Mexico, Central & South America travel on a budget??

[jwhedon]

Hello all, my name is Justin.

My wife and I have been planning to do this for a while, and now that we both work for ourselves and are saving up a decent amount of money we will be ready for a pretty long, extended vacation sometime around March of next year.

We're wanting to go down through Mexico and Central America... possibly South America.

We're hoping to stay 'off the beaten path' and places where a room for a few nights (or a month) are extremely affordable. We're not wanting to go to or be around 'touristy' places... we're cool being immersed in the culture. Coastal (on either of the Gulf of California OR Gulf of Mexico sides) would be nice but not completely neccessary if you have other places to suggest.

Can't wait to hear from any of you.

Cheers,

~ Justin

[MichelleAlison]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What a wonderful trip - how long are you planing to travel? The reason I ask, is because the Latin American continent is so vast and unless you plan to travel internally by plane, you will need a lot of time to travel down to South America over-land and especially to Argentina.

Good luck with your plans.

Michelle

[jwhedon]

Michelle ~

Thanks for your response

We should be good for quite some time... 1-2 years is what we're thinking and planning on. Here's some more information... any help or ideas would be fantastic...

* I'm 32 and my wife is 29. We have 1 small dog.

* I will still be working as I work for myself online. She works for herself also, but will be taking a sabatical.

* We will also have a decent amount of savings JUST for this excursion.

* We're wanting to stay in multiple places at least from the top of Mexico into Central America (hopefully South America).

* We will be driving an older Jeep Cherokee.

* We're not picky... not looking for 4 star hotels or perfect beach cottages... we'll be happy with a small studio above a store or a little house in the middle of town or a decent hotel room.

* We are thinking of traveling from March 2009 to ? This will all depend on money and such, but I think with my average income we'd be fine to do this for as long as we wanted.

* We are also kind of looking for a place to up and move to in the future.

Thanks again and any advice, thoughts, ideas, etc. are extremely welcome.

~ Justin

[MichelleAlison]

I saw your other questions regarding your dog. I know you have a jeep, so it won't be a problem for you, but I can tell you that dogs are not allowed to travel on the long distance coaches in Argentina. People have to arrange private transport.

We are down on the Atlantic coast of Argentina and although we live in the biggest city here, there are many small towns along the coast with wonderful and reasonable accommodation. I am sure if you want to rent a cabin (known as a cabaña) the dog won't be an issue. I have friends and family who have holiday homes scattered along the Atlantic coast.

An American friend recently found a cabaña in a small place called Mar de Las Pampas and they were only asking 200 US dollars a month during the winter, which included internet, cable and all utilities. Because the summer season is from December to March, it is very easy to find cheap accommodation from April to November in this part of the world.

Hope this helps, but as you said already, you are not even sure you will make it down this far.

Regards

Michelle

[jwhedon]

Michelle ~

Every bit of information we can gather helps. We really want to make it all over, but it will depend on if it's possible for us or not to get down to Argentina. Maybe on another smaller vacation. We'll see.

Cheers,

~ Justin

[synthia]

I made a few comments about Central and South America in your Mexico post.

One advantage you will have is that you should run into some people traveling the other way who can tell you how things are.

Have you ever been to any of these places before?

[synthia]

Michelle - Really? Hmmmm. How is the weather in the winter?

[jwhedon]

We performed in Mexico (but Juarez which I know is barely Mexico as it's a border town.)

~ Justin

Originally Posted by synthia

I made a few comments about Central and South America in your Mexico post.

One advantage you will have is that you should run into some people traveling the other way who can tell you how things are.

Have you ever been to any of these places before?

[MichelleAlison]

Originally Posted by synthia

Michelle - Really? Hmmmm. How is the weather in the winter?

Not as cold as London and certainly not very wet.

The Cabaña I was talking about was in a very quiet area, but I suppose the owner was looking for a housesitter more than the money. The American guy found the advert on the internet and actually spoke to the guy.

Only passing on information as rquested.

Michelle

[synthia]

So I shouldn't show up in July expecting to find the same deal?