Thorn Tree travel forum

Welcome to the South America branch!

Welcome to the Thorn Tree's South America branch.

The countries covered by this branch are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile & Easter Island, Colombia (note spelling), Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

We hope you find plenty of useful information about travelling to South America here. It is highly recommended that new users check out the some of these useful FAQ threads on this branch before posting a new thread:

• Brazil FAQ thread
• South America FAQ thread

Brazil Frequently Asked Questions

For the benefit of everyone dropping by the Brazil branch for the first time, please read this FAQ first. And I hope there can be some sort of way to moderate the thread to keep it updated and clean. I know there are some AWESOME regular contributors here who enjoy giving advice; I feel this thread can really help to condense the information available.

I'll go first, with some general thoughts from the South America FAQ. Many thank to Apollo for starting that thread and for a great idea. Hopefully we can have a similar thread for Brazil.

1) Use the "Search" function to find out if someone has already asked your question. Many questions have already been asked before, and regular contributors to the forum get tired of answering the same thing over and over again.

2) Read a few pages of posts. The most frequent... more »

Living in Asuncion

I applied for a job in Bogota, and I got a reply asking if I'd like to live in Asuncion. Wierd.
I've done a lot of research on Bogota, and I'd love to live and work there. I know very little about Asuncion.
The job in question pays quite well, so I could live in a nice part of the city. Still, Asuncion looks much less dynamic and modern than Bogota. From what little I've read about it, it resembles the Central American capitals I'm so familiar with.
What are your thoughts on living in Asuncion? How does it compare to Bogota, or Quito, or even Managua or San Jose (other cities I'm familiar with)?

Four weeks...

Hi,
Just looking for some personal opinions. I'm thinking about travelling around Ecuador for about four weeks in February. Is the weather generally good this time of year and is the country interesting enough to spend this much time? I'm interested in beaches, colonial towns, culture and maybe a bit of nature.
Is the country generally good value for money? I've been almost everywhere else in Latin America, so if it's anything close to, say, Colombia, I'm hooked.

Buy good whole coffee beans in Quito??

Where is a good place to buy good quality Coffee beans for espresso in Quito?

Edited by: marcusoz

Info on Isla De Rosario

My wife and I are planning to travel to Cartagena in September 2010 and are looking for some feedback on Isla De Rosario. Specifically, we want to stay out there for 2 or 3 nights and want to know which Island or Hotel is the most romantic, most fun for relaxing and the most beautiful? I have gone to some web sites and have found quite a few places to stay, but I was hoping to get some first hand knowledge from people as well. Any details you can pass along would be much appreciated. Thanks so much for your time and info...

PHOTOS OF TORRES DEL PAINE CIRCUIT

27 recent photos from November 2009, taken from the complete circuit trek around Torres del Paine, including Valle de Frances and Refugio Dickson: http://www.summitpost.org then specify location of Torres del Paine. (Taken from previous posting on climbing El Misti out of Arequipa, Peru.)

Edited by: trekker502

Low airfare in SA?

Anyone knows web sources to find low airfares within South America? Apart from Buenos Aires, Rio and Lima, which are the major hubs (more likely to find cheaper tickets to/from)?

Thanks (",)

Fly Fishing in Patagonia - Possibly Near Bariloche

Hello,

I am planning on spending the month of February 2010 in Patagonia consisting of hiking and fly fishing. It is very hard to find information on solo fly fishing (by yourself/no guide company) on the cheap. What are the best areas of Patagonia for solo fly fishing?

I've read that the lake district near Bariloche is good. Is it easy to find places to fly fish? How feasible is it to get from town to the river using public transit? Are there good shops to buy gear? Any recommendations on types of rods or lures?

Also, is it possible to solo fly fish within Torres Del Paines national park?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Andrew