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Around the World: South America

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:29 pm
by Scott Dusek
In about a year and a half I will be embarking on a round the world trip including: Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Here's what I want to do in Outside South America:

Peru
-Macchu Picchu trek
-Trek Cordillera Blanca
-Cordillera Huayhash
-and/or
-Alpamayo Circuit
-1 or 2 peaks (50 degree snow and ice or less, mid-fifth class or bellow)

Chile/Argentina
-Torres Del Paine
-and/or
-Fitzroy
-Maybe a peak (or a spectacular high col or something)

Bolivia???
-Huayna Potosi (perhaps)
-Quimza region trek

Ecuador???
-A volcanoe?

Venezuela???
-Some jungle love?

Other stuff I'd like to do:

Buenos Aires: Go nuts, take some dance lessons
Santiago: Same deal
Rio: Same thing but not get kidnapped

See lot's of ruins, culture, art, architecture, music, and fiestas!
Become a fluent spanish speaker (semi-fluent now)


I'll also be going to Central America before this so info on that would be helpfull (I'll probably post there as well)


Help with:
-Resource (books, websites, etc)
-Logistics (what order I should go in, how to move gear around(
-Tips, tricks, and skills
-Arriero info
-general help

I've never been to South America, so it's safe to assume I don't know much.
-Scotty

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:38 pm
by Scott
Time of year may be a clincher. For Venezuela and Central America (or Colombia and parts of Ecuador-but not all) the prime season is December through March (and I assume Patagonia-though I here conflicting reports on the best time of year for there). This is the opposite of when you will want to visit Bolivia and Peru and the time to go there (at least if trekking or climbing) is May through September (which is why I haven't been to those two countries yet).

In addition to "jungle love" in Venezuela, you may also like Monte Roraima:

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... raima.html

If you are into caving, Venezuela is great as well.

Angel Falls is touristy, but a must see for many.

All those South American places you list sound great. I'm jealous.

PS, if you can swing it, you could stop at some of the Pacific Islands along the way South America to Asia or vice versa.

Easter Island is definately and interesting place since it sounds like you like ruins:

http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/17 ... sland.html

French Poynesia has some interesting mountains, though is expensive:

http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/15 ... Peaks.html

http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/19 ... hiti-.html

Many of the other Pacific Islands are also interesting, especially the South Pacific. There's a lot more than the two I mentioned above and less touristy ones as well.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:48 pm
by Scott Dusek
Thanks again Scott,

I'm aware of the seasonal conflicts with Ecuador vs Peru (funny because they're right next to each other), that's why Ecuador and Venezuela, though super cool to see, are in the maybe's pile. Maybe I'll just have to go again :)

I think I can get away with Patagonia, Peru, Bolivia, in the same season but like you I've gotten conflicting reports as to the season in Patagonia. I can deal with cold but lot's of precip and storms kinda kink the whole site-seeing aspect of things.

Central America and some Pacific Islands are recent tack-ons so I really don't know what's going to happen there, but if I'm in the area it seems logical to make the side trips, + the more the better.

With all the places I'm going and North and South travel I don't know if I can get a round the world ticket that fits or not. Anyone know much about how these apply to the places I'm going?

Thanks again to everyone.,

PS: Okay Scott you can be a little jealous of this for all that's going to do is even the score, I'm quite jealous of all the things you've already done!

-Scotty

PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:57 pm
by Scott
With all the places I'm going and North and South travel I don't know if I can get a round the world ticket that fits or not. Anyone know much about how these apply to the places I'm going?


I don't know why, but round the world tickets become much more expensive if you cross from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern and Southern stops tend to be more expensive in general, no matter the starting point. Al least that's my experience flying out of North America. If you fly from North America, including only the northern Hemisphere destinations, the ticket seems to cost half as much as one that includes Southern Hemisphere destinations. Why? Don't know. Distances are more overall, but why it doubles is beyond me. Maybe a travel agent could let us know.

For example (and just a wild example and generalization), doing a Sydney-Nairobi-Santiago-Papeete-Sydney tends to be a lot more expensive than doing a LA-Tokyo-London-NYC-LA, and crossing from hemisphere to hemisphere i.e. something like LA-Hong Kong-Sydney-Nairobi-London-LA is going to cost a lot more than that (though in this example distances are longer) regardless.

Actually though, that is just my experience. I haven't bought a RTW ticket since 2002. Maybe it's different now. :?:

Still, for many stops, RTW tickets are definately better than buying them all seperately, and still a bargain.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:49 pm
by Scott Dusek
Natural,

I'd love to explore Brazil, It would be great to spend a few months there exploring and heading inland a bit. You're right though my current plans for Brazil are pretty much vacation style, check out the beach, party, etc.

Remember I'll probably be alone, From what my friends have told me you really have to watch your ass there, From what I can tell it's not a good place to not know where you are (which is pretty much a certainty when you've never been somewhere). Of course this is true of a lot of the places I'm going. For that reason I'm not (at this point) planning on getting off the beaten path to much. It's a safety issue, and maybe I'm way off base but it's nothing against Brazil.

-Scotty

PostPosted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:50 pm
by Buz Groshong
I'll try to find some time this weekend to look over what I've got on Peru and send you a PM. If nothing else, I can send you some web site links.