La Paz

When in La Paz we stayed at the hostel Wild Rover for 44bolivianos a night in a 16 person mixed dorm. The Wild Rover is a must stay as you will come away from there with great memories and great stories. The staff are fantastic and Jack the bar manager is great craic.  We did a mountain bike tour on death road costing 880bolivianos.  We booked this through a company called Gravity which comes to the hostel everyday.  The price included snacks and a buffet lunch as well as our safety equipment and bikes and a zipline ride.  The trip was fantastic going down death road is something that everyone must do and the zipline rounded up the day perfectly.  Our guide Cody from Arizona USA had a lot of knowledge about the road and was very good when explaining how to ride death road.  We went with 2 other Irish girls that we had met at the Wild Rover.  Our group was probably 12 to 15 strong with an annoying Canadian family.  Two of the group fell on the way down but were not badly hurt just some cuts and bruises.  The Irish on the tour were the only ones to do the zip lining at Yolosa where we also had our lunch at a wildlife sanctuary.  Because we were doing the zip lining we didn't get to spend much time at the sanctuary to see the animals but because the zip lining was so much fun its a must do. 

When we got back to the Wild Rover that night we had another big night of drinking to celebrate that we had survived death road.

We did the pampas tour costing 2000bolivianos. We flew to Rurrenabaque in a twin prop plane with enough room for 20 people.  Our group was just 8 people.  Our flight was delayed by 3 hours because earlier flight had to be turned back due to fog.  Our guide was called jimmy he was up for a laugh had good English and was very knowledgeable.  After getting off the plane we had a 3 hour trip in the back of a jeep on a really bad road.  We then got to our boat and were a couple of hours on the river before we got to our lodge.  We saw loads of wildlife alligators, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and loads and loads of birds.  We saw pink dolphins and some of the group swam with them.  We went piranaha fishing where I caught 2.  We also got to eat the piranaha there was very little meat on them and they had been very well fried.  I ate every bit of it head eyes brain and all they tasted ok.  We went anaconda hunting where we got to see 2 anacondas one small one about a meter long and another huge one which the guide was struggling to hold onto the end of its tail. Luckily enough I also got to play a soccer match at the local club in the pampas. We played in our bare feet against the guides and drew 1-1. On our way back to the jeep our boat ran out of fuel so Jimmy had to paddle, he had only one on board but we flattened some empty water bottles and use them as improvised paddles. It was so funny and we only got some fuel when another boat passed about half an hour later. Jimmy then got the piss taken out of him for not having enough fuel by all the other guides.

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Salt Flats1

Death Road Zipline

Death Road Zipline

Alligator

Fish won't stop breathing

Sucre

There's a few treks, bike tours and quad biking to do around Sucre but we did nothing like that. We went to two different pubs in Sucre the Saturday we were there and then used Sunday to recover before moving to La Paz on Monday. The pubs we went to were Joyride and Florin (a Dutch bar). Both pubs were great with Florin seeming more up market but probably having the cheaper beer. Joyride is probably more of a pub/club and also great fun. When in Sucre we stayed at Popayan hostel paying 40bolivianos a night but because we had booked there from our hostel in Potosi we paid 35 for the first two nights.

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Potosi

It took 7 and a half hours to get to Potosi from Uyuni costing 35bolivianos.  The bus was something we hadn't experienced yet, full of locals most standing and by the end of the trip it was so cold.  When we arrived in Potosi at 1am we got a taxi to the Kola den hostel which was full so we had to take the taxi to La Casona hostel which was 35bolivianos for the dorm.
We stayed one night in Potosi where my 2 friends went on the mine tour costing 80bolivianos which was booked through the hostel.  The guys said that the mine tour was not as bad as it had been made out to be in Lonely Planet. They got to work a bit down the mine and also got to drink whiskey and a spirit of 90% alcohol. They also got to play with dynamite "smoking it like a cigar". While the guys were down the mine I walked around Potosi. I walked to one place where there was an observation tower overlooking the entire town and valley but the tower was closed but the views from the hill were still great. Potosi itself is a nice town but the streets seemed to be a maze. We decided to get a taxi from Potosi to Sucre which cost us 40bolivianos each just 10 more than the bus. Ask a taxi driver in Potosi to take you to the xterminal that will cost between 20 and 30bolivianos. Once there you will be swarmed by people trying to sell you the taxi ride to Sucre, be careful of your belongings here. The drive is around 2 and a half hours long compared to 4 hours on the bus, you also get a chance to take a trip on a great drivers road that has great views.

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San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni

On the first day of the tour we crossed the border into Bolivia which was the easiest crossing we had.  At the border we met our driver Pedro who spoke no English but we were lucky as a Swiss guy who was in the 4 wheel drive with us had good Spanish.  There were 6 of us in total in the car in total, us 3 Irish a girl from Poland and two other guys one from Switzerland and the other from Holland.  On the first day we saw some lagoons and got to stop off at a hot bath which was a pool outside on the side of the road (this was the highlight of the day).  We also passed the highest point on the tour the first day nearly 5000 metres above sea level.  I experienced some altitude sickness but was not badly affected (just some tightness around my forehead).  The scenery was ok but once you've been in a desert for a while its the same thing over and over.  On our first night we stayed a a place up in the mountains where there was just a few buildings, no hot water and it was very cold at night even with my sleeping bag and blankets over me.  On the second day the highlight was the geo thermal vents, we also stopped at a bolder formation and some more lagoons, the second day quickly got boring.  We also got to stop at a train graveyard where old steam locomotives where just left to rust.  The most interesting thing about the second day was that we got to see it snow in the desert.  We arrived in Uyuni that evening where we were staying at a hotel where we were collected for our third day of our tour to the salt flats.  The salt flats were out of this world, they had been recently flooded so we couldn't go the the island on the flats.  It was amazing how even with so much water on the salt how it stayed rock hard.  We had lunch on the salt flats and also got to see an old abandoned hotel on the flats.  The food we got on the tour was good with breakfast, lunch and dinner included.  The area around the flats and Uyuni is basically a garbage dump with trash everywhere.

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San Pedro de Atacama

This place seems like something from a western until you notice all the tourists.  We stayed at hosteling international hostel for 2 nights costing 8000chilleanpesos a night. We probably should have stayed longer in San Pedro because there were a lot of tours to do. We booked our trip to the Bolivian salt flats here costing 60000chileanpesos.  The trip is for 3 days and 2 nights and we will end up in Uyuni.  We also booked a trip to go sand boarding which was brilliant, this cost 15000chileanpesos.  The sand boarding tour was at a dune at death valley and we also got to see the sunset at moon valley.  We also had a short tour at a small salt cave.  We had booked a star gazing tour but that was cancelled because of cloud cover, despite the fact there was minimal clouds in the sky. 

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Repelling in Mendoza

Santiago

Nice city but just used as a stop over before heading north in Chile.  We stayed at the Casa Roja hostel for 8000chileanpesos a night.  The hostel was nice, very big and spacious dorms.  The only bad thing about our stay was that my friend left his bag at the bar out back our first night but he eventually got it back from a cleaning lady.  Our first real day in Santiago we did nothing just booking our bus to San Pedro de Atacama and going to the cinema.  The bus cost us 30300chileanpesos which was kind of cheap for a 20 hour trip.

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Mendoza

Got into Mendoza early in the morning and at the bus station there were the usual guys offering hostels, so we took one that was 40pesos, Ruca Potu.  On first appearance the owner was very friendly but my opinion changed after reading some of the reviews of the hostel on tripadvisor.com.  These reviews were not nice to say the least.  We had no trouble there meeting other people from Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea and England.  I could well believe some of the reviews as even though the owner (Ariel) was friendly he came across as a creep.  His two sons were annoying and food had been taken from the fridge that belonged to the guests.  While in Mendoza we booked a half day wine biking tour for 120pesos and a hike, repel and hot spring trip for the next day costing 180pesos.  The wine tour was good we visited 3 vineyards and sampled 2 wines at each vineyard.  If I was to do it again I would do it cheaper getting public transport and then hiring the bike, I think you'd get to visit more vineyards.  The trek, repel and spa tour was very fun.  The hike was challenging enough, the repel was from 3 different heights (12m, 7m and 40m).  The lunch we got that was included was a sandwich with the worst meat ever but the spa (more of a water park than a spa) was great.  Different pools with varying degrees of warm water and a water slide which was great fun.  We had a good group with us meeting people from Holland, Belgium and Norway plus some of the women were fantastic looking.  We spent 3 good days in Mendoza and are going from there to Santiago de Chile.

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Bariloche

Getting to Bariloche from El Calafate took nearly 30 hours by bus as there was road works on Route40.  The bus station at Bariloche is about 4km out of town so we took a taxi to our hostel.  We stayed at Periko's hostel which cost 50 pesos a night.  The hostel was great with the staff suggesting loads of things to do.  Our first bit of sight seeing was Cerro Otto and Cerro Campanario.  Cerro Otto cost 70pesos to go up the chairlift to 1400m above sea level, this also included a bus to the chairlift.  The view from Cerro Otto was fantastic until we saw the view from Cerro Campanario.  The guy at the hostel told us it is one of National Geographic's top 7 views in the world and we could see why.  Cerro Campanario (nearly 900m) is actually lower than Cerro Otto and the chairlift cost only 40pesos.

We also booked a hike to Tronador a mountain that has a Black Glacier on it.  The hike cost 160pesos (this included a guide and bus out there as it is 80km away from Bariloche) and entry into the national park cost 50 pesos.  The tour itself was very disappointing and was basically just a bus journey to and from the mountain.  We did very little hiking because of the time of the year a lot of the trails were closed due to snow and ice but if it had of been during the high season it would have been a good place to hike.

Also while in Bariloche we went to the local Irish bar Wilkenny.  It was a great bar with alot of women and very sexy waitresses.  A good night was had by all but watch out for the bill as the price of drink is expensive and can build up on you.

Bariloche Cerro Campanario Chair Lift

Puerto Moreno1

Perito Moreno Glacier

Perito Moreno Glacier

Stayed in El Calafate for 2 nights at the Hostel de Las Manos for 50pesos a night.  The hostel was small with a poor enough breakfast but the staff were nice, we were collected at the bus stop at 1am and brought to the hostel for free as we had booked in advance.  The only reason we stopped in El Calafate was so we could go see the Moreno glacier and it did not disappoint.  The bus to the glacier cost 100pesos return with a further entry fee of 100pesos into the park.  The drive to and the area around the glacier was very scenic and the glacier itself was spectacular.  Seeing some huge chunks of ice break off the glacier and the noise from it as it moved was awesome. Leaving El Calafate now to go to Bariloche the total cost of travel to go to Bariloche from Ushuaia was 917pesos including the bus to and from the glacier.  Check out my YouTube for more vids of the Glacier.

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Ushuaia

Ushuaia the most southern city in the world.  It took 2 buses and about 30 hours to get there costing 650pesos.  Our first bus was late and we almost missed our connecting bus.  We had to cross into Chile and then back into Argentina to get there.  In Ushuaia we stayed in the Antarctica hostel for 70pesos a night.  It's a nice hostel with great views and a comfortable atmosphere but the rules posted up all over the hostel was annoying.  We visited Martial glacier which was the first glacier I ever saw and the most unimpressive glacier I have ever seen.  The guys I was with trekked up onto the glacier but I stayed and view it from further down.  It does have great views of Ushuaia and the beagle channel and It's free (a 7km walk up before you start trekking about another 500 or more metres up to the glacier) but that would be the only reason why I would visit there.  Listed the local museum where the old jail is, a lot of information about Ushuaia and the Antarctic.  Went out to a lounge/bar(Kaitek) across from the hostel a nice place but not very many people out we were the first ones in there at 1am and we didn't leave till 4, people in Argentina go out very late and mist bars stay open until 6am.  As we read when you are in Ushuaia don't go into a nightclub as they are all brothels. 

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Peninsula Valdes

Puerto Madryn

Traveled from Puerto Iguazu to Puerto Madryn, it took 2 days via Buenos Aires. We stayed for 2 nights at the hostel La Tosca for 45pesos a night. The hostel was very good with friendly helpful staff. While in Puerto Madryn we got a tour of Peninsula Valdes, the tour cost 160pesos because we paid by cash and received a discount. It cost 70pesos to enter the reserve on Peninsula Valdes. During the tour we saw Orcas, Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, Penguins, Maras, Guanacos, Nandues, Foxes, Partridges, Armadillos and Lizards. The Orcas where beaching themselves to catch seals but it was very hard to see as they were so far away. When we were there it was out of season so there was very little to see just some seals and penguins but not in their usual large colonies. The guide we had had good English and a vast amount of knowledge of the area. Check out my YouTube for some vids.

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Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

Stayed at the park hostel in Puerto Iguazu for 35 pesos a night, we stayed 2 nights. The first day we arrived we went to the falls and the only word to describe them was spectacular. We saw nearly all of the falls doing most of the trails, entry into the park was 100 pesos. The weather at Puerto Iguazu was great for the 2 days we spent there but when we were leaving a massive thunderstorm hit the town, the lightening was awesome.

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Buenos Aires

Walked around the center of Buenos Aires for 3 hours.  Saw plaza de la republica, plaza de congresso, plaza libertador san martin, Palermo and retiro.  Visited the main cemetery in recoleta where Eva Person is buried as well a some famous Irish men who helped build Argentina.  Got a tour of boca juniors stadium which was very good, we also got to see boca train.  Went to shoeless joes/the alamo an American sports bar to watch the masters golf nice pub with friendly people.  Had my first steak of the trip 16 ounces of tender lion which was like butter wen cutting it, it was so tender.  Heading to iguazu falls next for a couple of days. Check out my YouTube for 2 short bids of the boca stadium.

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Bored waiting for plane

In heathrow found out wexford result great win. United won 1-0 good night sports wise all around.

Arrived in Buenos Aires 13 hours is way to long to be on a plane

It's different I'll say that

Location : Rodríguez Pena 201-299, Buenos Aires, Capital Federal,

Some places Kinchy wants to visit

View South America in a larger map

Kinchy's Stuff

Places to visit in South America

We have no set plan going out to South America only that we hope to hit up Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil.  This will probably be done in a loop starting in Buenos Aires then hitting the south of Argentina and up along the west coast.

If anyone has any suggestions of places to see or things to do leave a comment.

The Lowdown

OK so me and 2 other friends are going to travel around South America. We're going to try and hit as many countries as possible but we have no real plans set out, only that we're going in April and returning in October.  This blog will let people know what we get up to as well as good things to do and things that we find shit.

The blog won't really kick off until we're out there but before we go I'll be letting you know what we're bringing.  When we do get out to South America I'll be posting loads of pics and vids.