Where'd you go What'd you see/do Did you have any safety concerns Were you able to navigate if you had a complete lack of Spanish What would you do different if you could go back
We're at the very preliminary/consideration stage, and I'm a bit nervous of this region because I'm a panzy. So tell me what you know!
I was in Guyana years ago with a group, so I can't speak to how we navigated or made plans, because they made all the plans for us. However, the plus about Guyana is that it's an English-speaking country. There were several things to do there, including spending time on the beach. We took a day trip into the jungle that involved a motorboat up the river (one of the Amazon tributaries) and spending the day at a rustic inland resort.
If I went back I'd want more freedom to travel more--we were there for a medical mission, so it was more of a working thing than vacation. If I went back I'd also want to try to spend the night in the jungle resort because it was gorgeous.
We have done two trips to South America and may do a third this year.
First trip was to Argentina & Brazil. In Argentina, we were in Buenos Aires, San Antonio de Areco, and Iguazu Falls. In Brazil, we visited friends in Rio & spent a couple of days in Paraty.
Second trip was to Peru & Bolivia. In Peru, we were in Lima, Huacachina, Nasca, Arequipa, Cusco, & Machu Picchu. In Bolivia, we were in Isla del Sol, La Paz, and Sucre.
My favorite three spots were Buenos Aires, Isla del Sol, and Machu Picchu.
There were a couple of times that we felt unsafe, but overall we didn't have any major concerns.
DH is pretty close to fluent in Spanish. I am sure you would be fine without knowing any Spanish.
One of the things I love about Central & South America is that you don't have to deal with jet lag. That is a huge plus for me.
I think we may go to Chile & Argentina this year, spending time in Patagonia.
As for safety and security, I actually felt pretty fine in Rio as long as I was taking basic precautions. Apparently I felt a little too fine, because I couldn't notice a difference between the part of Copacabana Beach that was okay to walk on at night and the point where it was no longer safe and Namorado insisted we turn back. But walking from the halfway point (around the Marriott) up to Ipanema was apparently fine, and I did this on my own multiple times with no issues at all. Just don't get in a shared van along Avenida Atlantica. Not worth the risk to save a couple of reais.
Other than that, I was in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, Argentina on the way to Antarctica. I had zero problems functioning in English in Buenos Aires, and Namorado didn't even try Portuguese. He just stuck to English the whole time too. I wandered around quite a bit on my own and didn't feel any safety concerns beyond the ordinary of any large European city. In Ushuaia I had a few more problems surviving without Spanish, but it wasn't a huge concern, and I got along fine. Mostly I just felt like a schmuck because I was surrounded by 20-year-old backpackers who could rattle off anything they wanted in Spanish. I kept wanting to respond to their smug judgy glances in Norwegian or Mandarin.
Post by emilyinchile on Mar 3, 2014 9:37:27 GMT -5
You know I'm laughing at the title, right? Done everything on that continent, check!
Anyway, yes, I've been to a lot of places in South America and live in one of them. I really can't answer your questions in any meaningful way because everywhere is so different. In Santiago violent crime is very low, but pickpocketing is common, so you need to be aware of your belongings. I would never take a taxi off the street in Bogota at night, but I don't feel unsafe there by myself either. You do not need Spanish in Brazil
I'm not trying to be difficult, but honestly I think you need to narrow down your interests a bit first. If you have an idea even of the kinds of things you'd like to do or landscapes you'd like to see, then I can give suggestions and talk about safety and language, but we'd be here all day if I tried to tell you everything about every place I know in all of South America - and I wouldn't even claim to have "done" the whole continent. That said, my general answer in terms of safety is that most places you've heard of and might want to go range from generally safe to quite safe as long as you take some precautions, and most touristy places have plenty of English-speakers, so I really wouldn't let either be my focus or something that held me back.
Where'd you go: Ecaudor and Galapagos What'd you see/do: We did three days in Quito before heading to Galapagos. We did a city tour and then hired a guide who took us out to a cloud forest where we hiked and then saw some archaeological sites. Did you have any safety concerns: we were aware of our surroundings and the hotel people told us areas to avoid. Were you able to navigate if you had a complete lack of Spanish: I speak minimal Spanish- in Galapagos, all the naturalists spoke English, so we didn't have any problems. What would you do different if you could go back: Nothing. It was a great trip.
Ditto emilyinchile that it's a big place and you should narrow down your choices. That said, I've been to Chile once, Argentina twice, Brazil twice (including a short stint living in Rio) and Peru once. I loved them all for different reasons, but they are pretty different from each other.
My favorite South American cities are Rio and Buenos Aires, but the Inca Trail is absolutely magical. (Lima isn't bad, but really wasn't the big draw to Peru for me and doesn't compare to Rio or BA). The northeast of Brazil is very nice and off-the-beaten track, but I am not sure how easy it is to get around in that region without speaking Portuguese.
I would definitely not even consider going to Venezuela right now. I'd love to go to Colombia, but had to postpone my summer 2014 trip there (I'll be busy having a bebe). I hear great things about Uruguay. Ecuador gets mixed reviews from my friends, so it doesn't appeal to me much right now. Seems like you could combine parts of Bolivia with Peru if you have enough time. I don't know much about Surinam or non-Spanish, non-Portuguese speaking countries on the South American continent.
I'm sure I missed a country, so my apologies to that country's nationals or lovers of that country. Obviously, I am not including Mexico or Central America or the Caribbean since you said South America and not Latin America. But I can comment on those parts if you're considering them.
Popping over from H&F DH and I spent 6 months traveling South America, so I feel pretty confident saying that we "did" it. We started in Colombia, and worked our way through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. There is so much to do and it is so diverse, that you really have to narrow down what you want to get out of it if you're going for a shorter trip. Hiking? Cities? Jungle? Coast? World heritage sites? Touristy stuff?
I didn't have any extreme safety concerns, and we were in what some would call dodgy areas at times. We used local buses for transit and stayed in cheap accomodations. You can get by without knowing any Spanish if you stay in really touristy areas, but once you venture out, the huge majority of people don't speak any English. We actually stopped in Ecuador for a few weeks to take lessons at an immersion school and it was singlehandedly the best money we spent on the entire trip. From that point on, our experiences were so much more authentic, we were able to connect more with the local people, and people were so appreciative of our attempt the speak the language. So if you have the time before your trip, I would really recommend learning at least some basics. It will make your life so much easier, and you will have a much better time.
If you have any questions about specific places, I'd be happy to answer. We blogged a lot along the way, so you can dig through the archives for some ideas if you want (link in sig).
Post by alleinesein on Mar 3, 2014 16:07:45 GMT -5
I've been to Santiago, Chile.
We just hung out in the city for a few days and hit up some local sites and then did a day trip to Valpo and Vina with some wineries thrown in on the way back.
No safety concerns at all. We stayed in the arts district near the law school and the only time there was every any 'issue' was after a World Cup Qualifying soccer match. The crowd took over one of the plazas down the street from our hotel and it was insanely crowded but everyone was happy and having a good time. We opted to stay in mainly because we knew that we werent going to get anywhere with the mass of people milling about; not because we were concerned for our safety.
Spanish was not an issue for us; both myself and XH are fluent although I did end up translating a lot for him into English. We did not run into that many English speakers in Santiago and found that the places that did offer English tours only did so 1-2 times a day. I ended up translating for a tourist from Australia at La Chascona because she missed the English tour. Our winery tour was in Spanish ad poor XH was utterly perplexed because he had no idea what they were talking about even though he was fluent! Our hotel only had one staff member who spoke English but we did not stay at a large 'chain' hotel. I am sure that if we stayed out in Providencia that the hotel staff would've spoken more English.
If I go back to Chile I want to explore other regions. The trip was not planned and limited due to budget; my mom won 2 free RT tickets on LAN to Santiago that had to be used by a certain date and we kinda threw a quick trip together to use the tickets before they expired. As for other parts of SA; I want to visit my grandfathers hometown in Brazil and I've got friends in Colombia that want me to come down and visit.
We did three different trips, not including the two trips we took to Peru to adopt our sons.
1. Chile - Portillo, Santiago, the coast immediately west of Santiago (Vina del Mar and Valparaso), and the Central Valley. It was an amazing trip, and my husband and I fell absolutely in love with the country. We had absolutely no safety concerns, excluding almost getting mugged in Panama on our layover on the way down. We spoke absolutely no Spanish (I couldn't even order a caramel latte at our first rest stop, or "caramel latte" in Spanish, because they didn't understand me), but it didn't matter. We spent our first week at Portillo, which is a ski resort where many of the staff speak English, and by then, I was around the language enough that I could order food and check into a hotel using my phrasebook.
The people overwhelmed me with their kindness, friendliness, and willingness to share information about their country. We would get into a cab, tell the driver we didn't understand Spanish, but it didn't matter, he tried to tell us all about his city/town and what we should see...all in Spanish, for the whole ride. This happened over and over. When we didn't know what to order a restaurant, we were brought trays with plates we could chose from This happened more than once. When my husband thought the bill was 20 pesos, but it was only 2, the cashier chased him down the street to return the change. The honesty, good-naturedness, welcoming behavior, and helpfulness of the Chilean people made us want to return again and again.
We happened to be there during the Chilean Independence Day (Sept. 18th), and we set out to find were the locals were celebrating. Since we were at Portillo, in the middle of nowhere, we found the staff party. We were the only guests there, but they invited us in to the party, taught us their traditional dances, offered us their Chica (in a bulls's horn), and made us feel entirely welcome.
Although our first week was at the resort, we were on our own for the rest of our trip. We spend a few days in the city, hired a driver and guide to take us to the coast, and rented a car for a week to drive through the Central Valley on our own. This was undoubtedly my favorite part of the trip. The country is just gorgeous, and we got a chance to really get rural. We were trying to cross the Andes and return through Argentina, but the pass was closed, so we just took more time to see the Valley by returning a different way.
The only thing I would (and did) differently in going back was not drink the water in Panama. I was desperate, but it caught up with me and I missed several days of the skiing part of our vacation because I was so sick.
2. Patagonia - both Chile and Argentina. I love the mountains, and this was a dream trip. I knew a bit more Spanish, so we traveled even more comfortably in that area this time. Not that it mattered, because there were a lot more people in Patagonia that spoke English than there were further north in Chile. We flew down to Punta Arenas in Chile, rented a car, and drove. We went up to Torres del Paine, crossed over to El Calafate in Argentina, drove up to El Chalten, stayed in a remote area out in the mountains, then drove all the way down to Ushuaia in Terra del Fuego, before heading back up to Punta Arenas. We had three weeks, and every bit of it was heavenly. We hiked and hiked and hiked, visited several glaciers, drove, and just took in the amazing, world-renowned scenery and experienced wind like never before or after. At night we gorged ourselves on hearty meals, especially the most delicious Argentinian meat. I'd go back in a heartbeat. There wasn't a single thing I'd do differently. Not one.
3. Peru. We took this trip after beginning the process of adopting from Peru, so we wanted to see/experience as much of the country as we could to get a feel for the country and it's culture. After landing in Lima, we immediately flew to Arequipa. We spent some time in the city and then took a bus to Puno, in time for the annual Puno Days festival, which was amazing, and I'm so glad we were able to be a part of it. We were literally the only recognizable travelers there; it was amazing and such a special thing to be a part of. We visited the floating islands in Lake Titicaca and stayed with a family on Amantani Island. Then we took a bus to Cuzco, and spent some time based there while touring the Sacred Valley and visiting Machu Picchu. Next, we flew to Puerto Maldonado and stayed at a retreat in the rainforest. Finally, we flew back to Lima, where we spent a few days.
This was a great way to get a taste of each of the main tourist sites in southern Peru (although we didn't make it to Nazca). If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't go back to the rainforest. It was beautiful and something to experience, but once was enough for me. I just can't tollerate the heat and humidity very well. Still, if it's your first trip, I'd highly recommend it.
This trip, for us, was about seeing some of the country's biggest attractions, but more so about really seeing how diverse the country is and to spend as much time listening to and spending time with the people we met along the way. We didn't form any lasting friendships on such a whirlwind tour (except our adoption lawyer, who met us for a lunch while we were in Lima, and we came to know much better on our subsequent trips), but it was important to us to get a "feel" for as many different communities/living styles throughout the country as possible. I still would have liked to add in norther Peru and the coast, but time limited our plans.
We did this trip in 2008, and I did feel a little bit on edge about safety, mostly because of what I had read online, especially about taxi scams and robberies. We have since been back in 2010 and 2012, and I can say that each time I feel much safer. I'm sure some of it has to due with my familiarity and increasing knowledge of Spanish, but a lot of it is also tied to the fact that Peru is rich in gold and other commodities, and as the price of these things has risen, so has the overall standard of living in Peru, and with it, I believe, the relative safety.
As a tourist in Peru, lack of Spanish was inconsequential. The tourism industry is heavily regulated, and everyone working in it must learn English. There wasn't a guide, driver, or hotelier that we met that couldn't converse with us in very well-spoken English. The same went for most restaurants, at least those you'd encounter in touristy places.
It's wise_rita, so I assumed it was tongue-in-cheek.
I took it that way and was just laughing at how it sounded written out. My whole reply was intended in a friendly "come on, man, you know this is too broad" tone.
Although I admit a little doubt started to creep my memory of a recent post about fluke priced United (?) airline tickets where she totally disagreed with the rest of the board...I thought maybe there were random moments where wise_rita and I just did NOT have the same view of things.
Post by sunshinedaydreams on Mar 4, 2014 13:12:45 GMT -5
We did part of Peru in October 2012. It was amazing and we both really want to go back.
We started in Cuzco to acclimate before hiking the Inca Trail. While we were there we explored a lot of the city and sites there, and did a day tour of the Inca Sacred Valley, which was really awesome. We got to see several ruins and learn a lot about the Peruvian culture.
We did 4 days on the Inca Trail and it was one of my favorite experiences of my whole life. It was so peaceful and beautiful and challenging. Really, I enjoyed parts of the trail more than Machu Picchu itself. Machu Picchu was amazing, but it was SO busy and overrun with people. Being one of a few on the trail somehow made it seem more meaningful and authentic.
After the Inca Trail we took a tourist bus bus from Cuzco to Puno. We stopped at several more Inca sites in between and then spent 3 days, I think, in Puno. Honestly, Lake Titicaca was beautiful, but there wasn't much to see or do in Puno. I had altitude sickness there and we were both pretty worn down from the trail, so we didn't get out and around as much here as we would have liked. But it was beautiful.
In terms of safety, I felt safe everywhere. In Cuzco we were warned not to wander too far from the Plaza de Armas after dark. We did a couple of times and never felt unsafe.
I am entertained by the debate about my choice of words. Ha! I speak my own language, for real.
Thanks for the tips. I've read over it and since I haven't researched much yet it's all pretty abstract. Once we get more into the thick of it I'll come back to this and take your suggestions. If you've got any must do's add those, too, please! That's how I prioritize covering a huge, huge area.