Big South America trip next year: looking for suggestions. - Page 4

Happy together.

im guessing an actual emerald store? columbia is known to have the best emeralds in the world. ditinguishable by their 3 phase inclusions. there is your gemmology lesson for the day.

You can prep by watching the film Green Ice with Anne Archer and Omar Sharif.

you have slight problem there does nto esixt low period in cartagena at least in my xp and i have been there almost every month of the year. but even if ter are toursists you will still have good time. just rmeber to use the formal whe you speak in spanish even between friends and parents and children they use use usted. it seems really unusual at first but you get used to it.

an emerald is the green mineral ( I think tat is how it is spelled in english) thus the title i gave the store. These places have people that stand outside hawking at first emeralds but they will continue to talk following you asking what you want putas, nieve or may be emeralds. the weird thing is that 60% of these people speak italian.
if you want anymore specific info abuot cartagena or cali simply ask they are the two cities i know the best in colombia.

i was going to mention this. if you are new to spanish, argentina is not the best place to take lessons. learning spanish from an argentine is like learning english from father guido sarducci. i recommend colombia or chile.

That sounds like an amazing trip. Glad you're going to Salvador, I think you'll really like it. I imagine there must be diving there, which is why you're spending 11 days. Otherwise, you would be spending way too much time there if you intend to just stay in the city. There are a ton of cool islands to visit off of Salvador. I went to Morro de São Paulo for the day, but with being in Salvador so long, you should definitely island-hop. Morro de São Paulo does not allow cars and has a lots of backpackers/hostels/cheap hotels. Its probably awesome to spend a few days there as a base and move from island to island.

As a way of saying hello to everyone I thought I would offer what little advice I have on Chile.

I apologize if this is all obvious and old hat to those better traveled than myself.

I enjoyed Santiago when I was there. I stayed in the el Golf neighborhood and felt very safe there. I have no knowledge of other areas wrt safety just my single point of reference. I was at the Ritz Carlton (which was very nice) and there is a few streets close by where they have many restaurants with excellent food. If you find a restaurant called Happenings (BA style steak house), you have found the street I am talking about.

As someone else stated the trains are very good and clean. They will take you downtown ( a couple of minutes) if you are in the el golf area without a problem. Or you could walk.

I was there in their summer, but I remember someone saying something about people training for the Olympics there Skiing. I don't ski so I had no interest in the conversation. There are open face cooper mines you may be able to see one of those.

In Valparaiso there is of course the beach, though I don't know what that would be like if you go during their winter. There is the beach area, but the things to see are more spread out in this area, so a car would almost be needed unless you joined a tour.

There is a casino in the beach area (you can't miss it) with clubs and this is really a place to be. I think it was Sunday night (or maybe Saturday) that things really got lively.

A couple of final notes:

People eat very late in Santiago. Later than people who think they eat late. I remember going to a place at 9:00 pm (Happenings, as it were) and the place was pretty quite. When I left at midnight it was jammed. People eating dinner, not drinking.

I wouldn't bother with Hooters except maybe for a laugh. The women are pretty enough, but it is not doing well.

People in Chile have absolutely no concept of a queue.

I hope some of this information is new and useful to you. SA women are beautiful and fun, it sounds like a good trip, I hope you enjoy yourself.

I'm not sure how tight your schedule is but my gf is from ecuador and always says one of the first places she wants to take me to is Banos, a town that is supposedly right underneath a huge volcanoe.

punta arenas, puerto natales, torres del paine is chile and i am so jealous. i can't afford a patagonia trip -_- take pictures!!!!!!!!!