Here is a summary of links to my South America trip blog posts:
My South America Bucket List
Peru:
- Machu Picchu (and getting there)
- Lima
- Sacred Valley: Chinchero and Ollantaytambo
- Cusco
Brazil:
- Rio de Janeiro
Brazil and Argentina:
- Iguassu/Iguazu Falls
Argentina:
- Buenos Aires
- El Calafate and Patagonia
- Perito Moreno Glacier
Restaurants and local cuisine: South American Food and Drinks, Casa Qorikancha in Cusco, Tunupa in Sacred Valley, Museo del Filete in Buenos Aires, Casimiro Bigua in El Calafate
Hotels: Inkaterra Hacienda Urumbamba in Sacred Valley, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Palacio del Inka in Cusco, Loi Suites Iguazu Hotel, Hotel Kosten Aike in El Calafate
Other thoughts and experiences: South American Wildlife, Prepping for our trip, Challenges, Going on a tour vs. Do-it-yourself, Summary and Final Thoughts
Here again is a recap of our itinerary:
Day 0: depart Manila
Day 1: arrive in Lima
Day 2: half-day tour of Lima
Day 3: flight to Cusco, check into Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba
Day 4: Sacred Valley tour, train to Machu Picchu
Day 5: Machu Picchu, train to Cusco
Day 6: free day in Cusco
Day 7: flight from Cusco to Lima
Day 8: flight from Lima to Rio de Janeiro
Day 9: full-day tour in Rio de Janeiro
Day 10: flight to Iguassu Falls, tour of Iguassu Falls (Brazil side)
Day 11: cross the border to Argentina, tour of Iguazu Falls (Argentina side)
Day 12: flight from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires
Day 13: half-day tour of Buenos Aires, dinner and tango show
Day 14: flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate
Day 15: Perito Moreno Glacier full-day tour
Day 16: flight from El Calafate to Buenos Aires
Day 17: flight from Buenos Aires to Lima, flight from Lima to Manila
Day 18: In transit
Day 19: arrive in Manila
While this was a pretty solid itinerary, if I could do it all over again, I would make a few changes. One of them would be to add an extra day in Rio de Janeiro. We were in Rio for about the same amount of time as we were in Lima and in Buenos Aires but in Rio, we didn't have as much free time to explore on our own. Our original itinerary actually included a free day in this Brazilian city because we were supposed to fly in on Day 7 but as it turned out, there were no direct flights on that day. There was an overnight flight that would leave Lima on the evening of Day 7 and arrive in Rio in the morning of Day 8 and that would have given us at least one free afternoon in Rio. However, that flight had two legs and there was only an hour to make the connecting flight. If the first leg was delayed, we would miss the second leg and that would ruin the rest of our trip. As such, we decided to just opt for the direct flight on Day 8 which left us with no free time in Rio.
A few other changes I would make to our itinerary:
1. I would take an earlier flight from Cusco to Lima on Day 7, even if it costs more. Because our flight was in the evening, we ended up checking into our hotel in Lima at midnight but we had to check out at 5AM the next morning because our flight to Iguassu Falls was at 9:25AM. (We ended up having 2 hours of sleep that night.)
2. I would also request our travel agent to schedule our Dinner and Tango Show at La Ventana on the evening of our arrival in Buenos Aires (Day 12) instead of on Day 13. This is because the flight to El Calafate on Day 14 is at around 5AM. If we watch the dinner and tango show on Day 12, we will get to have a lot more sleep on the night of Day 13 before we fly to El Calafate. (I had two hours of sleep that night but my mom didn't sleep anymore.) If we had a bit more energy upon arrival in El Calafate, we might also have been able to book a tour of Patagonia in the afternoon of our arrival there.
3. Finally, on Day 16, I would book a room at the Holiday Inn Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport. I was trying to search for a hotel near the airport and the one I found was Howard Johnson Resort and Convention Center. Unfortunately, this hotel was in the middle of nowhere - no restaurants or shops nearby - and it was still about 20 minutes away from the airport. I was told that the Holiday Inn is the only hotel at the Ezeiza airport. It might be more convenient for us to have just stayed there.
Some other thoughts and memories. Traffic was quite heavy on our way to the Lima airport for our flight to Cusco. The rest of the folks in the tour were shocked by the traffic and my mom and I were thinking that the traffic there, while heavy, was definitely not as bad as the traffic we are used to in Manila.
You may want to try to get a window seat when you fly from Lima to Cusco because you get some pretty nice views of the Peruvian mountains. (I think the views might be better on the right side of plane, but I'm not 100% sure.)
If you are flying LATAM, download the LATAM Play app and bring your own earphones. Most of our LATAM flights didn't have TV screens. Instead, passengers can connect their phones - which have to be on airplane mode - to the LATAM WiFi network then launch the LATAM play app. From there, you can get access to the LATAM online entertainment system. (You will of course need your own earphones for this.) Bringing your own earphones is always good because even in our KLM flights, the headset provided by the airline had subpar quality and it was difficult to hear the movie dialogues. While I did have earphones, I would often lend them to my mom so that she could have a better audio experience.
I also used Smart Travel WiFi because I wanted my mom and I to be able to go online without having to pay extremely high data roaming rates. I decided to take this option rather than getting a local SIM in each country I visited because our itinerary was so jam-packed that there wouldn't have been a lot of time to get and activate a local SIM. Our Smart Travel WiFi signal was decent to pretty good in most of the places we visited.
This was my first international trip where I used Google Maps to figure out how to get around instead of relying on a travel book such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guides. Not having a book also meant that there would be just a bit less weight in our luggage, which was a big deal considering our itinerary. Google Maps was especially helpful for getting local currency. The exchange rate at airports and hotels is pretty bad so whenever we were in the city center, I would search for money exchange locations on Google Maps that were within walking distance and the exchange rate was always much better.
Be ready to deal with altitude sickness when you travel to Machu Picchu, Cusco, and Sacred Valley. I'm very thankful that the most my mom and I experienced was some shortness of breath and maybe a bit of a headache.
One of the places I wanted to visit was Rainbow Mountain, which we could have seen during our free day in Cusco. However, we decided against it because a trip here requires a very, very early rise, since most tours to Rainbow Mountain depart Cusco at around 4AM. More than that, my research indicated that getting to Rainbow Mountain requires you to walk about 11 kilometers and that the elevation will gradually go up from about 10,000 feet above sea level to 15,000 feet. I felt that this would be a bit too difficult and exhausting for us so we decided to skip it. It is possible to book a private tour that will cost a lot more but will depart at a later time (around 6AM), making it a bit more manageable. If you are going to Cusco and have the time and energy, you may want to include Rainbow Mountain in your itinerary.
One new experience I had during this trip was that I was the first person to arrive at a hotel breakfast. This happened in Loi Suites. I thought that breakfast would be served at 6AM and I wanted to be there the moment it opened so that I could finish by 6:30. I could take a taxi to the city center, visit the Triple Frontier Landmark and then exchange money at the city center (I was told the money exchange there opens at 7:30AM). As it turned out, breakfast was only served at 6:30AM. In the end, I decided to scrap my plans to go to the city center not only because my morning schedule was thrown off by half an hour but also because I felt it was too risky time-wise. I could get stuck somewhere which could then make me late for our airport pick-up and we could end up being late for our flight.
One interesting thing in El Calafate was the number of big, free-roaming "gangsta" dogs. By big, I mean the size of a Labrador or a German Shepherd. And I call them "gangsta" because every time a car passes by, these big dogs start barking and running after them as if they owned the streets. It gets a bit freaky if they run right past you while chasing a car because it looks like they are about to jump right at you. Thankfully, they never did.
I'm also happy that my mom and I were able to attend Sunday mass twice during our trip. We were able to hear mass in Lima at Capilla Jesus Hostia which was right in front of our hotel...
..and in Paroquia Nossa Senhora de Copacobana in Rio de Janeiro which was about a block away from our hotel. (Side note: the singers at this church were incredibly good!)
I am still amazed that I was able to go on this South America trip of a lifetime with my mom. It took a lot of planning, effort, and resources to make it happen and we faced a lot of challenges but it was absolutely worth it. Not only did this trip allow me to see places that I have been wanting to see for a long time, it also allowed me to discover new, amazing places and things that I didn't know about before. I am extremely humbled that I was able to have this experience and I will remember and cherish this for the rest of my life.
My South America Bucket List
Peru:
- Machu Picchu (and getting there)
- Lima
- Sacred Valley: Chinchero and Ollantaytambo
- Cusco
Brazil:
- Rio de Janeiro
Brazil and Argentina:
- Iguassu/Iguazu Falls
Argentina:
- Buenos Aires
- El Calafate and Patagonia
- Perito Moreno Glacier
Restaurants and local cuisine: South American Food and Drinks, Casa Qorikancha in Cusco, Tunupa in Sacred Valley, Museo del Filete in Buenos Aires, Casimiro Bigua in El Calafate
Hotels: Inkaterra Hacienda Urumbamba in Sacred Valley, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Palacio del Inka in Cusco, Loi Suites Iguazu Hotel, Hotel Kosten Aike in El Calafate
Other thoughts and experiences: South American Wildlife, Prepping for our trip, Challenges, Going on a tour vs. Do-it-yourself, Summary and Final Thoughts
Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina
Here again is a recap of our itinerary:
Day 0: depart Manila
Day 1: arrive in Lima
Day 2: half-day tour of Lima
Day 3: flight to Cusco, check into Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba
Day 4: Sacred Valley tour, train to Machu Picchu
Day 5: Machu Picchu, train to Cusco
Day 6: free day in Cusco
Day 7: flight from Cusco to Lima
Day 8: flight from Lima to Rio de Janeiro
Day 9: full-day tour in Rio de Janeiro
Day 10: flight to Iguassu Falls, tour of Iguassu Falls (Brazil side)
Day 11: cross the border to Argentina, tour of Iguazu Falls (Argentina side)
Day 12: flight from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires
Day 13: half-day tour of Buenos Aires, dinner and tango show
Day 14: flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate
Day 15: Perito Moreno Glacier full-day tour
Day 16: flight from El Calafate to Buenos Aires
Day 17: flight from Buenos Aires to Lima, flight from Lima to Manila
Day 18: In transit
Day 19: arrive in Manila
Machu Picchu
While this was a pretty solid itinerary, if I could do it all over again, I would make a few changes. One of them would be to add an extra day in Rio de Janeiro. We were in Rio for about the same amount of time as we were in Lima and in Buenos Aires but in Rio, we didn't have as much free time to explore on our own. Our original itinerary actually included a free day in this Brazilian city because we were supposed to fly in on Day 7 but as it turned out, there were no direct flights on that day. There was an overnight flight that would leave Lima on the evening of Day 7 and arrive in Rio in the morning of Day 8 and that would have given us at least one free afternoon in Rio. However, that flight had two legs and there was only an hour to make the connecting flight. If the first leg was delayed, we would miss the second leg and that would ruin the rest of our trip. As such, we decided to just opt for the direct flight on Day 8 which left us with no free time in Rio.
View of Copa Cobana and the Cable Car system in Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro
A few other changes I would make to our itinerary:
1. I would take an earlier flight from Cusco to Lima on Day 7, even if it costs more. Because our flight was in the evening, we ended up checking into our hotel in Lima at midnight but we had to check out at 5AM the next morning because our flight to Iguassu Falls was at 9:25AM. (We ended up having 2 hours of sleep that night.)
2. I would also request our travel agent to schedule our Dinner and Tango Show at La Ventana on the evening of our arrival in Buenos Aires (Day 12) instead of on Day 13. This is because the flight to El Calafate on Day 14 is at around 5AM. If we watch the dinner and tango show on Day 12, we will get to have a lot more sleep on the night of Day 13 before we fly to El Calafate. (I had two hours of sleep that night but my mom didn't sleep anymore.) If we had a bit more energy upon arrival in El Calafate, we might also have been able to book a tour of Patagonia in the afternoon of our arrival there.
3. Finally, on Day 16, I would book a room at the Holiday Inn Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport. I was trying to search for a hotel near the airport and the one I found was Howard Johnson Resort and Convention Center. Unfortunately, this hotel was in the middle of nowhere - no restaurants or shops nearby - and it was still about 20 minutes away from the airport. I was told that the Holiday Inn is the only hotel at the Ezeiza airport. It might be more convenient for us to have just stayed there.
Caminito Street in La Boca in Buenos Aires
Some other thoughts and memories. Traffic was quite heavy on our way to the Lima airport for our flight to Cusco. The rest of the folks in the tour were shocked by the traffic and my mom and I were thinking that the traffic there, while heavy, was definitely not as bad as the traffic we are used to in Manila.
Plaza de Armas in Lima
You may want to try to get a window seat when you fly from Lima to Cusco because you get some pretty nice views of the Peruvian mountains. (I think the views might be better on the right side of plane, but I'm not 100% sure.)
view of Peruvian mountains from the plane
If you are flying LATAM, download the LATAM Play app and bring your own earphones. Most of our LATAM flights didn't have TV screens. Instead, passengers can connect their phones - which have to be on airplane mode - to the LATAM WiFi network then launch the LATAM play app. From there, you can get access to the LATAM online entertainment system. (You will of course need your own earphones for this.) Bringing your own earphones is always good because even in our KLM flights, the headset provided by the airline had subpar quality and it was difficult to hear the movie dialogues. While I did have earphones, I would often lend them to my mom so that she could have a better audio experience.
Iguassu Falls (Brazil side)
I also used Smart Travel WiFi because I wanted my mom and I to be able to go online without having to pay extremely high data roaming rates. I decided to take this option rather than getting a local SIM in each country I visited because our itinerary was so jam-packed that there wouldn't have been a lot of time to get and activate a local SIM. Our Smart Travel WiFi signal was decent to pretty good in most of the places we visited.
Sacsayhuaman in Cusco
This was my first international trip where I used Google Maps to figure out how to get around instead of relying on a travel book such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guides. Not having a book also meant that there would be just a bit less weight in our luggage, which was a big deal considering our itinerary. Google Maps was especially helpful for getting local currency. The exchange rate at airports and hotels is pretty bad so whenever we were in the city center, I would search for money exchange locations on Google Maps that were within walking distance and the exchange rate was always much better.
Libreria del Colegio in Buenos Aires
Be ready to deal with altitude sickness when you travel to Machu Picchu, Cusco, and Sacred Valley. I'm very thankful that the most my mom and I experienced was some shortness of breath and maybe a bit of a headache.
Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús or Church of the Society of Jesus in Cusco
One of the places I wanted to visit was Rainbow Mountain, which we could have seen during our free day in Cusco. However, we decided against it because a trip here requires a very, very early rise, since most tours to Rainbow Mountain depart Cusco at around 4AM. More than that, my research indicated that getting to Rainbow Mountain requires you to walk about 11 kilometers and that the elevation will gradually go up from about 10,000 feet above sea level to 15,000 feet. I felt that this would be a bit too difficult and exhausting for us so we decided to skip it. It is possible to book a private tour that will cost a lot more but will depart at a later time (around 6AM), making it a bit more manageable. If you are going to Cusco and have the time and energy, you may want to include Rainbow Mountain in your itinerary.
Temple hill in Ollantaytambo
One new experience I had during this trip was that I was the first person to arrive at a hotel breakfast. This happened in Loi Suites. I thought that breakfast would be served at 6AM and I wanted to be there the moment it opened so that I could finish by 6:30. I could take a taxi to the city center, visit the Triple Frontier Landmark and then exchange money at the city center (I was told the money exchange there opens at 7:30AM). As it turned out, breakfast was only served at 6:30AM. In the end, I decided to scrap my plans to go to the city center not only because my morning schedule was thrown off by half an hour but also because I felt it was too risky time-wise. I could get stuck somewhere which could then make me late for our airport pick-up and we could end up being late for our flight.
Walkways linking the different buildings in Loi Suites Iguazu Hotel
One interesting thing in El Calafate was the number of big, free-roaming "gangsta" dogs. By big, I mean the size of a Labrador or a German Shepherd. And I call them "gangsta" because every time a car passes by, these big dogs start barking and running after them as if they owned the streets. It gets a bit freaky if they run right past you while chasing a car because it looks like they are about to jump right at you. Thankfully, they never did.
Mini-trekking in Perito Moreno Glacier
I'm also happy that my mom and I were able to attend Sunday mass twice during our trip. We were able to hear mass in Lima at Capilla Jesus Hostia which was right in front of our hotel...
Capilla Jesus Hostia, where we heard mass while in Lima
..and in Paroquia Nossa Senhora de Copacobana in Rio de Janeiro which was about a block away from our hotel. (Side note: the singers at this church were incredibly good!)
Paroquia Nossa Senhora de Copacobana in Rio de Janeiro
I am still amazed that I was able to go on this South America trip of a lifetime with my mom. It took a lot of planning, effort, and resources to make it happen and we faced a lot of challenges but it was absolutely worth it. Not only did this trip allow me to see places that I have been wanting to see for a long time, it also allowed me to discover new, amazing places and things that I didn't know about before. I am extremely humbled that I was able to have this experience and I will remember and cherish this for the rest of my life.
Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro
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