Seeking advice from people who have already traveled to South America that may come of use.
I'm 19 and planning to traveling to South America in a few months. I will be traveling alone for the first time and was seeking advice from people that have already traveled there. I thought i'd start my trip by taking spanish lessons when i get there, and then staying another 2-3 months just traveling around. Seeking any ideas or suggestions.
Reply to this Hello Sarah 😊
Ive been to South and Central America a bunch of times. All but one of the times, I was travelling alone and came to no harm, so it certainly can be done.
'South America on a Shoestring' by Lonely Planet might be worth buying. It covers all the countries in S. America in one book. I almost always travel with a Lonely Planet book, for the the practical information it gives to the independent traveller, especially about health and safety issues.
I took Spanish lessons too, when I was in Guatamala, in an Indian village called Todos Santos. Spanish is such a useful travel language. I am not very good at it, but that doesnt matter too much. I learned enough to get by, and it makes travelling in Spanish speaking countries so much easier then travelling in countries where I knew nothing of the language, such as China.
Mel
Reply to this It's never a bad idea to learn another language... That being said, I can only speak English and thought I never had any real learning ability so never really tried.
We spent a couple of months in S. America and only knew the general greetings when we got there (actually I probably know how to say thank you in about 20 languages now). After no formal lessons and just a phrasebook, by the time we left we could get a basic idea of what people said, could read a menu easily count to 100 with ease, barter...etc.. So it's not essential to learn before you start travelling proper as you will pick up what you really need on the go, for everything else there's a phrasebook.
If your intention IS to learn Spanish, definitely take lessons. I've pretty much forgotten all I learnt as I don't use it ever.
Mike
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Reply to this Thanks heaps mel, i ordered the book today 😊
And thanks for your input too mike!
Sarah
Reply to this when traveling by bus DO NOT PUT UR DAYPACK IN THE OVER HEAD COMPARTMENT....DO NOT PUT YOUR DAY PACK DOWN BELOW WHERE UR FEET ARE....... A L W A Y S KEEP UR DAYPACK ON YOUR LAP!!!!!!! plenty of people i met along the way had their stuff stolen from the over head (inside the bus) and have had their daypacks slashed from the person in the back seat when ur pack is down below ur feet!
The PIGEON / Bird POO scam is REAL.....u will be walking in a busy area and all of sudden u have something on ur shirt, someone will point it out, try to clean it for u, while u are distracted someone will come from behind and steal stuff
Just use common sense...
if you can, try to put ur credit cards / $$$$ in ur crotch area, lol, sounds funny, huh? But it works great!
Remember just be aware of your surroundings, keep sight of your bags at all times (in/out of buses and subways) and you'll be fine. If not Petty Crime is really high. I say it because I met lots of people who had gotten robbed but I can not speak from personal experience, I was lucky! The poo scam was done to my traveling friend but we just told her to run!
Reply to this I thought i'd start my trip by taking spanish lessons when i get there,
noo! ... dont wait til your there... start learning it now
it will pay dividends
+1 on claudias advice, its true, you should be absolutley fine! but you will develop an extra sense for minding your stuff, its the norm in south america
have a nice trip!
Reply to this Haha thanks heaps, yes i have started learning already, i know most of the basic words and responses, and im going to get lessons in the first week just to help me get used to it, but im learning as much as i can now! Thanks for the advice!
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