Miscellaneous
Hasta luego Argentina y Chile! Once again, I'm going to wax lyrical about my trip around the remaining parts of Argentina and Chile before I begin my journey through Bolivia. This episode will feature both Argentina and Chile as I ziggity-zag between both places before finally ending up in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, to make a 3D2N trip into the renowned Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats of Uyuni). For you good people listening, I'm going to put up links and what-not about things that I talked about during the episode. For those who are the TL;DR sort, fear not! Just skim through this post and you'll get the gist of the podcast. But why would you want to miss out on my sweet voice?BarilocheCircuito Chico - First you need a SUBE card, which is like an Oyster Card (London) or EzLink card (Singapore) where you put some credits into the card and use it for public transport. This card is good for both Bariloche and Buenos Aires, and you can recharge it at almost every convenience store. Check with your hostel where and which bus to take to the beginning of the loop. I took Bus 20, westbound towards the circuit. The bicycle shops will give you an itinerary on where to stop along the loop. Technically you're not allowed to ride on the trails, but it's a lot more fun cycling through them and I didn't have any problems when returning the bikes. I would recommend leaving for the circuit early and come prepared with food because there are several places with great viewpoints and you can spend some time relaxing and enjoy the view. One memorable spot is at panoramic spot with a detour from Villa Tacul.Siete Lagos - The road to Seven Lakes. Car rentals are about ARS1,000 a day. I've heard people renting it for as low as ARS800 a day. I think ARS1,000 would be a good gauge when renting a car, just go shopping along the main roads of Bariloche and there are heaps of car rental companies. There's also free kilometers on the car from the company I chose. I would advise to go prepared with all the lakes on your GoogleMaps or Maps.me as some lakes are not as obvious. Nonetheless, there are plenty of places to stop and enjoy the lakes on the road. Last piece of advice is if you head double backing like I do, take a detour into Villa Traful back to Bariloche. That's the eighth lake, although it's not part of Siete Lagos. But take note that the roads are not paved and you're going to need more time to drive through the gravel roads.Alain de Botton - Here's a plug for his book that I would recommend to everyone, regardless if you enjoy travelling or not. The Art of Travel. I think there's even a video commentary on YouTube for you lazy f***s. PucónHostel - I'm not exactly sure where the hostel I stayed was. This is the rough location that I marked on my map since it's not on GoogleMaps, it's called Backpacker's Hostel, generic I know. Look for Claudio whose the owner, it's CLP5,000 a night. Parque Nacional Huerquehue - That's the national park I was talking about. Take a bus at 8am in the morning from terminal next to Jac Bus Terminal. The bus company is called "Carbugua" which incidentally goes to Carbugua, the entrance of the national park. The morning bus will provide you with ample time to make a loop around Los Lagos Trail and back in time to catch the return bus to Pucón.Termas Geométricas - Definitely recommend this place after a day of hiking to relax those tired muscles. There are several other hot springs in the area but I don't think they are anywhere as good as the one here. SantiagoMotorcycles - Recently, there was a new law that requires non-residents to find a "sponsor" in order to obtain a RUT number. Before you could just rock up to the Servicio de Impuestos Internos and get one on the spot. Now, there's an extra step to get a local to notarise a document before making the application. A decent Chinese bike will go for around CLP1,000,000 to CLP1,200,000, and the shops are located along Lira Street. You'll be able to tour South America easily with a 250cc dual-sport bike. View of the city from Cerro Santa Lucia ValparaísoAscension - Apart from the tonnes of street art for you to explore. Ascensions are a great way to take a short-cut up the steep inclines of the city! MendozaWine Tour - First, take a tram from the city to Guitiérrez station and you'll be in Maipú where there is a string of bicycle rental shops. At the station, there is an tourist information booth where you'll find all the bodegas and olive farms around the area. It's not possible to visit all of them, so your choice would eventually depend on recommendations, costs, and distance. As I've mentioned in the podcast, I visited Bodegas López, Bodega Stocco de Viani, and Casa El Enemigo. The first bodega is a massive commercial one, the second, a small-scale family run winery, and the third, a super hipster one. López is free, the Stocco de Viani cost ARS50, and Casa El Enemigo cost ARS195 for the cheapest wine tasting (3 types of wine). I highly recommend El Enemigo as the guides are really good and the theme surrounding it makes it a wonderful trip around the bodega and great wine as well! There is also an organic winery which is popular although I didn't visit it. SaltaAround Salta - There is not a lot to do in Salta itself except for one museum, MAAM Museum, which houses one of three naturally preserved mummies from the old Incan Empire. Otherwise, most of the attractions lie outside of Salta such as Salinas Grande and Pumamarca. My maté set! San Pedro de AtacamaStargazing - I walked to Pucará de Quitor and sat just outside of the entrance to stargaze. It was a great spot to stargaze from. Otherwise down south along Rio San Pedro or Rio Vilama are great places to stargaze just 30mins from town!Road Trip - Our road trip started in Laguna Tuyajto which is slightly further away from Piedras Rojas. From the lagoon, we worked out way back towards San Pedro, first stopping in Piedras Rojas. Then there are several other lagoons to check out before hitting Salar de Atacama. Bolivian Visa - The Bolivian consulate is not found on GoogleMaps, but here is the location. First you need to prepare the application form which can be found here. The link provided is different because I lost the link, but at the bottom of the website you can find it, same same but different. You need to print the form which you complete online, along with a passport photo. I scanned mine into the form, I'm not sure if you can hand them in separately. At the consulate, you get a receipt to pay for the visa, USD30 for Singaporeans, at BCI bank down the street from Av. Latorre. Once you've paid, return to the consulate and hand all the documents in. Then you have to wait till 6pm to collect your passport with the Bolivian Visa. One important thing to note is that Singaporeans have to pay to extend their 30-days visa whereas other countries (e.g. EU) can simply extend them for free. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I hope it gets you thinking about your next trip to South America or some other parts of the world. If you have any questions feel free to contact me! Or leave a comment or suggestion, I would love to hear them! In the next episode, I will be talking about my trip in Bolivia! So stay tuned!