My nine worst moments when backpacking South America
My four month backpacking trip through South America was a lot of fun. I saw and did so much, such as swimming in the Caribbean sea and walking over the Uyuni salt flats, hiking the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador and spotting monkeys in the Amazon.
However, with any trip, there were some less positive moments. No backpacker has ever had a perfect trip; something always goes wrong, and my time in South America was no exception. After sharing lots of positive blogs about my favourite moments travelling, I thought we were due for a reality check. Hence, this list.
In this article, I’ll share with you what I consider to be the worst moments I experienced when backpacking South America. I hope they’re food for thought, or interesting if nothing else!
1. Being searched for drugs on a 3 am flight
When I was initially planning my backpacking trip, I was eager to visit Peru and see sights like Macchu Picchu for myself. However, no trip goes to plan. In early 2023, Peru experienced political unrest, with widespread protests and instability. That meant I couldn’t go.
Instead of travelling across the border from Bolivia to Peru, I ended up flying out of La Paz to get to Ecuador, via Colombia. There were very few flight options when going north, so I ended up taking a 3 am flight to Bogota. Not my finest moment!
Of course, when taking a flight at 3 am, La Paz airport had extra checks. This is the first and only time I’ve had my bags go through a separate scanner for drugs, and sniffer drugs even checked our bags as we got onto the plane. Reading around it, I can see that Bolivia has historically had a lot of drug smuggling through their airports, so it does make sense. But still! My brain cannot handle these things at 3 am.
2. Nearly missing my flight in Buenos Aires
The first country I properly visited in South America was Argentina. I loved exploring Buenos Aires, but there’s no denying it was chaotic when trying to get back to the airport to fly to Patagonia.
My sister, Lou, and I were trying to get currency from the Western Union before we got our bus to the airport. However, the Western Union queue was too long, and we ended up missing the bus.
Of course, this being our first stop, I went into a little spiral. Lou stepped in to do the organising, getting us a taxi and negotiating the price like a pro (so it didn’t end up being more expensive than the bus). She really kept me sane!
Long story short: always leave extra time to visit Western Union in Argentina, or you risk missing your flight!
3. Lou’s necklace being stolen in Santiago
One of my least favourite cities in South America was Santiago, the capital of Chile. Despite being one of the more affluent cities on the continent, Santiago feels unsafe outside of the tourist areas: something Lou unfortunately experienced firsthand.
We were visiting the Santiago Central Market, and saw a street market on the other side of the road. Intrigued, we crossed the road to take a look.
Big mistake: within one minute, a guy walked past and ripped Lou’s necklace off her neck. Lou shouted at him and he went running off. No one at the market was surprised; one local even told Lou to take her earrings out to make sure they weren’t taken too.
We were both a little shaken by this incident. That being said, when talking to other people travelling through Chile, I got the impression that everyone had something stolen from them, or knew someone who did: from being mugged in Valparaíso, to pickpocketed on the metro in Santiago, it was all too common. I felt much safer once I left the cities behind.
4. Being water bombed in Potosí and Sucre during Carnival
Later, I had the misfortune of visiting Bolivia during Carnival, a festival in February celebrated across South America. There are lots of great aspects to Carnival, and I can see why the locals enjoy it: there are parades, music, street parties and drinking.
But there’s one other aspect to Carnival specific to Bolivia that I didn’t like: the water fights.
Everywhere we went in Potosí and Sucre during Carnival, there would be kids with balloons filled with water, ready to throw it, or with water guns at the ready. I felt like, as unsuspecting white tourists, Lou and I had targets on our back. Sometimes they’d come from groups; more commonly they would be thrown from balconies, offering the thrower anonymity.
I don’t like being drenched with water, never mind when I’m just trying to explore a new city. I also felt less safe when exploring during Carnival, as there were many more drunken groups about. It put me on edge, and I spent most of my time during Carnival at the hostel or cafes, where I felt more comfortable.
5. Creepy men in Canoa, Ecuador
Later on in my trip, I visited Canoa, a surf town on the Ecuadorian coast. It was one of those places I’d heard such great things about, but it just, well… wasn’t that great!
There were many things I didn’t like about Canoa (and Ecuador in general to be honest), but the worst thing had to be the men. There were lots of lovely people, but catcalling was common, and I always felt a bit uncomfortable.
The most disturbing incident happened to my sister. Lou was chilling on the balcony of our hostel when a guy on a motorbike stopped to watch her and then began playing with myself, if you know what I mean. He was a distinctive guy and anytime we saw him after that, we felt very uneasy.
Honestly, it won’t be somewhere I rush back to.
6. The worst sunburn I’ve ever had in Canoa
Another thing I didn’t anticipate about Canoa is its location. As it is positioned on the equator, the sun beats down on Canoa, way more intense than I’d ever previously experienced.
This backfired in the most painful way when I took a surfing lesson on my last full day in the town. The surfing lesson was great – my instructor just towed me out on my board and sent me back in so I could have the most fun aspect of surfing, without having to deal with the set up.
But being on my front all day long in the water wasn’t the best plan. All the suncream I applied rubbed off, and my bum literally burned to a crisp.
The worst bit about it was that the next day, I had to take two buses to get back to Quito (a journey of nine hours). Let me tell you, that has to be up there on the least comfortable bus rides I’ve taken before. Lesson learnt: always wear shorts when surfing!
7. Staying in a garage in Torotoro
When in Bolivia, Lou and I spent a few days in Torotoro, a town in a stunning national park. Our accommodation during this time ranks as a low point for our trip.
I booked us into a five-bed dorm at a guesthouse in town. The photos looked good, but they hid an unfortunate secret: the dorm was actually a garage!
The garage door was covered by a sheet, which didn’t really help matters. It still looked like a garage. The rest of the guesthouse wasn’t much better. Lou even got catcalled when walking to the bathroom.
I’d visit Torotoro again happily, but this guesthouse is one I won’t be heading back to.
8. Stressing about my yellow fever certificate whenever possible
If I ever wanted to have a stress-free trip, I wrecked it on the get go. In the car on the way to Heathrow, I realised I left my yellow fever certificate at home.
What is a yellow fever certificate, I hear you wonder? Yellow fever is an infection which is spread by mosquitoes, mainly in South America and Africa. Getting yellow fever wouldn’t exactly be great, but fortunately there’s a vaccination you can get. Many countries require travellers from countries where yellow fever is prevalent to have this vaccination, with the certificate giving proof of this.
Leaving this certificate at home wasn’t the end of the world; I had been vaccinated after all, and most of the countries I visited didn’t require seeing a certificate unless you were arriving from a high risk country (in South America, that was just Brazil). But there were certain national parks, such as Tayrona National Park in Colombia, where showing the vaccine certificate was mandatory for entry.
I never ended up having to show any certificate to anyone, but it did cause some stress!
9. Freaking out during a night walk in the Amazon
I’ve always thought I’m a good person when it comes to creepy crawlies. I tested this to my limit during a trip to the Amazon.
I was staying at a very nice ecolodge in Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador, which organised daily activities to explore the surrounding rainforest. One such activity on our first night was an evening walk in the dark. Maybe it was because it was my first day in the Amazon, but I was PETRIFIED.
There were so many mosquitos and biting insects, and even with my arms and legs covered I was getting bitten so much. I had never seen so many ants and spiders. Our guide was so calm in his pointing out of dangerous and deadly bugs, whose existence I was better off not knowing about in those moments.
The other days at Cuyabeno were better, in that I felt calmer and got a bit more used to my surroundings. I didn’t feel so positive about another night walk though…
Conclusions
There were some bad moments during my backpacking trip in South America. I’m lucky that nothing too significant occurred; really, none of these incidents are too bad in the grand scheme of things.
Truly, I had a great time backpacking the continent and hope I’ll be back in the future!
Do you have any particularly low travel moments? Let me know in the comments.
Top travel moments
Want a bit of positivity now? Check out my lists of my top ten travel moments from Bolivia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
