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

South America FAQ thread

Zedd_at_LP writes: The countries covered by this FAQ are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile & Easter Island, Colombia, Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela. Antarctica is covered here.

LP already have some information about the region in the World Guide, and also in the Postcards section.

Then there's the LP hostel booking site which can be found here: <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.lone... more »

One Month Itinerary 60-year-olds

Hi all,

I'm planning an Ecuador-trip for my 60-year-old parents in law. They are travelling a month in Ecuador during Oktober this year. They will arrive in Quito and leave in Guayaquil. They are in a relatively fit shape.

I spent the last few days researching a lot about Ecuador and came up with the following itinerary:

Quito (3 days)
Mindo (2 days) - Visiting El Mitad Del Mundo on the way
Otavalo (1 day)
Pappalacta (1 day)
Cuyabeno (5 days) - Staying in a jungle lodge
Latacunga (1 day) - To see the Quilotola Lake
Cuenca (5 days) - Spending a little more days here because they will be visiting their daughter here
Guayaquil (2 days)
Galapagos (7 days)

This makes 27 days in total. This means they have 4 or 5 more days to spend somewhere. Is there a place where they should spend more time? Or is there a very nice place that is not in my itinerary that is worth visit... more »

international shipping from Chile

Hi, I am leaving Chile at the end of the week, and need to send some stuff back to the UK. I have checked the 'CorreosChile' site, but the only costs I can find are for courier service, which I don't want (it would be cheaper to pay additional baggage allowances for the rest of my travels!!).

Does anyone have any idea (roughly) of the cost of sending 7kg in a box approx 44cm x 31cm x 23cm to the UK using the cheapest method - is this 'Encomienda Internacional'? I may have to dump a bit more stuff if it's too outrageous!

Selling Toyota 4Runner Limited 2008 - road trip approved!

Hi!

I am selling my Toyota 4Runner 4.0 Limited 4x4 from 2008 here in Santiago. She has now run 133,000km of which 23,000km she completed with me. I am the second owner.

During the 22,000km she has not let me down once. I just completed 10,000km driving down the Carretera Austral and back, I encountered not a single problem. Last week she passed the 130,000km inspection without fail. She has new tires (10,000km), Pirelli Scorpion ATR. Front break pads have just been renewed during inspection.

I sell her with some usefull accessories, which I will outline below.

Fuel: she burns 95 octane and has a 80l tank. Realistic figures from my recent 6 weeks 10,000km trip:

• Highway, mostly even ground, average velocity 90-120km/h: 8.5-9km/l (2 persons, roof rack with 2nd spare tire), theoretical endurance 650-720km. Best we did was 700km.
• Dirt road, average velocity 50km/h: 7...

wi fi & skype in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador

I'll be visiting these 3 countries in July...never been before....just wondering what the wi fi connectivity is like??
what would be better.....taking my laptop & hoping I'd be able to use it from guest houses, restaurants etc OR iphone & trying to Skype?
guess I also need to know about cost & availability of local internet/phone chips? I've not taken any form of mobile phone before when travelling out of Australia because of cost factor; but now there seem to be cheaper options available
thanks for any advice

peruvian sim card

is there a relatively inexpensive prepaid sim card with coverage in the major locations: lima, arequipa, puno and cuzco? one that includes a data plan would be super.

thanks...

Job Offer Cusco

Hi,

I'm not sure what the etiquette regarding this is on the forums but if anybody is planning in staying in Cusco for a few weeks/months and wants a job in a new bar that has just opened here then contact me. I'm the manager and we need people that speak English (high season is coming) and preferably Spanish too although we already have the Spanish part covered with the rest of the staff (all Latino). The Facebook page for the bar is:
https://www.facebook.com/Hyqnotiqcusco?fref=ts

As I said, if you're interested let me know!

Cheers

Patrick

Backpacking lima-santiago

I everyone !

I'm planning to go backpacking from lima, peru to santiago, chile in a little more than a month in august this summer. I wanna have your advice on this, is this seems like a good plan or do you think going other itinnary in this region (west of south america) might be more interesting for the time i have to spend there. I'm open to any sugestions !

Thanks a lot for your help !

backpacking south america

Hi everyone,

My friend and I are planning on spending 40 days backpacking through Colombia, Equador, peru and Bolivia. We are gonna have a loose itinerary and mostly make it up as we go, with the exception of hiking the incan trail. I've never backpacked in another country before so I'd like some advice.

1. Route: What would be the ideal? we were thinking of landing in Cartagena, Colombia and working our way south to Bolivia and bussing back up around day 36 to catch our return flight home. Is this possible in 40 days?

2. Cost: How much do you think it would cost not including flight? We were hoping to keep it around $3000, including the $500 incan trail hike.

3.Accomodation: We will be travelling sept 18- oct 28. How hard is it to find a hostel to stay in the day you arrive in a new city? Should we always be calling in advance?

Any info you guys have i... more »