Argentina!! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**mooloo** · 04-05-2009, 07:26 PM

So... Just when I thought I was doomed to have a boring year travel wise STA travel sent me an e-mail saying they had (holey crap!) cheap fares to Santiago, Rio & Buenos Aires

($920NZD return!!! - usually around $2000-$3000)

So long as both the boy & I can get the time off work (Which I am quietly confident will happen), and the fares don’t disappear on me in the next week it looks like we will be going to Argentina for 3 weeks in September! I finally finish my degree in July so I have decided it will be my graduation present!

Flying into & out of BA the only thing I know for certain we want to do is to see the Iguazu Falls (I’m aware this is a 20hour bus ride from BA – so am thinking either get an overnight bus or spend a couple of days getting there stopping at some places on the way). So with 3 weeks and no flights where do you suggest we spend our time? Keeping in mind that when we get near Iguazu we will be near the border of Brazil, Uruguay & Paraguay so anywhere in those countries that isn’t too far to travel will also be considered.

I really hope this doesn’t fall through as it should be a great trip!

Any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated! (Hopefully Florencia reads this & can give some tips for BA…!)

Thanks guys!

Amanda J

**The Sasquatch** · 04-05-2009, 07:59 PM

holy crap thats awesome amanda. so jealous. no suggestions, just excited for you.

**simply_angelic** · 04-05-2009, 09:16 PM

^ Ditto.

have fun!!

**worldwidemike** · 04-10-2009, 08:59 AM

Florencia told me there are lots of cheap flights from BA to the Falls. Check into them, or have her look if you're having trouble. And don't forget Patagonia -- if you have 3 weeks, you could easily get down there!

worldwidemike

**mooloo** · 04-14-2009, 02:55 PM

Thanks guys, so its pretty much confirmed now just have to put some $$ on my visa today so I can book tomorrow.

Yea with the three weeks I wasn't sure if we would do something like BA > Igauzu via Uruguay & possibly a couple of places in the very south of brazil or do BA > Igauzu (Flight) then head down to Patagonia.

I have no doubt that we will be back in the area as I want to do Chile at some point so we might concentrate on a smaller area this time possibly?

**mooloo** · 04-16-2009, 02:10 AM

OK so its confirmed - I just booked out Tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited, now I have to sit down and think about where we can go, I don't want the trip to be too rushed since we have both never flown further than OZ i'm not sure how much jet lag will affect us so I am thinking of spending a few days in Buenos Aires at the start and a couple of days before we leave (The Incredibly cheap flights were only in & out of Bs As) - We also have a 4 hour stop over in Santiago which i'm assuming won't be long enough to even think about leaving the airport?

So now I have 4 months to learn a bit of spanish (Which I know pretty much nothing!!), although I did do french throughout highschool so hopefully some of it is similar enough that it will make it easier for me to learn!

Canadianwanderer · 04-16-2009, 09:14 PM

Hey!!
So I am by no means an expert but I ended up spending a little over a month in Argentina at the beginning of this year. I also landed in B.A. and headed north to Iguazu falls... It's a long bus ride but if you do it overnight its definitely not so bad (get a comma bus, the seats recline into a bed!). I didn't go into Brazil even though its so close, mostly because I needed a tourist visa that cost $130 and didn't really have time to travel there much. From Puerto Iguazu I headed west to Salta and from there you can basically travel south passing through most of Argentina's major cities... Cordoba, Mendoza, Bariloche, etc.
The only thing you may want to look into is that I think its now off season for Patagonia... most of the trails are still open (I know that some of them are also closed) but the weather isn't very nice right now for trekking.
You are going to have a great time and I am so jealous of you!!!

**mooloo** · 05-07-2009, 04:40 PM

Just wondering if you had any reccomendations for companies to do the trip to Iguazu with?

Any tips for BA would be welcomed as well! What area to stay in, things to see & do etc?

What do you think about taking Peso/USD - I was thinking a bit of USD but mainly PESO but i'm not sure if thats the best way to go or not, the exchange rate is definately better for Peso but maybe it averages out anyway?