Backpacking South America – One Month In

One Month In To Backpacking South America

We’re one month into our South American adventure. Officially, our longest period of continuous travel to date. 

A lot has happened over the past four weeks. We’ve crossed borders, hiked mountains, trekked jungles and made plenty of mistakes along the way. 

We have learned a lot, enjoyed once in a lifetime moments and ticked plenty off the bucket list. However there have also been tears and not everything has gone according to plan. 

Below I’ll try to sum up our key learnings to date and provide an honest review of what we’ve experienced so far for those looking to embark on a similar journey.

Navigating The Continent

While planning our trip we were told time and time again that the size and scope of South America makes backpacking difficult. The general theme was that we’d need to take lengthy coach journeys (10+ hours) to get from region to region. Often through dangerous winding roads.

Upon our arrival in Colombia we were fully prepared for the reality of coach life. In fact we’d already pre-booked our first journey from Bogota to Medellin which clocked in at around nine hours.

We were pretty surprised, therefore, to find that internal flights are often a cheaper option. Flights from Bogota to Medellin (just 55 minutes long) for example, can be found for as little as $23 per person. Our coach journey would have been $35 each, and taken eight hours longer!

International flights can also be picked up for a decent price. Colombia to Ecuador came in at around $100 per person. While we had to fly into Guayquill, not a city on our itinerary, this unexpected stop became a highlight of our trip so far.

Flying also means you can sort immigration documents via the airline and airport, which in comparison can be a lengthy and painful process over land.

This isn’t to say we’ve flown everywhere, we’ve had our fair share of coach, mini van and taxi journeys cross-country. Not every location will be accessible by air, but we’ve found it’s a useful option when available, and when cost effective.

Words of advice: Get chatting and make friends with local tour guides and taxi drivers. You’ll often be able to hire them as private drivers to take you cross-country. An option which can be quicker and safer than taking a bus/coach. You’ll also be able to customise your journey and stop off along the way. They’ll know all the best places to eat too!

Onward Journeys…A Real Pain!

While getting to and from our destinations has been relatively pain free, an unexpected issue that has cropped up time and again is the need for onward journeys.

For those unfamiliar with the term, an onward journey is a requirement many countries (and now airlines) have put in place for individuals traveling on a one way ticket. Essentially you have to prove that you’ll be leaving your arrival country before your tourist visa expires (generally 90 days in South American countries).

Normally this means you need to show a valid flight/bus ticket to your next destination. A real pain for backpackers who are unlikely to know what their travel plans are next week, let alone in three months time!

Prior to arriving in South America we had only ever seen an onward journey request once. (This was in the Caribbean where a couple of backpackers were refused entry. Ouch!). Seeing as we’ve visited 29 countries between us that’s a pretty rare occurrence! 

In South America however, we’ve been asked for an onward journey on all of our international border crossings. We even got asked for one when we arrived in Spain from the UK (our stopover before arriving in Colombia)! We presume this is a post COVID requirement, so whereas once you might have been able to get away with playing ignorant, from what we’ve seen that is no longer an option. 

Possible Solutions To Onward Journeys

There are a few options here for what you can do. The easiest is to buy a burner flight/bus ticket. This is essentially a flight/bus out of the country that you will never use. Generally the cheaper ones are from two cities close to the border (or large hubs such as Bogota to Lima). 

A slightly riskier option is to buy a refundable ticket. These are generally more expensive but if you buy the ticket as you’re about to fly/cross over the land border you can cancel it and get a refund when you arrive. The risk here is if you struggle with internet connection/the website goes down. You’ll then be unable to cancel and be significantly out of pocket.

We’ve also heard stories of people photoshopping tickets, but this seems a lot of effort, and I would advise against showing immigration a forged document.

Rumour has it that border crossings are beginning to turn down bus tickets too. While we’ve had no proof of this, it’s something we’ve read a few times, so it may be worth sticking with flights. Land border crossings are generally more relaxed about onward journeys, but there’s alway a risk you’ll be asked to provide one.

The whole process is just a real pain, effectively forcing you to throw money away. It’s very annoying and something we’re yet to find a workaround for.

Safety And South America 

Before we travel we generally take a quick look at the UK’s travel advice website. It’s a useful guide to understand what regions of a country to avoid, any potential weather related issues you may encounter, if there’s any documentation to fill in prior to arrival, and in the current climate, what the COVID restrictions are.

We’ve been fortunate to travel a lot of the world, and generally it’s the usual advice around how to avoid being pick-pocketed, what petty crime exists and the potential for hurricanes/heavy rainfall etc. For South America however, they may as well have written ‘DO NOT TRAVEL’ in red font across each page.

We read everything from how taxi drivers would try and take us hostage, to how we’d be attacked at cash points withdrawing money. Public transport was a no-go due to pickpockets and every day there would be world-ending weather. That’s before all the volcanoes erupted and earthquakes shook the ground beneath our feet! Also we shouldn’t walk outside during the morning…or evening. And during the day we should stick close to local police.

I am pleased to say that so far the reality has not reflected these warnings. In fact, South America has felt like one of safer places we have visited. I’ve had more issues in Essex and London! 

Since we arrived we have walked through Amazonian villages at night. We’ve gone for lengthy walks and evening meals in Bogota. We took taxis around Guayaquil and have spent days wandering the streets of Quito. We even hired a driver to take us on a four hour journey into the heart of Ecuador. And guess what? No hostage taking!

There have been no issues. And we’ve seen more local security and police than in most British cities!

The key is to be sensible. Stick to the areas that are known to be safe. Do your due diligence before booking trips – use official taxis or a ride hailing service. Don’t wear jewelry and only carry as much cash as you need for the given day. If you’re out for a walk and something doesn’t look right, turn around or pop into a store. The most important advice is to listen to the locals. We’ve had a number of occasions where people have stopped us in the street to tell us not to go further. Listen to their advice! 

Slowing Things Down

When we first started talking about tackling South America our rough itinerary included nine countries over three months. We would start in Colombia, work our way south through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Then head back up through Uruguay, Paraguay and end in Brazil. It seemed like a solid enough plan.

Not even two weeks into our journey however we realised just how impractical such a trip would be. Nine countries in 12 weeks would not just be mentally and physically draining, but there would also be a risk that we would rush through every region without really enjoying anything each country had to offer.

After some stressful nights of re-planning we decided to significantly slow things down. We’d stay in each country as long as we wanted, and if that meant halving the number we visited then that was fine. We may do three, we may do four or five. Going with the flow feels like such a better decision than trying to tick everything off the list and constantly being on the move.

That’s probably my biggest piece of advice to date. Slow things down, and enjoy the country you’re in to its fullest. Don’t go chasing those passport stamps!

Our case study is Ecuador. We thought we’d stay for a week and now we’re nearly into our fourth! We’ve been able to enjoy so much of this diverse country, and we simply wouldn’t have had this much fun if we’d have just passed through.

One Month Down, Two To Go

It goes without saying that taking the plunge and choosing to go backpacking is quite simply the best thing we have ever done.

We’ve always enjoyed traveling but getting under the skin of a country can be difficult in just one or two weeks. Backpacking allows you to really understand a country, meet more people and build real friendships. You can also really enjoy the more remote and isolated areas of a country that you wouldn’t be able to as a normal tourist. 

It’s an incredible continent, and we’ve only been here a month. With eight weeks still to go, there’s plenty more fun ahead. And I’m sure there will be plenty more challenges to overcome as well! We’ll keep you posted…

Until next time, 

Adam