Need Help Planning My South America Trip

I say, relax a bit about it Kenny. It will seem less complicated when you are doing it than when you are planning it. Just make a loose plan and be flexible, then do what you can and change what you cant, while you are there. 😊 Reply to this

If you can find out which tour operators have the best reputation, then choose those ones. I think all the actual places they go would be good, but good service is what is important where tours are concerned in my opinion. Reply to this

You can do Machu Picchu on your own, or at least could before the floods washed away the railway line. You should check when the site and transport links are going to reopen. If you do get to go it's worth hiking up from AC early in the morning to get a ticket for Wayna Picchu.
Like Ben and Clare we found Lake Titicaca very disappointing.
The Pantanal is great, but unless you're really interested in animals 2 weeks sounds like too long. We used Ecological Expeditions based out of the HI hostel in Campo Grande for a 4 day 3 night trip. They were pretty good and did what they said they would. You might like to use some of the time to go to Bonito to snorkel in the rivers there, we did the Rio Sucuri which was fantastic.
Iguazu Falls are amazing, you should allow a full day for the Argentinian side and half a day for the Brazilian side. Use public transport to get there, it's very easy in both countries.
There are times / places when you need to use agencies but I would recommend using them as little as possible, doing things on your own is much better. Reply to this

Yes, either take the train from Cuzco (it actually leaves from Poroy a few km outside town) to AC - if it's running by then and if you can get a ticket. If not it's possible to get there by road / rail via a place called Hydroelectric, it's a pretty cool journey. On the morning you go to MP hike up to the entrance, you'll need to leave AC early (4am ish). When the gates open (around 6 ish I think) head round to get your ticket for Wayna Picchu - follow the crowds, these are free but limited to 400 per day (which is why you have to get there early).
We were in the southern pantanal. Reply to this

Thanks for the info hkwoody!


I have a bunch of general travel questions - they might be stupid, but I have never done this before:

1. cell phone - how is this going to work? Am I supposed to buy a temp phone when I arrive in Peru? Or will my cell phone work there? How will I call my parents back home?

2. Camera space - I have a 12 MP digital camera that has an SD card (haven't check how much space the SD card holds), I'm sure I'll run out of space... so which alternative do you think would be smarter:

a. After the SD card is full, find a computer at a hostel (hopefully they have SD card readers or I will need to bring a USB sd card reader), and then upload the pictures on a private server on the internet and then clear the space on the SD card.

b. Buy like 5 SD cards

c. ??


3. Visas

I'm reading that an advance visa is not required for American citizens to enter Peru. But when I arrive there, I should check with the embassy or consulate of Peru.

So from what I understand, I can simply apply for a visa after I arrive in Peru, but on the other hand, a visa is required for entry into Brazil. Regarding Peru, wouldn't it be easier just to do it in advance while I am still in the United States? So I don't have to waste time going to the embassy? Or is that not even possible? I'm trying to figure out where I can do this ... I'm at http://www.peruvianembassy.us/en.html ... but not seeing anything - if anyone can link me that would be great.

Also, according to travel.state.gov, I should register with the nearest U.S. Embassy if I am traveling in Peru - and I can do this through https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/ .. I made an account there but when I try to add a trip to Peru, it wants my local address and phone for Peru .. I do not know this yet - am I not supposed to to do this until I arrive at Peru?

As for the Brazilian Visa, I am working on that right now, and I should have one before I leave.

So I will only need a visa for Peru and Brazil, right? Will I need a visa for Bolivia if I am visiting Lake Titicaca? Will I need a visa for Argentina if I am visiting the Iguazu Falls (both sides)? I am assuming I will, maybe not for Bolivia - but I just want to make sure.

Thanks! Reply to this

hkwoody - thanks for the info on the phones/camera, I will look into it! Please read below for my response.

***UPDATE***:

I have sort of figured out how I will get from place to stay and where I will stay:

After landing in Lima, I will stay at the Loki Hostel most likely - I am still looking into transportation for how to get to the Hostel. Also, I am still deciding on whether or not to fly to Cuzco or do train/bus.

In Cuzco, I will probably stay at the Loki Hostel as well. For Machu Picchu, I haven't looked into specifically where I will be staying and what train I will be taking. For Lake Titicaca, Dos Manos will provide the transportaiton (75$ for a 3 day tour). I am still unsure of how to get to the Pantanal from Puno, but I am starting to look into that as well. I may even have to go from Juliaca > Lima > Sao Paulo and then bus it to Cuiaba or something. Hopefully this will be easier once I have finally decided on a Pantanal tour agency, so I know exactly where I need to be. (I am still leaning toward the Northern Pantanal). As for the rest of the trip, I haven't looked into it much but I don't think it should be too difficult. Hopefully everything starts coming together soon, because my schoolwork is not going to get any easier!

I'm still working on comparing Pantanal agencies - I will post again once I have made some sort of tangible progress.

Here's a few random questions:

Should I bring my laptop to South America? I assumed that I wouldn't because in case I get robbed or something. I was thinking that I just bring a couple SD cards, and not even bother uploading pictures on to the internet, but rather just bring a couple 8 GB flash drives and upload them on to there, and them empty out the SD cards. How does that sound? So all I will really need to bring is an SD card reader, flash drives, SD cards, and my camera of course.

I'm not sure if I will need batteries, my camera has a battery charger where I can just plug it in to an outlet. Will this not work in SA?

I'm currently communicating via e-mail with the Brazilian consulate in Chicago in order to obtain a Visa. I cannot apply yet because I am still waiting for my passport in the mail (I had to renew it, it may still be a couple weeks at least). However, one of their other requirements is that they want a print out of the round trip ticket or the flight itinerary or something. However, I do not know which airport or airline I am taking yet, because I am going to go there after Peru... I do not even know the exact dates, and probably won't know the exact dates until well into June when I am on my way to Lake Titicaca. So how am I supposed to provide this information? I asked them and their response was "We do ask that you provide flight itinerary/plans of entry and exit from Brazil."

I replied back reiterating the fact that I will not have that available and explained my situation, and they have yet to reply. I wonder how strict this? Can I not give them estimates? It's pretty ridiculous.


**Medical/Hygiene Help**

I need some medical help - I'm not expecting anyone to give me some professional medical advice, but just opinion based on personal experience, or links to some information.

Anyways, so I needed a Yellow Fever vaccination in order to get into Brazil. Before I could do this, I was told that I need to make an appointment for a travel consultation in order to get my Yellow Card (sort of like a passport for medical history I believe). The consultation was with a registered nurse, and it was free through my school. It lasted almost 3 hours! I thought it would be a waste of time but it was pretty informative. However, it is always nice to have a second opinion, so please let me know if you have any thoughts on what she is recommending below.

The nurse recommended a lot of different things based on where I am going:

-Yellow Fever Shot ($90) (done)
-Swine Flu Shot ($0) (done)
-Typhoid Shot (49$)
-Seasonal Flu Shot (20$)
-Hepatitis A Shot ($3) (this is recommended even if I am not traveling, so I will definitely get this done)
-TB test to see if I need a shot
-Tetanus vaccination (I don't think she mentioned this, and I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I'm reading that I should have this before going into Manu)

-Cipro - I think this is some sort of anti-diarrhea antibiotic drug that I should take if I happen to get really sick and have diarrhea and vomitting. She also recommended bringing some Pepto or Imodium.

-Malaria Medication - She is recommending I take malarial medication. She was unsure about the Malarial risk in the Pantanal, but she said that there is risk in Iguazu, but I'm not sure she knew what was she talking about as she did not seem very confident with regards to malaria. She is using some program/website called Travel Medicine Advisor to make her recommendations. She recommended taking Malarome or Lariam for malaria medication.
This is the main thing that I am unsure about, can anyone help me out with this?

Based on Google searches, I'm reading that there is about a .1% risk for malaria and Leishmaniasis in Manu, and there is almost no risk in the Pantanal or Iguazu either. Obviously these aren't medical documents where I'm getting this information from, but rather from tourists who have had personal experiences with this, and also from tour agencies.
Tourists are saying that the malaria tablets will just make you feel sick and ruin the trip, and there is no point. I should just stick to DEET mosquito repellant (30-50%?), as that will simultaneously protect me from Dengue Fever as well.

As for rabies, as long as I am sleeping with mosquito nets I should be fine, I don't think there is really a need to look into pre-exposure vaccinations for this, right?
I'm assuming the mosquito nets will be provided?

-She also recommended that I make sure that my medical insurance company is covering me when traveling abroad - to make sure that their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expences such as medical evacuation. This is what most travelers do, right? I'm going to call my health insurer soon.

-She also recommended drinking only bottled or boiled water. Will I have to buy a case load of bottled water over there? Where will I get this? She gave me a sheet with all of these tips, they even go as far to say as use bottled water to brush my teeth. Also, never drink unpasteurized milk - that makes sense.
She also said to bring some electrolyte powder patches (i.e. Gatorade) to put in your water because your body will need electrolytes even more in that part of the world.. I forget what her justification was exactly, something about the proper minerals not being in their food I believe.

Please post if you have any input on any of this! Thanks!
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Kenny, I'm heading to South America in September but can answer a lot of your questions because I went to Africa last year (plus based on my own research for South America).

Anti-malarials; i took doxycycline in Africa. I'm not going to lie - I got rashes, other people I've heard had crazy dreams, and they also made me VERY sick if i didn't take them with food. But still, I'd personally rather that than malaria ANY DAY. I'd be asking for a second opinion for the areas that you're visiting from a doctor who is a bit more knowledgeable in malaria. I've visited the travel doctor several times for several different things and I always found them to be EXTREMELY confident in EVERY question I've ever had for every region. You also have to remember that a lot of the times, travel doctors will exaggerate their opinions just to cover their backsides. Say for example she did not recommend the anti malarials and you went slightly out of the area you told her you were visiting or one malaria-prone mosquito happens to get inside a plane when the doors open and gets you on the flight or whatever - she would be liable if you caught malaria.

Rabies - mosquito nets don't protect you from rabies. Rabies is contracted from animals - particularly animal bites. I don't personally have any rabies injections; there's a lot of rabies in places like Indonesia, India and some other parts of Asia. I haven't heard of their being a lot of rabies in South America. Basically, when I went to Bali at the beginning of the year the doctor told me - to stay away from dogs. Dogs are one of the main carriers of rabies. Most of the time, in most of the areas you are visiting - if there's a rabies risk; it's mainly for locals rather than tourists. There's stray dogs EVERYWHERE in Bali - basically if we saw one ahead and we had the opportunity - we crossed the road, if not, we didn't touch it or do anything to invite us to be interested in us. Other carriers are monkeys, bats, foxes, skunks (skunks even carry rabies in the United States). Again, when I went to Africa I asked about Rabies - specifically, "i'm going to a lion park where we can walk with and pat lions, could I get rabies?" - the travel doctor said yes, because there is always a SMALL possibility and they don't want to be liable - but I still did it. In Bali, I went to the monkey forests and fed monkeys and had them up on my shoulder... Don't let a fear of rabies stop you from doing things but be smart and don't get bitten. :P

I went to Africa and Bali - both have bad water and like the above poster I've never used bottled water to brush my teeth. I personally don't DRINK the water when I brush my teeth but maybe that's just me? Be more careful with ice, drinks "on tap", and salads (in some places - the higher hotels and stuff should be fine). You won't need a case - remember that EVERYWHERE you go, other tourists will be there too - everyone is going to need bottled water and seriously, bottled water is everywhere. Just buy what you'll need for two days TOPS.

Travel insurance is a must - I would suggest seeking a formal travel insurance policy rather than getting your health insurance provider to insure you overseas - the travel insurance will cover evacuations, and also any equipment you take with you; cameras, laptops, trekking gear etc (up to a certain amount of course), it also offers personal liability, and will extend cover from injury too (if you hurt yourself white water rafting for example - which if you extend your health insurance they might not cover accidents from 'adventurous type activities'. For example, the travel insurance I take out, it covers me for EVERY activity I do EXCEPT being on a motorbike (that's extra). Plus, travel insurance will cover you if your flights/tours etc get cancelled etc. In fact I'd say before you pay ANYTHING for your trip - pay for your travel insurance.

as far as the electrolyte powder goes; the travel doctor has never recommended me those on the bases of there not being as many minerals in those places of the world. They are always good to have if you have a bout of diarrhoea (which is common when you are travelling anywhere with differences in diet - types of food, frequency of food, food hygiene is different, medications etc), but to be honest, I would say there's just as many minerals in the food in South America than there would be at home. The food is actually more likely to be organic because it doesn't have as many shitloads of fertiliser in it. The only problem with bad nutrition when travelling is limited control of your diet - you can only order what's available after all; whether that be from a resturant or even if you go to the grocery store and cook yourself - you only have whats available. To be honest, within reason (eg. there may not always be balanced vegan options, in other places, the meat might not always be safe, the serving sizes might not be enough to sustain you) but, i believe that places like South America, Asia and Africa tend to have more healthier diets than home.
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I think you're worrying too much, all the places you're going are on the tourist trail and have 000's of visitors every year, almost all of whom have a trouble and illness free time. Don't concern yourself with whether the dairy is pasturised - it most probably is, or the vegetables are washed in local water - almost certainly they are, but so what ? Being a vegetarian will make it more difficult, but not impossible.
For good up to date information on Machu Picchu see the thread in the Peru section of Thorn Tree on the Lonely Planet website. Reply to this