Off to South America!

We are just getting ready for our next big trip, this time it’s going to be South America and we’re going to spend there a massive 11 weeks (17 August – 5 November 2013).

Typical for us, it is going to be a spontaneous trip without too much planning (although it doesn’t mean without preparation – see the article ‘Preparing for your trip’ in the ‘Practical advice’ section). We’ve only booked a few things: flights (onwards, to Buenos Aires and return – 11 weeks later – from Santiago de Chile); a hostel for the first few nights in Buenos, and… tickets to the opera in the magnificent Teatro Colón. We’ll see how it goes from there…

We certainly want to visit a few places: Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, Rio de Janerio, Pantanal in Brazil, jungles in the Amazon Basin and salt deserts in Bolivia, Cusco and Machu Picchu in Peru, the Atacama desert in Chile (see the map below for some of those places). But only the time will tell if, and when, will we get to all of those places. The itinerary will surely materialise itself as we go. Despite the quite a long time we have, it does feel like lots to do and see but our only plan is not too rush too much, so we’ll see how it goes. Simply thinking of all those places makes us dizzy with excitement though

 

But first, Argentina!

We arrive in Buenos Aires during the World Tango Championship which is a massive festival of tango and we can’t wait to lose ourselves in the dance! Then there’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ in the magnificent building of the Teatro Colon, a bigger theatre than the Royal Opera House in London. We also hope to be able to feel a little bit of the Evita’s, and how remarkable person she was… And then of course, there are the famous Argentinean steaks…we can’t wait to our first dinner in Buenos Aires.

Just to feel a little of the vibe before we go, and to polish our not-too-advanced Spanish :), we started watching Argentinean movies, in most of which the main protagonist tends to be played by a lovely guy by the name of Ricardo Darin. These also include the Oscar-winning movie ‘The secret in their eyes’ (El secreto de sus ojos) and another Oscar-nominated movie ‘Son of the Bride’ (El hijo de la novia) – both recommended.

Our adventure starts on 17 August, and we are going to post short updates here once – twice a week during the trip – click on the tab ‘Travel Blog’ to see all of them. More detailed travel reports will follow once we get back…So, watch this space.

If you have any suggestions for places to visit or stay, or would like us to write about something, leave your comment under the posts. Or if you are in South America anytime between late August and early November, get in touch too – would be great to meet you somewhere on the way!

Julita & Wojtek