South American Adventure

I am going to South America for 4 and a half months, and will be travelling around Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and finally Brazil. Phew!

I will be in Venezuela for about half a month. I shall begin in the capital of Caracas where I will spend a minimal amount of time due to its danger and the fact it is one of the murder capitals of the world. Then I will go to Peurto La Cruz, where I will spend about 4 days relaxing on one of the 15 beaches in Mochima and Santa Fe!! From here I will take an overnight bus to Cuidad Bolivar to see the Angel Falls. Hopefully, I will get an overnight bus there, possibly with the Rodovias bus company, and an overnight bus to my next destination, Merida, from where I will begin my tour of Los Llanos. I will do this for 4-5 days! Then I shall bus it to San Cristobel where I'll spend the night, before crossing over to Colombia!

I will take a bus from San Cristobal to Cucuta. In Cucuta I will spend the day looking round the city. I will need to arrange for some sort of luggage storage for me to be able to do this. Then I will take an overnight bus to Santa Marta, where I will stay for 5-6 days. I will be visiting the Tayrona National Park while I'm here. I think I will stay at Casa Filipe hostel in Tanganga because apparently it's about £10 per night. Then I will travel very early to Cartagena, (on the way I will trek to Lost City: Ciudad Perdidad). Then get the overnight bus to Pereira. I will spend a few days here and go to the Nevados National Park and then bus to San Gil to do some activities, then Bogota where I will spend about 5 days. From here I will bus to Cali where I will spend 4 days and visit Isla Gorgona. Then I will visit the Amacayacu National Park near Leticia, then onto Popayan for my final few days before crossing to Ecuador!!

From Popayan I will get an overnight bus to Esmeraldes. I SO SO SO want to go to the Galapagos islands, but there seem to be absolutely no options available for me to get there! You would have thought there would be a regular ferry from Manta or something? Although I kind of understand why there isn't...prevention of tourists and messing up the wildlife etc. I will spend about 4 days around the coast before bussing to Quito, where I will spend 4 days. From Quito I will overnight to Cuenca, where I will spend the last 3 days in the country.

I will take an overnight bus into Iquitos in Peru from where I want to start a tour of the Amazon jungle. Then onto Lima, Peru, where I will spend about 5 days. Then I will head down to Cuzco where I will do the Inca trail. My last stop in Peru will be Puno to see Lake Titicaca.

I will then cross over into Bolivia where I will visit La Paz, the highest capital in the world. If I don't start the Amazon tour from Peru, I will start it from La Paz. Then down to the Uyuni salt flats. To get here I may take a bus to Oruru, then a train to Uyuni. OR I will get the train from La Paz to Potosi, which is apparently a beautiful city, and then train or bus to Uyuni. Here, I will take the Salar tour which is apparently only about £50 for 3-4 days!!

I will then take a bus into Arica, where I will spend about 2 days, then on to Santiago in Chile. From Arica to Santiago, the bus journey is going to be LONG - 30 hours. I will get a connecting bus into Valparaiso where I'll spend about 2 days, then back to Santiago. Here, I will meet the Oasis tour.

On the Oasis Tour I will see Pucon, which is Chile's lake district, Villarico volcano and the Andes mountain range, then onto Bariloche in Argentina, then Los Glaciares National Park and Moreno Glacier, and then the Torres del Paine National Park. Then onto the most southerly tip of the continent and the most southern town in the world: Ushuaia. Then up to Buenos Aires, then Montevideo after a ferry journey. Then to the Iquazu Falls, Bonito, Pantanal, Parati and finally Rio! I may spend a few more days in Brazil to see Salvador and Belem. I'm not sure whether to go to Manaus to start the Amazon tour.

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Trip Length: 4 months
Blog Entries: 0
Photos: 0
Words: 0

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