My next adventure is South America with my 21-year-old daughter starting in February 2015.
I exhausted the rest of my frequent flyer miles to book an American Airlines flight from St. Louis laying over in Dallas, Texas, DFW and scheduled to arrive the following morning in Buenos Aires EZE. Maggie assures me she'll meet me at Buenos Aires' national airport AEP flying in from somewhere else, maybe Peru or Bolivia possibly. Then Argentina's national airline, Aerolineas, will sweep us both off to El Calafate in Patagonia. I've reserved a hostel for six nights in El Calafate, four in Torres del Paine, Chile. Then we fly back to Buenos Aires before transferring to GOL Airlines for a midnight flight to Salvador, Brazil, for five days of Carnaval, then six days on the beaches north of the coastal city. We fly back to Buenos Aires and after that, no plans. Just a general idea to spend some time in Buenos Aires for the Tango festival before heading to Mendoza for the Wine Festival. Or maybe watch orcas eat baby seals on the beaches of Peninsula Valdes, who knows.
I'm scheduled to return to the states mid-March, but I'm tempted to extend my trip and will wait to see if the mood strikes me. And if I'm not broke by then. I'm researching my options in Peru and Bolivia. Machu Picchu, the Amazon and Lake Titicaca.
Reservations, entry fees, flights within Argentina and beyond
For South America I've made some necessary reservations for areas most heavily impacted by tourism (summer in Patagonia, Carnaval in Salvador) but I'm leaving the tail end of the trip flexible for now.
This trip requires some paperwork. My passport is still good until April 2016, so smooth sailing there. Argentina charges a $160 USD reciprocity fee of Americans in response to the US' $160 fee for Argentinian tourists to visit. But that's a couple of clicks online and a printout prior to leaving for the airport. Chile, Peru and Bolivia charge their appropriate fees and stamp your passport when you cross the border. Then I researched obtaining a Brazilian Tourist Visa: that's a horse of a different color.
Challenges for arranging your Brazilian Tourist Visa depend on where you live
I wound up on the website for the Brazilian consulate in Washington D.C., which has recently refused to accept mailed Visa applications (along with San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston) but would accept your paperwork through third-party agencies. Frighteningly enough, some of the consulates in this country appear to not even accept applications from third-party agencies, requiring applicants to apply IN PERSON BY APPOINTMENT. Yikes.
Mistakenly following the recommendations by the Washington D..C. consulate, I embarked on a wild goose internet chase to find a reasonably priced, reputable "agency" to grope my precious passport. Prices ranged from $80 USD and up. Adding that to the $160 USD payable to the Brazilian consulate, I started to steam as I calculated the cost of this jaunt, what with the additional airfare and outrageously priced lodging due to Carnaval. The agency service fee to process my Visa request almost broke this camel's back.
Then I discovered that I live in the Chicago consulate jurisdiction, and those wonderful folks are still accepting mailed Visa applications. Thanks! Only the Brazilian consulate in Connecticut joins Chicago in providing this tourist-friendly option.
After that revelation, along with gathering the necessary documents, photos, proof of residency, DNA sample (just kidding) etc, and shelling out another $40 for Express mail postage to and fro, I was ready to ship off my precious cargo. Then another fear struck me. I read in various travel forums and different internet searches that Brazil required the Visa-holder to enter the country within 90 days of obtaining the Visa or else it would be null and void. Well. I'm not a procrastinator when it comes to trip planning, and I was more than four months (120) days out from entering Brazil. Should I slip the package in the mailbox or not?
I e-mailed the Brazilian consulate in Chicago. They suggested I read their website. The website at the time ticked off a list of countries that required the 90-day entry rule. The US was not listed, but I wanted to double check.
Then on a travel forum thread, I tried to clarify and after several replies that hardly answered my question, I finally received a few posts that explicitly stated that Brazil had dropped the 90-day entry rule for US passport holders. I mailed the package.
On the other hand, my daughter is definitely a procrastinator.She packed for one year in Argentina the day before she flew to Buenos Aires from Kansas City. So, I sent her an e-mail requesting she get it together, knowing her 120-day window would slide shut without my motherly nudges. And she's currently studying in Mendoza, Argentina, so I had no idea what hoops the Brazilian consulate would spring on her. After we flung back and forth half-a dozen e-mails, she informed me that Mendoza had its own Brazilian consulate and she visited with an agent who told her "no problema," but she could not apply at that time because she had only a 90-day entry window after receiving her Visa. So now that I have my Brazilian Visa stamped into my passport and my arrival in Brazil 120 days out ... I give up.