i was wondering if most people thought it worthwhile to travel to south america if unable to rent a car (19 yrs old)
my friend and I are 19, and hoping to travel to South America between semesters, January 2nd-15th, to Ecuador, Peru, or Belize, wherever we can get the cheapest airfare (and then plan our itenerary). As we won't be able to rent a car and drive between different sites and reach more remote locations, (we hoped to visit the rainforest, national parks, Incan ruins, and the cities), as well as some less popular sites- is public transportation cheap and accesible enough to make the most of our trip while we're there?
Is public tranportation generally reliable, and safe in these countries?
Reply to this Public transportation is definitely cheap and frequent. There are also different classes of public transportation and there are some tourist class services servicing the backpacking circuit.
I can only speak for Peru:
For most backpackers, public transportation is the only way to get around.
If you're keen on really getting off the beaten track you might want to consider hiring a driver that would accompany you to these places.
As for whether or not its safe... well.. I think for the most part its fine but you do have to take the usual precautions: keep an eye on your bag, (smaller backpack is preferable in these conditions so you can keep it under your feet rather than underneath the bus), wear money belts, don't wear your camera around your neck on the bus or show expensive flashy items that would be a year's salary for a poor peasant... I've heard stories of people falling asleep on buses and waking up and having the camera they had in their lap stolen but a lot of it comes down to common sense.
Keep in mind that some public transportation can get very crowded so sometimes you'll have people standing in the aisles for 12 hour bus rides and they might try to sit on your seatrest or on you. Depending how local the public transportation is, you might also sit next to a farmer's bag of corn or his chickens he's brought on the bus.
Drivers in Peru are crazy and like to speed. My suggestion would be not to sit near the front so you don't see how precariously close they speed and take the sharp corners of the mountain road that overlook a sharp cliff.
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