South American Climate

spiderdan

I know this is a very open/ vague question, but I'm planning on traveling around South America for 6 months leaving Ireland in late Sept returning March. My plan is to fly into Cuba and then into Mexico and work my way down to Argentina flying out of BA. If anyone has any info on the type of weather from North to South America in our winter I'd be very grateful, I would consider South to North if the weather would be more favorable. I'm primarily looking for nice warm weather!!

Cheers

Ted_Bundy

Found this guide to the south american climate:

http://bptravel.tripod.com/ysameric.htm

Meathlass

spiderdan wrote: »

I know this is a very open/ vague question, but I'm planning on traveling around South America for 6 months leaving Ireland in late Sept returning March. My plan is to fly into Cuba and then into Mexico and work my way down to Argentina flying out of BA. If anyone has any info on the type of weather from North to South America in our winter I'd be very grateful, I would consider South to North if the weather would be more favorable. I'm primarily looking for nice warm weather!!

Cheers

I did quite a similar trip to you so will try and help. Remember though that temps change dramatically in each country depending on whether it's rainforest, mountain, coast or lowlands. It's a huge place. On every bus journey you'll need thermal gear as they like air conditioning over there! I bought a fleece blanket after a few days and kept it for the next 7 months, a life saver! For the month of December you should be aiming for the most southerly point as it just gets colder down there after that.

Venezuela - Sept. Very hot, but chilly at night. Eaten alive by mosquitos especially at Angel Falls. Ciudad Bolivar was high 30's every day and torrential rain at night.

Colombia - Sept/Oct Coastal regions around Carthenga and Santa Marta were very, very hot, not much of a breeze in the cities. Felt very letargic all the time. Hard to walk around and sight see. Bogota and Medillan were more managable. You'd actually need a jumper in Bogota in the evenings as it's so high it gets quite cool and often rains. Southern parts of Colombia were quite pleasant (Pasto, Poyanan)

Ecuador - Oct Quito, very high altitude, tough walking around till you acclimatise. Can be very chilly at night and often gets heavy rain. Usually very overcast because of unbelievable pollution. Coastal city of Quayaquil was high 30's with no breeze (thought I was going to die!) It's a stop off for Galapagos (pleasant climate, mid 20's as you're out on boats all day).

Peru - Nov Northern cities had a pleasant climate, t-shirt and shorts and not too cold or hot at night, some nice coastal resorts but didn't stop at any. Peru is mid 20's, very overcast and polluted though. Cusco, high in mountains so chilly (I had wool blankets at night) but ok during the day. You could get very burned but invariably it rained alot while I was there. Gorgeous weather up at Machu Pichu, beware at insects, but perfect temps for walking around, bring water, no shops up there. Arequipa was mid 20's and sunny. Puno, Lake Titicaca were pleasant during the day mid 20's with sun but chilly at night (you're up on the altiplano there so temps drop significantly at night)

Bolivia - Nov La Paz was overcast, you'd need a light jumper during the evening, rained here too. Uyuni (set off point for Salt Tours), cold during day and night, during the day on the Altiplano during the tours it's was very windy but there was sun, at 6pm the sun would drop out of the sky and temps would plummet. One night our group were so cold we all wore pretty much all the clothes in our rucksacks and all slept in the same bed, I suppose the broken glass in the window didn't help the situation.

Chile - Dec Huge differences here as country is over 2000 miles long. Northern parts are desert with temps to suit. Santiago is nice temps, mid to high 20's , good sun,not too much pollution. Pucon towards the lake district was sunny and warm during the day (sunbathing a possibility) but cool at night. Puerto Montt , miserable and overcast but not cold. Navimag ferry which brings you through the fjiords down to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (highly recommended) warm on the boat but it's cold outside with storms, great glaciers and icebergs though. Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, these are very far south and are cold and windy (dread to think what they are like during the Winter) Torres del Paine National Park (highlight of the trip) very cold and windy once you start climbing the mountains but walking around the lakes and the lowlands it was quite sunny, only windy one day but you really need to be prepared for anything. You're walking miles every day so not going to be really cold.

Argentina - Dec, Jan Southern parts are cold, windy but usually dry, probably around 8oC but wind can make it feel alot colder. Mendoza and Cordoba in the wine growing country were very hot, especially the former. You won't be able to do much but eat , drink and sunbathe. Everyone goes out around 10pm to eat. Everywhere closed from 12-5 usually. Buenos Aires (late Jan) hot mid 30's , sunny, no breeze, clear skies. Northern Argentina near the border with Paraguay, warm day and night, lots of biting insects though.

Uruguay - Feb Montevideo - mid 20's, warm at night, need fans in rooms, Didn't go to coast but was told it was good for sunbathing, popular with Argentinians. Northern Uruguay towards border with Brazil, very dusty and hot.

Paraguay - Feb Hot in the capital Asuncion and in the few border towns with Argentina that I stayed in. Bit of a dump, wouldn't bother if I was you.

Brazil - March Again a huge country and I was only in the southern part. Sao Paulo and Rio to a lesser extent are concrete jungles and very hot. Rio not too bad if you base yourself on the coast, you'll feel over dressed in your swimming shorts there. At night in the 14 bed dorm, even with 8 fans going I couldn't sleep with the heat.

Hope all that helps!

spiderdan

Thanks a million for all that info, it's really helpful, I just have to sit down now and think about it in detail, can't wait! I notice you mentioned Columbia, is it still possible to get a Visa, I was under the impression that they didn't accept Irish citizens?? Or that it was very difficult to enter, from what I hear it's many peoples favorite country to travel.

Meathlass

spiderdan wrote: »

Thanks a million for all that info, it's really helpful, I just have to sit down now and think about it in detail, can't wait! I notice you mentioned Columbia, is it still possible to get a Visa, I was under the impression that they didn't accept Irish citizens?? Or that it was very difficult to enter, from what I hear it's many peoples favorite country to travel.

Irish citizens don't need a visa anymore to enter Colombia. The respective govts. sorted it out last March. (It was very easy to get the visa anyway, just involved a trip to the embassy in London) Definately go, it's one of the best countries there, people are great and one of the safest. A hell of alot more safe than Brazil for example. The one piece of advice I'd give you is learn Spanish, I did a few evening courses and it was enough to get by. Would have been screwed otherwise though.