Discovering South America!
In and around El Segundo, United States
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Welcome, Bienvenidos, Bem-vindo.... We hope this travel blog will provide a glimpse into the many adventures we intend to have while traveling through South America. Our intentions are to share our experiences in exchange for any advice, thoughts, or comments anyone might have. We begin our journey deep in the Amazon, in the city of Manaus. From here we will travel down the coast of Brazil, pass through the farmlands of the little country that is Uruguay, on to Argentina where we will reach the End of the World. We will then venture into the lush vegetation of southern Chile and make our way to the driest desert on Earth. Then travel through the bumpy roads of Bolivia to our final destination of the Lost City of the Incas, in the Peruvian Andes.
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This trip was meant to have had a third traveler. However, Chester will not be joining us for the obvious reasons; it is simply too difficult to travel with a dog using public transportation. He was definitely prepared for this trip, he had all of his shots and he had even been accepted by the airline. Instead Chester will be staying with his grandparents in sunny So. Cal. until we return.
Português:
Welcome, Bienvenidos, Bem-vindo.... Esperamos que este blog de viagem forneça uma idéia das muitas aventuras que pretendemos viver enquanto viajamos pela América do Sul. Nossa intenção é compartilhar nossas experiências em troca de algum conselho, pensamento ou comentário que alguém possa ter. Começaremos nossa viagem no coração do Amazonas, na cidade de Manaus. De lá, viajaremos para o Sul pela costa do Brasil e Argentina, onde alcançaremos o Fim do Mundo. Então, vamos nos aventurar pela vegetação densa do sul do Chile e abrir caminho até o deserto mais seco do planeta. Nosso destino final será a Cidade Perdida dos Incas, nos Andes Peruanos. Esta viagem deveria ter um terceiro viajante. Entretanto, Chester não se juntará à nós por razões óbvias; é simplesmente muito difÃcil viajar com um cão usando transporte público. Ele certamente estava preparado para esta viagem. Ele já tinha tudo pronto, e já tinha inclusive sido aceito pela compania aérea. Porém, ele vai ficar com os avós no ensolarado Sul da Califórnia até retornarmos.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Andre & Marcela
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A Change in Plans
So, our trip started out with a bit of a delay. It all started on the runway right before we were about to take off when the pilot informed th... Continue reading »
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The Paulistas
The paulistas, is the term given to the the people of the state of Sao Paulo. We arrived at the Guarulhus airport on the 4th at 9:00 am.... Continue reading »
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Riches of the Amazon
The old, yet continuously growing city of Manaus has many things to offer to those who visit it. We were here for a total of eight wonder... Continue reading »
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Even Hotter and More Humid!
Yes, Belém is much hotter and much more humid than Manaus! Even though it´s closer to the coast, which provides great breezes, it´s much closer to... Continue reading »
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Muy Romantico!!!
Unlike our "muy romantico" Panama experience, this was actually a very romantic place to be. The suburbs of São Luis are nothing to boast abou... Continue reading »
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Lençois & Road to Jericoacoara
Looking at the immense dunes, one comes to realize why it is that this park is called Lençois Maranhenses (bed sheets of Maranhão). This is tr... Continue reading »
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From Sea to Mountains
If you don´t already know from our previous blog, Marcela is currently in Chile staying with her mom as she recovers from surgery. It was an unexpe... Continue reading »
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What the Fortaleza!?!
Our stay in this large and busy city was short and a bit dissapointing. It was strange getting back to a big city after having been in so many cute... Continue reading »
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Where do Cashews Come From?
Forte dos Reis Magos, the biggest cashew tree in the world, reefs, beautiful dunes and beaches are just some of the main attractions found in... Continue reading »
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The Controversial Padre CÃcero
You can't talk about Juazeiro do Norte without first talking about Padre CÃcero. This priest became well known throughout the Sertão after one of h... Continue reading »
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Dejá Vu
From Juazeiro do Norte our plan had been to take a bus straight to Recife and skip João Pessoa all together. However, our plans are continuous... Continue reading »
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Finally, Recife
Recife had been in our minds ever since we had decided to take on this journey through South America. Back in Washington we once watched a doc... Continue reading »
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Velho Chico: The River of National Unity
Four hours from Recife we found ourselves in the capitol of the state of Alagoas, Maceió. Not much happened here.....we basically hung out by the b... Continue reading »
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Acaraje!
Salvador is a gigantic city....and there are so many places to visit, that it´s truly impossible to see everything with the short amount of time th... Continue reading »
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Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina
Lencois is a charming old diamond mining town nestled between lush green hills. Most visitors to the area use Lencois as a base from which to... Continue reading »
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Brasilia - Capital of the Third Millenium
"I sought the curved and sensual line. The curve that I see in the Brazilian hills, in the body of a loved one, in the clouds in the sky and in the... Continue reading »
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Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros
This spectacular national park (4 hours north of Brasilia by bus) in the highest area of the Central West showcases the unique... Continue reading »
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A Little of Minas Gerais
We had planned for a few other stops throughout the state of Minas Gerais such as Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto. We were a... Continue reading »
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Where Andre Was Born........
What a gorgeous place Petropolis is.....the city where Andre was born and where his brother currently lives with his wife, two children, and three... Continue reading »
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Armação dos Búzios
Armação dos Búzios, often referred to as just Búzios, is a beautiful beach town that thrives on tourism. It became a popular place when t... Continue reading »
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Food and Family! oh and a Camera...
So... Niteroi was much like a pause in time. We recently had our camera break while we were in PetropolÃs and getting a new one proved to be a very... Continue reading »
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A Little Heaven on Earth
Imagine a place where all your problems just seem to melt away, where time doesn´t matter anymore, where things are good and perfect, wel... Continue reading »
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Entering the South
For many Brazilians the South is considered to be very different from the rest of the country...some even go as far as saying that it should actually... Continue reading » -
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Overwhelm Your Senses!!
We might as well not even write anything about this place since there are no words to describe the natural phenomenon that is Iguassu Falls. You have... Continue reading » -
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Chillin´ in Floripa!
After hearing so many great things about Florianopolis we finally got here to see it for ourselves. Floripa, as people call it, is located on the very... Continue reading » -
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Random Huge Things!!
Never before had we been greeted by such thick fog as we did when entering the city of Gramado. It was truly unbelievable how little we could see whil... Continue reading » -
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Cerrrado
So...why not spend a couple of weeks exploring Uruguay? We had originally planned to leave Brazil by entering straight into Argentina, but after a som... Continue reading » -
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In the Countryside...
The best way to share our experience here is by first expressing our amazement in the quantity of farm animal POOP we encoutered!!! Also we should... Continue reading »
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The Capital
Montevideo....definitely the heart of Uruguay! and it is beating FAST! After hours and hours of farmland, it is almost like reaching an oasis....full... Continue reading » -
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Colonia del Sacramento
Definitely our favorite place in Uruguay...with peaceful cobbled stone streets, an easy going atmosphere, and good weather to top it off! Colonia has... Continue reading » -
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Serendipity!
What a great way to start off our journey in Argentina....in a fairly large city with a small town feeling (something we obviously really enjoy!).... Continue reading »
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Buenas Noches...Malos Aires!!
WOW!!! what a happening city!!! There is so much to do in BsAs! We ended up staying here much longer than expected, partly because we wanted to and pa... Continue reading » -
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Rosario
Rosario was a nice place to visit, but there really wasn`t much to do or see here. The monument to the Argentine flag is quite impressive, but that is... Continue reading » -
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Parque Provincial Esteros del Ibera
If there were a place for us to recommend for others to visit in Argentina, it would definitely be this one!!! Most people have never heard of this pa... Continue reading » -
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Salta La Linda
We were in Salta for about a week....so there are many pictures to see of our adventures, and great descriptions to go along with them. We will how... Continue reading »
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Jesus Juice!
So, you think Mendoza and you think wine country....but there is much more to this beautiful city than Jesus juice! Here you will find wide s... Continue reading »
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A Hike to Die For!
Bariloche is just a wonderful place to be....the mountains, the lake and all the green that surrounds it make you want to stay here for much longer th... Continue reading » -
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That`s Right.....Southern Right Whales!
Never in our wild imaginations had we thought that on this amazing trip we would also get to see such amazing animals. That`s it...the town sucks... Continue reading » -
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It`s the End of the World, as We Know it!!!
Yup, the most southern city in the world.....well, that`s only depending on where you get your information. We`ll just say it is, since we weren`t abl... Continue reading » -
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It´s Chilly Chilling in Chile!!!
Our first Chilean city and it was a wonderful start! We took it easy and sort of planned what our next stops would be north of Punta Arenas. Gett... Continue reading » -
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Over 100km and 6 Days Later...
Si vas para Chile......you have to visit Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. It is a must see for its unbelievable scenery, great camping spots, and the... Continue reading » -
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Glacial Galore!!
Alright, so Calafate is a one hit wonder.....Everyone comes here to see the Perito Moreno Glacier and then its off to Chaiten. We pretty much did just... Continue reading » -
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Fitz Roy - The Big Tease
This place is unbelievable (although we have said that many times before about other places!)! We were here for a few days just enjoying the scenery a... Continue reading » -
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Good Bye Argentina
After 12 hours on a bus going through the Ruta 40 (the most boring road in the world) we arrived at Los Antiguos. The reason the ride is so boring is... Continue reading » -
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Que? Coyhaique.....
This was an unexpected pleasant stop on our way north through Chile`s astonishing southern landscape. We only stayed here for a couple of days to sort... Continue reading » -
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Tompkins Again!?
Yes, we visited yet another park involving Tompkins. Our first was in Argentina, where Tompkins owns 60% of the area around the Reserva Natural Estero... Continue reading » -
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Isla de Chiloe
Marcela had always had this vision of what Chiloe was supposed to be like....but these things change through out the years and Chiloe no longer is the... Continue reading » -
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Volcan Osorno!!!
Since we took a ferry to Puerto Montt instead of straight to Castro in Chiloe, we had a chance to see a little of what Puerto Montt had to offer, whic... Continue reading » -
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Finding Sea Lions
Valdivia is a delightful city, with its main attraction being the sea lions that line up at the fisherman´s market for food, in exchange for... Continue reading » -
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Smokin` Volcan Villarica!
What can you say about Pucon.... Well the first thing is that it is one of Chile´s most popular vacation spots. It offers an amazing number of ac... Continue reading » -
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Waiting for the BIG SURPRISE!
Christmas Christmas Christmas.... Well, we didn´t quite know if we were going to be able to make it to Santiago to spend Christmas with Marcela´s fami... Continue reading » -
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Mami Time...
Being in Santiago with family felt like being home again.....the only one missing was our Chester. We were here for a total of two weeks and we did a... Continue reading » -
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"Ovalle!? Ovalle!?"
After our visit to Santiago, our little group of two grew to be four! Marcela`s cousins, Consuelo and Loreto, were on summer vacation from school and... Continue reading » -
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All for Some Crystal Blue Waters....
So we left La Serena and set off for the first time with our new companions. As in our whole trip in Chile, we headed north, this time to Caldera. The... Continue reading » -
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Second Largest City.....
Antofagasta is simply an awesome city....it is also Chile`s second largest, after Santiago of course. The climate is mild, the beaches are great, the... Continue reading » -
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San Pedro de Atacama
Little San Pedro de Atacama is as charming as can be. That said, it is also extremely packed with tourists, not that that`s a bad thing, it`s just tha... Continue reading » -
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Salar de Uyuni
The day finally came when we entered Bolivia!! We had heard so many great things about this country from other travelers, that we couldn`t wait to exp... Continue reading » -
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Una Vez y Nunca Mas!
That`s right, one time and never again!! We are talking about the mines of course.....We had heard someone else say this to us before we took our t... Continue reading »
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Carnaval!!!
Ah, Sucre....well this is the city that everyone had talked about as being the most touristy and beautiful city in Bolivia. Our bus ride from Potosi w... Continue reading » -
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Not the Most Dangerous Road, but Come On!!!
Ok, so we`ll have to admit that Cochabamba was our least favorite city in Bolivia. This is only due to the fact that the hostels are all located in a... Continue reading » -
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Highest Capital in The World
The city of La Paz was founded on October 20th, 1548 under the name of La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz (The City of Our Lady of Peace). The city... Continue reading » -
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100% Pure Adrenaline
WOW, WOW, OH MY GOD!!! There truly aren't many words to be able to describe the feeling of going down the side of a mountain on a bike for over fou... Continue reading »
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63
Lago Titikaka
So, this is the highest navigable lake in the world! Do you notice a pattern here (we visited a lot of places that held some sort of record; we j... Continue reading » -
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Chile at over 4,000 meters!
Oh Putre....Marcela's favorite tiny town, and when we say tiny there is no exaggeration! The main reason we headed to Putre was to visi... Continue reading » -
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Eternal Springtime of the Chilean Kind....
So, Arica was our very last stop in Chile. This meant we had to say our good byes to both the country and Marcela's cousins (who were returning to San... Continue reading » -
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La Ciudad Blanca....
It was certainly interesting getting across the border into Tacna, Peru! Arica has a dumpy international bus terminal where you catch a... Continue reading » -
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Colca Madness!!!
Honestly, this was probably the most difficult hike we have done in our entire trip! The Colca Canyon is located approximately 160km NW of Arequi... Continue reading » -
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Uros Islas Flotantes
From being completely isolated in the Colca Canyon we went to being in the heart of it all in the quaint city of Puno. Once again we found ourselves i... Continue reading » -
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