Question about RV'ing in South America

In Esquel, Argentina, some years ago we met a Brazilian family driving a large (35' or so) Mercedes bus motorhome. He had travelled from central Brazil through Venezuela and down to Chile then over to Argentina. Brazil has colour coded maps at that time issued each season showing the roads from impassible to 4X4 to paved.

We spent 6 weeks in Argentina, travelling city to city by air, and thought that if we were younger and healthier we would have seriously considered an RV trip through South America.

I'm not sure I would take an off the shelf class A down there. Our 32' DP Itasca has had enough rough road problems just traveling in Mexico. Note too that the electric power there is 2 wire 240 volts; there is no neutral that you could use to separate 2 120V circuits such as we use in North America . You would need a transformer or run on your generator and/or solar.

I've traveled to Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Chile on more than one occasion. I traveled by air and bus on recent trips. I've felt just fine in all of them, traveled alone for work and pleasure and never saw a thing. If a bus can make it, a motorhome can make it.

Just like Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, there are nice places and dangerous places. I think you would be a big hit with locals and can't wait to see your trip report.

I've never heard of rvers having any trouble except for an occasional breakdown or flat tire. Having a motorhome you have tons of storage and can carry everything you need.

Just be sure and write a blog on the adventure. We are considering buying a Class B just for the trip around the continent. You gotta love adventure to break out of the norm. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Friends went for two years in 2005. You might contact them and they can tell you. They did the whole continent.

The Dutch Duo

I travel a lot to those countries and can tell you that I would NEVER consider a RV vacation in any of them. Some are a little safer than others, but I wouldn't consider any of them truly safe. A large Class A would likely draw a lot of attention and advertise to the cartels "I'm worth kidnapping!"

The roads are for the most part atrocious - the main ones are decent, but as soon as you get off, they are pretty bad.

Are you fluent in Spanish? Once you get away from the major cities, you'll need to be to communicate with anyone. Sometimes it's difficult even in the big cities.

There are a lot of really neat things to see though, and I can understand why you would want to RV it, but for me, it's a safety and logistics nightmare....

A few things to consider driving a rig close to the size of tractor-trailer through South America:

-are you comfortable changing a blown tire in the middle of nowhere possibly on very sloped gravel road?

-consider the height of this Class A with rooftop accouterments: you will encounter power transmission wires at non standard heights over urban and rural roads, and don't have the local knowledge to keep you out of trouble.

-ease of repair of a large RV could be a concern, if you are not near any facilities (i.e. a smaller Class C with standard van and engine will be easier to work on IF mechanical disaster strikes).

I'm not saying that it is insurmountable to drive a large Class A through South America (many, many European extreme all-terrain motorhomes with military-spec tires and axles have and do drive SA every day, but they are designed for trans-Sahara genre expeditions, with the concomitant price tag in the millions, like these-->), but you may be faced with numerous vehicle size and logistical issues. If you do decide to do this with a non-hardened North American grade Class A, look at it as an "expedition", and expect some VERY interesting situations to confront you. Remember: many Latin American buses are often ruggedized locally handle extreme roads, and some have crews aboard to do small and large repairs and tire changes (with the exception of Mexican luxury buses that travel exclusively on relatively smooth paved routes) :B

Safety is ALWAYS situational. No one can predict the future, or predict where/if you will encounter security issues. So, just treat safety issues as you go (practice avoidance, in its many incarnations; read: understand how to minimize dropping yourself into dangerous situations and places, etc).