileans hitching, probably because transportation is more expensive there. I would definitley be careful about hitching in Brazil, as crime/robbery towards westerners is much more prevalent there than other countries. Same with Colombia, but I believe Brazil is worse.

For partying: Cuzco is crazy. We had a really good time in Bolivia too, but not really "clubs".. but lots of drinking... Bolivian's drink like there's no tomorrow.

Buenos Aires was retardedly awesome. As was Montanita in Ecuador, they have a 'full moon party'... trying to be the Koh Pha Ngan of South America.. can get pretty big in high season... lots of fun.

[MicroBob]

Cuzco is crazy?
We thought it was 'okay' and had a good time but our one night going out might have just been variance.

I think it might have been a Thursday perhaps. Maybe just a Wednesday. And we were exhausted from another long day of touring and had a flight to catch at 6am so we made it kind of an early-ish night anyway.

I guess I can see how it could work in that city on the weekends and during the right time of year though.
We probably will want to go back when we get the chance.

Our previous nights there we kind of wanted to go out but had a couple of reasons why we couldn't.
1. We were exhausted from doing other stuff ALL damn day long.
2. We were staying with an older cousin of my GF. This older cousin just happened to be a nun so we were put up for free in their guest-rooms of the monastery there and they lock the doors at 8pm or something.
So for our one night planning to go out we packed up our stuff to stay in a different hotel and she explained that she wanted to go enjoy the nightlife or something to which the nun giggled and said she was going to pretend in her mind that we weren't going to go out drinking and partying but were instead going on another tour or something.

So my advice if you want to party in Cuzco is to not stay with a bunch of nuns who have a pretty early curfew.