El Sur: Travel Guide to South America

An afternoon in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

Jeffrey — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:18:15 +0000

There really isn’t much to do in the town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. But the main plaza, which seems to have recently undergone a very nice renovation, is an enjoyable place to visit for a while. The old church facing the plaza is also quite interesting.

Spanish one word-a-day

Jeffrey — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:52:49 +0000

dictionary.com has a neat feature to build your vocabulary not just in English but also in Spanish.

Spanish Word of the Day gives you a different word everyday. You can visit dictionary.com to see each day’s new word or, better yet, sign-up to get a new word everyday either by e-mail or in your news reader.

Learning about the food in Peru

Jeffrey — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:31:19 +0000

If you’re a foodie the blog Peru Food will be of interest. It’s tag line, “Peruvian cuisine is still relatively unknown to the English-speaking world. This blog is one attempt to remedy that situation.”

Driving from Cuzco to the Urubama River Valley

Jeffrey — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:08:25 +0000

After some flight problems caused by the collapse of LAB, Liz relates her trip from Cuzco to the guesthouse Kuchi Rumi in the town of Urubama, taking photos along the way of the beautiful mountain scenery.

Best wishes for a couple struck ill in South America

Jeffrey — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:01:57 +0000

Today I came across a very good blog South American Explorations about a recently married couple traveling through the South America. There are some very good postings such as this one about Peninsula Valdes.

Sadly, the blog ends abruptly with a posting about one of the pair, Alli, being hospitalized in Santiago, Chile, with a blood clot affecting sixteen inches of her leg. The post states that she needed to spend 14 days for treatment in Santiago before returning to Australia. No postings followed.

That sounds really serious. We truly hope that she is doing well and is fully recovered. Best of luck!

Taking the bus to Puerto Madryn and an iPod warning in Bolivia

Jeffrey — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:39:40 +0000

Here’s a trio who are on the first leg of an around the world trip.

They describe the 16 hour bus trip to Puerto Madryn. (You know, once you’ve done these long distances buses a few time, then 16 hours really doesn’t sound all that bad). From their blog, we learn about a 1 peso bottle of wine, hmmm, along the details of their visit to Peninsula Valdés.

They also remind us of the importance about not turning on your iPod above 3,000 meters. I never realized it but that’s a damn good thing to know when visiting Bolivia.

5 months trek thru South America

Jeffrey — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:29:24 +0000

Kate and Scott get the award for the best named blog about trekking through South America: Save the Drama for Your Llama.

They recommend using the Rough Guides for travel through South America and I must agree that Rough Guides provide the best guidebooks to South America.

Read about Kate and Scott’s adventures in the Atacama Desert, a trip they highly recommend and/or look at their photos of the Atacama Desert.

A Year in Uruguay

Jeffrey — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:18:14 +0000

While most Americans are flocking to Buenos Aires, it’s nice to see someone spending a year in Uruguay. Chuck Stull teaches economics at Kalamazoo College and has brought his family to Uruguay for the academic year. Compare recycling in theory with recycling in practice.

Inflation in Cusco

Jeffrey — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:26:47 +0000

Cusco, Peru is one of my favorite places in South America but it seems that the charm and popularity of Cusco is taking a toll on the wallet. Karen and Kevin are a couple traveling around the world and report from Cusco that their 4 year old guidebook is out-of-date regarding the prices of food and hotels in Cusco. Yet, they’re still enjoying seeing all the great archaeological sites around Cusco.

Around the World with Karen and Kevin should be an interesting blog to follow.

Hiking Roraima

Jeffrey — Thu, 24 May 2007 01:50:04 +0000

My favorite new blog of the week is besthike.com, which has just published a post about the similarity of the buttes & mesas of the Colorado Plateau to the tepuis of South America. But, most interesting to anyone thinking about trekking Roraima is their detailed page on hiking Roraima with some great links.