3-4 months in South America Solo --> Suggestions needed!

Hi All,

After 7 years working in banking, I am now going to be free from 1 June 2010. I am frantically working out how to spend the next 8-12 months of world travel and am hoping that I may be able to get some advice on how to spend the 3-4 months I have budgeted to spend in South America!

Roughly - these are my dates and the countries that I would like to travel through. I will be travelling alone, but may have friends flying out to join me for 2 weeks at a time. That said, I am planning for this to be a solo trip.

Dates for S. America: Mid July to mid October 2010

Countries I'm targeting to hit:

DEFINITES: Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina

MAYBE: Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay

What I REALLY REALLY need some advice on is: which of the "maybe"'s I should definitely include (I've excluded them thus far only because I am ignorant), how much time in each, how to get around, how much cash to budget per day (I want a decent level of comfort - not the Ritz, but not a mud floor and a blanket either!). I don't however mind going off the beaten track completely - in fact, I think that would be outstanding!

I would also love to include some charity work, or Spanish courses -- want some more authentic ideas as I have seen some of the large companies that offer charity work opportunities for an outrageous amount of cash -- not interested in those - too touristy I think.

Anyway -- any help in planning, waypoints, etc that you can think of that may be useful would be really gratefully accepted!

Thanks very much in advance.

Ryan Reply to this

In Bolivia I would add to the list that hkwoody gave you also Rurenabaque and its pampas and jungle.
And I agree you should consider adding Bolivia.

On the other hand, since you only have 3-4 months, perhaps you should consider limiting yourself to only one area - either the southern part of South America (Chile, Argentina) or the more northern part - Colombia, Ecuador Venezuela. You could add Peru and Bolivia in any of the two...

Regarding cost, I would say that you should be ok with about 50 US$ per day on average. Brazil is expensive (dorm bed is about 15-20$), Chile and Colombia are second to Brazil (dorm bed at about 12-17$), then Argentina (9-13$), then Peru & Bolivia (7-10$). So plan accordingly.

You can look at our blogs and see what you like out of it, and use it to build your program....

ENJOY!!!!!

Lilach
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