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King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Cometa Rossa posted:

I'm gonna be heading up to San Pedro de Atacama in a couple of weeks and I keep hearing about how great the stargazing is - do I have to take a tour or can I just walk a few minutes outside of town and still be impressed?

Also, as far as getting in from Calama, is the best option to take a taxi from the airport to the bus station and then a bus to San Pedro? I'm flying in from Santiago.

You don't even need to go out of the town, unless you're going to do photography. There's tours that take you out of the town at night to some popular spots, and there's an observatory on the outskirts, around some of the hotels.

It's cold at night, and it's high altitude, so bring appropriate clothes.

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Cometa Rossa
Oct 23, 2008

I would crawl ass-naked over a sea of broken glass just to kiss a dick

King Metal posted:

You don't even need to go out of the town, unless you're going to do photography. There's tours that take you out of the town at night to some popular spots, and there's an observatory on the outskirts, around some of the hotels.

It's cold at night, and it's high altitude, so bring appropriate clothes.

It was still beautiful but I was there during a full moon :argh:

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I really don't understand how the Dolar Blue works. Every time I've changed money, I've gotten way better rates than listed on http://dolarblue.net/. Like, I changed $1100 at a rate of 15.4 pesos to the dollar and 16.8 pesos to the euro, both of which are better than the listed rates for venta (15.1 and 16.7), and this was off Calle Florida when we went up with someone we found muttering "cambio cambio cambio".

We then proceeded to -spend- all that money, so it was 100% legit bills and properly counted etc. God it's annoying that 100 pesos is the largest bill though.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
On the topic of spending all that money, does anyone have any particular suggestions for El Calafate or Ushuaia? We've got three full days in both places, two weeks from now, and so far we can really only figure out to do with one day in each (Petito Moreno glacier, and then the Tierra del Fuego park). Anyone have any great tips for that?

Pretty Boy Floyd
Mar 21, 2006
If you'll gather round me children...
Where do you live in Chile Metal King?

Alan_Shore
Dec 2, 2004

I've checked the first and last pages and I haven't found anything with regards to living and teaching English, so I hope this question is OK:

My girlfriend and I are considering moving to South/Central America and teaching English. I've got a TEFL, lived and taught in Cambodia and Japan. She was on the JET program in Japan. I'm English, she's American.

I'm looking into this now, researching countries and living conditions. Ideally, we'd like somewhere that is pleasant, with good weather, laid-back, with stuff to do (cafes, bars, hikes etc.). A small town or nice city. I'm sure this is what everyone wants! Jobs that let us live comfortably but saving tons isn't a priority. Enough free time to write and do our own thing, you know so we're not working all the time.

I'm not sure how feasible or easy this is. In Cambodia I just showed up in PP and got a job very quickly by handing my CV out, then found somewhere to stay. Japan, I just applied online. I assume the former is how it works in most of South/Central America?

Basically any posts, or resources, or thoughts are welcome, even if it's just saying this is crazy and we should go somewhere else!

Destroyenator
Dec 27, 2004

Don't ask me lady, I live in beer

Saladman posted:

On the topic of spending all that money, does anyone have any particular suggestions for El Calafate or Ushuaia? We've got three full days in both places, two weeks from now, and so far we can really only figure out to do with one day in each (Petito Moreno glacier, and then the Tierra del Fuego park). Anyone have any great tips for that?
I did a small (like a couple of hours) boat tour in Ushuaia to see the bird colonies and stuff, it was pretty nice. I think they're a few of them running from the port, we just turned up and bought tickets a couple of hours before.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Pretty Boy Floyd posted:

Where do you live in Chile Metal King?

In Santiago

Darude - Adam Sandstorm
Aug 16, 2012

King Metal, since you are in Santiago, maybe you can answer this for me. My partner and I will be in Santiago at the time of the Colo-Colo vs La U game and we are hoping to get tickets to go. How would one do that. Finding info on buying south american sporting tickets is a nightmare.

Sumptious
Dec 19, 2013
Has anyone spent around three months in South America? I'd like to go for about that amount of time and was wondering what would be a rough estimate the of cost if one was to stay in hostels, eat basic meals and mainly travel around via bus.

TheImmigrant
Jan 18, 2011

Sumptious posted:

Has anyone spent around three months in South America? I'd like to go for about that amount of time and was wondering what would be a rough estimate the of cost if one was to stay in hostels, eat basic meals and mainly travel around via bus.

Impossible to answer this without some more parameters. For example, travel in southeastern Brazil, which is comparable to Western Europe in costs, will be three times as much as travel in countries like Ecuador or Colombia. Generally, Brazil - particularly the south and southeast (Rio de Janeiro, Florianopolis, Sao Paulo) is the most expensive, followed by Chile and Patagonia. The Guyanas are reportedly pretty expensive too, although I'm not speaking from experience there. Venezuela can be very expensive or very cheap, depending on how you buy your bolivares. Argentina will also depend on where you buy your local currency - the official rate is quite a bit lower than the market rate. Countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia are very, very cheap. In the cheaper countries, a frugal backpacker can survive on $20/day or even less, depending on your Spanish ability. Generally though, it's an impossible question to answer without knowing your habits and tolerance for discomfort.

Sad Panda
Sep 22, 2004

I'm a Sad Panda.
Guyana didn't seem expensive when I was there, Suriname was a little more so. French Guyana is France in South America, so everything is imported from the mainland and oh god it's expensive!

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Sumptious posted:

Has anyone spent around three months in South America? I'd like to go for about that amount of time and was wondering what would be a rough estimate the of cost if one was to stay in hostels, eat basic meals and mainly travel around via bus.

I'm in the midst of a four month trip around South America and we've budgeted out around $1500/mo/ea (for two) for Argentina and then up from Chile to Colombia.

Then we bought tickets to El Calafate and Ushuaia which absolutely wrecked our budget, but it wasn't really a red line either. Beyond that $1500 seems fine for Argentina if you're exchanging at the blue rate (currently like US$1=AR$15.8, vs. US$1=AR$9.4 if you use an ATM in the country).

I think Venezuela is impossible at the government rate now unless you're a millionaire anyway. We had to cross it off anyway since they now no longer give visas on arrival to American citizens... and their government is DPRK levels of hosed up.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

MassaShowtime posted:

King Metal, since you are in Santiago, maybe you can answer this for me. My partner and I will be in Santiago at the time of the Colo-Colo vs La U game and we are hoping to get tickets to go. How would one do that. Finding info on buying south american sporting tickets is a nightmare.

The normal place to buy them is on puntoticket.com but if you don't have a chilean debit/credit card it would probably be impossible, the one lovely online credit card processor here doesn't take foreign cards. You can go in person to a punto-ticket place and buy them. That's a big game so it might be sold out already, I'll try to check


Edit: Doesn't seem like they're available yet

You can check here later http://www.colocolo.cl/category/venta-de-entradas/
That links to the sales for puntoticket.com, but there's none available past the end of september yet

King Metal fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Sep 21, 2015

Stalins Moustache
Dec 31, 2012

~~**I'm Italian!**~~
We are a bunch of friends from Norway who are going to travel to South America from the 16th of December to the 16th of June. Three of us will be starting off in Santiago in Chile, and we will remain in Chile until before New Year's Eve. What we are going to do in Chile is completely planned out, but we're struggling with what to do on New Year's Eve and the days after it. We are gonna meet up with some friends who studies in Lima in some other country, most likely Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. But we are not sure wether or not that we actually want to spend New Year's Eve there. What we are thinking is that we want to find some other alternatives, like towns with beautiful beaches along the coastline or places we have access to sports activities similar to the Ecuadorian city of Bano. We have no idea where to begin searching. Does any of you have any tips and / or suggestions?

I should be specific and say that we'd rather have it close to Rio de Janeiro as it'll be much more easier for us to meet up with our other friends as there are direct flights to Rio.

Stalins Moustache fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Sep 21, 2015

TheImmigrant
Jan 18, 2011

Stalins Moustache posted:

We are a bunch of friends from Norway who are going to travel to South America from the 16th of December to the 16th of June. Three of us will be starting off in Santiago in Chile, and we will remain in Chile until before New Year's Eve. What we are going to do in Chile is completely planned out, but we're struggling with what to do on New Year's Eve and the days after it. We are gonna meet up with some friends who studies in Lima in some other country, most likely Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. But we are not sure wether or not that we actually want to spend New Year's Eve there. What we are thinking is that we want to find some other alternatives, like towns with beautiful beaches along the coastline or places we have access to sports activities similar to the Ecuadorian city of Bano. We have no idea where to begin searching. Does any of you have any tips and / or suggestions?

I should be specific and say that we'd rather have it close to Rio de Janeiro as it'll be much more easier for us to meet up with our other friends as there are direct flights to Rio.

Rio is fun for New Year's Eve (they use the French réveillon), but also the second most oversubscribed event of the year, after Carnaval. If you can afford it and find a place to stay (start looking today), it's a good time. Everyone dresses in white and hangs out on the beach at Ipanema, tossing flower offerings to the orixá Iemanjá into the water. The other happening spot for New Year's is Punta del Este, in Uruguay. It's a bit eye-rollingly over the top, but really is something to be seen. In Latin America, you really need to plan out your holidays like NYE and Easter, because EVERYONE travels to the beach for them. I checked on Airbnb.com, and was amazed that there are still under-$100/night lodgings available in Rio and Punta del Este for Christmas and NYE. I'd jump on that poo poo right now, if you want any hope of sleeping under a roof for the holiday.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Hey King Metal, is pretty much everything back to Chile that's not in Illapel? We're thinking of going to Valparaiso in like 2-3 weeks to hang out there, but aren't sure if everything's normal yet (or even how to check). It seems like it should be, but you never know when an earthquake has cracked the main road into town or whatever.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Saladman posted:

Hey King Metal, is pretty much everything back to Chile that's not in Illapel? We're thinking of going to Valparaiso in like 2-3 weeks to hang out there, but aren't sure if everything's normal yet (or even how to check). It seems like it should be, but you never know when an earthquake has cracked the main road into town or whatever.

Yeah, there was not a lot of damage outside of the immediate epicenter, and Coquimbo, where the tsunami caused damage. I think the port there is still closed.

The only not normal thing is there are still a lot of aftershocks that you can feel in the central area (Valpo/Santiago). Only 1 > 6.0 today though, so maybe in 3 weeks they will have dissipated.

King Metal fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Sep 23, 2015

Cometa Rossa
Oct 23, 2008

I would crawl ass-naked over a sea of broken glass just to kiss a dick
I felt 2 yesterday in Santiago (Providencia), but neither lasted more than a few seconds. The one at 4 in the morning was a really weird way to wake up.

Darude - Adam Sandstorm
Aug 16, 2012

King Metal posted:

The normal place to buy them is on puntoticket.com but if you don't have a chilean debit/credit card it would probably be impossible, the one lovely online credit card processor here doesn't take foreign cards. You can go in person to a punto-ticket place and buy them. That's a big game so it might be sold out already, I'll try to check


Edit: Doesn't seem like they're available yet

You can check here later http://www.colocolo.cl/category/venta-de-entradas/
That links to the sales for puntoticket.com, but there's none available past the end of september yet

Awesome thanks.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Cometa Rossa posted:

I felt 2 yesterday in Santiago (Providencia), but neither lasted more than a few seconds. The one at 4 in the morning was a really weird way to wake up.

It takes me a long time to get back to sleep after getting woken up by one

Cometa Rossa
Oct 23, 2008

I would crawl ass-naked over a sea of broken glass just to kiss a dick
Can anybody sell me on Viña del Mar? I'm going to head to Valparaíso for a long weekend and I feel like I should spend at least a day exploring Viña, but it's never jumped out at me as a place to visit compared to Valpo.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Since this thread has gone on a Chile trend, has anyone been up to the Damas Island area near La Serena? If I go there in mid/late October, will I see the poo poo out of Humboldt penguins, all the penguins I can handle? I find a lot of stuff online about this place, but very little about how it varies from season to season. It's full of penguins in summer (although this year it sounds like they might largely starve to death thanks to El Niño :'( ), but what about mid-spring?

Any other penguin-filled areas would be nice tips too, if people know decent locations from early Oct to early November on the central Pacific coast. The closer the better, and the less boating required the better too.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Cometa Rossa posted:

Can anybody sell me on Viña del Mar? I'm going to head to Valparaíso for a long weekend and I feel like I should spend at least a day exploring Viña, but it's never jumped out at me as a place to visit compared to Valpo.

Well, it's right beside Valpo, and easy to get between them. Viña has some nice parks, and decent beaches but I don't find it as interesting as exploring Valpo. It's worth a trip going there if you have some time, just because it's so close.

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Saladman posted:

Since this thread has gone on a Chile trend, has anyone been up to the Damas Island area near La Serena? If I go there in mid/late October, will I see the poo poo out of Humboldt penguins, all the penguins I can handle? I find a lot of stuff online about this place, but very little about how it varies from season to season. It's full of penguins in summer (although this year it sounds like they might largely starve to death thanks to El Niño :'( ), but what about mid-spring?

Any other penguin-filled areas would be nice tips too, if people know decent locations from early Oct to early November on the central Pacific coast. The closer the better, and the less boating required the better too.

I've been to La Serena once and tried to go to Isla Damas, but the boats weren't going because of heavy waves. I think it's the best place to see them in the central area.

Lady Gaza
Nov 20, 2008

Has anyone had any problems booking flights in Chile through SkyAirlines online? Am trying to book flights from Calama to Santiago but I get to the page where I choose my ticket and it says:

"Dear passenger, we can’t attend your request for the moment. Please try again later."

It's been doing this for a while.

Searching through Kayak brings up several booking sites (Opodo, eDreams etc) that offer the same flight for cheaper, but I'm wary of using those. Does anyone have any experience with them booking such flights?

Edit: After some more investigation it looks like Sky don't allow single fares to be booked through their website. If I put in a Calama-Santiago return it lets me proceed without problems. Even stranger is that the single fare is more expensive ($121) than the return fare ($45 + $24). I guess I'll just book a return and not turn up for the second flight.

Lady Gaza fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Oct 5, 2015

ADudeWhoAbides
Mar 30, 2010
I'm going to be taking a rather short notice trip to Bogota, Colombia to visit a friend who's doing a semester abroad for her masters. She's staying in the La Aguas neighborhood so I'm looking for hotels near there. Any that are goon-recommended or that should be avoided? I'm only staying for 4 nights so I don't mind spending a little bit, but under $100 would be great. I see a lot under that amount but I know nothing about Colombia or hotel quality down there.

Would also take any advice on what to see/do down there. This is a pretty unplanned trip, an alignment of vacation and cheap airfare (seriously, $500 from Baltimore to Bogota round-trip!) created this trip so it's very seat-of-my-pants. I'll have my friend to act as a tour guide for at least two days, but she's still got classes so I might have a couple days on my own. Love museums and seeing some nature, so even a tour group for a day would be fine.

Edit: This is coming up later this month, will be in Bogota from the 22nd through the 26th, flight out a 12:30am on the 27th so I can just stay up all day on the 26th. :)

King Metal
Jun 15, 2001

Lady Gaza posted:

Has anyone had any problems booking flights in Chile through SkyAirlines online? Am trying to book flights from Calama to Santiago but I get to the page where I choose my ticket and it says:

"Dear passenger, we can’t attend your request for the moment. Please try again later."

It's been doing this for a while.

Searching through Kayak brings up several booking sites (Opodo, eDreams etc) that offer the same flight for cheaper, but I'm wary of using those. Does anyone have any experience with them booking such flights?

Edit: After some more investigation it looks like Sky don't allow single fares to be booked through their website. If I put in a Calama-Santiago return it lets me proceed without problems. Even stranger is that the single fare is more expensive ($121) than the return fare ($45 + $24). I guess I'll just book a return and not turn up for the second flight.

I tried it and got the same thing, but when I did it on the spanish page it worked fine. The prices will start in CLP but you can change it to USD at the end

I haven't heard of Opodo or eDreams. The two I use other than the airlines themselves are atrapalo.com and despegar.com

King Metal fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Oct 5, 2015

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I feel like a lot of money could be made in Chile and Argentina by informing homeowners that insulation and double paned windows have been invented and are readily available in mass quantities.

huhu
Feb 24, 2006
I don't see a Mexico thread, so I figure this should go here. I'm crossing the border into Mexico from Guatemala on Thursday and am planning on flying out of Cancun on the 6th. Here is my rough plan, anything I'm missing or should include? I'm planning on returning at a later date to do Central Mexico.

(Days include side trips to surrounding areas)
3 Days in San Cristobal
2 days in Palenque
3 Days in Campeche
7 Days in Merida (Day of the dead and a day trip to Chichen Itza)
2 Days in Cancun

This plan leaves me with roughly 5 days I'm not sure what to do with

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
This is kind of a long-shot, given that this thread only gets like four posts a week, but: is it possible to catch a trip directly from Calama to the Salar de Uyuni, or do you -have- to go through San Pedro de Atacama? We want to rent a car, which basically has to be done (and returned?) in Calama, but then taking a bus back to San Pedro to catch our Uyuni visit seems like a hassle. Any alternatives welcome. Taking the package tours each day in San Pedro is a little less ideal (and also more expensive, though convenience / free will are the bigger reasons for wanting to rent a car).

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Oaxaca for two days? I really liked that town.

I liked chilling in the hostels at Palenque outside of town next to the park, maybe consider an extra day? Those howler monkies at dusk :aaaaa: I think I paid $14 a night for my own private Cabana at El Jaguar and they were across the street from some other hostels with good laundry service. The outdoor resturant/bar kind of had a MASH feel to it with people kind of milling about just hanging out doing their thing. From Palenque you can take day trips to the hot springs (didn't go) or Yaxchillan (however you spell it) which involves a river boat ride down to some really rad ruins.

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Oct 12, 2015

Lady Gaza
Nov 20, 2008

huhu posted:

I don't see a Mexico thread, so I figure this should go here. I'm crossing the border into Mexico from Guatemala on Thursday and am planning on flying out of Cancun on the 6th. Here is my rough plan, anything I'm missing or should include? I'm planning on returning at a later date to do Central Mexico.

(Days include side trips to surrounding areas)
3 Days in San Cristobal
2 days in Palenque
3 Days in Campeche
7 Days in Merida (Day of the dead and a day trip to Chichen Itza)
2 Days in Cancun

This plan leaves me with roughly 5 days I'm not sure what to do with

7 days seems like a long time in Merida; I would suggest longer in Palenque and San Cristobal. Since I went to Palenque and Yaxchilan I skipped Chichen Itza, and don't regret it.

TheImmigrant
Jan 18, 2011

huhu posted:

I don't see a Mexico thread, so I figure this should go here. I'm crossing the border into Mexico from Guatemala on Thursday and am planning on flying out of Cancun on the 6th. Here is my rough plan, anything I'm missing or should include? I'm planning on returning at a later date to do Central Mexico.

(Days include side trips to surrounding areas)
3 Days in San Cristobal
2 days in Palenque
3 Days in Campeche
7 Days in Merida (Day of the dead and a day trip to Chichen Itza)
2 Days in Cancun

This plan leaves me with roughly 5 days I'm not sure what to do with

If you cut Campeche (pleasant enough city, but not worth three days), some time from Merida (one of my favorite cities in Mexico, but I'm puzzled by a full week there on a busy itinerary), and add those five days you're not sure what to do with, you can go to Oaxaca (and you should). Oaxaca City would be a much better venue for Day of the Dead than Merida. Do you have a reason to spend so much time in Merida?

In the alternative, since it looks like you aren't into beaches but are into ruins, you could drop Campeche and Merida and turn east from Palenque, heading to Tikal in northern Guatemala. Tikal is easily the most spectacular Maya site, and there are a lot of outfitters around Palenque that will shuttle you over there, with stops at Yaxchilan and Bonampak. These are all much better sites than Chichen Itza, which is overrun with crowds any day of the week. Yaxchilan and Bonampak are relatively unvisited sites deep in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas on the way to Tikal. From Tikal, it's an arduous day of travel to get to Cancun - you can find through shuttles in Flores, the city nearest Tikal, that will take you all the way to Cancun in about 15 hours. You can easily break that trip with stops in Belize, or on the Mexican Caribbean at places like Chetumal (interesting Maya museum), Bacalar (freshwater lake), Tulum (beaches and diving and bongheadery), Playa del Carmen (beaches and diving), and then Cancun.

Smashurbanipal
Sep 12, 2009
ASK ME ABOUT BEING A SHITTY POSTER
Has anyone here done any cave exploration in Central America? What if anything can you share about it?

I'm a novice in terms of caving, having done a few guided explorations in the Northeast, but from what little I've read Guatemala and Belize have some amazing cave complexes. Waterfalls, Mayan burial/ritual sites, sounds like there's a ton to see.

In general, even if the verdict is that the support on cave exploration in Central America is not good for someone who's not an experienced caver, what suggestions do you have for experiencing the ruins? I'm planning a ~2 week trip, probably in Feb/March and have always been fascinated by the Maya. I enjoy more of your "off the beaten path" type of stuff than sitting in a bus being shuttled to and from resort to ruin. Not that AC isn't nice.

MystOpportunity
Jun 27, 2004
Going to join in on asking for advice regarding Mexico. Have never been, but have 9ish day in late December, though flying in and out of Mexico City. Comfortable with a slightly ambitious itinerary, but would love some good vetting about what is/isn't worthwhile. I'm assuming min. 3 days in Mexico City including one for a day trip to Teotihuacán. From there, some combination of Puebla, Cholula, Oaxaca, Tlaxaca, Xalapa? Suggestions for additions/subtractions/which to prioritize?

TheImmigrant
Jan 18, 2011

ThetaOmnikron posted:

Going to join in on asking for advice regarding Mexico. Have never been, but have 9ish day in late December, though flying in and out of Mexico City. Comfortable with a slightly ambitious itinerary, but would love some good vetting about what is/isn't worthwhile. I'm assuming min. 3 days in Mexico City including one for a day trip to Teotihuacán. From there, some combination of Puebla, Cholula, Oaxaca, Tlaxaca, Xalapa? Suggestions for additions/subtractions/which to prioritize?

Out of the secondary cities you name, Oaxaca is the most rewarding (markets, strong indigenous culture), and Xalapa is the most unique (rainy, humid climate, some of the best food in the country, lots of students and boho culture). Puebla is another big city, with attendant traffic and pollution, but fewer rewards than the capital. You'll probably regret spending only two days in Mexico City proper, which is one of the most underrated cities in the world. I lived there for the third time for several months earlier this year, and feel like I have only scratched the surface. Try at least four days, in two different locations. The best central areas for visitors are Condesa, Roma, and Centro Historico. Coyoacán, a little ways to the south of the center, has a lot to see too (Kahlo Museum, Trotsky Museum) I'd suggest choosing one other city besides Mexico City, and then a nearby pueblo mágico, a list of which you can find here. You'll be missing out if you devote the entire time to big cities, without seeing one of the smaller colonial towns.

TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Oct 13, 2015

huhu
Feb 24, 2006
I've just arrived to Mexico, and it is amazing. $7 liter bottles of good Tequila, delicious food everywhere, cheap artisan goods, great places to see. So go to (Southern) Mexico.

Thanks for reading.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

The Trotsky and Kahlo museums are in a really cool neighborhood. If you've seen Frida, you should go. If you haven't seen Frida, go see Frida and then book an afternoon down there. The bullet holes are still there at Trotsky's house, very sobering. Read up on Trotsky before you go, the museum assumes you have a working knowledge of 20th century Russian communism and are fluent in Spanish. And the movie Frida glosses over who Trotski is, but looking back three whole situation has a very UK/Julian Assange type vibe to it.

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Oct 16, 2015

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Funny Bunny
Aug 7, 2005
I'll be going to Central America for 6.5 weeks from December to mid-January. The current plan is to fly into Bogota and fly home from Panama City. Several friends of mine have each visited Colombia on separate occasions and have without exception returned with very good stories and much enthusiasm. Hence, my plan is to spend 4 weeks in Colombia and the remainder elsewhere. My initial plan was to limit my trip to just Colombia and Panama. I'll be traveling solo for my first time ever (with the exception of one week in Chile) so on one hand I'd prefer going about it in a relaxed way. On the other hand, I always enjoy country-hopping a bit and I feel like three countries should definitely be manageable in 6.5 weeks.

My questions then are:

- How comparable are Costa Rica and Panama? I have a feeling both are relatively similar in the "a nice city or two, jungle and beautiful islands and beaches" aspect. The more comparable they are, the easier it would be to visit both, as there would be less of a "need" to fully explore them both. In that same vein: how much of a good idea is it to try and fit Costa Rica and Panama in 2.5 weeks?

- If I decide against visiting Costa Rica I might consider going from Colombia to Panama by boat via the San Blas islands (otherwise, fly from Colombia to Costa Rica and bus my way down to Panama City). Can anyone tell me anything about this trip? Such as, how long does it take, how much time will you spend on a boat (and what kind of boat) and how much on the islands, is it a pretty common route to take by backpackers, etc?

I'm still completely in the early planning phase of my trip. Haven't read any guidebooks yet, haven't booked tickets yet, nothing. I'm not planning on doing too much preparation beyond reading my guidebooks and taking in stories and advice from friends who have been there before and book a hostel for the first night or two, maybe a ticket to Costa Rica.. But if there's anything highly recommended in any of these countries that do need planning, I'd love to hear about it.

Funny Bunny fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Oct 22, 2015

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