Friend asked me to query list for any tips tricks and infromation on above. She will be spending the month of Feb and into Mid-March
Seeing the usual sites. Thanks jh

Can you give us a little bit more information about your friend such as what are her interests, how does she plan to travel and does she have a specific travel budget?

Rar and I both have blogs of our South American travels and Caplanco has a trip report for Argentina. She might be interested in reading these to get some idea of the different countries and style of travel.

She is going by air and sea. SFO to Miami to Lima. 3 days there then 5 days Cusco MP ruins.
Then back to Lima on to boat lots of stops she never heard of. Then Santiago, Easter Island, Nasca Lines ( she is assuming air) then back on boat down the coast around crusing the inlets stop at Punta Arenas some land travle then up to B Aires. Home B Aires to Rio 3 days then to Miami SFO 6-7 weeks is what she said.

Need more specific questions really. I guess I can say I did not like Lima, I did not do the Nazca Lines but everyone I talked to who did found them kinda boring. Santiago is OK but don't sacrifice time in Buenos Aires for Santiago. Cuzco is ultra-touristy.

I will call her tonight and see if I can get more details from her, we have a meeting tuesday so I will post more then if I know anything. I know after going to Rome this past summer she decided to retire, and just booked the trip off the top of her head. Now she wants me to find out about what to do and see. I have gotten her a couple of the books suggested and was planning on giving them to her tuesday.

I think a coworker took a similar cruise. I'll check with her. We may be able to help more if you can find out the ports she will visit, how much time she has in the ports and maybe a link for information about the cruise.

I have been to a couple of the cities on the coast of Chile and I can give some suggestions of things to see in Arica, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and in the Santiago area.

I do agree with Rar, even though I haven't been to Buenos Aires, that she will want to spend more time in Buenos Aires than Santiago.

Here is the Plan – like everything subject to change and new information

Day one Miami to Lima arrive am afternoon evening free
Day two Lima Free – Hotel Las Americas
Day three Fly am to Cusco afternoon free
Day 4 Machu Picchu
Day 5 Cusco fly late afternoon to Lima evening free same hotel
Day 6 Lima to Santiago afternoon evening free
Day 7 Santiago day free
Day 8 morning fee afternoon coach to Valparaiso to docks and boat
Day 9-19 cruising stops here and there along the coast and inlets. Somewhere in here a trip to Easter Island she’s not sure what days or how they are getting there ditto Nazca lines.
She would like to see the ice maiden but does not know where it is.
She said these are on her list: Arica, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas,
But once on the ship she said all they list are numerous places but state subject to change.
Day 20 Buenos Aires am off ship rest of day evening free – she doesn’t have hotel name
Day 21 Buenos Aires free
Day 22 Buenos Aires to either Miami or Rio she’s undecided at this point.
Any help or suggestions would be appreicated

I did some googling and the Ice Maiden is in the Museum in Arequipa Peru.

From the itinerary listed , I don't exactly see how she is going to go to some of the other places she mentions such as Nazca Lines. Arequipa, Nazca lines, Arica are in between Lima and Santiago. I'm assuming that she is flying between the two cities and I don't see how to fit any of those in a half-day or so.

In Santiago, there are a few places I would recommend. I really liked the Pre-Columbian Museum. It isn't really big but it is a very well organized and presented history of Pre-Columbian culture and art. I would also recommend visiting one or two of the different neighborhoods such as Bellevista or Provincia. If you go to Bellevista, do check out the house of Pablo Neruda, the poet. I also enjoyed the Mercado Centrale which is a fish market and restaurant. A trip to Cerro Santa Lucia is fun. I also took a day trip wine tasting in the suburbs of Santiago. Definitely a lot to do in a day or two but that is it.

I suspect it will take a full 10 days to get from Santiago to Buenos Aires by boat. If she has time in Puerto Montt, there are day trips she could take into the Lake District and the nearby mountains. There is also Chiloe Island which we didn't get to but sounds very interesting.

Along the way between Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas she will pass near the glacier area of Patagonia. If she has an opportunity, I would definitely take a boat trip to one of the glaciers. There should also be opportunities to see the colonies of penguins that are in the area.

We didn't get to go to Ushuaia. It sounds very remote but also scenic. Do expect a lot of wind in the Patagonia area. Take warm clothes for this portion of the trip.

The food was good in Chile. We mainly ate seafood which is really fresh. you can get fish broiled or lightly fried. Congrio is an sea-based eel which was good. Other dishes were empanadas (meat turnovers) and Pastel de Choclo which is a stew with ground meat, raisins, egg, olives and chicken. We also ate a lot of avocado which is called Palta in Chile. You'll find it in sandwiches quite a bit.

I found Chile very safe and easy to get around. If she speaks any Spanish, the accent is unique and difficult to understand compared with Mexican Spanish. It is closer to Spain but still different. My husbands speaks a little bit of Spanish and it wasn't too hard to get around although we did stay in a lot of places that where run by ex-patriot Americans or catered to Americans.

I hope your friend has a great trip.

Thank you
Anyone with more ideas or tips keep them coming she is not leaving until 2/10/06

To be honest the itinerary makes no sense. A cruise to Patagonia leaving from Santiago will not include points north like Arica or Nazca. Is she planning this herself or going with a group? From the looks of things she needs to buy a guidebook and get the basic logistics down.

Welcome to Peru about your friend trip to Peru most of the cruise ship stop in Callao Port located 10 kms from the InternationalLima Airport travcel to Nasca by bus are 460 kms 08 hrs, by plane 30'Lima / Cusco by plane take 1h10' Cusco / Machupicchu 112 kms 0 3hrs 1/2 we have an office same aiprot we help tourist witrh free map of Peru, city maps of Lima any optional help0 don't hesitate to mail us back
WWW.PERUTOURISTINFORMATION.COM

quote:

Peru, Chile, Argentina

Just a short Thank You to all who answered the questions. My firend has returned after a month plus there and had a great time and really appreicated all your input.

I'm interested in traveling to Chile and Argentina. Any tips from your friend would be greatly appreciated!

"I'm interested in traveling to Chile and Argentina"...little behind in reading list.
right now they are in mexico but due home next week and I will be seeing her on 5/12 so let me know what you would like me to ask her. jh

too late?

Hi, I wonder who could give me information about where to stay in Miraflores, Lima-Peru.
Thank you

Hi - we used points and stayed at the Marriott Miraflores - it was lovely but not terribly "local culture" but we were only there one night on our way from Machu Picchu to Galapagos.