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Before we left for 5 months of South America backpacking, we spent months gaining knowledge of what to % for South America (or rather, I did – Jeremy’s less persnickety about these things). Well, after five months of backpacking via Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, we are able to correctly say that we’ve completely field examined the whole lot that we packed for backpacking in South America!
While we made a few errors on that experience – there are pretty a few matters that we desire we did or didn’t p.c. – we additionally packed plenty of travel gear that turned into ideal for backpacking South America!
Since that first trip some years in the past throughout our year-lengthy honeymoon, we’ve been returned to South America regularly – and on one occasion, we even took a set of Jeremy’s excessive college students with us. We’ve now perfected our packing for South America!
In this packing guide, we’ll proportion our favorite travel gear for South America with you. This isn’t intended to be a whole listing of what to % for South America (, like, “bring a t-shirt” and so on –you could discover masses of those someplace else), but instead a selected compilation of our favorite, area-tested tools tips.
Whether we use them day by day or they’re simply particularly reachable in a pinch, this listing has all of our favorites: the nice things that we constantly % for backpacking in South America! I desire you locate our packing recommendations handy while developing your packing listing for South America.
Psst: Looking for greater tips for backpacking in South America? Check out some of our other posts!
- Packing Guides for Colombia and The Galapagos Islands
- One-Month Itineraries for Colombia and Ecuador
- Things Nobody Tells You About Backpacking in … South America, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru
Let us make your experience a bit bit much less terrifying! We’ll ship you a accessible printable checklist with our guidelines for what to % for South America (and a few crucial activities before you leave). We’ll also ship you some of our favorite tips for visiting in South America! Sign up under.
Please be aware: this is NOT a backed post! All opinions are my own and I paid my personal cash for ALL of our equipment. Well OK, some of them were wedding ceremony items, however I picked them out and listed them on our registry! The point is, these aren’t paid or promoted guidelines and I don't have any incentive to talk them up except that I simply like them.
However, this publish DOES encompass Amazon associate hyperlinks. Using those links prices you no greater but we can receive a small commission if making a decision to make a purchase.Packing Tip #1: Try no longer to accidentally % all-matching apparel with your associate. Like, how did we do that? at Quilotoa Lake in Ecuador.Packing Tips for Backpacking South America
South America is huge. Like, actually a whole continent. With many nations. And within the ones countries are many specific ecosystems. Wow, I’m no longer making this sound any simpler, am I? To make a substantial generalization, South America specially includes coast, mountain, and the Amazon rainforest – all of which are tremendously distinct in phrases of weather and equipment desires!
We’ve executed our quality to summarize some packing pointers from our South America backpacking journey, focusing mostly on Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
- South America isn’t terribly warm.
It’s hot on the very northern tip, on the Caribbean coast. It’s warm inside the Amazon rainforest. And it’s hot for the duration of the summer seasons in Chile and Argentina (November-March)… in positive spots.
Otherwise? South American weather is really normally around a fab to snug temperature. The western coast that we traveled is typically kept cool with sea breezes trapped by the mountain levels to the east. The mountains and higher altitude cities variety from cool to cold.
We had been perfectly prepared for the climate with some warm layers, a packable down jacket, and a unmarried pair of shorts every. Basically, think of what to p.c. for South America the identical manner you’d consider what you need to spend a day San Francisco: lots of layering pieces, a couple matters for decent climate, some matters for bloodless climate. So simply the entirety, adequate?
Oh, and if you get cold, just pop right into a mercado and pick out up something manufactured from fluffy, gentle Alpaca! That’s how we wended up with more or less 1/2 of our warm clothing.
- Don’t bother seeking to get dressed like a local.
You’re going to stand out no matter what, whether or not you’re visibly Gringo or simply wearing a backpack and a digicam. If you like to p.c. to combination in, try to seem like you aren’t wealthy. Looking rich will get you not anything however problem and overcharged taxis.
- Bring your personal hair and beauty elements.
Hair and splendor components are expensive and very terrible pleasant in South America (I think it’s due to the fact all and sundry has naturally best hair and pores and skin, so jel). Bring what you’ll need or your hair will hate you (mine’s still improving)!
For greater specific hints about make-up and splendor recommendations for tour, take a look at out my last beauty manual for backpacking.
- It’s easy to discover something you want to buy while backpacking in South America.
Other than superb hair products, we by no means discovered ourselves desperately needing some thing (OK, other than Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which we had a weirdly specific craving for).
So don’t sense like you need to p.c. for 1000 what-if scenarios. There’s constantly a marketplace/mercado, nook store, or grocery store selling a random assortment of whatever you would possibly need.
And if you may’t locate some thing in a small metropolis, just stop in the subsequent metropolis. (That stated, in case you want some thing very particular, convey it.)
- Most international locations have American outlets; some have European/Australian outlets.
To make things thrilling, some have a mix of both! Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru all had US retailers. Chile had European shops, on the whole. And Argentina had a combination of the entirety.
Honestly, we didn’t even clearly use the journey adapters we added with us. We simply sold whatever tour adapter was being offered in the metropolis we have been in. It turned into reasonably-priced and clean to discover a little adapter the minute we found out we didn’t have the right one. Don’t stress about packing the right adapter.
- There is Wi-Fi quite tons everywhere.
Hostels, coffee stores, eating places … Wi-Fi is very common and clean to locate everywhere in South America.
Mind, that doesn’t imply you’ll be capable of movement Netflix each time you want (we attempted. There have been a few heartbreaking nights of Netflix-unfastened kick back).
But in case you’re on the fence approximately bringing some thing that needs Wi-Fi (like my journey Chromebook), you’ll be high-quality!
- You should purchase a SIM card absolutely anywhere.
We introduced unlocked phones with us and picked up reasonably-priced SIM cards with records plans in every us of a, in order that even if we have been out of a Wi-Fi area, we had a backup plan. It couldn't probably be less complicated to find a SIM card: every corner shop and roadside stand sells them.
The hardest element is just deciding on which corporation to go with (we normally used Tigo and Claro). To this present day I couldn't inform you which one is better, or what the difference is, really.
However, if you’re no longer fluent in Spanish, you’ll need to go to an real keep that permit you to set up and prompt your card in place of a roadside stand. I endorse an electronics or telephone save. And then once you have got the SIM card set up and activated, you may top-up anywhere.Don’t overlook to percent a cute, brilliant maxi get dressed! Otherwise you’ll look again on your photographs and comprehend that ninety nine% of them are in drab olive or black hiking equipment. Whoops. At Colca Canyon in Arequipa, Peru.The Best Clothing for South America Backpacking
If you’ve ever spent a protracted day exploring at the same time as carrying uncomfortable clothing, you know how depressing packing the wrong travel garb can be! From the climate for your pastime level, it could be difficult to expect what you’ll want. And if you’re trying to percent mild, quantity subjects: move for pleasant, multi-practical clothes in preference to seeking to bring something for each state of affairs.
We’ve found some technical travel apparel objects that had been exquisite from the tropics of northern Colombia to the cold Andean plateaus in Peru and Ecuador.