The Skinny on South America Travel

Many people have been asking us for details about our South America trip so we dedicate this blog to the nitty-gritty details of how, who, what where and why of our 6-week trek through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina:

Daily Budget

We had a strict budget of $15 US per person, per day for food and $15 US per person, per day for lodging. That meant that we we could not stay in a hotel room over $30 per night or eat more than $30 of food (and drinks, yes wine included) per day. This was mostly always possible everywhere we went. Sometimes we would splurge on food and drinks one day but we balanced those days out by being frugal on other days and cooking for ourselves in the hostel instead of eating out or eating street food or bread and cheese from the markets instead. 

Lodging

We stayed in a combination of hostels, hotels and couch surfing homes during our trip. Hostels, with shared rooms, were fine for a few nights but when we were staying in one city for longer than 2 nights we usually looked for hotels with private rooms (and decent showers were a priority and sometimes worth spending some extra cash). Our couch surfing experiences were positive everywhere we went. We highly recommend getting on CouchSurfing before you travel to build yourself a profile, get verified and scope out the places you plan on visiting to see if there are many hosts in the area who might be able to host you. CouchSurfing is not just for a free place to stay, it is about meeting people and sharing cultures so keep that in mind. Also, we knew that we might not always find a CS host so we budgeted enough money to pay for lodging every night. When we did have CS hosts and free lodging, we used that money to go on adventures with our hosts or buy them extra groceries or cook them meals.

Our Route, Step by Step
Okay, so I can't remember the exact details of our travel in terms of what buses we took and how much they cost but it was pretty easy to get a fair price for bus tickets at most bus stations. Also, travel books will give you a general idea of how much travel will cost. Base your budgeting off of that. Before we left on the trip, I spent a few hours looking up estimated prices of all legs of my travel so that I could make a general budget. We usually rode in semi-cama seats because they were cheaper than the full cama tickets. The difference was that our seats didn't fully recline whereas if we had paid more we might have been more comfortable. The price might be worth it for you for extra long trips. In any case, here are all the legs of our journey:

1. We flew from Guyana to Lima, Peru (via Trinidad then Panama. We booked a one-way flight from GEO to POS and another one-way flight from POS-LIM to save money).
2. Lima to Cusco via bus. This trip was supposed to be 18 hours, but ended up being 23 because of landslides.
3. From Cusco we headed off on our 4-day trek up Salkantay to Machu Picchu and then returned back to Cusco.
4. After Machu Picchu and Cusco, we took a night bus to Arequipa. The bus took about 9 hours.
5. From Arequipa we booked a guided tour (at one of many offices in downtown) to the Colca Canyon. We left most of our gear in our hostel while we were on the 2 day trek and came back to pick it up after the trek, before taking another night bus to Puno.
5. Puno was just a stopping point to get into Bolivia. We had to go there since we couldn't find any direct buses to Bolivia. The bus from Arequipa to Puno was not nice. But once we were in the Puno bus station we were able to buy a hot breakfast and easily find tickets to Copacabana in Bolivia.
6. Puno by bus to Copacabana. The bus ride is quick and easy but this border crossing sucks. Be prepared and have with you (not in your luggage under the bus) a copy of your passport, YF vaccinations, a passport photo and US cash in exact change to obtain your Bolivian visa. This will make the trip easier.
7. Copacabana to La Paz. We didn't have to book anything here. Just head to the central square in Copacabana and find a bus that is marked La Paz. Buses leave all day, the last bus is at 6 or so.
8. La Paz to Coroico via a harrowing and awesome bike ride tour down the Death Road. The tour returned to La Paz (if you want to go directly back) but we wanted to stay in the Bolivian high jungle for a few nights so we asked to be dropped off at the local bus stop to take us to the town of Corioco.
9. Coroico to La Paz (no need to book bus tickets in advance, just go to the bus terminal when you want to leave).
10. Once back in La Paz we decided not to book the next step of our journey with a tour agency in La Paz because it was very expensive. Instead we just took another night bus (we bought tickets at a tour agency on the same day we arrived back from Coroico) from La Paz to Uyuni. We arrived in Uyuni very early in the morning and had to wait for the tour companies to open. When they did we were easily able to find a 3 day tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats and the National Park that left that same morning.
11. We didn't stay in Uyuni, instead we took the standard 3-day tour of the natural wonders in the region. After the tour, instead of returning to Uyuni we had arranged for the tour to drop us off at the Chilean border. People do this all the time and the tour operator will make it easy for you and book you a ticket directly to San Perdo de Atacama in Chile.
12. Bolivian border to San Pedro de Atacama was an easy 1.5 hour bus ride.
13. San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago. We booked a bus ticket a day ahead of time with a bus company in San Pedro. This is one of the times when we should have splurged on a cama ticket. The journey was over 26 hours! Bring food.
14. Santiago to Vina del Mar by bus. We traveled with a friend to his family home out there, I don't know if I would recommend going to Vina if you are backpacking. It is expensive to find lodging and quiet if you don't know where to go.
15. Vina del Mar to Valparaiso by bus. Half an hour on public local buses and its cheap.
16. We hitched a ride with our friend's mom from Valpo back to Santiago but I know that the bus tickets are cheap and the ride is only a few hours.
17. We just passed through Santiago this time (our friend dropped us off at the bus station where we bought a ticket) and headed on yet another night bus to Mendoza, Argentina. I would not recommend taking a night bus because there is an immigration checkpoint in the middle of the night where we had to wake up, get out of the bus and stand in the freezing cold for a few hours to cross into Argentina.
18. Mendoza, Argentina back to Santiago (this time on a bus in the daytime).
19. Santiago airport to Los Angeles, LAX. We got a one-way ticket with a connection through Mexico City. Then we were home in the U.S.A.

This trip was certainly a whirlwind tour. There were so many other places along the way that we wanted to visit but we only had six weeks so we crammed in all the important things (to us at least). If you have more time, take it and explore more.

Our Favorites. If you are in South America, you shouldn't miss:
1. A trek to Machu Pict
2. Lake Titikaka (from either the Peruvian or Bolivian side it is nice but we LOVED the Isla del Sol from Copacabana)
3. The bike ride from La Paz to Coroico and a few days in the Bolivian jungle
4. Tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats and surrounding marvels
5. Valparaiso
6. Mendoza and a bike tour of Argentinian wine country

I hope this little summary of our trip helps those who have asked, and anyone for that matter, plan your South America adventure. We certainly had a blast on our trip we hope you do too! Let me know if you have any other, specific questions. I am happy to help in any way. Happy travels!

-Chelsea