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No suggestions to your list, but looks like a badass place to visit. I did a similar trip in the Bolivian Amazon years ago and really enjoyed it. I assume it's a malaria zone, so you might want to take prophylactic medicine for that. Usually you start a week or two before the trip and continue a few weeks after. I visited the nearest (road connected) city of Tarapoto, and i recall there being malaria any further east. I gather you have a return trip planned, but i remember reading that you can actually travel by boat all the way from Iquitos through Brazil. Probably a terrible experience in practice but sounds exotic! Edit: https://perujungle.com/your-tropical-disease-free-experience/ Their website claims that there are no mosquito borne tropical illnesses in their area. I don't know anything about their explanation, but that is crazy if true, considering Iquitos has lots of such issues Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 06:00
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^^ thank you! Yes, in fact I do have a monster dong. It subs for the machete. Frankly I do like your idea of dressing up like Indy Jones and going down there. Thanks!
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Dec 28, 2021 06:49
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So I really want to go to Bolivia and Brazil. But I want to wait for COVID to end so I don't end up being a bumbling American who kills everyone. However, COVID seems to have no end in sight, and I've been fully vaccinated including the booster. Would it be lovely if I said "gently caress it" and booked a two week trip a month or two from now anyway?
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Jan 31, 2022 07:34
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punk rebel ecks posted:So I really want to go to Bolivia and Brazil. But I want to wait for COVID to end so I don't end up being a bumbling American who kills everyone. However, COVID seems to have no end in sight, and I've been fully vaccinated including the booster.  If you fly into Brazil with an active covid case and infect people with it that's probably morally wrong If you fly in clean, and get covid from a local at a bar and don't travel out of the city until your infection clears, morally ambiguous If you travel clean, only eat/drink at outdoor bars/restaurants, and always wear an N95 in mixed company... Maybe ok?   unsureIf you get covid while you're there and they put you in the hospital I think you lose all your covid karma points and have to start over though In 2021 there was a glorious 3 month period there from like April through end of June where everyone was vaccinated + Delta hadn't arrived yet, that was a great travel window I think starting in the first week of March, there will be another "travel window" opening up, until... whenever the next variant arrives. Could be 3 weeks could be six months. I think you get extra covid karma points by traveling during travel windows Really curious to hear other people's takes on this. Weirdly what should be a very cut and dry topic, people seem to have a wild spectrum of opinions on this
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Jan 31, 2022 09:02
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People have a spectrum of opinions about everything. I wouldn't ask random people on the internet to validate or invalidate my life decisions. If Bolivians and Brazilians are fine with you being there, and their health system isn't collapsing, then I would say it's fine? You'll certainly get a different answer if you ask here, versus if you ask in the COVID freakout threads where the average person seems to wear n95s over active respirators and who spray their incoming boxes with bleach. I'm guessing that omicron will not be the end of COVID and that we'll be getting variants for years to come. But, otoh, we're having record ever COVID cases right now where I am and deaths are 90% down from their peak last Christmas (2020) and ICU usage down by 67%, despite case numbers being 10x higher, so at least in my personal experience everyone I know appears to be out of fucks to give and is living normally. Also more on thread topic, Brazil vs Bolivia sounds like an absolutely massive difference, like asking if I should go to Japan or France?
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Jan 31, 2022 20:19
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Saladman posted:Also more on thread topic, Brazil vs Bolivia sounds like an absolutely massive difference, like asking if I should go to Japan or France? That's exactly why I choose to go to those two countries. Whenever I travel I go to a continent and visit two countries. I try to make the countries as different as possible. Bolivia appeals to me due to it being the largest indigenous majority country, La Paz being up in the mountains, and the socialist political movement. Brazil appeals to me because it's well Brazil. With the beautiful weather, unique culture, and vibe. I want to spend nearly as week in La Paz and then nearly a weak in Rio.
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Jan 31, 2022 20:55
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punk rebel ecks posted:That's exactly why I choose to go to those two countries. Whenever I travel I go to a continent and visit two countries. I try to make the countries as different as possible. Ahh, you meant go to both. Not sure why I interpreted your saying "and" as an "or". Yeah that makes a lot of sense then, they basically couldn't be more different without being on different continents. I've never been to Tibet but Bolivia feels just like how I imagine Tibet is, and it had nothing remotely in common with the rest of Latin America (beyond signage being in Spanish), at least from a superficial 5 month backpacker trip's perspective.
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Feb 1, 2022 09:04
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Thanks for your impressions. Also, is everything in Bolivia and Brazil still open? Like bars and other nightlife?
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Feb 1, 2022 09:28
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Saladman posted:. I wouldn't ask random people on the internet to validate or invalidate my life decisions What is even the point of the internet then
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Feb 1, 2022 10:54
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The Brazilian Real has really crashed down in price over the years. Does this make it the ideal time to travel? Like can I get by only spending $60 a day in Rio if I'm not going to any extravagant events?
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Feb 1, 2022 22:03
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Not sure about the rest of the county but I found Rio to be on par with other major world capitals. I spent more money in Rio per day than I did living in Texas. This was in 2009 so the info is pretty out of date, but it's been my observation that global cities tend to follow global pricing models, regardless of the rest of the country
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Feb 1, 2022 22:21
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Hadlock posted:Not sure about the rest of the county but I found Rio to be on par with other major world capitals. I spent more money in Rio per day than I did living in Texas. This was in 2009 so the info is pretty out of date, but it's been my observation that global cities tend to follow global pricing models, regardless of the rest of the country In that case, maybe I should only spend like three nights in Rio. I wanted to go to the Amazon Rainforest via Manaus. But possibly I should cut that short. Or maybe I should just go to the Amazon and skip Rio entirely.
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Feb 1, 2022 22:41
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Rio is absolutely worth it, spend a day or two along the beach in the hyper touristy area. Most places are tourist traps, but Rio is a world class tourist trap worth visiting, up there with Rome I remember paying $90/night for a hostel bed in a room with 20 other people over new years, that was in 2009 Floranopolis is cool, A++, would buzz around in a scooter on flip-flops again Not sure what the inland road situation is now, I know Brazil has been on an absolute tear developing modern first world highway infrastructure, but, last I heard, again 2009, roads from the coast to Manaus were impassable during the rainy season (6 months of the year)
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Feb 1, 2022 23:31
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Hadlock posted:I remember paying $90/night for a hostel bed in a room with 20 other people over new years, that was in 2009 I usually use Agoda to find places. Here’s a room in Rio for $21 per night: https://www.agoda.com/downtown-sant...f2-230061584004
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Feb 2, 2022 00:58
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Yeah note I said new years. It was the winter immediately following the 2008 collapse, a lot of people took their severance/unemployment money and hosed off to South America, hostel.com or whatever showed every bed in the city was booked. Booking a hostel bed in Rio on a weeks notice you will see huge price spikes, as well as minimum limits on days, I think mine was 3 or 4 days. It was not cheap but I think out of the 12 or so major cities I visited on that trip it was definitely the most naturally beautiful, right up there with San Francisco and Hong Kong
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Feb 2, 2022 03:06
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Yeah Rio is an amazing city to visit, despite the insecurity and prices  Otherwise keep in mind that English is not very common in Bolivia and in Brazil (except for the big cities and the richer areas in the south), so you'll have better luck if you speak Spanish or Portuguese.
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Feb 2, 2022 09:56
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If you just want rainforest for some part of your trip, As opposed to Brazil specifically, you could also do it in Bolivia. You can access the Madidi natural reserve via guided trips from Rurrenabaque (which is a short, cheap flight from la paz).
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Feb 9, 2022 05:34
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Thesaurus posted:If you just want rainforest for some part of your trip, As opposed to Brazil specifically, you could also do it in Bolivia. You can access the Madidi natural reserve via guided trips from Rurrenabaque (which is a short, cheap flight from la paz). Seems great but I can’t find any flights. 
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Feb 9, 2022 18:08
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Should I even bother with Carnival? I plan on leaving rio April 19th. Just one day before Carnival. But like…will it really be “Carnival” due to COVID?
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Feb 9, 2022 23:00
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I imagine it will not be at all the same if it even happens this year, since carnival is usually in February. I see they pushed it to late April which is bizarre and I imagine will lead to lower participation and interest even if it does happen, like if European Christmas markets were cancelled but then allowed suddenly in February. Who knows though - that’s my life conjecture and tbh I don’t think a single person on the planet, including local people in Rio, could give you a particularly good prediction. There are normally lots of flights to Rurren, shouldn’t be hard to find at all. Maybe Google Flights and Sky Scanner or whatever just don’t index national flights in Bolivia? I also don’t see the flights when I look right now. The bus from La Paz to Rurren is brutally long and not especially safe, I’d definitely take a flight. My only "near miss" with public transport was a bus I had tickets to hit missed in Bolivia (and actually gave the tickets to people we were travelling with previously) and they got in a horrible bus crash and one had to medivaced back to Switzerland. The bus we took instead had no seatbelts, just a giant painting of a bleeding heart Jesus, which apparently was all we needed to not be horrifically injured in a bus crash in Bolivia.
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Feb 9, 2022 23:47
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iirc, the Bolivian airlines going to Rurrenabaque included AMasZonas and TAM. TAM is technically a military airline but operates normal commercial flights. Ten years ago when I went, you could only get some tickets in person at the airline's office, which i ended up doing while in country. At least for TAM... The price was always the same and they didn't necessarily fill up, so you didn't need to buy them far in advance. Not sure if this process has changed since then. Maybe hard to bank on if you're on a fast trip. Edit: can't believe it's been 10 years. I'd really like to travel in Bolivia again... so much to see in that country
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Feb 10, 2022 01:03
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So should I take a flight and just wander around the Salt Flats? Or should I take the whole three day bus tour? Or maybe try to combine both by flying to Uyuni and buy a day tour when I land there and fly back to La Paz later that night? I really want to go to the Salt Flats but want to make sure it’s during the “wet season” were it looks like a mirror and not white desert. I plan on being there in early April, so I’m not sure if that’s too late.
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Feb 10, 2022 01:12
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punk rebel ecks posted:So should I take a flight and just wander around the Salt Flats? Or should I take the whole three day bus tour? There is way more in the area of Uyuni than just the salt flat. The three day tour from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni is one of the most incredible things I've ever done in a lot of travelling. I 10000% recommend it. If you go in rainy season then some parts of the area that are closed / inaccessible, but on the other hand the salt flats look like a mirror. I wouldn't recommend one way or the other; we went but during dry season, but we got some snow which was pretty amazing to see. Yes you should just buy the tours when you get there on the spot, it will be like double the price if you book in advance. You can not do a single day trip from La Paz to Uyuni and back. You want to be on the salt flats for both sunrise and sunset. Uyuni is such a stunning place that you should cut out on something else to make sure you have the time to do the 3D/3N tour, IMHO. The 3 day trip goes far, like to Laguna Colorada in Bolivia which is one of the most stunning lakes I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of lakes. Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca are also pretty incredible. This must be done by organized tour, there is no public transport of any kind to the area and doing it DIY with a rental would be both more expensive and also potentially dangerous.
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Feb 10, 2022 11:11
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Purchased tickets. Will be at Bolivia on April 6th to 12th. Brazil from 12th until 19th. Saladman posted:There is way more in the area of Uyuni than just the salt flat. The three day tour from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni is one of the most incredible things I've ever done in a lot of travelling. I 10000% recommend it. If you go in rainy season then some parts of the area that are closed / inaccessible, but on the other hand the salt flats look like a mirror. I wouldn't recommend one way or the other; we went but during dry season, but we got some snow which was pretty amazing to see. I see. Is it difficult to find somewhere to purchase the tour once I’m in La Paz, Bolivia?
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Feb 10, 2022 19:01
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punk rebel ecks posted:Purchased tickets. Booking it on the spot in Uyuni would be easier and cheaper, but I guess given that your schedule is really tight it may make sense to pay the premium to book in advance, remotely. I think we paid $200pp for the 3 day / 3 night tour for both of us together. Enjoy your trip! E: When we did it, we were already in San Pedro de Atacama for 4 days doing a self-drive tour of that area before going to Uyuni, so it was easy to book on the spot without losing time. I would also not suggest even thinking about trying to self-drive DIY southwestern Bolivia under any circumstance. The "roads" indicated on Google Maps are highly theoretical, and there are a ton of tracks so it would be easy to get lost, even if you had a navigator with you and a good satellite phone connection. The Chilean side of the altiplano-Atacama is a massive difference in terms of infrastructure (meaning: it exists, 3G signal, dirt roads, etc). The Bolivian side has better scenery though, and the utter lack of any kind of infrastructure in SW Bolivia is part of the appeal as compared to Chile. Saladman fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Feb 10, 2022 |
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Feb 10, 2022 19:08
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punk rebel ecks posted:Purchased tickets. If you're planning on hanging out in la paz, be prepared to deal with altitude sickness for a few days. If you're bugging out of the city right away then less of an issue. I grew up in Denver and was "used to" to higher altitudes, but i had been living at sea level for a while before my trip. I felt really lovely the first few days in la paz. In retrospect I would have immediately gone to las Yungas (Coroico) to get adjusted and then returned to see the city. When we went from Sucre to Potosí I also had a rough time, though not as pronounced. I know some people buy little oxygen cannisters, but I'm not sure how effective those are vs. just getting acclimatized. Otherwise I think caffeine and Tylenol is the usual solution (some say chewing the local coca leaves is the cure, but I'm pretty sure that it's just the stimulant effect like caffeine). Worth keeping in mind since you're on a tight schedule.
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Feb 12, 2022 05:30
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Thesaurus posted:If you're planning on hanging out in la paz, be prepared to deal with altitude sickness for a few days. If you're bugging out of the city right away then less of an issue. Good to know. I see you keep using the word "tight", so I assume you are worried about my trip. This is what my trip schedule looks like: quote:Arrive in La Paz Wed at 2:10AM My main concern is if I should buy tours from La Paz to Uyuni in La Paz or several times more online like you said. I found some only for $180. Same with Manaus rainforest tours. EDIT - Also what travel insurance would you all recommend? I want to be covered if I get COVID before or during the trip.
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Feb 12, 2022 05:45
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(Will spend 3 or 4 hours exploring Bogota)
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punk rebel ecks posted:Good to know. It looks like both me and Thesaurus said "tight" once; it's not ultra tight it's just not like, backpacker pace. I think you have mixed both of us into a single poster. punk rebel ecks posted:My main concern is if I should buy tours from La Paz to Uyuni in La Paz or several times more online like you said. I found some only for $180. I liked STA Travel a lot, but looks like they died of COVID. I knew people that worked there and they were reliable with payouts in case something bad happened. I now just have a regular policy with my normal insurance that covers house, car, travel, etc. I at one point had medevac insurance but it seems kind of pointless for most travel; nearly every country in the world has at least one good-quality hospital and regular travel insurances will cover that. I would personally buy the tour in Uyuni the night you land unless it's very late in the day, but depends on if your peace of mind of getting it set sooner is worth the like $80 or so cheaper it would be if you buy on the spot. 3 days is a LOT of time to spend in La Paz. Uyuni is also the same elevation as La Paz. It will probably be hard to sleep your first few nights. Don't drink alcohol.
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Feb 12, 2022 09:42
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Saladman posted:I would personally buy the tour in Uyuni the night you land unless it's very late in the day, but depends on if your peace of mind of getting it set sooner is worth the like $80 or so cheaper it would be if you buy on the spot. Once I land in La Paz where should I go to buy the tour? Also why would you say three days A LOT to spend in La Paz?
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Feb 12, 2022 21:01
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punk rebel ecks posted:Once I land in La Paz where should I go to buy the tour? No clue. I would either arrange it in Uyuni for the best prices, or arrange it online for the best peace of mind and time savings. If you arrange online then make sure to check TripAdvisor which imho has the most reliable info for reviews of tour agencies. The TripAdvisor forum is very hit or miss, varying massively between countries - I have no idea how it is for Bolivia. La Paz is moderately interesting to walk around in, but if I had 2 weeks in South America I wouldn't spend 3 days of it in La Paz. It'd be like if someone did a trip of the northeastern USA and decided to spend 3 days in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is probably an okay town and there's probably 3 days worth of stuff to do there, it just wouldn't be my top choice is all. We spent 3 days in La Paz and it was fine, but besides its really unusual geographic setting nothing really sticks out in my memory. YMMV. E: I also think you're really, really, really missing out by only doing the abbreviated 1 day tour of Uyuni instead of the complete 3 day tour, especially if you're just going to spend those extra days sitting around in La Paz. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Feb 12, 2022 |
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Feb 12, 2022 22:06
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Saladman posted:E: I also think you're really, really, really missing out by only doing the abbreviated 1 day tour of Uyuni instead of the complete 3 day tour, especially if you're just going to spend those extra days sitting around in La Paz. Would you say it would be better for me to buy a plane ticket to Uyuni and purchase something like this: https://www.viator.com/tours/Uyuni/3-Days-tour-to-the-Uyuni-salt-flats-and-colored-lagoons/d22256-108758P6 punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Feb 12, 2022 |
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Feb 12, 2022 22:26
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punk rebel ecks posted:Would you say it would be better for me to buy a plane ticket to Uyuni and purchase something like this: https://www.viator.com/tours/Uyuni/3-Days-tour-to-the-Uyuni-salt-flats-and-colored-lagoons/d22256-108758P6 I’d hugely recommend that yeah, at least if you like landscapes at all. They’re about the most incredible and certainly one of the most unique landscapes I’ve seen, and it’s quite varied - no repetition of similar sights really. The lagoons are all radically different, the campsites are incredible and unique, and then of course everyone knows Uyuni itself.
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Feb 15, 2022 23:19
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Saladman posted:I’d hugely recommend that yeah, at least if you like landscapes at all. They’re about the most incredible and certainly one of the most unique landscapes I’ve seen, and it’s quite varied - no repetition of similar sights really. The lagoons are all radically different, the campsites are incredible and unique, and then of course everyone knows Uyuni itself. I see. Thanks for your responses you’ve been very helpful.
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Feb 15, 2022 23:33
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So I have a hotel room in Manaus, Brazil paid for on the 11th. I won't be able to get to the hotel room until like 3:00am though. There is a 24 hour front desk but Adoga's site says that check-in closes at 12:00AM. I've tried to get into contact with the hotel but have had no luck. Should I reschedule or will the front desk not care if I check-in "after hours" since my room is already paid for?
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Mar 4, 2022 06:38
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punk rebel ecks posted:So I have a hotel room in Manaus, Brazil paid for on the 11th. I won't be able to get to the hotel room until like 3:00am though. There is a 24 hour front desk but Adoga's site says that check-in closes at 12:00AM. Have you tried stuff like social media to get in contact with them? I've noticed a lot of places these days will never answer an email, but can be pretty responsive on Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger etc. You're writing them in Portuguese, right?
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Mar 4, 2022 06:55
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webmeister posted:Have you tried stuff like social media to get in contact with them? I've noticed a lot of places these days will never answer an email, but can be pretty responsive on Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger etc. I'm using Agoda. I email Agoda and they email them. I don't speak Portuguese.
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Mar 4, 2022 07:14
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punk rebel ecks posted:I'm using Agoda. I email Agoda and they email them. I don't speak Portuguese. Yeah but you know the name of the hotel, just find them on social media, contact them directly and say you've got a booking from Agoda for date X and you're arriving at 3am the following morning. Just use Google Translate to put it in Portuguese, I guarantee you're not the first person to do that with them! If you're worried about mangled translations, translate the Portuguese back to English and see if it's still decipherable.
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Mar 4, 2022 07:48
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webmeister posted:Yeah but you know the name of the hotel, just find them on social media, contact them directly and say you've got a booking from Agoda for date X and you're arriving at 3am the following morning. I can't find them on Facebook. It's this hotel: https://www.agoda.com/hotel-oriente-manaus/hotel/manaus-br.html
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Mar 4, 2022 09:04
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They have their cell/Whatsapp listed as +55 92 99417-1209 As suggested, just put your message through Google translate, English to Portuguese machine translations work fine
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Mar 4, 2022 09:52
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I've been using Google translate for email correspondence since like 2005 My emails look like "Olá, estou escrevendo sobre o meu quarto. estarei chegando às 3 da manhã. posso fazer o check-in neste momento, por favor? hello I'm writing about my room. i will be arriving at 3am. will i be able to check in at this time please?" I always include the English below, 1) in case the translation sucks, they can compare and figure it out* 2) I can read my own emails and remember what I said to them Never had a problem. Currently using this process to buy and import a car from France. Google translate is really good, they trained the system from UN diplomatic translations and has been propping up global trade on the internet now for 15+ years *I try and use short sentences, or lots of commas to break up the message into logical units for Google translate
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Mar 4, 2022 14:00
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