South America group posting on GLOBOsapiens

Travelling Buenos Aires - La Paz - Rio

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e11even Joined: Apr 04 Points: 66 Posts: 4 Posted: 2004-04-18 21:52:00    I would like to fly from Buenos Aires to La Paz, then travel to Cusco via Lake Titicaca, check out Macchu Picchu, then back to La Paz and on to Rio. Any advice on how to achieve this? I have a month to do all of this... Reply    Reply with quote    Contact e11even   downundergal Premium account Joined: Jun 02 Points: 12936 Posts: 221 Posted: 2004-04-19 08:50:00    Hi, I did nearly this same route but flew to Buenos Aires>Lima>Puerto Maldonado>Cusco and went overland via Puno/Lake Titicaca to La Paz & flew on to Rio. This took about 3 & half weeks. From La Paz you take the bus via Copacabana to Puno (Lake Titicaca). From Puno to Cusco you can take either the bus which is really cheap & you get to mix with all the locals or the train which is really touristy & expensive. We took the bus and there are quite a few departures every day. You justrock up to the bus station. If it is a major holiday book the day before. From Cusco you take the tourist train to Aguas Calientes but try to at least stay 2 nights so you can get the 1st bus up to the ruins before the crowds. One word of warning, have a VERY flexible itinary. We were forced to stay in Puno an extra night because they blockaded all roads & boat passages in & out of the town. Then when we took the bus from Copacabana to La Paz it had a flat tyre & we arrived in to town hours late. When we had to get to the airport to fly La Paz to Rio we were firstly blockaded in the town centre, our prebooked taxi did not arrive. We finally got one & were heading on the road out of town & they blockaded the main highway. We were stuck there for ages until they sent in the riot police with tear gas to break them up. We finally got to the airport & had to go through 3-4 security checks & they had to hold the flight up for us otherwise we would have missed it! So you have to be flexible. Check out my travel stories on Globo as they also have loads of info. If you need more info drop me a line. Cheers, Kerrie --- Where to next? Reply    Reply with quote    Contact downundergal   e11even Joined: Apr 04 Points: 66 Posts: 4 Posted: 2004-04-19 09:55:00    Thanks Kerrie! It's very useful advice as my itinerary is rather tight already, so I need to bear these delays in mind. Happy travelling! PS I like your profile quote. -Lars Reply    Reply with quote    Contact e11even   e11even Joined: Apr 04 Points: 66 Posts: 4 Posted: 2004-04-19 09:58:00    By the way, what did you pay for the flight Buenos Aires>Lima>Puerto Maldonado>Cusco if I may ask? -Lars Reply    Reply with quote    Contact e11even   downundergal Premium account Joined: Jun 02 Points: 12936 Posts: 221 Posted: 2004-04-24 11:37:00    Hi again, We had an open jaw ticket that went through to Lima from Buenos Aires and then from Rio back to Buenos Aires. The Lima>PM>Cuco section was about (& its a rough guess from memory) $340 Aust which is about $255-260 US. Cheers, Kerrie --- Where to next? Reply    Reply with quote    Contact downundergal