South america travel - 4-5 nights?

[Anonymous]

Bogota is nice. You could do 3 nights there and 2 nights in Cartagena.

[Anonymous]

Not South America, but I highly recommend Mexico City. Five nights is perfect and direct flights from Dulles run 5 hours or less. Great city!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I LOVE Argentina. But it's a tough flight -- they run these leaky old airplanes with poor cabin pressurization. Don't try it for 4-5 days.

Colombia, Peru -- both closer -- more exotic an hopping.

I don't think you can really do Peru (the good parts of Peru, anyway) in a long weekend because of the altitude; it takes a while to adjust.

I agree a long weekend isn't enough time to scratch the surface in Peru, but you could get a quick taste of it and return for a longer immersion. Lima is an amazing food city, with great museums. And I think you should be able to do a day trip (or maybe overnight) to see the Nazca Lines. Or you could make the entire trip a visit to the rainforest via Iquitos or Puerto Maldonaldo (connecting flights w/in Peru). Neither would require adjusting to altitude.

To be fair, for a long weekend you are probably looking at a city trip, particularly if you head further south (e.g., Chile, Argentina, Uruguay).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did 5 days to Buenos Aires. We didn’t go anywhere else in Srgentina but if you stick to one city 4-5 days is an ok amount of time.

Thanks! More and more I'm liking the idea of Argentina despite the crappy flight. What did you do there and any recommendations or things/places to avoid?

New poster here. To enjoy your trip and avoid problems, leave your jewelry at home and try to wear Argentinean style clothes, don’t show your IPhone when you walk around. I spent two days at one of the estancias (ranches) where you can eat asado, meet gauchos, ride horses and maybe watch a horse whispering demonstration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i was in Patagonia last month and you definitely need at least a week--it will take about 24 hours travel on both ends just to get to Patagonia. I actually asked a similar question to this a few weeks ago and got some great answers. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/700793.page#12339841

Thanks, PP! This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for and we have similar interests (some museums, hiking, water activities). I'm going to look into flights into BA - I like that poster's recommendation re: flying all day Thursday and getting there in the evening.

That’s me! I’m the poster who took the all day flight to BA and arrived at 9pm local time. I flew AA from DCA to MIA then onto BA. While AA isn’t my favorite airline, it was the only airline that had flights I wanted. I did NOT want to go through Texas, that adds too much time. Flying back your only option really will be red eyes, but who cares, because vacation is over.

If you want BA specific ideas, ask.

Yes! Looks like tons of things to check out, but do you have favorites? And also, things to skip?

[Anonymous]

Yes, would love to hear more about Buenos Aires!
What neighborhood did you stay in? Any favorite sites or activities?

[Anonymous]

bA is far for 4/5 nights. I would go to Colombia (direct fligj to Bogota and as po said go to Cartagena) or as pp really consider going to Mexico DF!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i was in Patagonia last month and you definitely need at least a week--it will take about 24 hours travel on both ends just to get to Patagonia. I actually asked a similar question to this a few weeks ago and got some great answers. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/700793.page#12339841

Thanks, PP! This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for and we have similar interests (some museums, hiking, water activities). I'm going to look into flights into BA - I like that poster's recommendation re: flying all day Thursday and getting there in the evening.

That’s me! I’m the poster who took the all day flight to BA and arrived at 9pm local time. I flew AA from DCA to MIA then onto BA. While AA isn’t my favorite airline, it was the only airline that had flights I wanted. I did NOT want to go through Texas, that adds too much time. Flying back your only option really will be red eyes, but who cares, because vacation is over.

If you want BA specific ideas, ask.

Yes! Looks like tons of things to check out, but do you have favorites? And also, things to skip?

Ok, this is what we did. Flew down all day on Thursday, arrived in BA in time for dinner, went to bed, hit ground running in am, did stuff Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday and most of the day Tuesday, flew back 9pm Tuesday night on red eye back to Miami which is hard, you land around 4am Wednesday, go through customs, immigration, take first flight out at 5:45am, back at National around 8 I think. You aren’t jet lagged but you are tired because you just took a red eye.

We stayed at an air b n b type place our friend found for us (she’s sort of a travel agent/concierge, works for herself). I was super overwhelmed with all the options and didn’t know anything re Argentina. We stayed in an apartment in a high rise condo building in Palermo Hollywood neighborhood. Secured building. Great view. Had gym and pool and laundry. Nice bohemian type neighborhood, great restaurants, fun bars, quirky shops, plenty of places to get empanadas to go, very walkable. For transportation we took the subway, walked or cabs. It was summer there when we went so weather was nice. We had also been warned about pick pockets and people stealing iPhones but we had ZERO problems. None. Everyone is super friendly and nice. If you need directions or are lost you can ask anyone and like 10-15 people will all get involved and be super concerned that they help you find where you need to go. I am not joking. Very nice happy people.

Places we went in BA: Casa Rosada and Plaza Mayo, Boca neighborhood (this one can be dicey) and to Boca stadium (would have loved to seen a game but it was off season) and boca juniors museum and watched cheesy tango dancers, watched a political march/ parade (they apparently are most Friday late afternoons, it was fascinating), watched a circus school recital which blew my mind, went to San Telmo flea market on Sunday, go to MALBA!!!!!, Recoleta Cemetary (Eva Perron is buried there) , wander Corrientes Avenue, eat a lot of beef and sausages and drink a lot of Malbec, eat a lot of gelato (it’s very popular there) , eat a ton of empanadas, visit Florias Glorias and surrounding park, went to zoo (but I think it has closed permanently). There was much more we would like to do, especially more museums. We really wanted to take the ferry to Uruguay for the day, but we couldn’t get our act together.

The woman who helped me find the accomodations and hook us up with a concierge down there to help with questions owns Luxe Travel Club in DC. She just got back from Chile and Patagonia herself, so if you are still interested in that she could help you brainstorm what could work. If her fees are still the same she gets a commission from the vendor, not from you, not a mark up. You can find her on Instagram under @luxe_traveler I was very pleased with working with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bogota is nice. You could do 3 nights there and 2 nights in Cartagena.

+1

Argentina is too far for 4-5 nights