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As mentioned in the other thread, I just got back from South America. I visited Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and a day trip to Uruguay. Just in case you were wondering, no I did not follow a tour although I did take short tours and day tours on the trip and yes I traveled alone. 1 thing to take note for someone planning a trip, they virtually do not speak any English at all in South America. Even the hotel guys speak very little English so picking up some Spanish is going to help, A LOT.
Background: A bit of background on this trip, after my last major trip to the Middle East in 2010, I started planning and saving for the trip. South America was the last continent(excluding Antarctica) that I've yet visited and too many places of interest to give it a miss. The trip was just about out of my reach at that time since there wasn't a direct flight to South America and the most practical way was via Europe or Australia both of which was way over my budget. I had planned to delay this several times due to cost. Luckily SIA started a flight from SG to Sao Paulo via Barcelona last year. The ticket cost was down to a quarter since I can use my frequent flyer miles for the tix, tax and fuel surcharge was about $700.
Planning: Planning turned out less of a headache than expected, thanks to our SG Passport, the only visa I needed for the trip was the Brazilian visa which can be easily gotten at the consulate @ Novena Square. The rest was just scheduling and budgeting. Since this may be a once in a life time trip I took as much leave as I can squeeze out of my boss in one go. 26 days in total, I waited specifically for Aug to go on the trip coz there were 2 public holidays. I had to drop a few places due to cost and time constraints. Since I had limited time in each location I only visited the highlight of the country and also spend some time there. Of the places I had to cut included the Salt Plains of Salar de Uyuni(visa issue and cost), Angel Falls(too troublesome) and the Amazon Jungle(ICT in Oct, will see more then enough greenery). My final list is as follows: SG -> Sao Paulo -> Cusco -> Machu Picchu -> Lima -> Quito -> Galapagos -> Easter Island -> Santiago -> Buenos Aires -> Rio de Janeiro -> Sao Paulo -> SG
Budget: The flights within South America itself turned out to be surprisingly cheap. In total I took about 12 flights within South America itself, total cost for all the flights cost about $2K. Hotel cost another $2K. Other cost like local tours, meals and expenses worked out to about 1+-2K. In total my trip cost about +/-$6K.
First stop Sao Paulo. I didn't stay here long. Nothing of interest for me here, It's a financial centre so unless U are here to do business, not much to do here. I do have to say there are A LOT of chio bus here. It's like Chio Bu heaven. 2 incidents in Sao Paulo.
1st incident
When I first arrived, Taxi counter at the airport
Me: how much it cost to get to my hotel.
Counter Lady: $120.
Me: 120 reais(1 real = $0.70) are U kidding me???
Counter lady: No 120 USD$$$
Me: WTF, forget it I am taking a bus
2nd incident
Ask the hotel reception how long it takes to get to the Airport. The reply was 40min. It took 2 freaking hrs. I almost missed my flight lucky enough for me, my flight was delayed for 5hr so I managed to catch it.
OK enough talk time for some photos. Here are some highlights from my trip
This is Avenue Paulista, the main shopping area
Next up was Cusco, Peru. 3000m up the Andes. The whole town is a Unesco World Heritage site. This is the main square in Cusco
The Santa Cataline Monastery
Sacsayhuamán
And to answer the question in the other thread, Yes I tried Guinea Pig. It taste way better than it sounds
This is probably the most important checkpoint of my trip, Machu Picchu. To get there, you take a 4hr train ride from Cusco.
Thanks to the flight delay from Sao Paulo to Cusco, I had 1/2 day less at Cusco and had to skip the Sacred Valley. Head back to the capital Lima for 1 last day in Peru. The fucking cabs in Lima do not have any taxi metres. U need to negotiate the price before hopping on. I managed to learn how to count from 1 - 99 in Spanish after spending the day haggling with them
The Love Park in Lima
Lima's Main Squre
From Lima I flew to Quito, Ecuador. My ultimate destination in this country is the Galapagos Islands. Spend the evening in Quito.
The streets of Quito
U'll see a lot of shoe shine boys in South America
From Quito the flight to Galapagos stops at Guayaquil. The Galapagos Islands is made up of a couple of Islands. Anyone wondering why the islands is of interest, go google Charles Darwin and the theory of Evolution. The islands themselves is pretty untouched, and not very developed. Heck the Airport is actually made of wood. Funny thing happened here. It's a 2hr speed boat ride from the island of Santa Cruz to Isabela Island(biggest island). About 10 pple were cramped into a small speed boat. The captain/driver is the only one who sits on top. The sea was very rough but we were doing fine. Halfway through the boat ride, the guy on top started vomiting. U know it's great when the captain is the first to get sea sick. He stopped the boat and that's when the boat really started to rock like no tomorrow. Everyone else on the boat now started puking
Puerto Ayora, the administrative centre of the Galapagos Islands
Came across a beached whale on Isabela Island
One of the main reason why pple visit the Galapagos Islands, to see the Giant Tortoise
OK enough for now. Too long a post liao. I'll finish the rest of my story tomorrow
Background: A bit of background on this trip, after my last major trip to the Middle East in 2010, I started planning and saving for the trip. South America was the last continent(excluding Antarctica) that I've yet visited and too many places of interest to give it a miss. The trip was just about out of my reach at that time since there wasn't a direct flight to South America and the most practical way was via Europe or Australia both of which was way over my budget. I had planned to delay this several times due to cost. Luckily SIA started a flight from SG to Sao Paulo via Barcelona last year. The ticket cost was down to a quarter since I can use my frequent flyer miles for the tix, tax and fuel surcharge was about $700.
Planning: Planning turned out less of a headache than expected, thanks to our SG Passport, the only visa I needed for the trip was the Brazilian visa which can be easily gotten at the consulate @ Novena Square. The rest was just scheduling and budgeting. Since this may be a once in a life time trip I took as much leave as I can squeeze out of my boss in one go. 26 days in total, I waited specifically for Aug to go on the trip coz there were 2 public holidays. I had to drop a few places due to cost and time constraints. Since I had limited time in each location I only visited the highlight of the country and also spend some time there. Of the places I had to cut included the Salt Plains of Salar de Uyuni(visa issue and cost), Angel Falls(too troublesome) and the Amazon Jungle(ICT in Oct, will see more then enough greenery). My final list is as follows: SG -> Sao Paulo -> Cusco -> Machu Picchu -> Lima -> Quito -> Galapagos -> Easter Island -> Santiago -> Buenos Aires -> Rio de Janeiro -> Sao Paulo -> SG
Budget: The flights within South America itself turned out to be surprisingly cheap. In total I took about 12 flights within South America itself, total cost for all the flights cost about $2K. Hotel cost another $2K. Other cost like local tours, meals and expenses worked out to about 1+-2K. In total my trip cost about +/-$6K.
First stop Sao Paulo. I didn't stay here long. Nothing of interest for me here, It's a financial centre so unless U are here to do business, not much to do here. I do have to say there are A LOT of chio bus here. It's like Chio Bu heaven. 2 incidents in Sao Paulo.
1st incident
When I first arrived, Taxi counter at the airport
Me: how much it cost to get to my hotel.
Counter Lady: $120.
Me: 120 reais(1 real = $0.70) are U kidding me???
Counter lady: No 120 USD$$$
Me: WTF, forget it I am taking a bus
2nd incident
Ask the hotel reception how long it takes to get to the Airport. The reply was 40min. It took 2 freaking hrs. I almost missed my flight lucky enough for me, my flight was delayed for 5hr so I managed to catch it.
OK enough talk time for some photos. Here are some highlights from my trip
This is Avenue Paulista, the main shopping area
Next up was Cusco, Peru. 3000m up the Andes. The whole town is a Unesco World Heritage site. This is the main square in Cusco
The Santa Cataline Monastery
Sacsayhuamán
And to answer the question in the other thread, Yes I tried Guinea Pig. It taste way better than it sounds
This is probably the most important checkpoint of my trip, Machu Picchu. To get there, you take a 4hr train ride from Cusco.
Thanks to the flight delay from Sao Paulo to Cusco, I had 1/2 day less at Cusco and had to skip the Sacred Valley. Head back to the capital Lima for 1 last day in Peru. The fucking cabs in Lima do not have any taxi metres. U need to negotiate the price before hopping on. I managed to learn how to count from 1 - 99 in Spanish after spending the day haggling with them
The Love Park in Lima
Lima's Main Squre
From Lima I flew to Quito, Ecuador. My ultimate destination in this country is the Galapagos Islands. Spend the evening in Quito.
The streets of Quito
U'll see a lot of shoe shine boys in South America
From Quito the flight to Galapagos stops at Guayaquil. The Galapagos Islands is made up of a couple of Islands. Anyone wondering why the islands is of interest, go google Charles Darwin and the theory of Evolution. The islands themselves is pretty untouched, and not very developed. Heck the Airport is actually made of wood. Funny thing happened here. It's a 2hr speed boat ride from the island of Santa Cruz to Isabela Island(biggest island). About 10 pple were cramped into a small speed boat. The captain/driver is the only one who sits on top. The sea was very rough but we were doing fine. Halfway through the boat ride, the guy on top started vomiting. U know it's great when the captain is the first to get sea sick. He stopped the boat and that's when the boat really started to rock like no tomorrow. Everyone else on the boat now started puking
Puerto Ayora, the administrative centre of the Galapagos Islands
Came across a beached whale on Isabela Island
One of the main reason why pple visit the Galapagos Islands, to see the Giant Tortoise
OK enough for now. Too long a post liao. I'll finish the rest of my story tomorrow
