A colleague asked me today whether it is safe to travel alone in South America. I replied something along the lines of "of course it is - I'm still here aren't I?". I added though that I probably wouldn't travel around Venezuela by myself right now though, but that's mainly because visiting a place with the highest murder rate in the world, widespread police corruption and having to navigate getting currency on the black market doesn't really appeal. My opinion of Venezuela could be unfounded though. The things that put me off visiting there seem to be common ideas a lot of people have of South America as a whole. My colleague seemed to be of the opinion that it is overrun with guerillas and people dying to rip off/rob white women. Hopefully as more of us come back with tales of how easy and relatively safe it is to travel around that continent, people's opinions will change.
So here's a short list of some of the dangers of travelling in South America and tips on how to avoid them/set your mind at ease.
1. Crime - especially getting robbed/mugged.
Yes it happens. I myself lost one camera and about US$200 to thieves. It's no big deal as at the end of the day, they're only possessions and it gives you a story to tell. My money was stolen from a locked locker at a hostel, not on the street. The best thing to do is to be cautious but not paranoid.
- Only carry the cash you need and split up it's location - use your bra - you'll definitely notice someone pick-pocketing it from there.
- Set up an automatic transfer weekly so there is never more money than you can afford to lose in your bank account in case of card skimming.
- Put locks on your bag to deter petty thieves.
- Sleep with your passport/money on you in more dodgy environments like Amazon riverboats. Actually if on one of these boats, padlock your main pack to a pole.
- Don't cart around anything you can't bear to lose.
- Be alert and don't take risks like walking alone after dark or get intoxicated/take your eye off your drink - same as at home.
- Use official taxis especially in Arequipa (Peru), which has a bit of a name for taxi muggings.
- Do your research and be aware of common scams.
2. Guerillas, wars and drugs.
Chances are you won't see any guerillas on the tourist circuit. There are certain provinces in Peru and Colombia, for example, that it is inadvisable (or bloody stupid) to go to. Chances are these are the same places you won't be covered by travel insurance if you go there any way.
- Check what your government says about where to avoid -kiwis should visit safetravel.govt.nz
- The article on Colombia mentions a car bombing in Bogota in 2010. This happened within 2 weeks of me travelling there and had no effect on me as a tourist apart from taxis/cars being searched with sniffer dogs before entering the car park at a mall - good piece of mind, if anything.
- Stay away from drugs. From what I've heard the prisons over there aren't nice!
- If protests are going on, it's best to steer clear.
3. Dodgy food and dodgy tummies.
If you are on a tight time schedule it probably does pay to be a little careful, but again, not paranoid, about what you are eating. Don't avoid street food - it's the best thing about visiting these places. If you are travelling for a while, risk a day or two of feeling ill to try a chicken kebab from a roadside stall or ceviche at a market. However...
- Wash your hands before eating.
- Use tap water for drinking but stick a purification tablet in it first.
- If the place looks truly unsanitary (your view of this will change the longer you are there), buy from someplace else.
- Opt for fruit you can peel and avoid the salad if you are on a tight time frame.
- You don't need to carry a full first aid kit. There are pharmacies over there and they are much cheaper than our ones. Purification tablets, a few anti-diahorrea pills, a roll of toilet paper (at all times) and hand sanitiser is pretty much all you need.
- Wash it down with coke. That stuff will kill whatever's lurking in your belly!
Don't be too paranoid. Some of my funniest memories are of a shaman performing a ritual on me to cure a dodgy tummy and having to ride a mule out of the second deepest canyon in the world after coming down with another bug. A bout of flu had my trekking guide force feeding me shots of a restorative alcohol made from the bark of the quinine tree.
4. Aren't there all sorts of dangerous creatures over there...?
- The most dangerous creatures are probably mosquitoes. There's dengue fever, yellow fever and malaria to be caught from them. The best thing is prevention - wear repellent (dengue mosquitoes bite during the day time) and get vaccinated against yellow fever. I decided not to take my malaria pills in the Amazon but you might like to... you can buy them cheap enough over there.
- Chagas disease from assassin beetles. This is something you can get from a bug dropping, usually from a thatched roof, onto you during the night. If you are out in a rural area, wear a long sleeved shirt to bed and put repellent on your face. Give blood when you get home and you'll get a free screening test for the disease.
- Dogs/rabies. Someone from my hostel got bitten by a dog while I was in Colombia. He needed stitches but rabies is so rare there now, no shot was necessary. People in part of South America do still die of it but often it's transmitted by bats and to people living in very close proximity to the animals. You can get a series of vaccines that will buy you a week to get to hospital after being bitten. If you are very cautious it might be a good idea. If you're sticking to the beaten track I would say it's not all that necessary. I did get vaccinated for my first trip to Peru, but not for the second...
- Mules. Mules are most definitely dangerous. They are moody and a kick from one of them will cause pain for several days. Avoid at all costs :-)
- Snakes. I actually saw someone getting bitten by a snake. It was not a pleasant experience but luckily it wasn't venomous. Probably better to wear something a little sturdier than a jandal when in the rainforest. The likelihood of it happening to you as well is probably very, very low. It does make for an exciting story.
- Spiders, alligators, piranhas, sloths... These creatures are cool! If you get a chance to see one in its natural habitat, grab it. Respect, don't fear :-)
To sum up: do your research, be cautious but not over the top, and she'll be right.
Right that's all for tonight. Probably the most dangerous thing over there is crossing the road (I'm not much good at that here either, though), the crazy extreme sports us backpackers find ourselves doing, and not wanting to return!
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