Argentina - Travel Information

**MagicHat** · 10-14-04 02:11

I've been agonising over this for weeks, and would be VERY grateful for any advice off the board.

I arrive in EZE on a Saturday, at 9.50am. I need to get to Salta. But Saturday, is the only day, that there are no flights to Salta in the afternoon - every other day of the week there are Aerolineas flights around 5pm, but on Saturday, the latest flight is 11.50am.

So my question is....would you risk a 2 hour stopover to arrive in EZE, get through customs, burn it to AEP and make the flight? I'd happily hire Ana to drive me, and in theory its doable....40mins to arrive and get through customs, 40 mins for the drive, 40 mins for the checkin, but that relies on no delays, etc etc.

At the moment I thinking that I should spend the night in BA, but it means arriving late in Salta, delaying my friends who I am meeting there, and although it is no hardship at all spending a night in BA (better than most other places on the planet), I've blocked off a week at the end of my holidays for BA and spending time at the start eats into that, so if I could make a clean move for Salta, I'd much prefer it.

all the best

MH.

**Chuponalgas** · 10-13-04 16:07

http://www.varigbrasil.com/english/

Varig has some great Internet-only specials to B.A. from L.A. and Miami, AND they will let you stop over in Rio or Sao Paulo for free or $100 more!

**Jaimito Cartero** · 10-13-04 15:20

You will usually be better off buying each leg as a round trip. Other options are using frequent flyer miles for a reward trip. In some countries, the lowest fares are not bookable via the internet. Check with a BA travel agent. I recall that Southern Winds has non discriminatory "gringo" pricing.

**JackDaniels** · 10-13-04 12:52

Air fares in South America appear to be quite expensive.

There are some fares on Opodo that are not too bad such as EZE-CTG for $640 and EZE-CCS for $520 considering the distance you are flying.

These are some alternatives.

Multi stop tickets are expensive - returns are cheaper.

**Big Boss Man** · 10-11-04 22:55

Advice requested:

I will be in South America from November 25 to Dec 13 with my base in Buenos Aires. I am thinking that a side trip might be in order. I am thinking Rio, Santiago or Lima. I like the wild crazy sex that you can have with a Brasileria but I have already been to Rio five times and Sao Paulo twice. For me, Sao Paulo has the best looking women but I got a little bored with the city on the second trip in August this year. Of course, I had just left Buenos Aires and had some enjoyable dinners and conversations with the gentleman from this board. Also I am trying to learn Spanish and want to stay in the language if I can. My tutor is already laughing at me because I mix up Portugese and Spanish. Learning languages is very difficult for me. I am a numbers cruncher and an introvert. I was not blessed with the communication gene.

I was thinking multi-city but the airfares really pile up if you go that route. A round trip looks to be around $350 to any of aforementioned places. If you go EZE-Santiago-Rio-EZE, it's about $1100.

Would you spend a week in Lima or Santiago? How are the weekends? In Sao Paulo, the weekend is a little slower whereas in Rio there are many semi-pros at Help on Friday and Saturday nights.

Eventually I want to get a sense for both Chile and Peru because I have a vocation I am pursuing.

Another thought I had was to do only 4 or 5 days in either Lima or Santiago but also do a 3-day tip to Montevideo.

Any feedback is appreciated. I am making plans now.

**Guillermo** · 09-30-04 17:03

Saint,

Thanks. It's good to have a friend in the travel business.

Guillermo

**Saint** · 09-30-04 01:50

Guillermo,

I posted this a few times throughout the forum but Easy Go is partially correct. You do have to go to the main office but it's not too big of a hassle and the coverage has been pretty good for me so far. Go to Unifon (Telefonica) at their main office located at Corrientes 645. Their office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM. The earlier you go in the morning the less of a chance you will have to wait in line. A SIM chip for your unlocked GSM phone is only 20 pesos and it includes 40 pesos of promotional airtime. I'm not sure if that's a one time promo going on now but it's a great deal.

The procedures are you go there and first they will tell you to go to a window to make sure your phone is unlocked. Even if you are 100% sure it's unlocked, they still send you to this window. Then after they verify your phone is unlocked, you get a number and wait in line. If you go before 10 AM you shouldn't have to wait too long. Bring your passport with you. Just use the address of your apartment or hotel.

The guys there are really friendly. You can ask for a number that is easy to remember and they will usually accomodate you. I've bought 4 GSM chips so far and they've always been helpful and courteous.

Good luck.

**Miami Bob** · 09-25-04 04:14

LAN PERU through Miami to BA is now US$459 with a stop in Lima.

**Guillermo** · 09-24-04 12:36

Easy Go,

Gracias amigo.

Guillermo

**Easy Go** · 09-24-04 02:26

Guillermo,

It's just below Florida which is about 5 blocks below 9 de Julio. That's the side away from Recoleta.

Easy Go

**Elvis** · 09-24-04 00:20

In case anyone is interested, Carbone Travel is having a special from NY, MIA, LAX to Argentina and other places

Check it out ! Carbone Travel

**JustGotBack** · 09-23-04 02:10

Low airfare alert. West Coast of US to BA is $650 or so on Lan Peru out of LA. For some reason you only get this price if you book from another city through LA. If you start in LA it's about $300 more. I got the email about it this morning but decided to go to Rio instead. But for those guys looking for a good fare, this is the lowest I've seen in a while. Hurry though. The dates I were looking at this morning were sold out in about 2 hours.

**Guillermo** · 09-21-04 12:58

Thanks for info guys,

Looks like Personal is the place to go. I'll try it out when I'm down there. Any recollection as to where on Corrientes? Cross-street? Which side of 9 de Julio?

Guillermo

**Easy Go** · 09-20-04 23:12

Guillermo

I checked into it a few weeks ago when I was down. It's much more of a hassle than most countries. Only one carrier has GSM (name escapes me) and the SIMs were not available at most outlets. You had to go to the main office, get a number, and wait to be called. As I recall, it was about $AR40 for the SIM. But I was told that you could not make international calls on it. The most popular approach to international calls anyway seemed to be to buy a phone card where you called a local number and then called the international number.

You need a tri-band phone (same frequency as the US) and I hear coverage is spotty as GSM is fairly new. At the end of the day, I said screw it and rented a phone from phonerental argentina through Mayra. They delivered the phone and picked it up. No rental cost on the phone but you pay an extra peso a minute for both incoming and outgoing calls. The only things I didn't like were that I didn't get it until I got to the hotel (which could have been a hassle if my ride wasn't there) and it stopped working a few hours before they picked it up so they could do the bill (charged the whole thing to AMEX). It was a non-GSM phone and I never had a problem with coverage. One plus was that I got the number well before I got to BA.

Easy Go

**Sky Ryder** · 09-20-04 23:04

"G"

If you have an unlocked phone you can go to Personal on Correntes and purchase a sim card for about $50 pesos, which includes some airtime credits.
I used the address of my hotel and it was no problem. You can buy airtime cards for Personal Light at any kiosk and I have had good luck with the coverage area, even in the suburbs.

Good luck.
Sky

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