Tips for South America (Colombia, Peru, Chile)

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  Hardlyworkin on 26/08/2023 - 10:25

  Almost every person that has ever been to South America tries to bite off more than hey can chew first time.

  If you're on a budget then maybe leave Chile for another day. It's an easy direct flight from Australia. Well it was pre Covid anyway. Colombia and Peru, maybe Ecuador in between depending on political situation. You can see so many varied environments between those countries.

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  Brian McGee on 26/08/2023 - 17:19

  +1

  Depending on the time you have the Inca trail is 5 days of camping and at altitude 2.5-3.5km ASL.
  That means the rest of your trip will have to be done in 3 weeks, I hope you’re young, fit and like the outdoors/tenting.

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  dasher86 on 26/08/2023 - 19:04

  +1

  You need to book in advance for the Inca trail.

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  Hamlet on 26/08/2023 - 23:46

  Hey, I live in South America and have been to Mexico too.

  One thing you have to realise is that South America is huge, nevermind Latin America. Mexico to Santiago is also a big journey — not as big as Australia to the Americas, but it would be like going from Melbourne to Taiwan. Furthermore, despite its size, the region is not as well connected as Asia, especially if you want to fly cheap. For example, there is no 'cheap' budget direct flights from Mexico City to Lima, Peru.

  The other thing to keep in mind is also your budget. In general, South America has a higher cost of living than Southeast Asia, as a reference. Depending on which country you go to, I feel like it can easily be twice as expensive. Colombia is the cheapest, but even then, it isn't cheaper than Thailand. While I can backpack around Thailand on $50/day, it would cost me $100-$150/day for Mexico (especially touristy places like Yucatan), $100/day for Peru, and $150/day for Chile — especially if you want to enjoy experiences and pay for tours/tickets.

  If you want to tick off as many boxes as possible, you'd be hurrying from one place to another and while that's fine for maybe 2 weeks, I'm not sure if it's sustainable over 4-6 weeks. As an example, I did Chile in 2-weeks back in 2019. I flew to Santiago (3 days), then to Puerto Montt to access Chiloe Island/National Park (3 days), then to Puerto Natales to get to Torres Del Paine National Park (5 days), then up to Calama for the Atacama Desert (4 days) before heading back to Santiago to return to Australia. I had to pre-book most of everything, especially the Torres Del Paine entry and camping tickets way in advance as it was extremely popular and there were daily limits for accommodation sites.

  If you are happy to do something like this — as in, pre-book and pre-plan most of your trip — that is probably fine. I felt my trip was quite tight but I was also happy because I got to see the major Chilean sites — and wow, they were beautiful and worth it. I highly recommend Torres Del Paine haha. South America is big so you'd have to fly between places — especially since you have a set amount of time to tick off so many places. Personally, I'd still suggest to change your flights so you fly into Chile from Australia as it's faster and saves the Mexico to Chile flight(s). You could do two weeks in Chile, 10 days in Peru (Lima, Cusco -> Machu Picchu), and then 2 weeks in Colombia (Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena). If you want to cover more ground since you're this far from Australia, you can also visit La Paz and Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia. Chile, Peru and Colombia are way more connected between them than Mexico and these Andes countries. Note that you should probably read more about the Inca trail and book your tour in advance as there are daily limits for the trek.

  The alternative could simply be that if you're flying into Mexico, just stay in Mexico and explore the country. Mexico offers pretty much everything — archeological sites, city-life, temperate rainforests, coastal areas, tropical areas, deserts, cenotes! It's no coincidence that it's one of the most visited countries in the world, after all. If you're keen to explore more than Mexico, you can also get to Guatemala and check out hike up ones of their many active volcanoes.

  Hope this all helps somewhat. Lastly, I'm not sure how good your Spanish is but it would be good for you to start learning the basics. Outside of major touristy sites like Cusco, English is not widely spoken in the continent. Even Santiago, one of the most developed cities in Latin American, isn't exactly English-friendly.

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    Jatacid on 27/08/2023 - 11:39

    gracias Hamlet!

    Yeah based on a few people's advice I think I'm going to just fly into Mexico (day of the dead festival) and then not bother with colombia/Peru - just do Chile & maybe Argentina border hops or tours.

    How did you traverse around Chile? Between Puerto Montt/ Puerto Natales/Calama? Just domestic flights? Or did you sit on long busses?

    I'm guessing you did the W trek - did you wish you could have done the O trek instead?

    • 

      Hamlet on 28/08/2023 - 03:29

      No worries. Yeah, I flew on domestic flights (LATAM and SKY) in Chile. The bus rides were not worth it as the places I went to were all so far from one another and I only had 2 weeks. Flights are also relatively cheap when taking into account the time you save.

      Yeah, I did the W trek. It was great! And no, haha, I was pretty exhausted just doing the W trek. It was cold as well (I did it in April and it was 0-5 degrees at night). Thought the W trek was enough to see what the National Park has to offer. Would do it again with friends if the opportunity arises.

      Buena suerte!

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  Ghost47 on 27/08/2023 - 16:42

  Are you going with anyone? I went on a nine-week tour to South America several years ago and travelled through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, so basically spent about two weeks in each country. Most of the tour involved catching overnight coaches, we only caught one domestic flight and that was in Brazil from Sao Paulo to Rio De Janeiro.

  I can't really remember the coach companies but a really good one in Peru was Cruz Del Sur, it was essentially like being on a plane (i.e. in-ride entertainment, meals that were similar to airline food.) and I would highly recommend taking a look at them if you go to Peru.

  I would suggest you go and talk to a travel agent in person to get some ideas going. Also just look at tour group companies online to see what their itineraries are like. There's absolutely a plethora of things to do in South America, a lot of outdoorsy stuff in my experience; quad biking (Peru Moto Tours was excellent), hang gliding, snorkelling, hiking, dune buggy-ing, caving, bridge jumping, mountain biking etc. so it'd be a good idea to nail down what you want to do and which countries you want to visit first. Obviously you probably want to learn some Spanish in the mean time, as you probably already know most countries in South America speak Spanish so you can get by pretty well across the continent just knowing that.

  You're going to have an absolute blast, South America is just amazing and in my experience seems to be a place people don't really think about travelling to, everyone I meet always talk about Europe, the US, Japan or SE Asia.