Me and my girlfriend want to find out how much money we should budget for backpacking from Buenos Aires in Argentina, round the top of south america (Brazil, Ven, Col, Ecu, peru) and down to santiago in Chile. we hope to stay in hostels, travel by public transport, and generally do the shoestring traveler thing. the big cost commitments we have are angel falls, romiria, machu picchu, panatal. we think it will take us around 6 months to do the trip.
any other hints or tips from people who have done something similar would be really welcomed!
Me and my girlfriend want to find out how much money we should budget for backpacking from Buenos Aires in Argentina, round the top of south america (Brazil, Ven, Col, Ecu, peru) and down to santiago in Chile. we hope to stay in hostels, travel by public transport, and generally do the shoestring traveler thing. the big cost commitments we have are angel falls, romiria, machu picchu, panatal. we think it will take us around 6 months to do the trip.
any other hints or tips from people who have done something similar would be really welcomed!
Reply to this Brazil is expensive - buses, restaurants (although rodizio and por kilo places can be cheap) and I stayed in hotels which were OK. Found an apt. 2 blocks from the beach in Copacabana for $50/night through a belman that I met at a hotel. Peru is cheap across the board although I did not do the Inca Trail. I seem to remember that I could have set up an Inca Trail trek on the spot in Cuzco and while I don't remember the cost, I do remember that it didn't seem expensive. Argentina is much cheaper than Brazil but the hostels seemed poor value to me. And there was massive inflation between my 2 visits in 12/2004 and 6/2007. Don't miss Iguazu Falls - much better on the Argentine side but see both sides.
I would suggest detouring from Peru to Chile via Bolivia, maybe the best country in S America and one of the cheapest. Amazing variety and you can do a pantanal type trip there much cheaper than Brazil. The only hitch is you have to get to Rurrenabaque, a short but scenic flight from La Paz or a very long bus ride. But I got cheap flights in La Paz. Shop around. Go to Potosi and the silver mine then Uyuni for the salt flats. At the end of that trip they can drop you at the Chilean border near San Pedro de Atacama.
I'm headed to Colombia and Ecuador in a few weeks. Have yet to visit Venezuela but it's on the list.
Jon
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