Tour and Travel

Archive for the ‘South America Travel’ Category

A trip to Peru is fascinating and magical. Travel Peru’s varied scenery, from desert coastline to lush mountains and fertile valleys, sampling its tasty seafood and absorbing its ancient culture among the most interesting experiences in South America. Sightseeing in Peru is an other-worldly experience. It offers a plethora of scenic landscapes as well as a cultural mix that is evident in both the architecture and customs. The first taste makes the traveler curious to know more.

Visit Machu Picchu, the most recognized settlement of the Incas, located in the southern Peruvian Andes in a unique and mystical setting. Touring this holy place is to witness an archaeological site with architectonic and engineering innovations which have survived the ages. There are no words to describe the magnificence of such a scene which has become one of the most highly sought destinations for tour operators in Peru.

Cordillera Blanca is the perfect place for trekking, climbing, cycling, rafting or to simply enjoy the highest mountain in Peru. Huascaran National Park includes the whole Cordillera Blanca above 4.000 m and due of its character of Unesco World Biosphere Reserve, visiting this part of central Peru is a dream comes true for nature and archeology lovers.

The famous Nazca lines, located in the southwest of the country, are a set of gigantic ancient zoomorphic and geometric figures, some simple and others more complex. All images are mapped onto the surface and can be seen in their entirety only from the air. There are more questions than answers about how between 200 BC and 700 inhabitants of this desert were able to draw such immense images on the ground. Close by is located Cerro Blanco, which, with a height of 2078 m is the highest dune in the world, an ideal destination for sand boarding and paragliding in Peru.

Peru is a country with a strong indigenous tradition that can be seen in the colorful markets where each item can be viewed as a small masterpiece. Pisac, a small town located in the Sacred Valley, is one of the best ways to see how the Quechua tradition is experienced today. Pisac´s Sunday Market is well-known and is ideal for having direct contact with locals who are selling their products. At the same time, Pisac is an ideal starting point for tour to Peru, visiting archaeological sites, breathtaking scenery and the local flora and fauna.

Travel to Peru is discovering new tastes and scents, unique music, hallowed stories and congenial people. Ancient history and modern life run together in a poetic and captivating way, resulting in a beautiful country hard to leave behind.

Argentina will win South Africa 2010 and take the cup to South America. So many teams like England, Germany, Ghana, and Holland have been trying to win the tournament for a while but to no avail. If you are thinking Brazil has what it takes to win the world cup then you don’t even have a clue of how football (UK) is played. Brazil is undoubtedly a good team but it is certain that Argentina is a powerful and better team. If Diego Maradona can lead Argentina to South Africa, I don’t see why a team filled with players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez will be an easy team to thrash. Brazil has players like Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Pato and Adriano but if Brazil had to meet Argentina in a world cup final, Argentina will be victorious. While South Africa might be playing at home during the tournament, the team doesn’t seem to be the best African football team. Ghana is the best African football team. The USA will also be a good team to watch during South Africa 2010. With the way Freddy Adu has been playing lately for the team, it looks like the boys will be looking to cause a few upsets during the competition.  If Brazil met the USA in a FIFA World Cup match, it’s certain that Brazil will struggle to score a goal against a team which plays good football and has many players who can run for minutes without getting tired. The FIFA World Cup will be held in Africa for the first time and it is feasible Italy will not win the cup for a second time because so many teams want the cup too.

Both countries, Argentina and Brazil are ranked among the most visited destinations in South America. One by its cosmopolitan capital, Buenos Aires, with its tanks and legends of Buenos Aires, with Rio de la Plata, Caminito, and another for its white sand beaches, its carnival and Christ the Redeemer, among other attractions.

But, undoubtedly, in its extension both territories are so rich in tourist proposals that it would be impossible to enumerate all the internal destinations. But what we can recount, are the most visited places in Argentina and Brazil.

Therefore, in Argentina, one needs to place among the most visited places in Argentina the Iguazu Falls in Misiones province located in the north of the country, also cities like Bariloche and El Calafate, in the south of Argentina in La Patagonia, the Valley of the Moon a beautiful and bizarre landscape of the province of San Juan, and how could it be otherwise, the capital city, Buenos Aires.

In Buenos Aires there are many very nice places for dancing tango, it suggestive national dance that appeals to many foreigners around the world. Buenos Aires is plenty of theaters, restaurants, shopping, business trips and tourist and historical sites of the most varied.

But, undoubtedly, the list does not end in these places mentioned. All South America appears attractive to tourists worldwide, by the natural beauty of each location, its stories, its attractions and its friendly people. And please if I may counsel, this is a worthwhile experience.

These days, you can get almost all the information you need from the internet. So why would you waste space carrying around a huge guide when you are backpacking South America? First of all, a guide is great resource to have even before you travel! Use it to plan your trip, and keep it on your nightboard to keep you motivated while you are saving up money for your adventure. Second, the guide is always a great backup to have in situations where internet or other resources aren’t available. How much should you pay for a taxi from the airport to the city? Where is there a hostel in this god-forsaken town where I am the only English speaking person in miles range? It’s always a good thing to have a guide as backup, even though you might not use it every day!

There are loads upon loads of guides for backpacking in South America. Some cover the whole continent, others cover only countries, cities or islands in greater detail. What kind of book you should buy depends on how your trip is laid out. Are you planning to stay in only one country? Or only one city? Or are you planning to do the whole caboodle? If you are planning to do a large trip covering more than one country. I would advise you to only bring a “bible” guide that covers it all. Carrying around too many books will take up to match space and bring a heavy load on your back. There are mainly 3 Guides that are recognized as backpack south America bibles.

Lonely planet – South America on a Shoestring:

South America on a shoestring is definitely the most popular book to bring to South America, and also that book that goes as “the bible”. The book covers the whole South America with information on everything from big attractions to restaurants in a small outback town. Lonely planet books are known to be very good on accommodation, restaurants, things to do, and so forth. Drawbacks are that the book gets a bit dry with only text and no pictures, and also the historical and details on locations can be a bit thin. Still this Is one of the better books on South America, and the book you will see the majority of people are carrying around.

Rough Guide to South America on a Budget:

The rough guides are the new modernized version of Lonely Planet. While Lonely Planet focus on pure quality information, Rough Guides are heavier on readability and visual enjoyment. The positive sides with RG are the Top-todo lists for countries, inspiring pictures and good detailed historical and guide information to places. Negatives are that it lacks some on the resource side. Many of the listings seem to be outdated, and hostels/restaurants might be closed down or moved. Rough Guides are a very good book for those who prefer visual reading enjoyment and good background and historical information.

Footprint South America Guide:

Footprint is the old dog in this competition. Back in the 70s; Footprint were topping all the travel guide lists. After a few years in the dark, they are now fighting to regain their position as top dog. And the new 2010 edition surely is a new good breeze, however it still has a few important flaws. Footprints new book is heavy on good detailed information on all the major places and in many cases it also covers the minor cities in much greater detail then the other two. Footprints major drawbacks are some unnecessary mistakes that should have been fixed before publication. Many of the maps are incorrect and some of the basic resource sections are outdated. They have done a good job fixing up many of the mistakes in the new 2010 edition. This book is in many cases better than the two others, especially on information on places and attractions, however the book still has some flaws, especially on maps and locations that need to be fixed for this book to be top notch again.

When you are going to pick out the book that fits you the best, you should really consider what you will be using the book for. Are you planning to only use it as resource for restaurants, hostels and directions? Or do you also like to read information about cities, countries and so on. Figure out what you want and pick the guide that fits you the best. And last, if you are planning to backpack South America in the near future, you can never buy your guide early enough. Once you buy it you are one step closer to your dream of backpacking around South

 If you love travelling, you probably already know that the costs of travelling add up fast. But there is something clever you can do in order to keep the costs down, and that is to travel during the off-peak seasons.

Travelling in the off-peak seasons have a lot of advantages:

Airfare is cheaper

Accommodation is cheaper and also easier to get on short notice.

Some restaurants might be cheaper, so eating out gets cheaper too.

The destination you go to will be less crowded.

There will be less beggars, sellers and other people who bother you while you are there, since these people mostly tend to come to touristy areas during the peaks of the tourist season.

Many cultural events for the locals are held during off-peak seasons, while real and genuine events can be harder to find during the peak seasons. Examples of this is operas and other concerts that are held in Europe during the winter, while most locals in Spain or France tend to flee their homes when they know that the tourists are coming, so if you visit Spain or France in the summer, you might only be able to find events specifically designed for tourists.

What you need to keep in mind if you are considering travelling in the off-peak seasons is that the off-peak seasons are not the same all over the world. Summer and spring are usually the most popular tourist seasons all over the world, but while Europe and North America have spring and summer during May, June, July and August, places like Australia or the south of South America have summer during December, January and February.

Some places also get very touristy around specific holidays (the north of Finland has a huge tourist boom around Christmas, because they have a Santa Claus Land there, for instance).

So always read up on your destination in order to know when the peaks and off-peaks are in that specific location!