Table Of ContentTHE ROUGH GUIDE to
First-Time
Latin America
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
ROUGHGUIDES
About this book
First-Time Latin America is not a
guidebook: it’s a planning handbook to read
before you go, and has been divided into five
main sections.
The colour section introduces Latin
America, with inspired ideas of what to see
and experience on your trip.
The big adventure tackles the nuts and
bolts, with advice on buying your ticket,
budgeting and packing, as well as how to
get around and what to expect from life on
the road in Latin America.
Where to go includes profiles of 20
countries in Central and South America,
plus Mexico, giving you an opinionated taste
of what they hold in store, along with
suggested highlights.
The directory is crammed with useful
addresses, websites and phone numbers
for everything from tour operators to
volunteer organizations.
The book concludes with a comprehensive
index and all the small print, including
details of how to send in updates and
corrections to this book.
This third edition p ublished
February 2010
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME ON EARTH
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The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the information in
The Rough Guide to First Time Latin America, however, they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or
inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.
MAP
GUIDEBOOK
GUIDEBOOK
GUIDEBOOK
PHRASEBOOK
The Rough Guide to
First-Time
Latin America
written and researched by
Polly Rodger Brown and James Read
www.roughguides.com
Contents
Honduras ............................... 224
Colour section 1 Nicaragua .............................. 228
Introduction ............................... 6 Panama.................................. 232
Preparing for your
big adventure .......................... 9 South America
Reasons to go .......................... 11 Argentina .............................. 237
Bolivia .................................... 243
Brazil ...................................... 248
The big adventure 17 Chile ...................................... 255
1 Planning your route ............. 19 Colombia ............................... 261
2 Visas, tickets and Ecuador ................................. 266
The Guianas ........................... 271
insurance ............................ 45
Paraguay................................ 276
3 Studying, volunteering and
Peru ....................................... 280
working ............................... 55 Uruguay ................................. 286
4 When to go ......................... 65 Venezuela ............................. 290
5 How much will it cost? ........ 74
6 Guidebooks and other Directory 295
resources ............................ 82
7 What to take ....................... 93 Discount travel agents ........... 297
8 Your first night ................... 104 Online booking agents ........... 297
9 Culture shock .................... 111 Specialist tour operators ........ 298
G Getting around .................. 127 Volunteer organizations .......... 301
H Accommodation ................ 145 Health .................................... 301
I Staying healthy ................. 157 Official advice on international
J Keeping in touch ............... 173 trouble spots ..................... 302
K Crime and safety ............... 179 Responsible tourism .............. 303
L Coming home ................... 194 Travel book and map stores ... 303
Online travel resources .......... 304
Where to go 199 Specialist Latin American
resource centres ............... 304
Mexico & Central America Travel equipment suppliers .... 305
Mexico ................................... 201
Belize ..................................... 207 Travel store 309
Costa Rica ............................. 211
El Salvador............................. 216
Guatemala ............................. 220 Small print & Index 311
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왗왗 Whitewater rafting, Chile 왗 Woman wearing traditional clothes, Cusco, Peru
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Tijuana
MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA
U S A
Ciudad Juárez
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
Chihuahua
La Paz Monterrey
M E X I C O Gu l f o f Mex ico
DOMINICAN
San Luis CUBA REPUBLIC
Potosí
Cancún HAITI
Guadalajara Mérida
Mexico City Veracruz Chetumal
JAMAICA
Oaxaca Belize City
Belmopan Bay Islands
BELIZE
Metres GUATEMALA San Pedro Sula C A R I B B E A N S E A
P A C I F I C O C E A N Quetzaltenango HONDURAS
3000 Antigua Tegucigalpa
2
1000 GuateSmana lSaa Clvitaydor SALVEMALDaOnRaGgruanaaNdIaCARAGLUaAgo dBel uN
Peicufiaerrladtgosua
500 COSTA RICA Limón Colón
PCaintyama
20
0 0 500 km San José DaPvAiNdAMA COLOMBIA
Tropic of Cancer
SOUTH AMERICA 0 1000 km
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
Barranquilla Caracas
Cartagena
PANAMA
Medellín Ciudad Bolívar Georgetown
VENEZUELA Paramaribo
Bogotá
SURINAME Cayenne
COLOMBIA FRENCH
Cali GUIANA
Quito San Agustín Macapa
ECUADOR
Guayaquil Ch(6im31b0o
Iqmrau)zitoos Leticia ManauRs Belém São Luis Fortaleza
Trujillo H(u6a7s6c8amrá)n Pôrto Velho Natal
PER U BRAZIL Recife
Lima Cusco
Lake Titicaca (I6ll4im02amni) Trinidad
Brasília Aracaju
Arequip
Aarica La Paz SBucOreL IV IA Corumba Diamantina Ilhéus
Iquique Potosí
GCraamnpdoe HorizBonetleo
Vitória
Antofagasta
Salta PARACGoUnAcYepción São Pa
Soalnotos Rio deC aJmapnoesiro
P A C I F I C Corrientes Asunción Curitiba
O C E A N ARGENTINA Florianópolis
Córdoba Santa Fé
Pôrto Alegre
Va
Slpanratíisaogo A(c6o9n5c9amgu)a Rosario URUGUAY Río Grande
Buenos Aires Montevideo
Concepción
Mar del Plata
Valdivia Bahia Blanca
Puerto Montt
Isla de Chiloé
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
Falkland Islands/
El Calafate Río Islas Malvinas
Straits of Magellan Gallegos Stanley Metres
Punta Arenas Ushuaia 5000
South Georgia
Cape Horn 4000
2000
1000
500
200
0 5
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Introduction to
First-Time
Latin America
The extreme variety and beauty of Latin America’s
landscapes and the extraordinary vitality of its people
have always attracted travellers looking for experiences
that will enrich and even change their lives. And the sheer
diversity of the region is such that it has something to
offer almost every taste, whether you’re looking for a short
relaxing break to get away from it all, or a long adventure
full of exciting challenges and new encounters. You may
find yourself sipping caipirinhas with the beautiful people
on Copacabana beach; salsa-dancing the night away in the
steamy nightclubs of Cali; or searching for leatherback
turtles by moonlight on the shores of the Caribbean. If it’s
adventure you’re after, you could be trekking through the
high Andes to the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu; searching
for rare wildlife in the immense rainforests of the Amazon;
or riding on a cattle drive with the gauchos of Argentina.
Nearly all these activities are afordable even for
travellers on a tight budget, because most of Latin
America is inexpensive compared to Europe or
the United States (though generally a more expen-
sive place to travel than Africa or Asia). Managed
carefully, your money will go much further than
it does back home. Unsurprisingly, a growing
number of adventurers from all over the world are
visiting the region, and there’s now a well-established “Gringo Trail” linking
6 the main attractions in each country, with many cities and towns home to a
lively travellers’ scene. This is nowhere near as intense as on the backpackers’
| INTRODUCTION |
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trail in Asia, however, and one of the joys of travel in Latin America is that
it’s refreshingly easy to get of the beaten track and visit places that as yet see
few or no tourists. This becomes even easier if you learn a little Spanish - the
one language that links the overwhelming majority of the region (pick up
some Portuguese if you’re travelling in Brazil). You’ll be able to speak to and
understand almost everyone you meet, making it possible to engage the local
culture and people in a way that (unless you are a brilliant linguist) you just
can’t do on a trip to other continents.
It’s the people themselves, and their
diverse and compelling lifestyles, that
are perhaps the greatest attractions of
Latin America. For though the region
may initially appear to have a relatively
uniform culture, in fact each country
is made up of a diverse and compel-
ling blend of indigenous, European and
African infuences; the product of Latin
America’s complex and extraordinary
history. Even within individual coun-
tries, regional diferences in human
experience can be remarkable, ranging
from bankers working in gleaming
high-rises to semi-nomadic tribes hunt-
ing for their next meal with bows and 7
arrows. The sheer exuberance of daily 왖 Indigenous people, Ecuador
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| INTRODUCTION |
왖 Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Amazon
Of all the natural wonders of Latin
America, none has captured the world’s
imagination more than the Amazon
Basin. Almost as large as Australia and
extending from its heart in Brazil across
the border to cover great expanses of
Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and
the Guianas, the Amazon is the largest
tropical rainforest and by far the most
biologically diverse ecosystem on earth,
home to a staggering variety of plant
and animal life. Through this immense
forest habitat, fed by innumerable tribu-
taries, flows the mighty River Amazon
itself, a vast river-sea that carries about
a fifth of the world’s running fresh water.
You can experience the astonishing 왖 Jaguar
natural beauty of the rainforest first
hand by visiting one of the numerous national parks in the Amazon.
Travelling by dugout canoe, you can see an extraordinary range of
w ildlife: macaws and toucans flying overhead; monkeys chattering in
the treetops; turtles and cayman crocodiles basking on sandbanks; pink
river dolphins hunting piranha fish in the river. With luck, you may even
see an elusive jaguar, tapir or giant anteater. Despite its immense size,
the Amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate. If current
rates of deforestation continue, scientists fear it could be completely
destroyed within the next few decades, fuelling global climate change
and representing the loss of a vast and irreplaceable repository of
genetic resources. By visiting the rainforest, you may be contributing
to its conservation, as ecotourism can help local people earn a living
w ithout destroying the ecosystem.
life is exemplifed by music that will accompany you like a soundtrack
wherever you go, from the pulsating samba of Brazil and reggaeton in the
Caribbean to the haunting panpipes of the high Andes. And that Latin
spirit is refected in the food: the fery heat of Mexican chillies; the inten-
sity of Colombian cofee; the exquisite beef of Argentina; the sensational
seafood of Peru; and the delicious tropical fruit juices you can sample
almost everywhere you go.
Of course, travel in Latin America can also be a disquieting experience. It’s
not unusual to be shocked by your frst sight of a sprawling slum and upset
by your frst encounter with a malnourished child begging for change. Many
frst-timers are distressed by the chaos and squalor of some Latin Ameri-
8
can cities and by the often desperate poverty. Some get frustrated by the
s ometimes labyrinthine bureaucracy that can complicate even the simplest
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