Short answer is “Sure,” but with some strings attached. Check your email for our full answer.

Let me know what you think!
Shan

When is your next big trip planned? Have you been saving every dime to take your world tour?? Mike and I can’t wait to hear of your adventures. We have a trip planned for Cozumel in April and am looking forward to our second dive trip. Wish you and Oksana could be there.

Best wishes and we are sending some good ole’ Kansas hugs your way. If you are ever in the neighborhood, know you have a home here.

No worries on the delay due to your trip to Ecuador. Just a treat to see it at all. Can’t wait to dive again. That brought back some great memories. Hopefully Taz might be able to see this. You should send it to him if you haven’t already. And tell him thanks a lot for leaving my sunglasses somewhere I could find them.

-Mike

When are you going to be doing this trip? Not that it really matters now, but I was going to be in Chile from around mid-December to mid-January. Destination got changed, though, and we’re headed for Ecuador instead.

My wife and I are actually in route to Puerto Rico right now. Sounds like the best way to get around the island is to rent a car, so who knows? Maybe this will be my first baby steps to driving in a foreign country.

Good luck on your trip, and let me know how it turns out!

We’re going to rent a small car in BA, drive to Cordoba then Mendoza, drive the pass to Chile (for a $100 fee with the rental company – remember to book in advance!), drive up the Chile coast, then drive over the Agua Negra pass… (OK I’ve seen the photos, it looks easier than the pass to Cusco in Peru! We can do it!), from there to La Rioja, and from there see where we are. If we have time, drive like bandits to Iguazu, stay a couple of days then drive like bandits to BA….

This will be our longest trip yet (in KM….)… Guatemala, Italy and Spain were around 2500km in 2 weeks… this will be 5000 km in 2 weeks, but a few really really long legs…

Wish us luck!

Chris.

If that doesn’t work, here’s a direct link to the video file.

Thanks for the reply!

Mind if I mine your knowledge more? My new plan at this point (given the
24 hour bus rides) would to take a Bus to Cordoba, rent a car… drive
around the area, to Mendoza, and up the Andes trail (I’ve driven a Toyota
Yaris over the passes in Peru to Cusco, foolishly fording rivers so I hope
I can manage the treacherous Andes crossing)… return to Cordoba, fly to
Iguazu then fly back to BA.

I’m having a hell of a time trying to book the flight though… and price
differentials seem all over the chart… I understand as a Muzungu I have
to pay more, but booking seems an insurmountable challenge!

Any thoughts you have would be really appreciated..

Chris.

p.s. I loved the trip video which was really well put together – nicely
tied in to the music beats, and I’m going to make the recepie for beets n’
veggie soup….

*************************************

Hi again, Chris.

Sure, happy to try to answer some more questions.

Sounds like a good plan, substituting the flights for the longer bus rides. I should point out, however, that just about any bus ride that lasts 12 hours or less will be an overnight trip. With a traditional bus, you could consider that
a lost day of travel because you’d probably just get to your destination and crash — but with the super-cama buses of Argentina, I had no problem sleeping through the night and arriving quite rested. Still, no getting around losing
an entire day with those 24 hour bus rides!

We only booked one internal flight in Argentina and we booked it while we were there. Quite a painless process,really. There’s a very touristy street in BsAs — I want to say it’s “Florida Street” — where they have all sorts of
services catering to our foreign needs. We walked right into the airlines office and booked our tickets at the counter. (I remember it being the first real test of my Spanish, but I wasn’t worried because I realized I had a safety
net when I overheard other agents speaking English.)

So, that’s my suggestion. Wait until you get there to buy your airlines tickets. You may still end up paying tourist prices, but at least you won’t be hit with a travel agent surcharge as well! Worst case scenario, you take the bus
trip you were originally planning, right?

Oh, also: I haven’t been ballsy enough to rent a car in a foreign country yet, but I would think that getting one in Cordoba/Mendoza would be fine. Cordoba is somewhat chaotic, but the roads between the cities a great — good infrastructure and quite scenic. Buenos Aires is crazy, though, especially around el obalisco. You should get a medal if you drive through there.

And, DAMN, you drove a Yaris over the Cusco passes? Did they look like this:

http://peru.arlomidgett.com/2009/07/17/roughcut-16-the-road/
http://peru.arlomidgett.com/2009/07/22/roughcut-17-driving-back/
http://peru.arlomidgett.com/2009/05/20/roughcut-01-mudslide/

Where did you go? We took a trip to the Manú Preserve and I wouldn’t have bet a dollar that a Yaris could make
the trip. Toyota should get your testimonial and use it in a commercial or something!

-A.

********************************

Arlo –

Thanks for the thoughts. I’ll do that – which is what I usually do – figger it all out when you get there….

As for the Yaris, yes – that’s what it was like… the crazy part was fording a massive river that ran over the road (because the main road was under construction). I waited and watched the large tour buses ford it, watched the 4×4 pickups ford it, figured where it was least deep, popped the car into 2nd gear, got a head start and just plowed through… that was nuts..

But perhaps more nuts was the drive from Puno to Arequipa. They were building a new paved road, so we had to take back roads through the desert, but we got hopelessly lost, driving 10 mph because the road was so bad, had to ford more really scary rivers, and finally in the middle of stock ass no-where some ancient guy wanted a ride. HOP IN! Show us how to get out of here was all we could think… Made it into town very late at night, completely frazzled…

But you should absolutely not shy away from driving. I’ve driven through the mountains of Guatemala, muddy forest roads in Belize, hill passes in Israel, and Egypt, but the nuttiest driving I ever experienced was in Italy. Ei! Roads 1/2 the size of the 2 cars trying to pass each other…

When you have your own car the world is so completely different. You stop where you want, you stay till the parks close and watch the sun drift down over Tikal or wherever you are… there’s absolutely no other way to see a country… Of course, you’ll need all your guide books to teach yourself the sites, but its well worth it… My favorite memories are of stopping in the country, slipping the cork of a very cheap wine, and eating some fruit, cheese and other goodies from a local market, lying back on the grass in the sun just absorbing the earth, trees, breeze. Time just stops.

Great talking to you Arlo,

Chris.

Don’t know if you saw them, but we posted a couple Iguazu videos, too, starting with http://blog.arlomidgett.com/2009/08/10/pv002-iguazu-argentina/ You’re going to love it there!

Definately will spend the extra $5 us to get full cama….

Best,

Chris.

Bueno pues cualquier cosa diganme!! estamos en contacto!! muchas gracias por responder!!