South America is huge. I don’t think I realised quite how huge until I spent days staring out bus windows and finally getting off only to realise we’d covered barely a centimetre on the map!
South America has the well known Gringo Trail running through it. With this in mind it is definitely well discovered, yet it’s still relatively easy to find off-the-beaten-track things to do too.
Our journey started in vibrant Colombia, on to the unforgiving mountains in Ecuador. We went through well-travelled Peru and the very traditional Bolivia. We moved on to modern Chile, beautiful Patagonia, in to the very costly Argentina and finally to the ginormous Brazil.
Travel in South America is hard. It is so big, so high and both too hot and too cold. Yet you’ll endure the hardships for the reward of the most beautiful views and the most precious wildlife you can imagine. It is loud and colourful, modern yet traditional. It is stray dogs and pollution. It is amazing and welcoming.
It’s been my most exciting adventure yet.