South America Travel Experience, Stories
and Photos from a Backpacker

Home again for 6 months and I was itching for more South America. For my 3rd trip I adopted a completely new approach on how I would travel there, I had learnt a lot and wasted a lot of time on my first 2 trips, this time I wanted to cover as much ground as possible and see much more. It was my 3rd trip when I started to really enjoy the long-haul bus journeys, which I hadn't previously and I took many more photos, by now I was planning to write about my experiences!

I have been in 10 of the 13 countries to varying degrees and for varying times, some countries several times and some for a short time, I want to see more of these countries and would also like to see the 3 countries I haven't been to, The Patagonia is also on the list. I have travelled the 'Gringo' trails but also to many places off the beaten track, I have been the only foreinger in town on a few occasions.

This is a warts and all account of my travels in South America so far. I cannot speak Spanish fluently but have learnt a lot while traveling and during my current trip I went to university for 3 months in Medellin for Spanish, it helped a lot. On my first 3 trips communicating with locals was not always easy, sometimes impossible without doing hand signals and visual actions, I suspect many travelers to South America have a similar experience lingo-wise.

My most well trodden paths respectively are Peru and Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay. There are over 3500 photos on this site!