I Need Travel Advice For Latin America

DaveyR

There you go http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-...ce-by-country/

Laugh? I nearly shared my fags around.

dong20

Over the last 15 years I've travelled in every country in South and Central America bar three and I'd say it's impossible to offer more than the most general advice in a forum like this. But it's fun to try.

They all have their good and bad aspects, but almost without exception and like most places you get out what you put in. The people are usually great, use common sense in some areas and don't let some of the petty bureaucracy get under your skin and treat the inevitable transportation issues with patience because nothing else will help. Good food, great music and wonderful people. Damn, where's my passport!

My personal favourites are Honduras (the islands are good), Nicaragua (esp Granada), Panama (Evenings in Panama city are a blast), Ecuador (Ororo, and Quito is great on the weekends), Guatemala (esp Antigua), Bolivia (esp Potosi and Sucre), Paraguay (loved the wood burning trains, and Asuncion) and Uruguay (Montevideo has a quirky charm that's hard to define). But I hardly went anywhere that didn't make me smile so to single these out is a little unfair. If you get to Cuba ... that's a whole other story!!

Above all, enjoy.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~ Niels Bohr

Dave NoCal

Just in case, see if you can purchase medical evacuation insurance for your trip. It typically doesn't coast that much but you could need it if you need state of the art care. A colleague was thrown from a horse in Argentina and fractured her spine. She was brought back by a medical team or a corporate-sized jet and made a full recovery.
I took a group of twelve to Mexico for three weeks and no one became ill. Still, Simcha's suggestion is a good one. Avoid ice, shellfish, raw, unpeeled fruit, food sold on the street. Get vaccinations early and, if you can, a shot of gamma globulin right before leaving.
Dave

chochocho

This is a very useful site. I would never have found this site on my own. Thank you very much for the info!

chochocho

Thanks for the reply dong20. I am really looking forward to the trip.

DaveyR

You are welcome. I've found it invaluable over the years and it is kept bang up to date.

Laugh? I nearly shared my fags around.

chochocho

THANKS! The medical evacuation insurance is a great idea. I have all of my travel vaccinations, but I hadn't thought of the gamma globulin. Super advice!

widenine

despergar.com should be despegar.com. The despergar.com site is about pharmaceuticals.

dong20

Isn't Gamma Globulin outdated. For Hep A there are now 10 year vaccines available, Havrix (IIRC) is one - no doubt there are others. One shot, then a booster a short while later and your covered for a decade. Without the booster it only lasts a year I think. Gamma Globulin was barely effective and even then lasted only a very short time a few weeks with any efficacy.

Perhaps immunisation practice in the US is different but I've not been offered Gamma Globulin since the early 90s.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~ Niels Bohr

breeze

I haven't read all the posts so i don't know if its been mentioned. I also don't know if its still around but there are probably other guides like it. I used eric frommer's guide to latin america when i went there. It was invaluable. It gives very specific information as to where you stay , how much it costs , where to eat etc etc. Otherwises it would have been hit and run. I gave frommer's guide to an ex-girlfriend and she said it saved her money the moment she arrived. You can go to barnes and noble and read it for free. I think if you get in a pinch this guide can literally save your life.

jason_els

If you do go to central America, just be really, really careful you don't bring home one of these big fellas. They're NOT uncommon.

In any event, you should know the symptoms because most doctors in the US aren't familiar with them and may simply treat it as a site irritation.

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." -Bertrand Russell

breeze

I just wanted to show some examples of how valuable eric frommer's guide to latin america was to me. When i was in bogota i found a restaurant which served basically , if i remember , something like a five course meal for literally pennies on the dollar. Well i really didn't find it as much as it was listed in frommer's guide. It was wedged inbetween 2 buildings in an alleyway. No tourist is going to find it by themselves. I also remember talking to another tourist who had meet someone who was down to his last 50.00. When something like that happens , say you lose your passport, you need to save money.
I also remember arrivng in panama city and seeing all those armed policemen/soldiers at the airport. Get me out of here. Anyway the taxi/cab took us to the hilton. Welcome to the hilton. That'll be a 177.50 a night or whatever. Anyway i looked in the guide and found a much cheaper place. No hassle whatever. I hate to think of roaming around a hot panama city looking for a cheap place. When i studied the guide further i found a cheap , safe and clean villa. You can't find these places by yourself or you can but its a hassle. When you arrive you're usually weary and tired. The absolute last thing you want is a hassle.

dong20

Guide books are very useful, and they can help a great deal, certainly for inexperienced travellers. I usually have one with me, unless I've been somewhere already. The 'risks' are that they turn good places bad and with over reliance one can end up being on someone else's guided tour by 'proxy'.

For me, the key element of the experience of travel is to think on my feet, and on occasion sometimes on my ass too by dealing with the place head on. Thus, I've ended up in some hell holes over the years but eventually one comes to develop a 'sense' of good and bad places to be, eat and stay. It's not foolproof of course but I find that following the guide book trail can lead to a form of isolation from the local culture in itself because one can easily tend to only interact with fellow travellers. I'm generalising of course but speaking for myself, when I'm travelling the very last people I want to meet are my fellow countrymen following a guide book trail. I like to find my own path. Often they intersect, and that's fine.

I know that can mean 'missing' things but I'm usually more interested in the people and what drives them than the sights. It's swings and roundabouts and that's what second or third ... visits are for - catchup!!

I loved Panama City, I don't recall the armed guards especially but after close to a year travelling in South America before arriving there I'd tended to 'tune' them into the background - unless they actively threatened me which was very rare. BTW, if you'd walked about 1km from the airport terminal to the main road, you could have caught a local bus into town for a few pennies, and bus drivers can provide a wealth of useful information. I wonder if that nugget was in Frommers?

Also, (sad thought it is), there's a Starbucks in the CBD that serves (or did) one of the best fruit salads I ever ate. I had one for brunch several days. There was an election on when I was there, the place was jumping, I stayed in a massive run down place in the old town, I wish I could remember the name - it will be in my journal I expect.

Each evening at sunset the smell of chorizo would waft up from a vendor below my room and the election wagons would start their tours - throwing free gifts into the crowds to buy support. I'd go down and grab a bite, as the sun went down and then as it cooled down a bit sometimes I'd stroll through the growing crowds, maybe chat with the cabbies or the hawkers etc, or sometimes I'd simply sit and read. Once in a while I'd head into town for a different experience, but overall I preferred the 'rougher' edges of the city.

Seems like so long ago, and truth be told I suppose it was.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~ Niels Bohr

Deno

exactly where is latin america? If you go to south america I'd certainly go to Buenos Aries. Or Brazil. Maybe Mexico or panama.

breeze

They are right below us. Mexico is part of north american. { you can cross over from texas to california } Then below mexico is central america { panama etc } and below central america is latin america { brazil etc. }. They use to be and might still be very cheap.
You are absolutely right when you say you should freelance and experience the local culture. I'm basically recommending frommer's to save a buck or 2 and places to stay and eat and to keep you somewhat safe. You don't know how lucky you are nothing happen in those hellholes. I remember doing a temp. job in downtown san francisco. There was somebody there who had moved from back east to interview or accept a job in silicon valley. But he was broke and accepted public assistance. He was put up in a hotel. He was there the first day {at the job} and disappeared until the final day. It seemed when he was at the hotel someone hit him over the head and knocked him out. He could have been killed. This is a dangerous world and you can't be too careful.