Travel Stats, Favorites, and Lessons from South America

This is my 101st blog post, guys! Hooray! Before I finish writing about all of my South America destinations, here are some favorites and figures from the trip as a whole so far! If you haven’t read the ramblings from Month 1, check that out too.

Well, I made it! And by that I mean I successfully and happily traveled solo (for the most part) from Cartagena, Colombia to Lima, Peru and arrived safely back to North Carolina. I’m taking a break here to relax and venture around the state for about a month before I set off on the second leg of my travels at the end of January. This two and a half months on the road has been amazing and I can’t wait for the next (much less planned) portion of my travels!

As far as South America goes, however, here are some stats, favorites, and more travel lessons:

Countries Visited: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

Favorite Country: If I have to pick, Colombia. I’ll be surprised if that country doesn’t blow up with tourism in the near future. What makes it the best? Undoubtedly, the people there are the friendliest that I’ve encountered anywhere. People were willing to help me anywhere I went! And the country itself has such a diverse landscape of things to do, from the Caribbean beaches, to the green mountains of the coffee triangle, to the incredible big cities with all the amenities you could possibly want, Colombia really has everything. Oh yeah, and it’s so cheap right now…

Best Food: Peru, hands down. SO MUCH FRESH SEAFOOD! And the ceviche, holy wow. Why can’t we have more of that stuff in the States?

Best Thing I Ate: Tuna ceviche with maracuya leche de tigre from Sirena Cafe in Mancora (pictured above). It was part of a set menu that cost about $12 total (oh yeah, and it was served with seared tuna and Thai style fried rice). I could eat it every day and I mean that. In second place, the multiple plates of traditional Peruvian ceviche made with mahi mahi or sea bass and accompanied by corn, red onion, chili peppers, and sweet potato that I ordered almost everywhere (and that I learned to make in a Cusco cooking class). So, in short, ceviche.

Best Place I Stayed: Loki del Mar in Mancora, Peru. No contest. A resort turned hostel located right on the beach. Hammocks, pool, bar with a tab system, happy hours, and games. What’s not to like? Maybe it was the perfect storm of making good friends, being surrounded by good restaurants, and wonderfully hot, sunny weather, but I can see why people end up staying at this place for months.

Not Worth the Hype: Paracas, Peru. Sorry, it’s just not the destination for me. Dad and I visited this town, the red beach, the Islas de Ballestas, and a pretty boring museum, and we were not impressed. I went because it’s just a thing you do when staying around Ica, Peru, but I’d say it’s totally skippable.

Best Experience: Tie. Learning to Scuba dive and hiking the Inca Trail. Both were incredibly rewarding and totally amazing learning experiences. I highly recommend them to anybody looking for a challenge!

Worst Experience: Being super lonely for the first couple days of my trip in Cartagena, getting sick in the Galapagos, and the worst hangover of my life in Montanita.

Note: I just realized never really explained how I got over those first few tough days in Colombia. Well, I got back to my hostel room after spending the night on Playa Blanca, took a long shower, got dressed, and set off into the city during the evening by myself sans camera. I decided to do whatever the hell I wanted and not worry about seeing and doing anything important. I had my first (hot, cheesy, wonderfully delicious) arepa and sat in a park while I ate it. I talked to a friendly stranger, walked along the Old City’s wall at sunset, bought a bracelet or two from a street vendor, and then sat in a fancy cafe by myself and ordered steak tartare and a glass of malbec. When it got dark, I headed back, grabbed gelato en route, called Charlie via WhatsApp, and felt a LOT better about everything. So I guess what I’m saying is that my coping mechanism is wandering aimlessly and eating?

Sketchy Situations: By far the most common thing people ask about, because it’s South America right? Sorry, but I’ve got nothing. None. I literally cannot think of any. There was one very annoying old man on an overnight bus from Ecuador to Peru who wouldn’t shut up, and lots of guys tried to sell me cocaine on the streets in Medellín, but nothing I couldn’t easily brush off. I felt very safe the entire time. Yes, really.

Casualties: One pair of sunglasses (the first day of my trip, I dropped them on the concrete floor and the lens popped out, but I superglued it back in place and they lasted another three weeks), metal water bottle (broken when I arrived – it was a free one), and my watch (I think I left it at the hostel as a result of this hangover – I liked it so much I just got the same one again for Christmas).

Surprisingly, nothing was stolen and all of my gear and electronics are in tact. A little sand in the camera though…

Money Stuff

Total Spent on 77 Days of Travel in South America:  $4,812.27

How about that $50/day budget of yours? Wellll….

As you know, I spent a fair amount of money on those six days in the Galapagos Islands, which distorts the picture of South America’s affordability as a whole, so here’s how I’d break down the daily spending:

$62.50 per day with the Galapagos trip costs averaged in.

$42.60 per day, Galapagos trip costs excluded. As in, every other day of my trip.

I count that as a win! (Oh, and you could definitely do it even cheaper. I didn’t skimp on much.)

If you want an extremely detailed budget breakdown, sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar of the blog, and I’ll send you the link to my spreadsheet.

More Lessons Learned:

Sometimes you won’t even learn the last names of some of the coolest, funniest people you meet. You can’t even friend them on the ol’ Facebook. (I guess that’s how our parents felt.) No, you may never see them again but you’ve still got the memories. Maybe that’s the beauty of this travel thing?

Stop worrying, things almost always work out. Stop clenching your teeth and looking at your watch, because you usually aren’t going to miss that bus. And if you do, you’ll figure it out.

Temporary travel companions can make things much more fun… and bearable. I know that having my Australian friend Sophie to accompany me from Mancora to Lima, to shop with, and to each as much seafood as possible with brightened my outlook on the city of Lima.

But after traveling solo, having a constant travel partner can be tough. On the other end of that spectrum, I’ll admit that having dad join me was a challenge. You really do get used to traveling alone. I had to start planning ahead and researching hotels rather than just showing up in a city to a hostel I’d heard about and asking for a dorm bed. I had to ask what he wanted to eat or do, worry about him acclimatizing in Cusco, and wait for him if he was being slow. But at the same time, it was rewarding to show someone around who doesn’t travel that often.

I said it last time, but meeting people from different parts of the world is at least half the fun of travel. My dad marveled that we were the only people from the United States on our Inca Trail trek. When he met a guy from Lapland, Sweden, dad just couldn’t believe that this guy’s job was legitimately herding reindeer. Direct dad quote:  “At first, I thought he was fuckin’ with me, but then I asked him a lot of questions and he was able to answer every single one of ’em.” And then the guy showed us photos of the actual reindeer…

I’ve got a few more posts left for South America, including posts on Quito, Mindo, and Cuenca, Ecuador and Mancora, Ica, Lima, Cusco, and of course, the Inca Trail. I know, I know – I got a little behind, especially in the last couple weeks of traveling with dad. What can I say? That was a special kind of challenge.

Anything I missed? Any other stats you’d like you know from my trip? Any more lessons I should’ve learned?