South american awards 2012

After 5 months of travelling around and through South America we thought it's about time to pick our favourites in different categories. It's all just in our opinion based on what we've experienced in this time. Decisions are mostly influenced by the limited budget of a backpacker.

 

 

We travelled through Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Out of these we chose the winners.

 




easiest travelling award

Travelling in Colombia is affordable, some streches are not more expensive by plane than by bus and those are in good shape and taxis generally have fixed prices or at least fair fares. If you're lost everyone is happy to help.

 

 

 

 

 

friendliest people award

 

Before we reached Colombia we had no doubt it'll be Bolivia. But Colombians won our hearts just after we crossed their border.

 

 

 

 

 

easiest spanish award

 

No doubt, bolivian spanish or castellano is the easiest to understand, no weird accents or slang. If you don't understand them you can be sure they talk Quechua or Aymará.

 

 

 

 

 

must see national park award

Madidi NP in Bolivia is absolutely beautiful, full of life, well protected and only accessible by boat. We'd go there again any time.

Very close second place, that has to be mentioned here is Galapagos. Just unique.

 

 

 

 

most perfect beaches award

Galapagos wins by its unspoiled, tourist and rubbish free beaches full of sea lions and iguanas. You never get bored.

 

 

 

 

 

best hostel breakfasts award

Nowhere else in the whole continent the breakfast came even close to those in Brazil. Fruits, fruit juice, cheese, ham, sausages, different bread rolls, croissants, cakes, coffee, tea. All included in the price. Good morning!

 

 

 

 

 

most relaxed award

Not much is happening in Uruguay which just suits us. Calm little towns, empty beaches and flat farmlands. Quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

budget friendliest award

Bolivia is cheap. Everything. But only in a bus you notice why.

 

 

 

 

most beautiful landscapes award

Colombians green, tree covered mountains, beautiful cities and the caribbean coast with splendid snorkelling and diving.

 

 

 

 

best buses award

 

Argentinian buses with luxurious chairs, dinner with wine, clean toilets.

 

 

 

 

 

outstanding ruins award

Peru with its Machu Picchu, just unbeatable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

best food award

The cheap and tasty food in Bolivia caters to everyone. There's a lot of meat, yes, but half of us is vegetarian and she voted for Bolivia too. If you cook for yourself you'll find the freshest veggies and the juiciest fruits just around the corner in a market. Chef's paradise!

 

 

 

 

most memorable wine award

Uruguay's Tannat you'll remember forever. Best enjoyed with a dinner. Also works without.

 

 

 

 

 

most different to home award

Everything is different in Bolivia, we really felt like somewhere else. And in every taken photo is at least one indegenious person, we like.

 

 

 

 

 

the country we're most likely to return to award

Colombia wins by it's comfortable climate (we say too hot is better than too cold), it's beautiful vegetation, friendly, beautiful people and the Caribbean coast which we didn't explore long enough. Let alone the San Blas islands...

 

Do's and don'ts of May

This month we recommend:

Empanadas

Expreso Singer, Andesmar (Bus companies)

Tannat (Red wine)

Other cheap wines

Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

Puppies

Barra Beach Club Hostel in Barra da Lagoa, Brazil

Yatzy

"Tres empanadas con verdura y calabaza por favor"

 

This month we do NOT recommend:

Córdoba

Hotel Laerte in Mendoza

El Rapido international (Bus company)

Mendoza zoo (No animal rights found in this place)

Puking

Crossing any street in Córdoba

Cooking with gas ovens

Shakira and Ricky Martin

Mendoza zoo

Ups and downs

From Foz do Iguaçu we took the local bus to Puerto Iguazu, the argentinian town next to the falls. At the brazilian border we had to leave the bus and look for an office to get our passport stamped, the bus meanwhile took off and we had to wait 40 mins for the next to arrive. At the argentinian border the bus waited because everyone had to get off and and go through the control.

In Puerto Iguazu we went shopping for food after we paid our tickets to Córdoba, our next destination. We also noticed that this town would've been much nicer to spend our days than it's brazilian twin...

Puerto Iguazu

Córdoba - we followed the tip of a local guy who said it's a nice city - was just a disappointement. It's the second biggest city of argentina after Buenos Aires but it seemed much bigger and much more noisy than BA. The traffic was immense and it never stopped, nor got less busy, the drivers much more aggresive, a dangerous place for pedestrians as we had to experience, a few centimeters away from a car that didn't stop just because of us... Some okay museums and parks, but we didn't think it was enough to keep us entertained for very long, so after a few nights we decided to keep going.

Córdoba

So we looked forward to one of our top places on our journey, Mendoza. Or the capital of wine as some adverts said. Promising! Also a big plus seemed to be our double room for 12€ in a hotel! What a disappointment again! Our room was ok for the price but the hotel itself was so bad, bad service, bad breakfast, parties in the lobby, parties in front of our door, the whole collection of aircons outside our window, all in all a nightmare! We are so used to hostels that we weren't even thinking about the fact that hotels lack the chance for cooking, so even if the room itself is cheap, we had to eat out every day. Lucky for us, Mendoza is full of very good restaurants with inventive menus and good wine and the prices weren't too bad either.

Mendoza view from the Cerro de la Gloria, Park

 

Because we came so far south, the weather was a bit too cold for wine tours on a bike. And all the wineyards are actually not in Mendoza but in places around it. After 3hrs of looking for a bus ticket, which can only be purchased in kiosks, which were closed due to public holiday, we gave our plan up to visit Bodegas. We had been reading about a place called Cafayate, which is another wine center of Argentina. Cafayate has some amazing nature around it and the town itself has only a population of 12,000. It is also far north towards Salta, so instead of staying in Mendoza any longer, we decided to take a bus to Cafayate.

 

Brazil

After the adventurous border crossing and badly slept night in the bus we arrived in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The city was quite nice but way too busy for our taste, so we spent the day in the sun walking around the city with a group of young guys from Manaus.

Next day we hopped on bus again, this time to Florianopolis, which is a modern and fancy city at the entrance to Ilha de Santa Catarina island. It's a hot spot for surfers, sun worshippers and party people. We decided once again to get away from the crowds and head towards a town called Barra da Lagoa. We stayed in the best hostel ever, Barra Beach Club. Free Caipirinhas every day! The view from the hostel:



The beach:

Exploring the Atlantic rainforest and beaches :

We ended up staying in Barra for five nights instead of three and still it wasn't enough. Spent the days hiking, tanning, snorkeling (saw our first sea horse!) and just watching the local fishermen.

 

 

the weather turned rainy and we decided to move on, so we booked a bus to one of our most awaited sights, Foz do Iguaçu (Iguazu waterfalls). We stayed on the Brazilian side and did day trips to the falls first to the Brazilian side and Argentinian side on the next day. The photos speak for themselves:

 

From Iguaçu the journey continues again towards the empanada heaven known also as Argentina.