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 »

travel buddy!

Hey!
So I will be be traveling in Chile for about a month and was wondering if anyone wanted to meet up or needed a travel buddy! I arrive in Santiago on the 2nd of June. Please contact me if you want to meet up!

Peru v Ecuador WC Qualifier June 7, 2013

Hello Footballers,

I am in Peru and will be in Lima on June 7. Can anyone advise what would be the best way to get a ticket for the Peru v Ecuador WC Qualifier? Will the match sell out? I probably won't arrive in Lima until the 6th or 7th because I am touring in the north for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for any help!

Ayahuasca in Cusco

Hi, I'll be in Peru for a couple of weeks in Late June to July 5th.. I'm using G adventures to take me for a 1 week trek to Machu Picchu.

After we come back, I'd like to go for an ayahuasca ceremony. I found this one place called Etnika

I'm not certain its as authentic as going to Iquitos. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about ayahuasca in iquitos specifically Anaconda Cosmica and Hummingbird Retreat. I was wondering if there are any recommendations for this ritual in Cusco or anywhere else.

thanks,
Carlin

Chocolate shops? Malaria?

Dear people of TT,

As my previous post mentioned, I am going on a trip to Colombia in June-July. I plan to visit Bogotá, San Agustín, San Gil, Santa Marta, CP (trekking), Cartagena, Medellín, eje cafetero.

I would like to buy local product to take home, and plan to get some coffee and chocolate. I suppose one can get nice coffee from a finca in eje cafetero. How about chocolate? any nice shop for locally produced good chocolate in Medellín or Bogotá? Other interesting local product that survives a long trip back to Europe? Say, panela-related products?

Also, how about the prevalence of malaria? I guess Bogotá, Medellín, San Gil are not malaria areas. How about the other places I plan to visit? the internet says any area below 1700m elevation is not safe...

Many thanks in advance!

Edited by: mem_ceres

Obtaining a driver`s license in Peru, need carnet de extranjeria?

I`m a U.S. citizen and I`m looking into getting my driver`s license here in Peru and I`m wondering if anyone knows if you have to have a carnet de extranjeria to get a license? Or what specific documents I will need? Also if I can do this in Huancayo or have to travel to Lima? I only have a tourist visa and in order to buy a car, I needed to get a stamp in my passport, "sello especial para firmar contratos". If anyone has info on this, please let me know. Thanks.

Volunteer opportunities in Galapagos Islands

I'm planning a trip to South America for October. I'd like to go to the Galapagos Islands, and I think I great way to do it would be to sign up for an eco-conservation volunteer program in the islands. I've seen some online that seem alright but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with specific programs or pointers to share. I'm looking for something that's two weeks long (maximum) and $1000 or less to sign up for.

El Cocuy National Park trekking

Hi all,

I'm hoping to either do the 6 day circuit in PNN El Cocuy probably starting this Sunday 26th May. I'm looking at hiring a guide since I'm not that experienced a trekker, but I'd like to lower costs. Is anyone interested in joining me in this hike?

Please email me at katherine23@gmail.com

Cheers,
Kat

brazi to bolivia

I am planning to visit Brazil in 2014 and would like to slot in a week to 10 days in Bolivia (primarily to visit Uyuni), so would like some info on the best way to travel - presumably, fly - between the two countries. I have been researching flights from either Rio or Sao Paulo to La Paz and keep getting flight times of around 20 hours. Is this really the case? I had been to the two countries some 20 years ago (part of a longer itinerary around South America) and remember flying from Rio to La Paz and while it has been so long ago, I am pretty sure it did not take me that long. If I recall right, there was just a stop at Santa Cruz, but all the flights I am finding now seem to require going first to Lima, Santiago, or Bogota! I am hoping I am missing a shorter option.

Thanks for any help.

(Cross-posting this on the Brazil forum.)