6 months from Cancun to Buenos Aires

HarryD

Hi Guys,

Thinking of taking 6 months out.
Flying into Cancun and outta Buenos Aires 6 months later.
Any suggestions on what to catch on the way.
My plan is head overland to Panama, boat to Columbia,
land to Equador (if possible), Galapagos, then on to Peru,
to catch matchu pitchu, then to the east coast for Rio,
Iguazu Falls.
Also I'd like to catch Bolivia at some stage.
Any suggestions/ideas on places to checkout?
I'm mainly interested in nature stuff over temples..etc
Any ideas on getting from west coast to east?

TIA,
HD

Neamhshuntasach

It's doable if you didn't spend too long in Central America. It's quite small and since you aren't overly into seeing ruins and such you can skip over remoter places like Tikal.

You could go down the coast from Cancun and cross into Belize. There's a cool beach place in Caye Caulker on the northern coast and you can do river boat trips through swamps and mangroves on the west coast. You could go to Flores in Guatemala or continue down through Belize and take the boat from Punta Gorda to Puerto Barrios. From there it's an easy trip towards Guatemala City. Although this area floods a lot during hurricane season. Antigua is worth a stop off in. From this cool mountain town you can climb volcán Pacaya. It's active and at times you can see lava. Also from this town it is easy to get to Lago Atitlán and Semuc Champey. One of the most amazing natural sites i've ever seen. El Salvador is a country that is often skipped but is worth a visit. Lots of mountains if you are looking for nature. And also guerilla trails. You can travel into Honduras from there. Gracias and Tela are cool towns to stop off in. The big cities are heavily Americanized. Big fast food signs everywhere. There are also so nice islands off the cost, The Bay Islands. Utilia and Roatan are the cheapest in the world for diving. From Tegus it's easy to get to Nicaragua. Granda is a nice colonial town close to Volcanoes and lakes. Also Ometepe in Lago de Nicaragua isn't too far. An island formed by 2 volcanoes. You can climb one of them. Then San Juan del Sur is a laid back beach town. The Costa Rican border isn't far from there. It's a bit of trek to get to but you'd have to head south anyways. So Monteverde/La Fortuna are well worth the traveling to. They are up in the mountains and central Americas most active Volcano, Arenal is close by. You can go view that but is cloudy most days. This whole area is surrounded by rain forrests and you can do zip lining here and water sports, etc. A real out door type of place. But expensive. All that's left then is Panama. Not overly too much in the north. David and Boquete are cool. As is Bocas del Toro. Again this whole area can be badly flooded during hurricane season. Mainly Sept - Nov. Panama city is nice and the panama canel is probably the most facisnating but yet boring thing you will ever see. But still worth it for the i was there factor. At mamallena or Luna's castle you can find out info about sailings to Colombia. They all stop at the San Blas islands. Amazing postcard type places. The seas are really rough from around October/November till the end of January. I mean there will be huge swells and heavy listing. So if you aren't the best of sea passengers flying might be the better option. Anyways nearly all the better sailors don't come that far south around that time of year.

Colombia is really easy to travel through. If you arrive in Cartagena you could go up to Santa Marta and do Ciudad Perdida. It's a week long trek through jungle, sleeping in hammocks every night kind of experience. But you also take in the lost city. Parque Tayrona isn't far either. Has some nice coast line and plenty of stuff for nature lovers. I love Colombia and there is so much to do. But since you may be pushed for time you may want to skip over the bigger cities or not spend too long in them. All the roads are connected well and easy to get around. Manizales is worth stopping off in. You can spend some time on a coffee plantation. There are plenty of towns like this around that region so you could pick one. I liked Cali but while heading down that way you could go to Popayan and then into Ecuador. There is a big market in Otavalo and then Quito isn't too far from there. Galapagos trips can be organized from most hostels. Also there are Mountains, cable cars, Equator, Cotopaxi and a few other things are all within a few hours or less. The country is quite small compared to Colombia. There are some party towns on the coast like Montanita or you could check out the Amazon basin at Tena or Coca. Heading south you will reach Peru. I reckon Machi Picchu will be your main interest here. You'd have to book the traditional one in advance and can be hard to stick to a timeline. I have done that one and one called the jungle trek where you cycle and trek and still do parts of an Inca trail. That can literally be booked the night before and is much cheaper. There are lots of other stuff to do in Peru such as sandboarding in Huanchaco. There are also the Ballestos Islands, referred to as the poor mans Galapagos. Lago Titicaca is cool as well. From Puno you can head across to Boliva. La Paz is a few hours from Copacabana. You'll probably use La Paz as your Hub since it serves most routes. Heading up north to Rurrenabaque is worth it. But if you've had your fill of jungles you could head south the Potosí mines, then the salt flats in Salar de Uyuni. And there is always the world's most dangerous road in La Paz. There are also Che Guevara trails out west not too far from the Brazil border. You'd go to Santa Cruz first and then on to Vallegrande. A train ruins to the Brazilan border. The Pantanal is around this region. Then it would be a long bus ride to Rio. Then another one down to Iguazu. You'd cross into Argentina here and overnight it down to Buenos Aires.

I left out a lot of stuff and only included what could be worth doing since you said you prefer nature things over ruins/temples etc. But the above is one possible route although you will find yourself having to move along quick enough as it is huge ground to cover. I've 2 mates that done the same as you are planning and they had to skip so much. Granted they only had 5 months but missed out on a lot of what they wanted to do. You'll just need to figure out what you really wanna see and plan accordingly.

HarryD

Thanks for the detailed reply Neamhshuntasach.
One thing I didn't think would be an issue was time,
but it seems 6 months might not be enough..
I think any longer and I'd be gettin fed up of living outta a rugsack.

I went for 7 months and that was enough but being totally honest, I could have stayed in Australia or New Zealand for years...

Neamhshuntasach

HarryD wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed reply Neamhshuntasach.
One thing I didn't think would be an issue was time,
but it seems 6 months might not be enough..
I think any longer and I'd be gettin fed up of living outta a rugsack.

Ah it will well be enough to cover the ground. Even if you do it all overland. It's wise to try not see everything and then find out you are running outta time at some stage. There are lots of places you turn up to only planning to spend 2 nights and you end up staying a week or leave wishing you could stay a week. You can fly through Central America because you can do a lot of the same stuff in South America. But Guatemala is a country well worth spending some time in.

Balmed Out

Went to yucatan belize and guatemala this summer of those 3 countries id recommend the following. After your trip to cancun you may consider stopping in tulum on the way to the belize border. We did this summer and while its a beautifull spot it was full of completely empty hotels. Pretty dead and kind of felt weird. Caye caulker is a great place to do some snorkelling and just to relax. San Ignacio is the base of operations in the west of belize for some outdoor pursuity style things. Stop if you want but most things are available for less in Guatemala. Florres is a cool chilled out island / town and the jump off point for tikal. Id disagree and think tikal is a must do especially when your passing right by. Yes its a temple but can you go to cambodia and not do ankor wat, egypt and he pyramids etc. Also if your a Star wars fan it really is a must. Head south to coban for white water rafting, zip linning, Semuc Champey etc and then through (wouldnt bother stopping) guatemala city to antigua. Make sure to climb the volcanoe, a bicth on way up and a bastrad on way down but reall amazing to cook marshmallows over a lava stream. If you fancy chilling out head on to lake atitlan which is beautiful and i loved but maybe not a must do.
gluck