What are these places like, prices, people, weather etc?

Question

I'm going to be going to either Argentina, Boliva, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecudor and Guatemala for somewhere between 3 and 6 months.

In each of the places I will stay somewhere to learn spanish before moving into somewhere else, I have no choice in where I go after (except for chile)

Argentina stay in Buenos Aires for 2 weeks.

Bolivia stay in Sucre for 4 weeks, I will also have to stay a night in La Paz before going to Sucre.

Brazil stay in Sao Paulo or Rio Janeiro for 4 weeks.

Costa Rica arrive in San Jose and language classes in Carrillos for 4 weeks, the visas look awkward for here.

Ecuador 4 weeks in Quito.

Guatemala stay in or around Antigua, Coban or Tactic for 4 weeks.

Chile stay in Santiago for two weeks then I have a choice of going to Iquique, Copiapo, Concepcion, Temuco or Chaiten.

I have other factors to concider then what will be in the answers here, I'm am just looking to see what it's like, most important is the prices, don't change it to USdollors I'm not american

Answer 1

the question you are asking is like asking what Europe is like (kinda hard to give a good snapshot of that!) i can tell you that generally the southern part of the continent (Argentina,Chile, southern Brazil) is much more developed than the other countries. I really thought Bolivia was cool.

Answer 2

These are a lot of question to answer!   I suggest that you consult with a travel agent or go to the internet sites specifically for each country and city and look up the current information you need.  No one can help you with the price other than US Dollars or English Pounds or Euros  because we don't know where you're from!!

Answer 3

It would require a small book to answer your questions as you have stated them.  The best adivce is to get the best books on the countries regarding travel along with considerable study on the internet on sites like this and others.

I got a suggestion from one of the other portions of this web site that referred me to www.virtualtourist.com and I thought it was great.   I'm going to some of the same places you mentioned and I found the information especially useful.  Try it out and I'm sure you will agree.

Answer 4

When it comes to prices, you can eat at good restaurants for about 20-30 reais. I don't know about hotel ratings. In general it's cheap if you come from somewhere with strong currency like dollars, euros, pounds .

People in Rio (cariocas) are more friendly and easy going then paulistanos (São Paulo city residents). Rio is great for its beauty, warm weather, wonderful beaches, and beautiful people.

São Paulo is home to business, cultural life, diverse food and people (chinese, bolivian, peruvian, portuguese, spanish, italian, lebanese). It's quite polluted and the traffic sucks. The museums are great as well as Downtown architecture, the Ibirapuera Park and shopping malls.

Rio is so famous that i'm not going to mention its attractions.

If you can stay longer, take a look at Downtown with interesting mixed architecture, Theatre, National Museum. Santa Teresa bohemia and its tram and if you're into shopping malls go to Barra da Tijuca, West Side.

Be aware of pickpockets all the time while around here.

Enjoy Carnival if possible (Feb-March depends on the year)

As to the weather, Rio is warm and mostly sunny. Summer can be as hot as 40ºC (104F). Sao Paulo weather is made up of daily thunderstorms from November till March. They're short lived and occur moslty in the late afternoon so they don't intervene on your plans. It can be quite cold in winter ( 10C ) and rarely exceeds 31C (summer) .