San Pedro de Atacama, know as the driest desert on earth in the North of Chile is also renowned for being the most expensive place in Chile. This is widely known even amongst Chileans. Its northern chile’s number one tourist attraction. The scenery around it is spectacular, including the world’s largest salt flats, volcanos, geysers and rock formations that make you feel you’re in another world. San Pedro Town itself is not much more than a picturesque plaza lined with trees and a few streets clustered with artasen shops, eateries and tour agencies. Despite the hoards of tourists, there a very chill and calm atmosphere here perfect for relaxing in a hammock with a good book in one of the many hostel courtyards. Getting there The nearest airport and big city is Calama, 106 km away. Domestic flights between Santiago and Calama are pretty cheap and sometimes work out cheaper than the 30 hour bus from Santiago. Another popular way of getting here is coming from Bolivia’s via the Salar de Uyuni. I finished up a 3 day tour with a transfer to San Pedro de Atacama. Where to stay There are…
Time: 2.5 days Location: Uyuni, Bolivia. Can also start from San Pedro de Atacama or Tupiza in Bolivia. Cost: B$870 (€113) Includes: transport, guide, breakfast x 2, lunch x 2 and dinner x 2, drinks at meals, accommodation x 2 nights, sleeping bags, transfer to Chile. Not included: hot springs (B$6/ €0.90), national park fee (B$150/ €20), paying for toilets along the way (all between B$2-5) Salar de Uyuni, located in the Andes in South West Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flats covering a massive 11,000 squared km. It is believed that a lake dried up leaving a white canvas of white salt, cati filled islands and rock formations. It’s the Machu Picchu of Bolivia and no trip would be complete to Bolivia without including this white desert. There are a few options for doing a tour of the salt flats. The most popular are either one day or 3 day tours, with the option of finishing in Chile if coming from Bolivia or vice versa. You can also finish the tour back in Uyuni if you’re not travelling onwards and want to do…
Rainbow Mountain, also known as Vinicunca Mountain is one of the earth’s most amazing natural wonders. Until recently it was concealed under ice and snow until global warming unfortunately caused the glaciers to melt, unveiling this natural marvel. Its possible to hike the mountain, one of the most popular excursions from Cusco but bear in mind the unfortunate reason why we are able to do so now. When you’re in Cusco you will see tour operators lining every street and almost all of them will have the photo of the imfamous Rainbow Mountain outside advertising tours to it. Most of the tours cost between 60-100 PEN (€ 16-27) . The cheapest I saw advertised was 55 PEN (€ 15) and that includes transport, breakfast and lunch and entrance to Rainbow Mountain. All of the tours seem to leave at a ridiculous hour in the morning, actually the middle of the night. Some leaving as early at 2 am, others giving you a lie on until 4 am. Rainbow Mountain has exploded in popularity in recent years and we’d heard about the hoards of people hoping off the buses to tackle the mountain and jostle for space…
Huayna Potosi is a popular climb from La Paz and supposedly an “easy” 6000m climb. At 6088 m, it is higher than bucket list regulars Everest Base Camp and Mt Kilimanjaro, higher than any peak on the European continent and almost 6 times higher than the highest peak in Ireland; Carrauntoohil (1038 m). At the summit, the standard barometric pressure is 46kPa. In English this means that there is 46% of the oxygen that is available at sea level. This was a challenge I wanted to undertake and see what limits I could push my body to. Quick facts: Summit: 6088 m Base camp: 4400 m High camp: 5130 m Ascent time: 5-6 hours Decent time: 2 hours Time required: 2 days, leave La Paz 9 am and return 2pm following day. Cost: 650 Bolivians (€83) Included: gear, sleeping bag, guide, transport, lunch, snack, dinner, breakfast and soup after climb. Not included: breakfast day 1 and 20 Bolivians entrance fee. Difficulty level: hard Technically: easy, no mountaineer or climbing experience required. I had my eye on HP, literally, since getting to Bolivia. It can be seen high in the distance from Isla Del Sol and towering over…
Cerro Tunari is the highest peak in central Bolivia standing at 5035m. It’s situated in the Bolivian Andes in the Cochabamba department. The hike starts at 4500 m, passing through glacier lakes and giving majestic views of the Cordillera Tunari mountain range. It’s possible to hike on your own but tricky to get to and in the middle of nowhere so for safety sake, I would make sure you go with someone. When I was visiting Cochabamba, I googled ‘things to do in Cochabamba’ as you do and Tunari National Park and Cerro Tunari came up. If I’m in an area with a mountain within driving distance, I’m gona climb it. I think it’s the best way to see the area, you get a full view of the surrounding place from 5000 plus meters high. However my Google search wasn’t coming up with too much apart from some vague TripAdvisor reviews saying it could be done yourself by getting buses, but it wasn’t advisable. Other things coming up on my search were tour companies charging $100 for the day with a group. I wasn…
You can visit the Amazon from several countries in South America and choosing to visit it from Bolivia definitely has its perks due to its central location and budget friendly prices. It’s also significantly cheaper than other countries (yes, looking at you Brazil). Visiting the Amazon pampas with Fluvial Tours was so much better than I expected. There are two types of tours of the amazon, the jungle and the pampas tour. After having done the pampas tour, I wish I had planned the time to do both but for me I’m glad I picked the pampas.The main difference between the two tours is the wildlife. On the pampas you see lots of wildlife along the banks of the river. However you don’t actually go into the amazon rainforest and spend most of the time on a boat.The jungle tour consists more of walking through the jungle seeing and identifying flora. The wildlife seen is much more sparc. The jungle is so dense spotting wildlife proves much more difficult although you experience staying deep in the amazon rainforest. Flying into the rural town of Rurrenabaque over the Amazon gave me a real…
Peru blew me away with all it had to offer. I know I say every country in South and Central America are so diverse but Peru for me was the best so far. The people in Peru are just so friendly and eager to help. They always seem happy and their enthusiasm for football is contagious. While I was in Peru they made it to the final of Copa America which is unheard of for Peru. Watching the locals go crazy made watching football fun (coming from someone who doesn’t watch it unless paid to). Peru’s landscape ranges from Andean glacial peaks and sprawling deserts to the rich rainforests of the Amazon basin. In one day you can climb a mountain, visit an oasis and surf on the beach. Peru would be a top pick of mine for adventurous travelers, hiking lovers and anyone interested in discovering the land of the Inca’s. I spend a month in Peru and it didn’t feel long enough although a month is plenty of time to see the highlights and immerse in the Peruvian culture. I’m happiest when either A) eating or B) outdoors…
The Santa Cruz hike is one of the most popular multi day hikes from the town of Huaraz, which sits at over 3000 m between the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra mountain ranges. There are over 35 mountains over 6000 m in the area so the scenery surrounding this grimy, busy town is incredible. Huaraz lies 400 km from Lima and we arrived here on a night bus from Lima for $12. Santa Cruz hike takes usually 4 days but can be done in 3 days. It has some of the best views in the Andeas, you will be rewarded with views of turquoise lakes, snowy peaks and incredible views from the highest point on the hike, Punta Union at 4750 m. Santa Cruz hike can be done independently and we met plenty of people who went on it unguided. It’s a very straight forward path with plenty of hikers on it and its clearly outlined on maps.me. We didn’t have our our tents and sleeping bags but you can rent them in town. For the ease of it and the health of my back (I struggle to walk 800 m with my 17 kg…
Ecuador was one of those countries I hadn’t researched much before coming out to South America. I had heard of the Galapagos but not much else and probably did not allocate the time it deserved. I had three weeks in Ecuador and this is some of the things we did. Ecuador lies south of Colombia sharing borders with Peru and Brazil. It’s a pretty small country relative to its neighbours and often gets over looked and doesn’t get the attention it deserves. If you love hiking, beaches, colonial cities and mountains, Ecuador is has it all. From the Amazon jungle to snow capped mountains, surfing beaches and Andean villages, it ticks all the boxes. Ecuador uses the US dollar making it slightly more expensive than neighbouring Peru and Colombia but still its very cheap compared to US or Irish prices. Some of the best value hostels so far have been in Ecuador. I arrived to Ecuador from Colombia via land. This was fairly easy to navigate and took about 5 hours on a bus from the border town of Tulcan to reach the capital of Quito. Quito Quito is the world’s second…
The Galapagos Islands are usually bypassed by backpackers due to the expense of the islands and getting here. A trip to these magical islands usually don’t fit into their budget but it has been a dream of mine to scuba dive here since I got my diving licence six years ago so it was always on my South America bucket list. These volcanic islands were first discovered by Charles Darwin in 1535 and later declared a national park in 1959. Visiting The Galapagos islands is like visiting an alternative universe, it’s an enhanced archipelago of islands formed by volcanic eruption and inhabited by only those who could survive the journey from mainland. It is one of the two places in the world where giant tortoises can be found. The islands are home to some of the worlds rarest and most extraordinary animals such as blue footed boobies, green turtles, marine iguanas, hammerhead sharks , sea lions (the golden retrievers of the Galapagos) and so many more. What I found incredible was the fearlessness of the islands inhabitants. If you have a staring contest with the animals you will lose, and you will also lose a game of…