Here is my Dropbox link to my itinerary and expenses in South America. If I could re-do some of the plans, I would:
1) Purchase an "open jaw" ticket so I could keep my return date and flight of origin open. I ended up in Buenos Aires, Argentina and had to find my way back to Bogota, Colombia to connect to my flight home since I had bought a round-trip ticket from California to Bogota. With an "open jaw" ticket, I could avoid flying the Buenos Aires-Bogota sector and save US$646.20 (this was assuming that Delta flew out of Buenos Aires too)! It's not perfect but it's worth a try. Live and learn.
2) Not skip out on Bolivia and Venezuela. I avoided Bolivia due to a civil unrest in the country at that time. I decided not to participate and risk the chance of being stranded amid road blocks and violent clashes. I took it personal with Venezuela as I had a disdain for Hugo Chavez's politics. That aside, Venezuela is a beautiful country and I look forward to seeing Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall, in Venezuela some day. (Side note: Paraguay was off my radar as I could not justify paying their ridiculously high visa fee of US$160 for a 1-2 day visit).
3) Extend my stay in the continent for another 3-4 months to include the Amazon rainforest, Galapagos Islands (in Ecuador), Aconcagua (in Argentina), and the aforementioned 2 countries. Alas, there is a time in life for everything, so I suppose all these will have to wait until the time is ripe.
I hope you'll find useful information in the excel document for your travel research and decision-making. You'll see (in the Summary tab) that Uruguay was the most expensive country for me and Ecuador, the least (based on my daily average cost). Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Happy trails!
1) Purchase an "open jaw" ticket so I could keep my return date and flight of origin open. I ended up in Buenos Aires, Argentina and had to find my way back to Bogota, Colombia to connect to my flight home since I had bought a round-trip ticket from California to Bogota. With an "open jaw" ticket, I could avoid flying the Buenos Aires-Bogota sector and save US$646.20 (this was assuming that Delta flew out of Buenos Aires too)! It's not perfect but it's worth a try. Live and learn.
2) Not skip out on Bolivia and Venezuela. I avoided Bolivia due to a civil unrest in the country at that time. I decided not to participate and risk the chance of being stranded amid road blocks and violent clashes. I took it personal with Venezuela as I had a disdain for Hugo Chavez's politics. That aside, Venezuela is a beautiful country and I look forward to seeing Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall, in Venezuela some day. (Side note: Paraguay was off my radar as I could not justify paying their ridiculously high visa fee of US$160 for a 1-2 day visit).
3) Extend my stay in the continent for another 3-4 months to include the Amazon rainforest, Galapagos Islands (in Ecuador), Aconcagua (in Argentina), and the aforementioned 2 countries. Alas, there is a time in life for everything, so I suppose all these will have to wait until the time is ripe.
I hope you'll find useful information in the excel document for your travel research and decision-making. You'll see (in the Summary tab) that Uruguay was the most expensive country for me and Ecuador, the least (based on my daily average cost). Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Happy trails!
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