indyfabz

Mexico, Costa Rica, Surniname. Argentina, Peru. What's the difference?

axolotl

The OP asked specifically for suggestions about regions, not a cue sheet detailing every kilometer.

You (rekmeyata) also incorrectly characterized "travel warnings". Have you looked at any US State Dept. warnings lately? They vary enormously by location. For Mexico, for example, the State Dept. breaks down their information by state, and there are no warnings for most Mexican states south of Mexico City. They don't say "not to stray off the beaten tourist trail" in those states.

You essentially said that the OP should avoid virtually an entire hemisphere. That's ridiculous.

The following site compares crime rates in the USA versus Chile. Hopefully it will enlighten a few people who are irrationally afraid of the unknown:

https://www.nationmaster.com/compare/...d-States/Crime

Niles H.

Musicalyam,

You may have more ability or potential to earn extra money than you realize. There are many possibilties -- window cleaning services (I know a woman who is doing very well with this), house painting (interior or exterior -- another friend did this as a student, walking up to a house that needed some fresh paint, and asking the owner about it. He asked how much; she said a thousand; he said sounds good...); tutoring; street art or music; wire jewelry; household helper or assistant; many others.

It's a good feeling to be able to make things happen for yourself. You have enough months between now and May to earn quite a bit.

And you might enjoy the trip more, and have more flexibility and range, if you are not overly cramped financially. You don't need that much for a great bike tour; but it helps to have enough.

Ekdog

That's an interesting comparison. Can't say I'm surprised. Here's a little article put together by some folks there at Lake Chapala comparing Mexico's crime rate with that of the States.

https://livinglakechapala.com/blog/u-...te-comparison/

brentirvine

Cuba was mentioned but in June the heat might be tough. We cycled to Vinales last year in April and the days were easily up to the high thirties and low forties, plus the humidity.

B

mikhalit

There is an important point, which is unfortunately not elaborated:
First as the article says, it may be underreported, second it could have been reported but it didn't make into the final stats (police not starting the investigation, etc). Keeping that in mind the value of the article (especially this lines "Despite that the stats do give a reliable idea about where things stand in a general way if even if they are not exact") can be very low.
For example in Czech republic the old system did value the low crime rate too much, so officers had very little motivation to investigate difficult cases. After the system stopped caring for the number of crimes the statistics changed (sorry, i can't provide numbers as i learned that from the Czech media while being there last year).

And this is what is still happening in countries like Russia, crime rate is normally underestimated. It may look horrible on the paper, but in reality it's even worse.

This is how it looks to an outsider who has nothing against neither US nor Mexico, and actually dreaming of visiting both in the near future.


The US/Chile comparison is also flawed, i don't get why they compare the absolute numbers. For example the number of prosecuted adults is 0.4% (of total population) in Chile and 4% in US. It's a 10 times difference, huge, but not 209(!) times as the page says.

axolotl

I completely agree. However, for many of the categories, the site did give some useful comparisons of crime xxx per 100,000 population.

mikhalit

Sure, one just has to look very critically at this sort of statistics and understand what is being compared.

Just looked in the end of the table, they claim that crime rate in US is 19 times higher than in Chile, while it is nearly identical, close to 40 cases per 1000 citizens..

djb

I would second the suggestion of looking up CGOAB latin american journals for various regions combined with the dates, at least you will get a bunch of real experiences (although mostly from men I imagine)

This may I spent a few weeks in Costa Rica, and while I am rather comfortable there (having lived there with an exchange program many years ago) I dont find myself recommending it as a bike touring spot.
I ended up not traveling by bike as much as I had intended, but as a fairly experienced tourer and someone very used to commuting in busy Montreal, I would still put many roads in CR as being just too crowded and narrow mountainous roads pretty darn narrow with little escape room to the sides. Yes there were some great roads I rode on with less traffic, but I had help from Costa Rican friends who made route suggestions.
Basically as a result of the increased tourism over the last 25 years, there is more traffic than ever and more ticos own cars themselves.
As mentioned, in general it can be pretty mountainous, so you cant be put off by hills and must have appropriate low gearing (I had mtn bike gearing and wouldnt have wanted otherwise). Prices are not cheap too due to the huge tourism now, so thats another factor to take into account.

totally diff direction here, but have you and your sister ever wanted to visit France? June is wonderful and France is full of great places to bike in, camp grounds are plentiful and not expensive (a big factor that adds up for a long trip, vs hotels, B+Bs etc)
Safe, bike friendly, Canadian friendly....
just a thought.

all the best with coming up with ideas for a trip.

oren_hershco

I toured in South America twice:
In 2005, I cycled the Careterra Austal, Chile, alone.
In 2009, Me and my wife cycled in the Argentina Lake district, and also crossed the border to Chile.

In both trips I felt no security problems. In both trips I met women cycling alone, or in pairs, and they experienced no security problems.

The Careterra Austral is remote, prtially paved, and might be too cold and rough for your tast (definetly in June)
The lake district will be nicer but:
- Some of the roads are good gravel roads, not paved roads
- The weather might be too cold for you to enjoy. Dry, but chilly (https://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...graph/ARMA0123)

lee kenney

Here is another source ,Lonely Planet ,Thorn Tree forums ,destinations,on your bike, crazyguyonabike is excellent. Cuba is "muy sympatico " for cyclists. Price wise I paid 20 to 30 CAD a nite for a casa{ a room for 2 people** in casa meals dinner and brekkie max 14 $ You can street-food cheaper . Dervla Murphy, " The Island That Dared" is another reference . Bikes for Cuba would be another interesting option, take a used bike , leave it.Bikes for Cuba is Canadian effort. Go for it , Viva Cuba

fietsbob

I have friends that Go to Costa Rica and Panama in the winter .
they seem to like getting away from the tourist's places. and spend time with the
1st nation's Tribal folks that have been there all along.

In the tropics, temperature is adjusted by gaining altitude, it's cooler higher.

nancy sv

We cycled Central America in the time frame you are talking about and it was fine. It's hotter than blazes, and the humidity is through the roof, but it's doable. When it rains, it only rains (torrential rain!) for a few minutes, then it passes. Nearly always we were able to find someplace to take shelter (bus stop, bridge, etc) but were caught in the rain a few times. Riding in the Central American rain isn't all that bad because it's not cold. We didn't even take out our rain jackets - just got wet knowing we would dry out soon. Of course, when it's REALLY raining, you can't ride because you can't see anything.

I've just skimmed through the posts here, so not sure if anyone has suggested Colombia and/or Ecuador yet. That region is SPECTACULAR and one of cyclists' favorites. The people are wonderful and it's not as hot as Central America. It is hot when you're down in the valleys, but then you climb up into the Andes and get a respite from the heat so it's not as oppressive as Central America. If I was heading out for a short tour, that's where I would go!

arctos

+1 for Ecuador particularly at elevation in the Altiplano among the volcanic peaks and down into the Amazon basin at Banos.

udisku

Hi there,
I live in Guatemala and as I woman I wouldn't cycle alone through Central America. I do plan to do it, but with my boyfriend, and definitely NOT during the rainy season, (May-September) It makes the roads un-bike-able. Slippery, muddy, etc. Just being outside is pretty unbearable every afternoon between 2-5pm.

I've looked into different routes that are safest, and cheap- I would suggest biking Baja California. It's cheap, and supposedly a lot safer than the rest of Latin America. You can do the whole strip North to South in about a month. There's more info on the Mexico thread under the touring forum. I think Baja California might have different weather patterns than the rest of Mexico since it's off on its own peninsula.