Travel

#South America - travel - Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador

OlГЎ, Hola. Carnival in Rio, Incas, Caribbean beaches, Tango. There is so much here, too much. More or less it is easy to country-hop and visa free - it is just a huge area! Start loving buses.

South America - Bolivia. Brazil. Chile. Colombia. Ecuador. Peru and Venezuela .

Argentina. Paraguay Uruguay .

It is worth looking, if you have not already, at the example layout to see the guidelines each section of information is based on - or for other travel advice and site home head for www.travelindependent.info

Intro. From a traveller perspective, South America splits into roughly three regions. The more developed Southern countries of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile; with their European feel, political stability and relatively high standards. This is where many start/finish a trip. Then you have the less developed Inca and Amazon countries - Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador/Colombia. Here you have the main concentration of travellers, drawn not only by the world famous sights, but also the significantly lower cost of travel (certainly in Bolivia). And lastly you have Brazil, which although often combined as part of a larger trip (typically Rio and/or the Foz do Iguaçu ), needs to be treated separately due to its size.

South America on the whole lacks difficult border crossings and visa headaches (although Americas will run into hefty charges). Bus transport is easy to arrange and there is a very established trail of attractions (often known as the Gringo Trail ). This however causes many to bite off more than they can chew in terms of distances to be covered overland, not finding the time or the energy to discover out of the way gems and (although good value on a world level) spending too much [money] in the Southern developed countries and/or (especially) Brazil.

The most backpackery countries are Bolivia and Peru with a clear trail of attractions, party hostels/towns/tours and lots of people to meet. Tour mentality and the type of other travellers (certainly at the budget end) you meet can jade some, certainly in the case of Bolivia where you ll find the best value for money on the continent.

A number of South/Central American countries have currencies pegged/fixed to the US dollar where a better parallel (black market) exchange rate can exist. To benefit you need USD cash. Do your research before travel. This is currently the case in Venezuela and Argentina.

If you are set on going and need a guidebook or reading material please see a list of recommended guides/books here (go on have a look!). If you want to read fiction, you are in luck as some of the world s best writers were from South America. All guides/books are described here in more detail.