6 Months in South America

As promised, here is a wrap up of our 6.5 months backpacking through South America. Including Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. We set out with about 6-7 months in mind and this is what we ended up doing, only spending slightly more than what was budgeted for. By the end of the trip we had a running average spending of around $95 NZD per day (we had budgeted for $85). 

We left NZ on 1st December 2024, embarking on one of the biggest adventures we will probably ever have. 

One of the first memories I have of the trip is on the LATAM flight we had from Auckland to Santiago where the flight attendants were only speaking Spanish. It was a shock to the system and I remember doing some last minute Spanish study after stumbling through ordering my dinner (I’ve always been a last minute studier). If I didn’t have nerves already, I certainly did after that. Our first stop of the trip was Buenos Aires, where our adventures began. 

Argentina

We probably spent just over 1 month in Argentina all up, crossing the border between Chile and Argentina. We visited Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, El Calafate, El Chalten, Bariloche, Mendoza, Salta and Cafayate. This was the start of our trip so for at least the first half we were still finding our feet. 

Favourite Cities / Areas

• El Chalten - small mountain town surrounded with mountains, lakes, and rivers. For the hikers. 
• Cafayate - small town surrounded by vineyards and red rock formations. 

Favourite Activities

• Viewing Mt Fitzroy for sunrise. We camped at Campamento Poincenot and woke up at 5am-ish to hike the couple hours to Laguna de los Tres where we watched the sun light up the Fitzroy mountains. The freezing cold wait in the dark as the sun slowly rose built it up for the most incredible sight to see. A seriously special moment.  

Other Activities

• Buenos Aires - visited La Boca suburb. 
• Ushuaia - hiked and camped at Laguna Caminante. 
• El Calafate - viewed Perito Moreno glacier. 
• Mendoza - bicycle wine tour. 
• Cafayate - hiked around the red rocks formations. 

Cuisine

• Ice cream - Argentinas dulce de leche flavoured ice creams were some of the best ice creams I’ve ever had. There are so many types of dulce de leche ice cream, and in every small town or city. We might have spent most of our daily budget on ice cream. 
• Choripan - short for chorizo pan (or sausage in bread). Argentina is known for their meats and BBQ’s, and the secret to a good sausage in bread is great meat. The bread was basic but a combination of delicious chorizo and chimichurri (herby salsa) made for a great meal. 

Favourite Hostels

• América del Sur Hostel, Buenos Aires - learnt tango dance, went on a pub crawl, and visited La Boca. 
• Gorilla Hostel, Mendoza - partied and went on a wine tour with fellow hostelers. 

Culture

• The people are very very friendly. Some of the most friendly and outgoing people we met. We often had randoms helping us or starting conversation. We had two occasions where strangers asked us to join them for meals. 
• In terms of change in culture from NZ, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina were definitely the most similar. The lack of main brands in supermarkets and stores was annoying though. 

Weird Facts or Situations

• Very expensive!! Most expensive country we visited, particularly the Patagonia area. 
• They have lunch at about 3pm, and dinner about 10pm. 

Uruguay

I think we spent around 1 week in Uruguay, taking the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia de Sacramento. We visited Colonia de Sacramento, Punta del Este, Punta del Diablo and Montevideo. 

Favourite Cities / Areas

• Colonia de Sacramento - area on the coast of the peninsula. Old cobblestone streets and buildings. Only needed one day to explore it. 
• Punta del Diablo - relaxing surf village. It was a great place to unwind and explore the coast. 

Favourite Activities

• We saw wild capybaras in Parque Nacional de Santa Teresa. 

Cuisine

• Caipirinhas - Uruguay was where we first discovered Caipirinhas, a simple lime cocktail from Brazil. I think because Uruguay borders Brazil they were quite common there. 

Favourite Hostels

• Hostel Mar de Fondo, Punta del Diablo - beach shack hostel with a very relaxed atmosphere. 

Culture

• We were only there for one week so a bit hard to judge. But from what we experienced everyone was very chill. 
• Felt the safest in Uruguay out of all the countries we visited (I think it is known to be the safest as well). 

Weird Facts or Situation

• It felt really quiet compared to Buenos Aires. Particularly Punta del Este and Punta del Diablo which I think usually get busier during peak summer. 
• No VAT tax for foreigners, made for pleasant surprises when it came to paying for things. 

Chile

We were in Chile for probably just over a month all up, continuously crossing the border between Chile and Argentina (think we did 5 border crossings the whole way up the two countries). For me Chile was one of my favourite Countries (along side Bolivia and Colombia). The variety of landscapes from top to bottom is more than about 3 countries put together with the coasts, mountains, fiords and deserts. We had found our feet for most of Chile as well which helped. We visited Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Chiloe Island, Pucon, Santiago, Valparaiso, Pichilemu, and San Pedro de Atacama. 

Favourite Cities / Areas

• Puerto Varas - small lakefront town with the views of Volcan Calbuco and Volcan Osorno. 
• Chiloe Island - quiet island off Puerto Montt. We stayed at Castro. 
• Pucon - adventure capital of Chile. Lakefront town with the view of Volcan Villarrica. 
• Pichilemu - small surf town with Punta de Lobos just up the coast, a world class surf spot. 

Favourite Activities

• Volcan Villarrica - Volcano climb so very straight up, and on snow for most of it. First time using crampons and ice axe. Got to look directly into the volcano at the top which had some activity. And the best part of all, we slid down formed tracks in the snow basically back to the bottom, sooooo fun!
• San Sebastián day hike - incredible scenes the whole way, with the landscapes changing multiple times. Reached the peak with 360 degree views and a great spot for a Sammie. 
• Punta de Lobos for sunset - most incredible sunset while eating our picnic dinner and watching surfers ride the big waves. 

Other Activities

• Torres del Paine - hiking. 
• Puerto Varas - hiking around Volcan Osorno and biking around the lake. 
• San Pedro de Atacama - hired a car and drove the desert roads, swam in Laguna Ceja (salt lake), and visited Tatio geothermal field. 

Cuisine

• Fried empeñadas - don’t tell Argentina this but they were the best of the trip. Particularly in Pichilemu (thanks Cam for recommending them). 
• Sushi - they had really cheap sushi made with fresh seafood, particularly Chiloe Island. 

Favourite Hostels

• Hostel MaPatagonia, Puerto Varas - old building but with very big dorms, comfy beds, lounges and outdoor areas. There were cherries on the cherry tree we could help ourselves to. 
• Chili Kiwi Hostel, Pucon - owned by a kiwi man right on the waterfront. The facilities were basic but the atmosphere was like no other. We had a group of about 8 of us who all got very close over the week we stayed there. Met some kiwis too. 

Culture

• I would say in general the people seemed a bit more reserved than in Argentina. However we still had Chileans helping us randomly and inviting us to BBQ’s, etc. 
• Country seemed a bit more wealthy than Argentina. 
• Only really felt unsafe in Santiago (from stories we had heard of other travellers). 

Weird Facts or Situations

• Torres del Paine (Patagonia) was beautiful but hectic with tourists. 
• There were flies that sucked blood. They were so big they could even bite through clothes. In Patagonia and Puerto Varas. 

Bolivia

We were also in Bolivia for about 1 month. Bolivia was by far the cheapest country we visited, and the least developed. It was one of our favourite countries, mostly because of the very affordable tours we did. We visited Uyuni, Sucre, La Paz, Rurrenabaque, and Copacabana.

Favourite Cities / Areas

• Rurrenabaque - small town near the Amazon jungle. Was very hot and had good places to eat. 

Favourite Activities

• Uyuni salt flats tour - this was a 3 day 4WD tour crossing the border between Chile and Bolivia. We went through deserts, past lakes, and most importantly had sunrise and the morning on the salt flats. 
• Rurrenabaque pampas tour - this was a 3 day tour of the pampas in the Amazon. We were on boats most of the trip, but slept in lodges over the river. We saw caiman, a baby snake, many birds, piranhas, monkeys, etc. 
• Huayna Potosi 6000m mountain climb - this was a 3 day tour from La Paz. The first day was basically acclimatising at base camp, day 2 was hiking up to high camp, and day 3 we climbed to the summit before sunrise. Very hard at that altitude!

Other Activities

• Sucre - 1 week of Spanish school. 
• La Paz - biked death road. 
• Copacabana - visited Isla del Sol. 

Cuisine

• Saltenas - Bolivias version of an empenada. Super luiquidy and sometimes needed a spoon, also almost always burnt the mouth. I think I was more a fan than Lucas. 

Favourite Hostels

• None in particular, I don’t think they’re really known for their hostels. Everyone is too busy doing the tours. 

Culture

• Traditional culture still present, similar to Peru. The native women are called cholitas and they dress in stockings, puffy skirts, cardigans and have their hair in braids. The men dress modernly. 

Weird Facts or Situations

• Take USD, you can get the blue dollar rate which almost halved our costs there. 
• We had our first and only completely lie flat overnight bus going from Sucre to La Paz, not intentionally. 
• We were in Sucre for carnival week, which was fun for the first day or two but we quickly got sick of getting nailed by water balloons on the way to dinner or while out exploring. 
• The altitude in La Paz (4000m) and Huayna Potosi (6000m) was very interesting, and quite frankly, very hard. 
• The bus to Rurrenabaque is not for the faint hearted, we ended up flying back to La Paz.

Peru

We spent another month in Peru, about half of that hiking and the rest exploring the towns/cities, dunes, and coast. Peru was the first country of the trip we actually really started enjoying the food. Until then it hadn’t been the most exciting. The hikes were as expected, stunning but hard in the altitude. And rich in culture. In general, Peru was maybe slightly cheaper than Argentina and Chile but definitely more expensive than Bolivia. We visited Puno, Arequipa, Cusco (and of course Machu Picchu), Huacachina, Paracas, Lima, Huaraz, and Mancora. 

Favourite Cities / Areas

• Huacachina - sand dunes and oasis. Sand skiing, dune buggies and partying. 
• Mancora - relaxing coastal surf town in northern Peru. 
• Cusco - obvious choice but it does have some beautiful mountains and hills, and lots of culture. The best food too. 

Favourite Activities

• Hiking Ausangate circuit. We did this in 4 days, and each day had a pass. We were above 4500m the whole time so it came with a lot of challenges. The views were breathtaking and we interacted with the local farmers who basically only spoke the Quechua language. 
• Sand skiing and dune buggying in Huacachina. So much fun and a great way to get the adrenaline up. 
• Relaxing on the beach and eating smoothie bowls in Mancora. 

Other Activities

• Hiking Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. This was three days of walking with a lot of elevation loss/gain. We stayed in some beautiful Airbnb’s along the way. 
• Salkantay hike and Machu Picchu - very touristy and busy. Amazing land that the lost city is built on, and amazing design. 
• Laguna Churup day hike in Huaraz. Very steep hike up to Laguna Churup, but a great place for lunch and a swim at the top. Again, at quite high altitude. 
• Multiple other day hikes in Huaraz. 

Cuisine

• Ceviche - an obvious one but a must have in Peru, particularly on the coast. 
• Sopa Criolla - a traditional dish which is basically a noodle soup. 
• Pisco sour - hands down my favourite cocktail in the world. It originates from Peru, and they by far made the best ones in South America. 

Favourite Hostels

• Camping Hospedaje el Chaski - we stayed here for one night on day 4 of Salkantay trek. The family who ran it were the kindest people, and they gave us a free coffee tour. They ate dinner with us and everything. It was a special stay, probably one of our most memorable of the whole trip. 
• Alpes Lima Kennedy Park - this was an unexpected one but everything in this hostel was just run well. The dorms were set up well, good kitchen and seating spaces around, good atmosphere, and it had a jacuzzi on the rooftop which was so good!

Culture

• Similar to Bolivia there is still a lot of traditional culture. Again with women dressed in similar clothing to the cholitas. 
• The country seemed a lot more chaotic than most of the other countries. 
• A weird divide between undeveloped and old school living to very developed cities such Lima. 

Weird Facts or Situations

• It’s a much bigger country than I actually thought it was going to be. 
• Surprisingly very comfortable and clean overnight buses (some of the best on the trip). 
• Too many lamas on ropes, particularly on the streets in the cities. 
• Altitude adds another level of difficulty to everything. Expect to feel shit, particularly the first few days at altitude. 

Ecuador

We spent 2 weeks in Ecuador which I think was a perfect duration. Quite a different vibe to the other countries we had visited to date, more similar to Colombia. We visited Cuenca, Banos, Quito, Minca, and Lucas visited the Quilotoa Crater and the base of Catopaxi mountain. 

Favourite Cities / Areas

• Mindo - small jungle town good for spotting waterfalls, butterflies and birds. Good jungle hikes. 

Favourite Activities

• Waterfall hike, Mindo - this hike gets off to a great start by taking the cable car across the valley. The track through the jungle goes past about 6 waterfalls that can be swum in. The water is very clear and warm. 
• Chocolate tour, Mindo - they took us through the whole process, from growing the cacao fruit to turning it into edible chocolate. Finished this with a delicious brownie. 

Other Activities

• Baños - hiring bikes and cycling the Ruta de Las Cascadas. Cascada el Pailon del Diablo was a great way to end the day. We then got a ride in the back of a van on the way home. 
• Mindo - feeding hummingbirds with sugar water on our hands. Great way to see hummingbirds up close. 

Cuisine

• Arepas - arepas originated from Venezuela (Colombians also claim it originated from there). Fried flat bread type thing usually filled with either shredded beef, pork belly or chicken, black beans, cheese, plantain, and avocado. Soooo good. 

Favourite Hostels

• Secret Garden Hostel, Quito - I wouldn’t say Quito had a whole heap going for it, but at least the secret garden hostel was fun. It had a rooftop bar and good activities. 
• La Casa de Cecilia Hostel, Mindo - right by a river with a completely outdoor kitchen and seating. It was very relaxing and great vibes. 

Culture

• Definitely seemed like one of the poorer countries. I didn’t feel as safe as I did in Bolivia. I saw two drug deals in broad daylight.
• A lot of Venezuelan refugees now living there.

Weird Facts or Situations

• They use USD as their currency. 
• We had stuff stolen from our bags above our heads in a bus.

Colombia

Colombia was our last stop. Ending our 6 month trip on the Carribean coast, drinking cocktails and relaxing was the best decision we could have made! We were in Colombia for about 1 month and loved every second of it. We visited Medellin, Salento, San Gil, Santa Marta, Minca, the coastline, and Cartagena. 

Favourite Cities / Area

• Medellin - very fun city. This city has a lot of energy. History with Pablo Escobar and the narcos is still very real and not too long ago it was at its worst. 
• Salento - coffee capital of Colombia. Has beautiful day walks and the town is so colourful and quaint. 
• San Gil - adventure capital of Colombia. Great for rafting, canyoning, bungee jumping, etc. 
• Caribbean coast (near Tayrona National Park) - absolutely stunning mix of beaches and jungle.
• Cartagena - very lively bright and colourful suburbs that we stayed in (the walled city and Getsemani). Just as you would picture Colombia to be like. 

Favourite Activities

• San Gil - bungee jump for only $40NZD. 
• Minca - hiring motorbikes and exploring the jungle and waterfalls. 
• Carribean coast - relaxing on the beach drinking coconut lemonadas and swimming. 

Other Activities

• Medellin Communa 13 tour - Communa 13 was one of the most dangerous suburbs during the narcos time. It’s now a safe suburb set up for tourists. 
• Salento - Cocora Valley circuit walk. Took us past the tall wax palm trees. 
• Salento - game of tejo with Lucas and Ash. A traditional game in Colombia which involved gun powder and loud noises. 
• Carribean coast - walking the monkey trail. This was on the outskirts of Tayrona national park (we did this walk because the park was closed). It was only about 6km long but we saw monkeys and caiman on the short walk. 

Cuisine

• Buñuelos - kind of like a deep fried cheese scone. The outside is crispy from being fried, and the inside is soft and cheesy. Delicious snack. 
• Arepas - more arepas!
• Bandeja paisa - pretty much the same ingredients of an arepa, but on a plate. Huge portion sizes. Had pork belly, ground beef, chorizo, plantain, rice, beans, and avocado (very heavy meal). 
• Patacones - flattened and fried plantain (like nacho chips), and covered with meats and cheese. You then top it with guacamole and salsas. 
• Coco lemonadas - most delicious refreshing drink. Make from coconut cream and lemon/lime. 

Favourite Hostels

• Rio Hostel, Caribbean coast - we only stayed here Thursday night, one of their 3 party nights per week. It was a great time, with DJ’s playing all night. The river next to the hostel was also a great place to cool off in. 
• Journey Hostel, Caribbean coast - set slightly back from the coast, near the jungle and Tayrona national park. Has a great view, infinity pool, and hosted family dinners every night so was very social. 
• Lote 10 Glamping - the most gorgeous place to stay right on the beach. We paid a bit more to have our own private lot on the beach with an outdoor shower, hammocks, etc. The bar/restaurant was also right on the beach, with delicious food and drinks on offer. We had our feet always in sand for our whole stay here. Huge crabs came out at night! One of my favourite stays of the whole trip. 

Culture 

• The best culture out of all the countries I think. Me and Lucas can’t quite put our finger on what it was, but it was just so lively and fun. Everyone seemed quite happy. 
• Dancing, dancing, dancing! Colombians love to dance and we did many dance lessons at various hostels we stayed at. 
• I think the combination between the beautiful scenery (jungle and coast), it being very warm, and good food, makes for the best time. 

Weird Facts or Situations

• Still a large presence of cocaine, however, apparently it’s not consumed as much there, more produced and exported. 
• The coffee wasn’t actually that great. It’s a large producer of good quality coffee beans, however most of the quality beens are exported and the lower quality ones are consumed in the country. Also depends greatly on the barista. 
• We almost missed our first bus. We were 20-30 minutes late and as we rocked up we thought for sure it would have left, but it hadn’t. It basically left as soon as we got in the bus so we weren’t sure if it was waiting for us, or we got incredibly lucky. 
• We had our first ever bus breakdown of our many many buses we took over the 6 months. This was an overnighter between San Gil and Santa Marta. It broke down about 4 hours into our 14 hour bus ride, in the middle of nowhere, and the middle of the night. We waited for 3 or so hours before another bus company picked us up. 
• The buses in Colombia aren’t really designed for long haul or overnight sleeping. Buses everywhere until Colombia had seats that reclined 160 degrees for sleeping. Not in Colombia though, normal bus seats. 

This is about 6 months worth of information and memories all written out in 3,650 words. I have definitely missed some vital information but it’s quite hard to remember every little detail. 

In general if people ask what my favourites were I would say (I think Lucas is similar):

• Favourite moments - watching the sunrise on Mt Fitzroy in Patagonia, and summiting Huayna Potosi in Bolivia. 
• Favourite countries - Bolivia (for the salt flats tour, the pampas tour, and Huayna Potosi), Colombia (the whole 1 month was probably my favourite 1 month of the trip, just living the life), and Chile (the variety of landscapes between the top and bottom of Chile are insane with the mountains, fiords, coast and dessert. So much natural beauty). 
• Favourite hostels - Chili Kiwi Hostel (Pucon, Chile), Hostel MaPatagonia (Puerto Varas, Chile), Camping Hospedaje el Chaski (Salkantay, Peru), Lote 10 Glamping (near Tayrona, Colombia).

What an experience it was, taking us a month maybe to get used to the backpacking lifestyle. This has been a great way to reflect on the trip, particularly after not giving it any thought for the first few weeks in Vancouver while getting set up. Watch this space for some Canadian adventures in the future. 

MacKenzie

Jul 13, 2025