Central and South America
 

my wife and i just got back from 8 months in SE asia/europe/australia.....trip was cut short by about 3 months unfortunately


we're already planning on the next big trip, we're thinking central and south america for approx a year

i want to start planning now getting recommendations from people as i really don't know a ton about the area (i've been to costa rica and ecuador already)


the end goal is to figure out where we want to move to (SE asia or Central/South America)


any recommendations for must be countries and those to avoid

thanks

anyone?

You're not going to get a lot of responses on this site unless it's about going Asia or Vegas :smug: I'd try the thorntree forum: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree

Countries to avoid? I've been hearing Venezuela in the news a lot lately for the wrong reasons: Riots, high crime, government sanctioned anti-Americanism (may or may not affect Canadians). Also with Honduras (highest murder rate in the world)

Must sees?

I went to Peru in 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can see my thread with pics here:
http://www.revscene.net/forums/563077-peru.html

My gf also went to Colombia and raved about it as well. Great people, food, and architecture:

http://jeffandmaite2014.com/wp-conte...Cartagena5.png

Don't know if you're including Mexico in "Central America" but I visited in 2013 and went to Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca. All great places and off the usual tourist trail.

ha ya not many here going that far south.

I've been reading the same on Honduras but there some islands i want to go check out for diving (Bay Islands)

My wife wants to drive down to mexico now then just abandon our car and camping stuff lol

But i would like to go see the southern parts of Mexico...i've done all the touristy areas already.

You can't just drive down to Mexico and sell/leave your car there, at least not as of a few years back. There's probably a proper way to do it but I doubt you can just do it on a whim.

If you want to check out Peru while you're down there, this is something I've been looking at doing:

The What? ? The Adventurists

ya they do those in a few countries now i think

what if my car get's "stolen" while i'm in mexico...problem solved

Probably more hassle than it's worth, what do you drive that wouldn't sell for a few plane tickets?

98 civic......it's not the cost savings, it's the "adventure" along the way lol

Sell it here, buy a beater in Seattle, and sell it before you cross the border again?

I think you'd enjoy this read:

2 gringos driving the PanAmerican Highway in a 1987 4Runner

http://homeonthehighway.com/the-adventure-begins/

looks great, i'll read it through

Advrider.com has a lot of info on South America touring. Motorcycle related but tons of universal info.

Are you or your wife fluent in Spanish? (consider you said finding a place to move)

The reason I ask is about how people in certain parts of SA treat people who doesn't speak their language/unfamiliar with their culture.

I grew up in SA and know my way around.

Peru is very nice. The food is simply incredible. Tons of flavours and fusion everything (so many foreigners can get along with lil effort). In good areas I'd say it's at least as good as say Vancouver to live if not better.

Bolivia is overall shitty. You have to be careful when you are there. But Salar de Uyuni is MUST go place. It's breathtaking.

Chile is very decent overall. Life standard seems to be on par or near us. If you are into sea food, it's heaven (cheap and a lot of varieties)

Argentina is pretty good in country-side. I have never had any problem going outside. People are nice and treat you like family if you can communicate well with them. I spent about 3 month backpacking when I was 16... not a single problem. So was my dad who doesn't speak Spanish very well. Inside Buenos Aires... don't go to shitty areas and even in broad daylight, watch for your belongings and be very low profile. Beef is INCREDIBLE*3... you don't know beef until you have eaten with Argentineans.

Brazil is pretty bad if you are in the wrong neighbourhood. So stick ONLY to those basically "open for foreigners" areas unless you have a local dude who can guide you around.

Uruguay is nice. But I didn't find it particularly interesting during my little (about 3 weeks total) experience with it. Overall safe.

Paraguay is about the same as any normal city... don't go to shitty areas, countryside is good.

ya we're pretty smart when it comes to staying away from shitty areas etc

we're in the process of starting to learn spanish

i have traveled in chile, aregentina, and uruguay.
i am bias cause my family lives in uruguay, but i love it there haha.
i read somewhere that uruguay has the highest number of retired canadians living outside canada.

Seriously? I think you mean after the US, Mexico, China, Guatemala, Costa Rica, etc...:heckno:

thought i'd check in to the thread....in Cali, Columbia right now. Heading to Ecuador tomorrow.

Galapagos, Amazon, Banos then out. We were here 5 years ago and saw the coast so with our shitty dollar we're getting out. (although this will be the most expensive 2.5 weeks of the trip. Diving is Galapagos is NOT CHEAP.

Then on to Peru....reading through your thread CivicBlues.

Bolivia then over to Brazil for a bit to catch a flight to India for a month, Thailand for a couple weeks because I miss it so much, Borneo (Malaysia and maybe Indonesia, mainly Sipadan for diving), then Philippines and home outta Manila.

i went to peru and chile on two seperate trips this yr, loved them both for different reasons. lima was fun and vibrant, santiago i didnt always enjoy as much, but spending time in cusco and on the inca trail, then in patagonia were great experiences.
also spent a chunk of time in la serena in chile which was great and a highlight for me, but i had a friend to guide me around. valpariaso was also amazing but wish i had way more time there.

im originally from Bolivia and for the life of me i can't understand how anyone can go there to explore LOL maybe im biased but would never set a foot there if it wasn't for my family who lives there. Let us know what countries you loved the most in SA, would love to explore some day!

What's wrong with Bolivia? I've always wanted to visit there.

that is the complete opposite of every traveler i have met so far coming out of there

i guess it's hard to go to the country as a traveler. Yet again, i havent really travelled all over Bolivia.. only been to my hometown of Santa Cruz and to Cochabamba. Living there you see how much of a 3rd world country it really is, how many ppl get killed for meaningless shit, and how corrupt the city/police officers/any government shit really is.

...and this is why you never ask a expat about their home country for travel advice. Biased as hell. Heck I sometimes tell people to avoid visiting Canada because it's freaking expensive and the distances are too big. Esp. Europeans that think everything is a 4 hour train ride away.

I wouldn't want to live in about 80% of the countries I've visited but I still had a great time in each and every one of them.

p.s. would love to visit Bolivia some day.

Me and a few friends are considering a trip to S.America in a few months from now, or South East Asia, it's a toss up right now. There's a couple travelers warnings for Columbia and Venezuela, some saying don't go on the trails as there's kidnappings/robberies and has the second highest homicide rate in the world.

For those who've been there, was there any time that you didn't feel safe on trails or in the city/beaches??


Columbia travel warning

Venezuela

Bolivia is next week

Stay away from Columbia??? FUCK NO, that's one of the best countries so far. be smart and don't take your shit out with you all the time (know 6+ people have their phones stolen by pick pocket) but be smart and you'll be 100% fine

Venezuela? ya unless you private cab everywhere and never leave your hotel in Caracas. then only fly to other areas around the country. just not worth it.

if you've never been to SE Asia, go there first. we're flying to india the first week of Feb for a month then back through thailand for a few weeks (possibly borneo too) then up to the phillipines for 3 or so weeks then home

miss asia so much, the food down here sucks