South America Travel Log

BA – Iguazu
We flew to Iguazu and took the bus back due to time and money constraints.

We checked the prices of flights from BA to Iguazu with our hostel travel agents, 1 real travel agent and the airline websites themselves. The cheapest deal we could find was for $155 one way on LAN Argentina’s website. Then, I used kyak.com just in case and we found the same flight as LAN had for $133. So, we bought it.

Taxi from down town to national airport $7

We saw signs that said we needed to pay an airport tax, but we never could figure out where to pay it and no one asked us for any kind of proof. But, if you do actually have to pay it, then it is important to add that amount ($12 I think) into the cost analysis of bus vs. plane
The plane ride was a little over an hour.

Both the airport and the falls are a good 15-20 minutes outside of town. A private taxi ride from the airport would be pretty expensive. They do have a shuttle for about $3 per person that will drop you off at your hostel, so it is a good deal. There is a little booth right outside the room where you pick up your luggage and before you leave the airport. You pay and get a ticket there.

The ride is pretty and there are yellow butterflies everywhere.

We tried to book a room at The Hostel Inn Iguazu http://www.hostel-inn.com/realindex.php?lang=en
It looked great from the outside, although it was a little outside of town, meaning more complicated to go in to grab a bite to eat. There were no doubles available, so we had to find something else.

We stayed at Residencial Uno
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/ResidencialUno-PuertoIguazu-16107 (this is hostel world’s website)
Price - $20 for a double with a bath, small breakfast, and weak air conditioner.
Cleanliness – It wasn’t dirty, but it didn’t feel clean either.
Comfort – Not much. The bed wasn’t so hot, the shower was weak. There was no a/c in the lounge areas. It was too hot to be in there in the afternoon. It only had hard wood backed chairs to sit in, so it wasn’t really a comfy place to chill out and watch a movie at night or anything either.
Character – Nothing much to speak of. They are adding on some additional rooms. Maybe those will be nicer.
Amenities – TV and DVD player in the lounge, really slow internet wireless and 2 computers, an uninviting swimming pool, breakfast, luggage storage
Recommended? Not really. I do recommend getting a/c or at least a fan unless you just love the heat. Some of the dirt cheap places don’t have those options, but there were many other places of a comparable price that looked nicer.

The town itself is small enough with quite a few hotels, that this is a place you could go check out a couple once you got there to see which one you liked. The only problem would be availability.

You can get to the falls by bus or taxi. The bus costs $2.50 round trip. It leaves every half an hour from the terminal. Not on the hour though. More like 10 and 40 past.

We ended up having to take a taxi back from the falls because we ended up staying late and we would have missed out bus back to BA if we waited for the next return bus. The taxi cost about $14 – sucky for us (I’ll explain why later).

We went to the falls at 8:10am and left at 4:45 to catch our 5:30 night bus to BA.(at least 15 minutes from the falls to the town)

We used up every second of out time there. Some of the night buses left at around 3pm. I don’t see how you could possibly see all the falls have to offer in less time than we spent.

Entrance fee - $10. The food was all a little expensive, but not outrageous. We actually ate at the fancy restaurant in the hotel. The buffet was recommended by LP as being a good splurge. Well the buffet was almost $25 per person, we couldn’t do that, so we just ate $7 sandwiches. I loved it though because the wait staff treated us like royalty despite us still being damp from our dunking in the waterfalls and having completely messed up hair etc. The view was also very pretty.

I was really excited to go on one of the rafts that take you into the falls. What I couldn’t decide was whether to pay $15 for a 10 minute raft ride into the falls or $30 to go on a 8km trip though the jungle on a big truck, a longer raft ride down the river and a dunk under the falls (1 hr total).

We decided to go for the whole package in the end. I don’t regret it because my feet and legs were exhausted and I really needed to just sit down and take a break for a while, but we really didn’t see anything of great worth and I felt a little silly riding around on the top of that monster truck. So, my advice $15 for the raft ride is definitely worth it. The other half of the trip wasn’t.

We booked our ticket in a local travel agency in town. They charge the exact same amount no matter where you go. You can also book it once you get to the park if you aren’t sure what you want to do.

The falls were beautiful. The best view was from the raft. The second best view is from the island in the middle. I had read that it was more of an intense hike. True the stairs were steep and long, but I’m not very fit, and I was fine although a little breathless. It was worth it.

The devil’s throat falls are amazing too, but you normally have to ride on their little train to get there. The walk from the train to the falls is very beautiful. We were told to go in the later afternoon because you have the best light without the sun blinding you. It takes a good 15 minutes to walk from the train to the falls. We were supposed to catch the train back and head straight for the bus so we could catch the big bus back to BA. Our plans were thwarted when a tree fell on the train tracks and we couldn’t continue on. They had to bring people in with chain saws and all that to remove the tree. That extra time caused us to miss the bus back to town and so that’s why we ended up taking a taxi.

The bus we took didn’t have the full sleepers or alcohol on board, but I’m glad we took the later trip because we really enjoyed our time at the falls and wouldn’t have wanted to leave earlier. I think it would be great to spread it out over 2 days, but then you have to pay another $10 to get back in the next day, so we didn’t, but I would recommend that if you aren’t on a tight budget.

The bus from Iguazu to BA cost about $45 and we arrived the next day around 11am.

I know many people think the long overnight buses are a great way to travel. I agree for the most part, but every time we did it I needed at least 5-6 hours after we arrived at our next destination to recuperate. I’m just pointing that out because everyone raves about them all the time, but I see my exhaustion – almost like jet lag – as a big disadvantage, and a good reason to fly if you can afford it and are short on time.

We did not go to Brazil because we are Americans and were told that we would have to pay $100 each just to cross over for a few hours.  One travel agent said if we went on an organized tour we would not have to pay for the visa, but I did not have that confirmed by anyone else.

We arrived from Buquebus and took a taxi from there to our hostel in Recoleta. It cost U$S8. I have a sneaky suspicion the meter was going up faster than it should have been, but I can’t be sure. It seemed like it was flying, but it was our first taxi in BA, so I didn’t have a good comparison level. But, I never saw a meter go that fast before or since in BA or elsewhere.
Who knows…?

Hotels: It wasn’t hard to find a place to stay for 1 or sometimes 2 nights, but it was challenging to find a place to stay for more than 2 nights in a row. If you have your heart set on somewhere specific, then I might suggest making a reservation before you come.

Southern House BA Hostel (Recoleta)
http://www.southernhouseba.com/index2eng.php
Price - $35 for a double with a private bath and descent breakfast ($9 for a dorm room)
Cleanliness – clean
Comfort – Nice firm bed, good small shower, There were no curtains in the room and the shade thing was broken, so we had to hang a blanket over the window. A little traffic noise, but no hostel noise.
Character – It had a modernish feel to it. Especially in the lobby area.
Amenities – breakfast, wireless internet, but no computers for those without, travel agent (we found a better deal online than they quoted for a flight), discounts and passes to clubs, restaurants etc. a board with announcements about the going ons around the city. Large screen TV and DVD in the dining room.
Recommended? Yes, I liked the place, but we decided to leave because we thought $35 was too much money and they don’t have any shared baths outside of the dorms. The employees were nice. It had a lot of amenities and things going on for visitors to participate in. Good location (4 blocks from a subway).

We didn’t want to waste money on a taxi, so we took our luggage on the subway. It was a little bit of a pain getting up and down the stairs, but doable. The subway costs 70 centavos (22 cents American) much cheaper than taking a taxi all the way from Recoleta to San Telmo. I would just caution not to try this at rush hour.

Our next step was not totally logical, but there is a hotel recommended in LP for a splurge. We looked at their website and it sounded amazing and barely any more expensive than what we had just paid the night before. So, we thought, what the heck…unfortunately, it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Boquitas Pintadas (In LP) now Youkali Hotel (The vicinity of San Telmo)
http://www.youkali.com.ar/
Price - $40-80 for a double with a private bath (1 room has its bath outside the room) and delicious breakfast
Cleanliness – clean, but it was in an old building and so there was some wear with age that was obvious.
Comfort – The bed was okay, but I had a neck ache when I woke up. The water went off around 9pm and didn’t come back on until around noon the next day, so I didn’t get a shower. I asked for a discount to compensate for the fact and they gave us 10% off.
Character – It reminded me of San Francisco/Berkeley area. Lots of old Victorian stuff mixed with more modern styles. Each room is decorated differently according to the description (part of what we thought was cool), but it turns out that really means everything is pretty much the same except for 1 item hanging on the wall and ours happened to be a giant blue bow. I wasn’t really impressed with that. I did kind of like the disco ball in the stair well though.
Amenities – breakfast, wireless internet, TV with cable in the room.
Recommended? - It was a funky place, but not nearly as cool as it was made out to be in both LP and the website. So, we looked for somewhere a little more affordable to stay.

Our next hostel wasn’t our first choice, but it was the 1^st place that had room for more than 1 night at a time.

El Firulete Downtown (We stayed in the Center, but there is a Palermo location too)
www.el-firulete.com.ar
Price - $28 for a double room and shared bath
Cleanliness – clean
Comfort – Nice firm bed. The baths were shared, but there were plenty of them, so I never had to wait in line. The showers were in private cubicles, so you could have some privacy. There were soap dispensers in the showers and soap and paper towels by the sinks.
We stayed in 2 different rooms. The wireless connection didn’t reach to the 3^rd floor, so we switched to the second. The 3^rd floor was really quiet from all hostel noise, but there is pretty heavy traffic there and the noise carries. The room in the second floor was windowless, so no traffic noise, but all the music, people, activity from the common room could be heard easily and I felt very claustrophobic being in a room without windows.
Also, the list of amenities includes air conditioning. The common room has air, but none of the other rooms do. I would hate to be there in January.
Character – It was pleasantly decorated.
Amenities – breakfast until noon was great after the late BA nights, wireless and 2 other computers, TV in lounge, laundry, if you get the right person, they can help you to make travel arrangements, but it took them a day to get back to us with the answer.
Recommended?-Yes, it was reasonably priced compared to some of the other places. It seemed like they had thought about some things like the soap and breakfast that other places don’t. It was also in a perfect location to catch almost any of the subway lines.
I wouldn’t stay here in the summer though. The traffic makes it too loud to open a window and without air or even a fan, it would be miserable.

We left to go to Iguazu Falls and we returned to a different hostel.

Posta del Barto Hostel (Downtown near the congress building)
http://www.postadelbarto.com/indexpopbarto_ing.html
Price - $15 for … well we reserved a double room, but they double booked so we ended up in a dorm room that had 6 beds, but only us in it. Shared bath
Cleanliness – ok, but not super clean. For example, there was a table in the room that still had something sticky like dried orange juice left on it. The drainage in the showers isn’t good, so the whole shower area is covered in water.
Comfort – Not much comfort here. The dorms had bunk beds with really thin mattresses on them. I took the mattress off the other bed and put it on mine to have 2 and I could still feel the wooden slats digging into my back. There weren’t any comfy couches or chairs in the common areas. The bathroom was down a narrow winding staircase. Not the most convenient for a midnight bathroom run. Especially, if you are still a bit tipsy from a night out.
Character – Just eclectic furniture. It looked like they just assembled what they could find at a garage sale.
Amenities – small breakfast, 2 computers and a cord for lap tops to plug into. They provided sheets, but you had to pay extra for towels $1 and pay a key deposit. TV and broken CD player. There are no lockers in the dorms. I’m not sure what they expect their guests to do with their belongings when they go out, but that seemed ridiculous to me to expect people to share a room without a way to keep their things safe.
Recommended?Not unless you are on a really tight budget. It did cost a lot less than everywhere else, but we left the next day because it was not my idea of a place I wanted to be.

Thanks for Jorge from the TT for providing a list of hotels. That is where I found this place.

Hotel Marbella (Downtown)
Price - $33 for a double with a private bath and breakfast
Cleanliness – very clean
Comfort – Nice beds, good, but slightly strange shower with a spout that shot water up too. The window opened to a courtyard, so there was no hotel or street noise! Even though it was on a very busy street.
Character – The room and hotel was simple, but pleasant.
Amenities – breakfast, air conditioning/heater, 1 slow computer in the lobby, TV with cable in the room, helpful front desk, wake up call. Airport transfers
Recommended? Yes, I wish we had stayed here the whole time. It was the best nights sleep I had the whole time we were in BA. The only disadvantage is that it is not set up to meet up with other travelers really. I felt like we got the most for our money here.

I wanted to buy some clothes while I was there. We went to Palermo on Saturday and found an amazing market there full of fun, funky, cheap clothes. The only problem is that they are all made for really tiny body sizes. I had to forgo a lot of things because they didn’t fit.

Other than that, I think we were pretty typical in where we went and what we visited. So, I’ll leave you to form your own opinions. I will say though, that I loved BA. We spent 8 days there and could have spent another week at least. There is so much to see, do, eat, everywhere. It is all still fairly affordable. I went to Paris for one day when I was in college, and had to leave because I couldn’t even afford to eat lunch there or ride the subway. This was like getting to luxuriate in the lifestyle of Paris, but I could actually afford to stay and enjoy myself.

The border crossing between Boliva and Argentina was fairly uncomplicated, although time consuming (see previous post for more details). We took a taxi with some other tourists to the bus station and chose the bus based on the fact that it was the next one leaving.

Bus from Border to Salta

It was a double decker, but nothing fancy. It was just like the buses we took all over Ecuador – no foot rest, people standing in the aisle’s etc. The trip took a long time because we kept getting stopped by police and military types for passport control. We would all have to file out of the bus. Line up boys and girls and then have our passports checked. Most of the time there was no problem. Occasionally they would check backpacks. They took a couple suitcases out of the luggage compartment and did a quick check. One time they took a suitcase into their office and dumped the entire contents on the ground. The poor lady’s bras and panties were scattered all over the place and the officers were picking things up and throwing them around. It did not seem very professional to me. Eventually we arrived in Salta 6 1/2 hours, 3 police stops and 2 horrible Argentinian movies later. It cost around $12.

Salta

Hostal Condor Pass (See Lonely Planet for details)

http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/28008-Hostal-Condor-Pass

Price - $20 for a double with a bath and 1 slice of bread and coffee for breakfast.
Cleanliness – Descent
Comfort – Mattress was okay, but the pillow was lumpy and our 2 pillows were joined together. A little noisy as people were coming and going. Hot water didn’t last long enough for 2 people in a row.
Character – Nothing in particular
Amenities – A rottwiler dog and a very helpful man in the morning (he helped us organize our bus tickets and even payed for them until we could get to the ATM machine later). A big table with a TV at the other end, kitchen
Recommended? - It is in a good location and it is a fine place to crash, but there is nothing about it that was particularly enchanting

We were only in Salta for 24 hours. We did not go on any tours or do much of anything touristy. I wanted to buy some shoes. Salta had shoe store after shoe store full of cute cheap shoes. The problem is that ALL the stores close for “siesta” from lunch to about 4:30-5pm. A lot of the towns we had been in closed until about 3, but I had never seen anything like this before. Our bus left in the late afternoon, so I didn’t have a chance to get anything. So, plan accordingly if you want to shop in Salta.

Bus Salta – Mendoza

We chose to go with AndesMar. It was a 16 hour overnight bus ride for about $40. Every company has different names for their 3 types of seats. I’ll compare them to planes because those are more standardized. Think economy, business and first class (with seats that lay all the way down into a bed). We went on the business class type. This includes dinner with wine, a round of bingo and descent movies that actually go all the way from start to finish. The buses usually only have about 6 first class seats, so they go quickly. If you want one, you will probably need to book it at least 2 days in advance. You can even buy them online. I haven’t ever done it because I think you need access to a printer and not all the Internet cafes have them.

Mendoza

We arranged for our hotel ahead of time. They asked what time we were arriving, so we told them. When I stopped off the bus, a man was standing there holding a sign with my name on it. Apparently we had bus pick up and didn’t know it. The hostel is very close to the bus station, so we just walked with the employee back to his hostel.

Savigliano Hostel (See lonely planet for details)

http://www.savigliano.com.ar/

Price - $22 with a bath and bread for breakfast. Coffee cost extra. That made one of the guests very unhappy.
Cleanliness – Fine
Comfort – Beds were okay. Pillows were joined together again and a little flat.
Character – Nothing much. There were some interesting pieces of furniture like one table made out of a wine barrel, but nothing else went with it, so those kind of things just looked a little out of place.
Amenities – Cheap Internet and one free cable for those with a laptop. TV downstairs in with the computers that the employees spent most of the time watching. There was another TV upstairs, but we couldn’t figure out how to make it work until the last day. Will arrange for tours around the area (Wine tasting, hang gliding, white water rafting etc.) air conditioning and screens for the window that were great for blocking out the early morning sun. self service laundry, small sparsely stocked kitchen and bus pick up.
Recommended? - It was a fine place to stay. There are probably better options. Particularly with regards to location. It is by the bus station, so that is great if you are just passing through, but every day we had to walk into town and back 2 – 3 times. It was doable, but not close, so there were times when we didn’t go back to the hotel when we wanted to, or we didn’t go back out once we got back to the hostel because it was late, or we were tired or lazy or whatever and it just wasn’t convenient.

One of my good friends from school went on a trip through Argentina a year ago and her favorite place that she stayed was in Mendoza and called Quinta Rufino. We tried to get a reservation there from the start, but they were full, so we switched hostels once they had room available.

Quinta Rufino

http://www.quintarufinohostel.com.ar/
Price - $26 with a bath, cable and breakfast. They have dorms with shared bath too.
Cleanliness – Clean
Comfort – Comfortable beds and pillows. Descent shower. Futon in the sitting room. I still can’t figure out why ¾ of the hostels in SA have futons. They aren’t very comfortable for sitting on and no one is going to use it for a bed. Just get a couch.
Character – A charming place. Tastefully decorated, hard wood floors, cheerful dining room.
Amenities – Can book tours through them, they will let you use their only computer for Internet, but getting a chance is a bit competitive. TV with cable in the sitting room and dining room, well stocked kitchen and a games room. Cute cocker spaniel dog. Will call a doctor to the hotel if you are sick.
Recommended? - Yes. It was a lovely place to stay. The owners were very friendly. It was in a nice neighborhood, but still a little out from the very center of things.

Wine Tour – My husband loves wine and wine tasting. We talked to a couple different people who went on the various tours and were most convinced by one of the expensive ones. It is good to splurge every once and a while I guess.

$25 for transportation (we really didn’t go that far out of Mendoza), 2 wineries including tours and one full and one limited tasting, 1 distillery including tour and tasting (fascinating and in a beautiful building) and lunch. It was an all you can eat type of affair. Imagine the fanciest picnic you can and then x it by 5. Then you will get the lunch we had. It included all sorts of things like cheeses and sausages, breads and quail eggs and vegetables and empanadas and tons of other things. After lunch we returned home which was good because I was ready for a nap. The tour was called a full day, but we left at 11 and returned around 4. It was a great day, but I don’t really consider that to be a full day tour.

The 2 other options I am aware of are

1. The half day tour for $10 including 2 wineries (I don’t think the distillery, but it is possible)

2. Bike tour. You rent a bike and go where you like. The bike shop gives you a map and you can do as much or as little as you like. They also give you a coupon for a discount at a nice restaurant. You can rent the bikes for a full or half day.

If you have been wine tasting in California, don’t expect this to be the same type of day.  They do things a little differently here.  The style of the tasting at the distillery is more like what we are used to in CA.

Mendoza has tons of other outdoor activities and adventures. We didn’t do any of the others, so I can’t comment.

Mendoza is heaven in the Spring. It was warm (24-28 Celsius). There are beautiful green trees shading every street. Almost every restaurant has an outside area where you can sit under an umbrella and just enjoy the beauty of the day. Also, there were ice cream shops all over the place and people were constantly eating ice cream. I am a huge fan, so I considered never leaving (until I found out summer has normal temps of 38-40 degrees)

Seriously though, I looked into teaching English in Mendoza and staying there for 8 months. There were some possibilities, but the school year starts in March and ends in November, so I was offered guaranteed work starting in March, but only remote possibilities during their summer months. I guess everything just completely closes down during the summer. I don’t think you could live in Mendoza on what I was offered. Rent wasn’t super cheap ($300 would probably be the cheapest you could get a studio in down town). The schools seem to have a lot of teachers doing a little work. They said they start people off with 1 or 2 classes. Basically 6 hours a week and then you can work up to about 12 (she said this with such enthusiasm). The pay was about $4 an hour. But, if you only work 12 hours a week the math gets you to $192 per month. It was the worst pay to cost of living ratio of any of the places I have visited. Great if you save up in your home country and just come for the experience. A bad idea if you actually want to make enough to live on. (And I’m a credentialed English teacher in the States with a Masters in Education)