My 3 week trip in South America was hosted by Gap Adventures. The name of the tour was In Search Of Iguassu – Rio to Buenos Aires. I’m glad I took the trip and got to visit a nice section of the world. Brazil underwhelmed me, Uruguay exceeded my expectations and Buenos Aires, Argentina came close to being the perfect large city. We also made a surprise visit to a part of Paraguay that makes Tijuana look classy.
The best part of the trip was the challenge of communicating with people in two unfamiliar languages (Portuguese and Spanish). My Spanish skills from the 8th and 9th grade are weak, but were often enough to get by. Portuguese was much tougher and I only seemed to grasp enough to get by on our last day in Brazil. Note that as soon as I left Brazil, I promptly forgot any and all Portuguese words I had just learned.
Our group was mostly 20-year olds from the U.K. Everyone in our group was great and we all got along wonderfully. Nick and I found them much more mature than 20-year olds from America.
My biggest lesson was to be less concerned with weather and pay more attention to food. It really baffles me how Brazilians can be so fit surrounded by so many dessert options. The picture above is me on Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Below are links to the day by day breakdowns.
Rio to Buenos Aires Overview
Day 1-2 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Day 3-6 – Ilha Grande, Brazil
Day 7 – Parati, Brazi
Day 9-10 – Iguassu Falls, Brazil/Argentina
Day 11 – Paraguay
Day 11 – Parque das Aves, Brazil
Day 12 – Salto, Uruguay
Day 13-14 – Montevideo, Uruguay
Day 15-16 – Colonia, Uruguay
Day 17-20 – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hey there! I’m taking this trip next month with my girlfriend. Just wondering how the transfers, bus rides where? Where they dangerous, comfortable? Any recommendations? Backpack vs. luggae with wheels?
Backpack for sure.
Our group leader took care of all the bus tickets. The roads in South America are very bumpy. I was able to read on those hours spent on the road, but many were not able to.
[...] probably around 19 years old. I pretty much haven’t missed a day since then. Even during my 2006 trip to South America and my 2009 trip to Southeast Asia, I still managed to find coffee. In 1997, I went 100 hours [...]