Budget for 3 Months in South America

OK, so our overall budget blew out to about double what I originally projected. For the two of us we spent $10 800 (not including expensive tours like Galapagos or Pantanal) which is about $1800/person/month and $60/person/day. Including those two expensive tours the total for us two was $16 700.Travelling South America was certainly not as cheap as I thought it would be and certain things would be just as expensive as in Australia if not more. We mostly stayed in hostels and splurged a bit on good food and some cool activities but the expensive tours aren't included in the total as they don't reflect day to day expenditure. 

Breakdown per country

Brazil

$90/person/day

We spent the 3 weeks in Brazil and spent $3785 for the two of us by far the most expensive country we visited. Transportation encompassed 57% of this as we had were booking flights relatively late.

Accommodation: $640, $15/person/night.

Transport: $2184, mostly flights and some buses. It's such a big country flying was a necessary expense.

Food: $500, $12/person/day. Cheap but not good food.

Activities: $382

Extra (not included in total): Pantanal 3 day tour, $1100 per person. Not worth the amount of money we spent on it and would have been better in the dry season.

Argentina

$50/person/day

We splurged a bit in the 10 days we spent in Buenos Aires, enjoy fantastic food and going out every day. Our quality of life was far higher than in Brazil and for much less.

Accommodation: $224, $11/person/night.

Transport: $303. Cheap public transport around the city, most of this cost was the bus ride for the both of us from Buenoas Aires to Santiago.

Food: $236, $12/person/day, awesome food for a bargain price.

Activities: $28, did lots of things like rollerblading around the park and went to a tango dance hall.

Chile

$69/person/day

We got very lucky in Chile and got free accommodation and home cooked meals with our wonderful friends so this cut down on the budget for the first half but San Pedro, Atacama desert was expensive due to the high amount of daily tours we did. The outlined budget below is just for our San Pedro portion.

Accommodation: $108, $18/person/night.

Transport: $180, bus for two from Santiago to San Pedro.

Food: $135, $22/person/day.

Activities: $213, did 4 half day tours.

Bolivia

$42/person/day

Bolivia was cheaper than other countries but e didn't find any three course meals for $1 like someone was telling us. Sadly I was really sick at this time and couldn't make it to a computer to budget properly but food and accommodation was relatively cheap.

Peru

$60/person/day

Peru was a good combination of fun and affordable. We were living it large and thought we were splashing the cash big time but the figures end up being very reasonable. 
Accommodation: $188, $12/person/night.

Transport: $429, a few bus rides a lots of cheap taxi rides - about $2-5 per trip.

Food: $381, $13/person/day. We absolutely splurged on food in Peru and went to a few fine dining places which were still cheap for what we were used to.

Activities: $427, we did a lot in Peru and bought a few things like alpaca jumpers which added to this. Still a cheap place to do fun things.

Extra (not included in total): G Adventures 5 day Inca Trail for $934 per person, worth it considering the staff they bring along to support you and the service you get.

Ecuador

$58/person/day
Relatively cheap place to travel around but honestly besides the Galapagos non of it felt like value for money after Peru.

Accommodation: $256, $16/person/night.

Transport: $104, mostly taxi rides including $25-35 taxi rides to and from Quito airport

Food: $282, $17/person/day. Cost more than Peru yet definitely nowhere near the quality. Disappointing.

Activities: $54, went to see the dolphins in El Morro and visit the middle of the Earth.

Extra: 5 day Galapagos Cruise + 1 day land tour on Isabella Island. Total for two people was $3484. Also spent an extra $436 on extras like entry fees, tips and snorkelling hire. 

Itinerary for 3 months in South America

Now that we're on our North America leg I've really come to miss South America. I miss it for all it's uniqueness and vibrancy. We spent three months there in total but this isn't really that long when you consider we visited 6 countries which equates to only about 2 weeks per country. How can you possibly say you've come to understand a place in 2 weeks? I do feel that we managed to cover the most important places to us but there are certainly places we felt we cheated and plan to visit on the next trip. 

Brazil (March 2013)

In total we spent 3 weeks here where we mostly flew from city to city. I think that this was a good amount of time here consider how large the country is. It was the most expensive country we visited so staying too long can really squeeze your budget. We started in Rio and spent 4 days there. It was a great place to start the journey and there was so much to do there. We saw Christ the Redeemer and visited the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. We then made our way by bus to Paraty which was nice but the beach wasn't that great and I would have preferred to have gone to Ilha Grande which we heard many good things from other travellers about the beautiful beaches there. Another bus to the historical town of Ouro Preto where we spent two days, mostly taking photos of churches and walking up hills. We then visited Sao Paulo for four days. This a frenetic and over populated city where we had a great experience meeting some lovely locals but otherwise didn't find much to love about the acutal city. We then took a bus to Bella Horizonte then a flight to Salvador in the Northeast of Brazil. Salvador was one of my favourite cities and we spent 5 days there exploring the Afro-Brazilian culture and spent an extra two days in the small nearby beach towns of Imbassai and Praia do Forte. I'd skip the former but loved the latter, even though it was super touristy. We then flew all the way across to the Cuiaba where we started our 3 day tour into the Pantanal, large wetlands area known for wildlife. Due to it being the wet season (March), this was a dissapointment as there are more chances of seeing Jaguars and other cool animals in the dry season. I wished we'd saved our money instead and went to Bonito instead to see the wild macaws and do the fish swim instead. We then flew to Iguassu Falls and spent one full day on the Brazilian side and the next on the Argentinian side. Do both sides and do the boat ride as well. It's really really fun! Note: We applied for our Brazillian visa's in Australia a month before leaving.

Argentina (March/April)

We spent 8 days only in Buenos Aires which was a good amount of time. We planned on spending some of that time in Mendoza, wine country. But since we absolutely fell in love with the food and culture of BA and don't love wine we ended up going straight from BA to Santiago. This was a 24 hour bus ride but going over the Andes along the way made it feel like more of a scenic tour and definitely recommended even if going through Chilean customs takes ages. We would love to come back one day and see more of Argentina and do Salta and Mendoza as well. We hear they are both lovely. But I would still go back to BA for some more amazing steak. Note: You have to pay a $100 reciprocacy fee and print out the receipt before entering the country.

Chile (April)

We spent 12 days in Chile, 5 of those in Pucon. Stunning volcanoes and lakes with amazing friends, we had such a good time and I just wish we had more time to go further South to Patagonia and do the W trail in Torres del Paine but I hear that is a trip in itself and by April it would have been way to cold for unprepared travelers that  we are. We also spent four days in the northern tip in San Pedro doing daily tours in the Atacama desert. Our favourites were the salt lagoons and the Space tour. From there we started our four day tour to the Bolivian salt flats.

Bolivia (April)

I couldn't really enjoy Bolivia due to altitude sickness but the tour to the salt flats had some stunning scenery and of course the salt flats themselves are so special. We also then spent 2 days in La Paz and 2 days in Lake Titicaca. This was enough and I really can't say I overly enjoyed htis part of the trip.

Peru (May)

We spent just under 3 weeks in Peru and honestly I could have spent more. Such a stunning country with so much to do and great on the budget too. We spent two days acclimatising in Cusco before doing a 5 days Inca Trail trek with G adventures which was hard but infinitely rewarding. Another two days in Cusco afterwads recuperating and then two days in Lima, exploring the ceviche in Miraflores. We spent two days in Ica visiting the oasis town of Huacachina and sandboarding (exhilirating) and one day in Paracas looking at sea lions and penguins. Then another two days back in Lima, this time in Barranco district which is a bit less touristy and more interesting then Miraflores. 

Ecuador (May)

A 28 hour bus from Lima is the city of Guayaquil where we booked our Galapagos tour. This was such a stress point for me but worth it. We originally wanted to squeeze Columbia in before we went to Galapagos but realised that we wouldn't really be giving Columbia the days it deserved plus we weren't sure how long it would take to find a good Galapagos tour and didn't want to risk not having enough time to do it. So Columbia went on the 'next time' list. We spent two days organising the tour, one exploring the city and two days in Playas on the beach and checking our dolphins in the mangroves at El Morro. Honestly, with all the amazing wildlife and beaches that awaited at Galapagos we could have skipped Playas but we had time to kill. We spent 2 weeks in Ecuador but the best part was the Galapagos, the only major tour we did that not only met but far exceeded expectations. We spent 7 days at Galapagos with two of those in transit on flights. This was the perfect amount of time that allowed us to see everything without getting excessively expensive and repetitive. We only had one full day in Quito to visit the equator for a science lesson before we flew out to Los Angeles, USA. 

Stunning Scenery of San Pedro, Atacama Desert

We stayed 3 nights in San Pedro and  most of those nights were filled with tours out into the desert. Our first tour involved going to Moon Valley and Death Valley. These dry and rocky terrain remind people of terrains of other planets so the name is apt. Honestly, I thought it was kind of boring.Nothing moves here. It´s just sand, salt and rock. But looking back on the photos, some of the landscape shots were pretty amazing.

 

The most impressive tour I found was the one to Cejar Lagoon which has so much salt in it that it is impossible to drown. It's an odd feeling when you first get in becaue your body feels off balance, just too light.  You're not supposed to put your head underwater because the water would really sting your eyes but then of course we got a group of hooligans who were diving into the water and the funniest part was when a Zach Galifianakis looking guy jumped right in and had appeared to swallow a lot of the water so when he emerged he was drooling like a rabid dog and gasping for air. He was also yelling "IT´S SO SALTY!". Oh dear. We also went to a fresh water lagooon and some small salt flats which were ok but nothing compared to the Bolivian ones.

Kevin showing off his moves.

Kevin doing a Marilyn.

A trip to the geysers meant a 4am wake up and -10 degree temperatures. Even with four warm layers on we felt it. Oh how we felt it. It was the coldest I had ever been, even going to the snow wasn't as cold as this. So we huddled together, taking token photos of the geysers but the highlight was when we got breakfast and warm boiled eggs we could warm up our hands with. Tragic isn't it? Well here are some of those token photos we got. Oh and I also ate a lama kebab. Nom  nom nom!

Our final  tour was one called ´Space´, because the skies are so clear in the desert you can see the stars really clearly. In fact the largest astronomical project called ALMA is situated high in the moutains here.  We got to see the signs of the zodiac in the sky and then got to use some big ass telescopes to check our a whole bunch of stars, the moon  and saturn. Plus our Canadian guide/astronomer was hilarious, "OK everyone walk 4 metres to your left, if you´re American just follow everyone else" (it's a metric system joke by the way). So I know a lot of you folks thought I was uber cool but I'm actually just a big nerd. But you gotta admit, these photos we took from the telescope are pretty awesome, especially being able to see the rings on saturn.

Next stop, Bolivia (even though my best Chilean friend Maria told me not to go there).

Chile - where have you been all my life?

Imagine going to a place with snow capped active volcanies, hot springs and vast lakes with beautiful, lush forests in between. Then imagine going with amazing friends who let you stay at their grandparent´s cosy cabin, who drive you around and feed you delicious food and wine. This paradise life was ours this past week and I can´t help but gush about it.

 

We drove 10 hours south from Santiago to the picturesque town of Pucon (I´m told Leonardo Di Caprio stayed there recently). It's Autumn at the moment, the sun was shining and the air was very crisp. The land the cabin is situated on was bought by Maria´s grandparents for a bargain price of $300 by chance whilst they were driving by and the owner was desperate to sell due to the economic downturn. Much later they built the wooden cabin. Nowadays it would be wortht at least $200K.

 

The air is so fresh here and though the town is touristic it has a lot charm, what with the volcano and the tree filled moutains in the background. Nearby you can drive to the national park and climb the still active Villarica volcano  (you can see smoke rising from the top). We did the cráter walk which started from the charcoal remains of the lava rivers, through the forest (where the changing colours of the leaves made everything glow) to the base of the volcano where there are lava tunnels and the most spectualar view of the Andes and the two nearby lakes. We were lucky as it started to rain just as we got back to the car.

 

 

 

We took advantage of the bad weather by going to the hot springs the next day. There are a few options but we preferred the most rustic one where you just sit in  basic outside pools next to running river surrounded by forest. This is a night time activity and most of them are open til 2am. It was glorious just sitting in the hot wáter with the raining falling on my face and the sun fading into darkness. The contrast of hot and cold was such an odd sensation. 

 

We were taken to some very blue and clear lagoons which I would have loved to swim in but it was way too cold. It even seeemed too cold to do white wáter rafting but we did it anyway and for $50 per person we couln´t resist. Even though it was close to zero degrees that morning and we were constantly asking each other "WHO'S idea was this!!", we all found that the water wasn´t that cold and the rapids were exhilirating. There is now a very embaressing video of me jumping off a five metre rock screaming like a banshee with my arms flapping about. Hopefully it never gets released into the world.

 

And to top it off, we stopped by Maria´s mum´s old farmhouse on the way home where they grow blueberries. We were welcomed with so much warmth and had a picnic on a deck with the world´s best view looking down on the river with more moutains in the background. We had another amazing Chilean BBQ and spent the rest of the night next to the bonfire staring up a sky filled with thousands of stars. Plus they had 3 week old Golden retriever puppies we could play with and a hilarious chocolate lab called Cala who loved nothing more than a good stick and a belly rub (easy to please).

 

 

 

 

I will never forget the week here in Chile as I have seen and experienced so many magical things that I never could in my old life and I especially loved it whenever Maria said "next time you´re in Chile we should..." because YES! there will be a next time. I want to go skiing in the mountains only 40 minutes from Santiago and swim in the crystal clear wáters of Pucon in the summer and sunbake on the black pebble beaches. Chile is my second home where I now have family and I will return to her shores again.

The Comfortable Life in Chile

 

I first met Maria (Maite) and Francisco when they were living in Sydney for the year and Maria was working at Alexandria Vets. She too is a Vet but was working as a nurse at the time. When they left Sydney I was so upset because I thought I wouuld never ever see them again. I know, this isn't Vietnam 1970. They have planes that can take me to Chile to visit them nowadays. And yesterday this happy reunión occured and I couldn't stop smiling, even though I had just been on the same bus, in the same clothes for 22 hours, I was just so happy.

 

They are just the most amazing and kind people and have opened their home to us. We have a comfortable bed. With a massive TV in our room. AND our own private bathroom. The last hostel we were at we had one bathroom, for the WHOLE hostel. The contrast from povo to luxury is just too great.  I asked Maria the day before which train or bus would be best to get to their place and she was like "Are you nuts! We are going to pick you up from the station". No buses, no lugging our bags around and getting lost. I think I'm in a dream that I will wake up from and I will be back in my hostel being eaten alive by bed bugs.

 

And on top of that we had the most awesome BBQ on their balcony that overlooks the city with the mountains in the backdrop. Francisco is a fantastic cook and even after all the amazing meat we had in Argentina this was even better tan that. And to finish this very boastful blogpost Maria's Vet friend Anna came over for dinner and brought over her dog. We had a dog! Her name is Carlotta and she is a very happy and super cute dachshund. She was very well loved by both of us but she of course loved Kevin the most and chose his lap to nap in. Oh and today we had a beautiful picnic with again, amazing food by Francisco and we got to see Flamingos and black necked swans in the park. I cannot use enough positive superlatives in this post but I think you get the picture by now. More about Chile next time.