3 Weeks in South America: Peru, Brazil, Uruguay & Chile

[Boca68]

Yes, I would say so. It may not be Business class, but Premium Economy on Qantas is a nice way to fly. The soft product (food & very attentive, friendly service) was almost as good as J, IMHO.

I'd agree, QF Y+ is quite good. Flown it a couple of times.

I've also been to Belo Horizonte, lovely city. Not sure if you have been to Sao Luis , Matt. But worth a mention as a place were not that many foreigners get too. Beautiful Old City, originally a French City (there is still a small french speaking community), and some beautiful beaches, mostly outside the city. And a couple of small villages on the coast nearby, that are gems. Sao Joao Ribiero is one I remember.

 

[craven morehead]

Yes, I would say so. It may not be Business class, but Premium Economy on Qantas is a nice way to fly. The soft product (food & very attentive, friendly service) was almost as good as J, IMHO.

Cheers Matt appreciate the reply

 

[Mattg]

My next stop was the coastal city of Salvador!

JJ3634 Belo Horizonte – Salvador
Airbus A320
Departure time: 14:40
Arrival time: 16:18 (Actual: 17:15)


Our plane at CNF

This flight was supposed to be a mid-morning departure. But LATAM changed the departure time by 4 hours about a month beforehand. With only one flight per day on this route, there wasn't much I could do about it.

We left the gate just a few minutes late, but after taxiing out to the runway we had to turn around and return to the gate. I still don't know why – an announcement was made, but only in Portuguese! We sat at the gate for nearly an hour before taxiing back to the runway and departing.

The flight was otherwise fine. We flew over Salvador at sunset on approach to the airport:

 

[Mattg]

I really enjoyed Salvador. It was an excellent place to spend a few days. If you're looking for a fun, tourist-friendly city that isn't Rio, then I would definitely recommend it.

I stayed in Barra, a trendy neighbourhood full of great restaurants and bars. It was also right on the beach!

(These photos were taken just after sunset):




Barra Lighthouse:



The historic centre of Salvador was about an hour away from Barra by foot, or 15 minutes by bus or taxi. It was a beautiful part of the city, and in fact in some parts I almost felt like I was in Portugal.

 

[Mattg]

Perhaps the most iconic landmark in Salvador is the Elevador Lacerda, a giant public elevator that transports people between the historic centre and port below:



The cost per ride was 15 centavos, or around 6 Aussie cents. This was the view from the top:



At the bottom of the elevator there was a market that overlooks the harbour.

 

[Mattg]

It was winter in Brazil, but you wouldn't have known it in Salvador. Most days were 30 degrees, humid and sunny - perfect beach weather!

I made a day trip to Praia do Forte, a beach roughly 50km to the north of Salvador. Praia do Forte was beautiful, but not so great for swimming at as the water there is full of rocks.




Guarajuba beach however, which was just 15 minutes down the road, was excellent for swimming.



The beachside seafood restaurant at Guarajuba was incredible... I had one of the best meals of the trip there. My favourite dish was something called Moqueca, a kind of spicy stew with seafood and various local accompaniments.



The restaurant also served delicious lobster...

 

[Mattg]

One of the things I love about Brazil is just how different each of the various regions are. This includes the food. In the state of Minas Gerais (where Belo Horizonte is the capital), beans and rice are a staple of every meal. One of the most common dishes is feijoada:



This was a buffet lunch in Minas Gerais:



In the state of Bahia (where Salvador is), spicy food is much more common. While cities in the south of Brazil, such as Porto Alegre, are known for their churrascarias where all kinds of meat are served.

 

[Mattg]

Salvador's airport is not close to the city centre and the transport links to the airport are not great. As I had an early flight out, I thought it would be a good idea to stay at an airport hotel on my final night.

While I was at the airport hotel I tried to order room service for dinner. This proved to be more of a challenge than I expected as none of the staff spoke a word of English! I somehow managed to order in broken Portuguese and, much to my surprise, the meal I ordered did actually turn up. There was just one minor problem – apparently I inadvertently asked for the meat to be cooked "extra well done". My steak was a lump of charcoal...

I rocked up to the airport the next morning with 20 minutes before check-in for my flight closed. The LATAM check-in queue was out of this world!

It's moments like these that remind me of the value of oneworld status. There was nobody in the oneworld priority queue, and I was served there straight away. Without access to a priority queue, I would have almost certainly missed the flight.

JJ3179 Salvador – Sao Paulo (Guarulhos)
Airbus A321
Departure time: 08:02
Arrival time: 10:30

This was another uneventful flight. The usual snack & drink were offered:



After 2 and a half hours in the air I was back in Sao Paulo. This would just be a short stay of one night though and I spent the afternoon with a friend there.

I did get a chance to have a quick look around the city.




There was some sort of pre-Olympics celebration in Liberdade, the Japanese neighbourhood of Sao Paulo...

 

[Mattg]

Sadly, Sao Paulo was my final stop in Brazil.

Each time I visit Brazil, I fall in love with it just a little bit more. The Brazilian people are some of the friendliest, happiest people in the world and they certainly know how to have fun! There's so much to see, from the country's natural beauty, to its beaches and manmade landmarks. The food is great, with so much variety depending on which part of the country you're in. It's also a highly tolerant country, where anyone and everyone can feel welcome. And despite what you may hear on the news, I don't think I've ever felt unsafe there.

Sure, it may not be the wealthiest country in the world, the infrastructure isn't great and the levels of government corruption are questionable. But there's just something about Brazil that will continue to draw me back!

 

[Mattg]

On my way back to Chile I decided to stopover for a few days in Montevideo, Uruguay. While researching flights, I found that it was roughly the same price to return to Chile via either Buenos Aires or Montevideo (compared to flying direct). I chose Montevideo as I figured that I'd be more easily able to return to Buenos Aires in the future, especially now that Air New Zealand flies there.

My flight to Montevideo departed from Guarulhos Airport at 8.30am. Now, that may sound like a perfectly reasonable departure time - but not in Sao Paulo! I had to get up at 4am just to reach the airport before check-in closed.

I took the first metro at 5am to Tietê bus station, in the hope of making the Airport Express bus at 5.45am. When I arrived at the bus station at 5.30 I proceeded directly to the ticket office. There were no staff in sight. As the departure time got closer, the long line of disgruntled passengers gave up waiting and headed directly to the bus. The driver didn't know what to do as nobody had a ticket. Thankfully the traffic wasn't bad at 6am on a Sunday morning and we made it to the airport a little after 6.30am.

As I'd done for all my other TAM flights, I requested a front row or exit seat at check-in. On this occasion (and only this occasion!) I was informed that these seats were only available for free to Black LATAM Pass members and that I would have to pay US$45 to sit there on the ~2.5 hour flight. Needless to say, I declined. As it happens, every single front row and exit row seat remained empty!

There are no lounges available to oneworld status flyers (nor is Business class available) when flying around Brazil on domestic flights. But there are lounges when you fly internationally from one of the major airports. In Sao Paulo there are two oneworld lounges available in the international departures area; a LATAM VIP Lounge and an Admirals Club. Some quick research suggested that the LATAM lounge was the better option, so I headed there first. It was so nice that I didn't even bother heading next door to check out the American lounge.

The LATAM lounge in Sao Paulo would have to be one of the nicest in South America! In fact, it reminded me of the Qantas lounge in Hong Kong. It has a bar, dining area, (very nice) showers, a sleeping room and even a meeting area. There perhaps wasn't quite as much variety of food available as in the Qantas Hong Kong lounge, but it was a very decent lounge in most other respects.





Sao Paulo is a bit of a hub, so there was plenty of plane spotting available...

 

[Mattg]

Flight: JJ8046 Sao Paulo (Guarulhos) – Montevideo
Airbus A320
Departure time: 08:30
Arrival time: 11:10

There were 3 TAM flights to Montevideo running on this particular day. One left at 8.30am, another at 8.35am and a third flight at 9.20pm. Both of the morning flights were A320s - why TAM didn't just combine the flights and run a wide-body aircraft is beyond me...

This flight was full but otherwise pleasant. The usual snack and drink were served, but being an international flight there were actually two snack options. The second option was an exciting development, although the options were just as underwhelming as usual - either a croissant or a muffin. Chocolates were also handed out at the conclusion of the meal service.

As we cruised over southern Brazil, I looked out the window and couldn't help noticing the resemblance to a familiar sight - or site, rather!

This was my view:



Now, where have I seen that before?

 

[Mattg]

Montevideo has a modern new airport terminal but only four aerobridges. We arrived at a stand-off bay and had to be bussed into the terminal.

The immigration formalities were entirely painless – the staff were friendly, there were no forms to fill out and as an Australian I did not need a visa. I wasn't even asked a single question. Once my fingerprints were taken I was free to enter the country!

There are only two ways to get from Montevideo to the city: bus or taxi. Taxis are pretty expensive, so I decided to give the local bus a try. The fare was about $2. It was an interesting albeit rather slow trip on an old Chinese-made bus...

Honestly, I found Montevideo a little weird – but I mean that in the nicest possible way! The city is very liberal, and I'd say a bit bohemian. It's full of street art, and the locals seemed very laid-back. Although, unlike most cities that match this description, the coffee there was diabolically bad!

I had arrived on a Sunday, and the city was a ghost town! It felt almost eerie walking around a city of supposedly 1.5 million people (which is half the entire population of Uruguay, by the way) and seeing barely any movement on the streets...





I asked a few people if this was normal, and they said it was normal for the weekend but that the city was usually bustling during the week. So, I was quite surprised to head out on Monday morning and find the exact same thing – the city was still a ghost town! Turns out that, by pure coincidence, that Monday was Uruguay's independence day and therefore a public holiday. (That would explain it!)

I went for a long walk on the first afternoon along the beachfront. I can imagine this would be a great place to be in summer – but it was winter, and it was way too cold to go swimming.

 

[Mattg]

To be completely honest, I spent that first afternoon wondering why I'd bothered to visit. There was quite literally nothing going on. But my perceptions of Uruguay changed completely over the two days that followed, and I actually had a really good time!

I made friends with some Argentinians at the hostel where I was staying, and we headed out to a street party on the Sunday night.

Once a week, drummers parade through the streets of Montevideo accompanied by a crowd of dancing people. The style of drumming is known as "candombe". The crowd was full of happy people and the atmosphere was fantastic!




The festivities continued when the drummers concluded their march with a live jazz concert. Entire blocks were closed off as hundreds took to the streets to join the party.



The following day I joined an English-speaking walking tour and saw some of the highlights of the city while learning a bit about Uruguay, its history and its culture. This was great as I knew almost nothing about Uruguay prior to this trip!

The main square:

 

[kevrosmith]

Great TR mattg. You almost tempt me to consider a trip to South America :shock:

 

[Mattg]

Various other highlights from around Montevideo...



The Rolling Stones had their own "sun" (a national symbol) in the old part of town...






I noticed that the city seemed to be sponsored by McDonalds. There were Maccas flags everywhere. Every single street sign also included some sort of advertisement.

 

[Mattg]

For me, one of the best things about visiting a country for the first time is getting a chance to try the local food. Uruguay was no exception.

I had an excellent lunch with some friends I'd just met at the Mercado del Puerto...




We ordered the Brasero, which is basically a stack of barbequed meat. It was absolutely delicious. (This picture was taken after we'd already consumed half the stack!)



Here's how the meat is cooked:



This was accompanied by a few glasses of "Medio y Medio", a refreshing and slightly sweet blend of champagne and a local white wine.

Another local specialty I tried was the chivito, a burger with beef, cheese, tomato, bacon, ham, fried egg, olives and mayonnaise. Empanadas were also commonly available, but Montevideo is the only place I've found a dulce de leche empanada.

You wouldn't want to be vegetarian though in Uruguay – the menu is totally dominated by meat.

 

[Mattg]

One thing I wasn't expecting to find in Montevideo was so much street art. But it was everywhere, and by & large it looked great.





By Tuesday, Montevideo had more or less returned to normal. The streets were finally full of activity! It also just so happened that I was leaving.

I underestimated this city. If you ever get the chance to visit, I would recommend that you do. Although, I would probably suggest visiting in summer. And, if possible, try to avoid weekends, public holidays and the terrible coffee.

 

[Mattg]

My next flight took me back to Santiago. This would be my third time passing through the airport in 3 weeks, but the first time I'd actually left it. I spent a final few days in Chile before returning to Australia.

In Montevideo I used the VIP Club lounge. This wasn't a bad lounge – there were plenty of comfortable chairs, a variety of food and drink options and fast wifi. Although, I was pretty unimpressed with the showers. There was a shower in the men's bathroom but the door wouldn't close or lock properly. They also didn't have any towels available when I asked.

Flight: LA901 Montevideo – Santiago
Airbus A320
Departure time: 13:20
Arrival time: 15:00



This flight was about as uneventful as they get. The only thing slightly out of the ordinary was that the cabin crew were asked to prepare the cabin for landing an hour before touchdown, and the crew were seated for landing more than 30 minutes out. The announcement said that this was because we were expecting turbulence once again as we flew over the Andes.

We arrived a few minutes early, but had to disembark onto buses. The trip to the terminal took forever and ate into all of the time gained by arriving early...

I had to pay the US$117 "reciprocity fee" this time as I was entering Chile. As far as I could tell, the only people who need to pay this are Australians and Mexicans, although the fee for Mexicans is much lower. They do take credit cards. You can also pay in cash, but the US dollar bills need to be in perfect condition. I can imagine that the queues must be pretty long if you're arriving on a plane full of Australians (e.g. on the Qantas flight). This wasn't a problem for me though - coming from Uruguay, I was the only person on my flight that had to pay the fee.

 

[Mattg]

I met up with another AFF'er in Santiago and we made a day trip to Valparaíso. This colourful coastal city is around 90 minutes from Santiago by bus.

 

[Mattg]