I’m Going to South America for the first time!

Whoopee! I have finally settled on my full-time travel plan for 2022: I’ll be exploring South America. For the first time! Yee-haa!

Starting point: Ecuador and the renowned Galapagos Islands.

It took a lot of research to arrive at this plan.

As I recently noted in my post LashWorldTour 2022 Travel Plans, as of mid-January I still had no idea where I’d be traveling this year. For the first time in 23 years of world travels, I did not have an onward plan. And that, not surprisingly, was due almost entirely to Covid pandemic complications.

During the past two years I found myself continuously dealing with the very annoying and nearly exhausting complications of international travel during the pandemic. That entailed constantly changing country border procedures and their domestic regulations, extra-extensive research, abandoned travel plans and the repeated, complicated scheduling of expensive PCR tests.

This year I’d hoped to avoid all of that by finally getting my vaccinations and to reaching a wind-down of Covid. Then Omicron took over.

So with Covid still raging around the world, I planned to avoid the complications by staying within US borders, for a change, to explore Hawaii in spring and Alaska during summer months.

Alas, my Hawaii plans all fell through.

So I began thrashing around for alternate travel plans. Quickly South America shaped up to be my sweet spot for 2022…

It felt like the forces of the Universe had sharply spurned me away from Hawaii and smoothly re-directed me southward. Everything just fit right into place…

First off, from Florida (where I’m visiting family atm), flights are surprsingly cheap to several South American countries, including Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. I’m talking under $200 US for one-way flights.

Secondly, Americans do not need visas to visit any South American country, except Boliva (where visas cost a stggering $160 US for a 30 day visit!). I’d long thought that most South American countries had rather expensive visas.

I’m not sure if that’s all changed recently or if I’d been wrong about that in previous years? In any event, right now Americans can enter nearly every country there for free, usually for 90 days. Yippie!

Third, for some reason, accommodations in all the countries I’ve checked are surprsingly inexpensive right now. I’m not sure if it’s because of Covid up-ending international travel or the off-season tourist months of February & March, or a combination of both.

I’d always thought South American countries offered somewhat higher-priced accommodations. But right now I’ve consistenly found private rooms for just $7-10 US per night. Right within my normal budget travel price range. Hoorah!

So, for whatever combination of reasons, South America is quite inexpensive to explore right now.

Finally, the last deciding factor: work. I would, after all, need an income. I contacted my supervisor about potential hotel review work in South America.

Quite luckily, she can provide me with hotel review assignments in every country there!

Done deal. I am going!

Back ground on my plan to travel to South America

Coming into this year, I actually had no thoughts or ideas about heading down to South America any time soon. There’s a reason for that…

From late 2015-late 2018 I traveled extensively through Mexico and all seven Central American countries. I loved Mexico and I liked the Central American countries over-all (except Honduras).

But I had two big issues with Central America that were driving me crazy. One is ‘gallo pinto’ – the regional dish of mixed beans and rice. Awful! And it’s served at nearly every meal! Ahhhhh! After dealing Math that gross concoction for 1 ½ years, I was so sick and fed up with gallo pinto that I’ll be happy to never eat beans again in my life !

The second, even more annoying problem for me was Reggaeton music (not Reggae). It’s blasted all over the places, really loudly. On the streets, in stores and restaurants, on buses and taxis.

Quite unfortunately for me, I absolutely HATE that music! For some reason, it really agitates me. I end up feeling so aggro that I nearly want to punch people. I don’t, of course, punch people, but I sure feel aggravated and stressed out.

I hate Reggaeton so much that it literally drove me out of the region! As I was traveling southward through Central America, the most natural next step would have been to continue south to Colombia. Instead, I left the region entirely and re-directed my travels to Eastern Europe for the next three years.

I vowed that I would not return to explore South America until the horrid Reggaeton craze had faded away. I figured it would take many years, possilby even a decade. But I had more than 100 countries to explore elsewhere in the world in the meantime, so I was in no rush to return.

For that reason, a visit to South America in 2022 had never entered my mind. Travel to South America this year more or less fell into my lap, as a re-direct. It looks like I’m meant to go there now!

So while I’m very excited to explore Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and beyond, I also have my fingers crossed that I won’t be hammered by that awful music.

As for my South American itinerary…

I will start in Ecuador. I fly there on Feb. 20^th. A few days later I fly to…

…the Galapagos Islands! I plan to stay there one month before returning to mainland Ecuador for two more months of explorations.

The Galapagos is amazingly affordable for independent travelers! Flights to/from mainland Ecuador are quite cheap. Budget rooms and hostels are available on the islands. And visitors can see most of the islands’ unique animals, birds, fish, beaches, habitats and other attractions for free by simply walking around!

Naturally, I’ll be writing much more about Galapagos, sharing photos, videos, travel tips and my adventures on the exotic islands. I’ll be exploring and photographing the Galapagos from late February to late March. Look out for my stories, insights and images!

From late March, I’ll be explore the Ecuador hinterland for two months. Through my recent research of Ecuador, I became mesmerized by all the wonderful, amazing & beautiful places to see; all the adventurous activities to enjoy; and all the well-preserved historical towns to admire. It will easily take two full months to explore everything.

After Ecuador, my onward travel plans are a bit fuzzy at this point. I’ll have the option of flying north to neighboring Colombia or southward to Peru. I expect Colombia will take about one month to explore, while Peru will take another three months of extensive & exciting travels to explore.

So I will be developing the rest of my itinerary as I go along. My exact plans and route will depend on the ever-changing Covid situation, flights, weather and costs.

Most likely, I’ll be exploring South America for the entire year. And while I’m down there, I may as well explore the whole continent. And that will likely take two full years. Let’s see how it all unfolds!

Meanwhile, you might also like:

My Perspectives on Cuba

25 Highligths of Travel Central America

10 Things I Love about Central America

10 Things I Dislike about Central America

========================

You might also enjoy:

5 Ways to Solo Travel the World in Style