South America travel

CiaranBM

Hi, I'm planning a trip to SA some time in 2015. I plan on working with a rainforest conservation in Ecuador for a month. I am leaving my job of 5 years so I have a good bit of cash behind me. I plan on doing a further 2 months traveling.

I will be traveling on my own, starting in Quito, Ecuador and plan on getting as many countries under my belt as I can without rushing through them. If anyone has any advice on travelling between countries in the region by train, bus or car I'd appreciate it. Any advise in terms of visas, hostels, activities and anything else that would be great.
Cheers.

dory

Pick up a Lonely Planet book or start reading travel blogs. There's loads of info out there. Trains are almost non existent and expensive. So you'll be landing in Quito, getting a bus to next place, finding a place to stay and bus to next place. Other than that it's just a case of researching the countries to see where you want to go.

CiaranBM

Ill check them out. Cheers.

tinpib

Yep get South America on a shoestring for starters from Lonely Planet.

General rule of thumb is value for money is important so go to the cheaper countries. Bolivia is amazing and cheap, Colombia is pretty cheap too.

Also a big one is to learn as much Spanish as possible between now and then.

Will make a massive difference. Not just to make your experience better talking to locals but many people even in tourism, bus companies and taxi drivers for example, won't speak English, so it can be essential.

Meathlass

Learn Spanish - will save you a fortune

Bus it everywhere

No problem crossing borders

International flights are very expensive. Intra-country flights can be good value but the scenary is stunning so I bussed it everywhere.

If you plan on going to Chile/Argentina make sure you don't go in their Winter season as it will impede travel.

Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum is excellent

With 2 months to travel I think Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and flying out of Buenos Aires or Santiago is feasible. Just about!

Dub_Steve

If you get a chance I'd recommend Brazil. I went to Rio, Paraty (sp??) Bonito, and also stayed in the jungle called the pantanal. One of the best times of my life

sarkozy

In terms of guide-books, I really found Footprints guides on South America the best. While I'm a big fan of Rough Guides and also positively disposed towards Lonely Planet, for some reason their books just seemed more out of date when it came to SA compared to Footprints.

There are lots of SA discussions in this forum alone. Search for these. Buses are they way to travel in SA, really. In Perú, you have the choice between luxury (supercama) buses and regular people's buses. Same in Argentina and Uruguay. You have something similar in Bolívia, but the standard of buses is so variable that you nearly always need to go for the reputable companies for safety. Buses are quite good at making sure people's luggage doesn't get stolen, but stay vigilant.

Do consider your route in relation to summer/wintertime, and you don't need to go overboard weighing yourself down with thermals until you need them. You'll pick these up along the way.

I would highly recommend learning some Spanish, if you can't speak it already. I got the Michel Thomas introduction to Spanish and, while mine was very basic, it got us through some situations.

SanfranCal

I recently found a website which I think is great for travelers.

It is Wiki Travel.org (wikitravel.org), as in Wikipedia.

Why I like this website is that it is loaded with information.

Of particular interest, is that they always include a section on Crime or Safety.

It is easy to use. Just put in the city. I just tested it putting in Quito,
and the results generated paragraphs/information on Crime, Con Artists, Drugs, and Police.

cson

Wikitravel is great for an overview but bear in mind it's the same as Wikipedia - i.e. user uploaded. So nothing is verified and its opinion (as is any travel book; but Lonely Planet et al have standards and a reputation to uphold).