Travelexperiences from South America

 If you are planning a trip to South America, maybe you can  benefit from my experiences of transport and accommodation from my trip in 2016/2017.

I planned my trip by reading about other people’s experiences and booked a lot through the internet.

The first part of the trip was booked up front, while the last part was planned and organized ongoing. I traveled primarily in Argentina and Chile, crossing the border from south to north five times, but also visited Brazil, Bolivia and had a short day trip to Uruguay. I had a fantastic trip and with no surprises, as all of my reservations worked as they should.

I stayed as mentioned primarily in Argentina and Chile and have described these in separate posts. My visits to Bolivia, Brazil, was of a shorter duration and can be read below.

Finally I have summarized some advices.

Tips:

• In Brazil and Bolivia – Travel by plane
• In Argentina and Chile – Travel by bus  – except if going to the south of Patagonia
• Payment of taxa – cash in local currency.
• Taxa In Chile – be well prepared, pay attention to the price and avoid paying with excessive banknotes.
• If crossing the border and then need to catch another bus. Calculate enough time. The border control can take from 2-5 hours
• Do not expect to be able to exchange money at the bus terminals.
• Always print online bus tickets. Check if it is the ticket or reservation that has to be converted to a ticket before departure.
• Note the name of the bus company so you know which company you need to look for. If the platform at the station does not appear clearly, find the company’s office and ask about the platform number or area.
• Take care of the luggage receipt during the journey, it MUST be displayed upon arrival.
• If you want to bring healthy food and drink for the long trips, purchase before arrival at the busterminla, but notice you are not allowed to bring food into Chile.

🇧🇷 Brasilien & Bolivia 🇧🇴

Info Accommodation & Transport

Accomodation 🏨

Except for 2 nights that were part of of a tour to Uyuni Salt Desert, I stayed at hotels in Bolivia and the same in Brazil. In Rio on a hotel on Copacabana and in Iguazu at a resort near the entrance to the waterfall on the Brazilian side and close to the airport.

The two countries were the start and end of my journey, and in Rio I did not consider anything else as I wanted to stay at Copacabana. In Iguazu I searched for opportunities on the Argentinian side, but when I could book a stay at the Hotel & Resort San Martin incl. food and a couple of excursions, it became the most optimal solution. In Bolivia hotel prices were low and it was very comfortable to stay centrally.

Transport

Flight – Bus – Train – Metro – Taxi

Flight ✈

Local domestic airline in Brazil is LatAm (TAM) and in Bolivia Bolivia Air, but there are many other options.

Tickets can be found through different providers or search channels such as:  Momondo, Kayak. TravelMarket, Skyscanner.

In both Brazil and Bolivia, domestic airfares are reasonably cheap. I never considered taking a bus from Rio to iguazu. In Bolivia I was flying from Sucre to Santa Cruz and from Santa Cruz to Madrid

As airline tickets in Bolivia are cheap and the buses not particularly comfortable, it was never in my mind, to take a bus to Santa Cruz, when I found out that this was where, I could get the cheapest ticket back to Europe.

Both airports looked fairly new and everything went well. My flight time from Sucre was estimated to be 30 min, but it took 1 1/2 h. We had a stop at Cochabamba. However, nobody left or boarded the plane, so what we did there, I don’t know, but it was a nice flight over the very hilly and green area.

The only special thing about flying in Bolivia was when leaving for Europe. All bags were manually searched specifically for drugs. I had my jacket in a closed compressed bag, and that was the only bag they did not open. When I got my suitcase in Madrid, it had also been opened. They are really thorough. The plane which was completely filled up, was sold as a Spanish flight from Iberia, but it was a Bolivia Air flight and it was fine although no entertainment.

Bus i Bolivia 🚌:      

I only experienced one bus ride in Bolivia – From Uyuni to Sucre with company 6 de Octubre. I booked the ticket online via ticketsbolivia departing at 10 p.m. and arriving at 05 a.m. The purchase worked fine, except I could not make a seat reservation. When I went to the bus company opon arrival in Uyuni, I was not included in the list of passengers. The lady found my order on the computer and then I could choose a seat. She could not explain why I had paid more online than the price in cash, and why it did not give me a benefit for selecting a good seat. Even though there were 2 buses they were both fully booked at departure, so it is probably best to go to the ticket office as early as possible when arriving in Uyuni.

The bus was not very comfortable as a sleeper bus. It was possible to decline the seats but not a lot of room, so not easy to relax and get some sleep. There was also a lot of talk and turmoil all night.

I had no alternative to the bus from Uyuni, but it was not an experience I will give many stars.

The luggage check-in worked in the same way as in Argentina and Chile with a numbered receipt and the schedule was met. We arrived on time in Sucre.

In Uyuni there are no common bus terminal. all the companies each have an office but similar to Chile they are all placed next to each other in the same street. In Sucre there is a common terminal.

Taxa i Bolivia  🚕

I did not use Taxi in Bolivia very much. Primarily to and from the airports and it was seamless. Both places it was a fixed price. The airport of Sucre is approx. 45 min south of Sucre and Viru Viru Airport in Santa Cruz is approx. 30 min. from the city

On my first trip from the Sucre bus terminal to my hotel in the center, we were two and here our driver picked up an extra person on the way and let him get off first. If it was a detour we didn’t know and it did not matter. We had a fixed price and it did not change

Taxa i Brasilien  🚕

In Brazil, I used taxi several times to get around in Rio de Janairo, and it was easy. On my first day, I had a a little unusual experience. My taxi driver was for a good reason pretty upset with the other drivers and shouted and routed left and right. I was not nervous about the taxi ride, but I realized very fast, that it can be dangerous to drive in Rio and not something I will recommend. It is not only common traffic rules that apply here. In Iguazu, my only trip crossed the border as my bus departed from Puerto Iguazu in Argentina. Here, my driver did far more than I could have expected, when we stranded in a long line at the border control. Without his initiative and driving, I would not have made it to the busterminal in time. A thrilling experience at the time, but a nice positive experience to think back on.