Roaming South America

My upcoming second journey of South America

February 27, 2024

I am heading out for my second backpacking journey of South America on March 2. My plan is to spend a couple of months visiting many pueblos in Ecuador, then the same in Perú, then a month in Chile, a month in Argentina, and finally end in Paraguay. At this moment, I haven't made a final decision of where I will live. There are a couple of towns I like - Moyobamba (Northern Perú), Arequipa (Southern Perú), Formosa (Northeastern Argentina border with Paraguay), Encarnación (Southern Paraguay border with Argentina). Moyobamba is the smallest with a population of around 55,000; Arequipa has a pop. just under a million in the metropolitan area; Formosa is at about a half-million; Encarnació has about 100,000. Those numbers are very general as the websites with population data have numbers all over the map for all of those cities. Arequipa is definately bigger than my preference but I have visited that city two times and I really like it. The others are all in the size range that I prefer.

Another consideration - climate, but not just as it is right now, but also in the future. Considering the climate is changing all around the world and it is warming up, I should consider what will the climate be like in 10 years? If it's hot now, it will be hotter, if it's cool now it will be warmer, but not hot. So, with that in mind, the cities in Perú may not be good choices while the cities further south, Formosa and Encarnación, would be the better choices. Another consideration is how friendly a city is for bicycling and running. Moyobamba does not score well there as it is in the mountains and the roads are narrow and generally have no shoulders. Formosa and Encarnación both are very much cycling/running friendly cities. Arequipa might be a bit on the hot side for much outdoors activities, not just because of the heat, but also because it sits in the Altiplano Desert and the air can be quite dusty. I certainly noticed it when I was there, my nose was almost completely plugged by the dust almost every day. I couldn't see the dust, but it certainly was noticable when breathing, which I did a lot of.

So, my penciled-in itinerary for this journey is mostly different from my first journey because I want to see more and different towns. There will be a few towns that I will revisit but mostly because they are on the route from one place to another. I will be crossing Ecuador from Tulcán south to Macara. I hope I can cross there into Perú, if not then I will cross at the primary crossing at Huaquillas. Between Tulcan and Perú I will mostly follow the Andes Mountains or the eastern side of them, with a short stint at Quito and out to Mindo. In Perú, I will visit a few mountain towns, then cross the mountains to visit a few coastal cities, then cross the mountains again to the east side, then cross back to the west side and work my way south to Lima. From it will be across the mountains to the east side again and many towns, national parks, and archeological sites. That will eventually take me to Lake Titicaca, then it's back across the mountains to the coast, visit some more towns, then south to Chile. In the very north of Chile are some beautiful areas to visit but I have a feeling they are too remote for any kind of public transport, but if I can find a ride out there I will definitely be visiting any of those that I can. I will visit quite a few towns in the northern half of Chile only as far south as Antofagasta then cross the desert mountains and enter Argentina. There are at least a dozen places I want to visit in northern Argentina, all in the mountains. From there I will cross the country and head for Formosa then into Paraguay. From Asunción, Paraguay southeast to Encarnación, there are a dozen or so towns I want to visit. Then I will probably finish this journey in Encarnación. There are quite a few expats living in that small city and they are quite friendly, based on what I see on Facebook. They are an active group that gets together often. I've not seen that in Colombia, though it might happen in Medellín or Bogotá (but, I think it is less so here in Colombia).

So, that about wraps up my penciled-in plan for my second backpacking journey. Here on my website, at the bottom of the pages, is a Google Map that shows my itinerary. You can click on the little menu icon in the top-left corner and turn or off several layers. Those layers include my first journey south, first journey returning north, second journey, and possible future journeys of other parts of South America I haven't yet seen. But first, I will do this second journey and at the end decide where I will live. It's not an easy decision.

Be sure to check back here often, I will be writing a blog for every town I visit, and uploading photos to my photo album of every town. You can also find me on several social media sites, the links are in the right-column above.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will return.