During the planning stage of our road trip from Colorado to South America, it was difficult to find much good information on good places to stay along the way. There are of course many hostels and hotels listed in guide books, but these are usually geared towards backpacker travelers, with limited transportation options, and most books at best only provide a small portion of the available accommodations in any one city. While we did frequently stay in hostels, our goal from the onset was to camp (ideally for free) as much as possible. The guide books had no advice on this subject, and information on the internet was sparse to say the least.
Lacking any other source of knowledge, we blindly set out, feeling our way through cities and countries, searching each night for a safe and comfortable place to lay our heads. Through most of Central America, we predominantly paid for lodging, mostly because we were a bit nervous at the idea of “pirate camping”, and quite frankly, it was hot and humid- which makes camping of any sort rather uncomfortable. Through South America, we became much more apt at finding safe and free places to park the truck for a night, and if we were to travel the first portion of our trip a second time, I am sure our tendency to stay in hostels would be much diminished (and consequently, our wallets much fatter).
Our nightly ritual of driving around a city looking for a cheap and clean hostel, or a safe and inconspicuous place to park, was rather tedious at times, and we wished there was some sort of “Driver’s Guide Book” for the Americas that listed safe places to camp. Unfortunately, there isn’t. Now, I will be the first to say that part of the beauty of driving through Central and South America in your own vehicle is the freedom it provides when it comes to searching for a place to stay. But, as much fun and part of the adventure this whole process is, it couldn’t hurt to have a few solid recommendations in your back pocket, in the event that you are having a hard time finding somewhere safe, and it is getting dark, and your co-pilot is getting anxious, and tired and hungry and… well, you get my point.
With that in mind, we diligently kept records of every place that we stayed during the course of our trip. Some places we picked were great, some places not so great, but we tried to give a detailed and honest opinion of each spot so that some future traveler might have an unbiased and helpful list of possible safe places to stay. I would in no way call this list a “guide” because we made no attempt to search out or provide information on all the possibilities in any one locale. These are just the places that worked for us, and if you are in a pinch, they might work for you too.
When we were searching for a place to stay each night, we were interested in a few specific attributes- for hotels and hostels: working internet, decent bathrooms (preferably private), safe parking, and a reasonable price; and for camping: safety, security, and a lack of visibility from possibly nefarious visitors. Because these were the things important to us, we assume they are probably the things important to most travelers, so we have highlighted these attributes, or the lack thereof, in our list.
The most practical way to lead someone to the exact location of where we stayed is obviously by providing GPS coordinates. We have given additional information including the address, telephone number, email address and website if we happened to remember to collect the establishment’s business card at the time, but for entries without this information, you can probably search Google to find it. The GPS coordinates we have shown are in two forms- degrees with decimals, and degrees with minutes- depending on whether the data came from our hand held Garmin GPS or our SPOT Messenger satellite tracker. For some personal locations, such as that of our parents, we have omitted the GPS coordinates for obvious reasons.
Costs are shown in the currency of the local country (unless otherwise noted), and converted to US dollars based on the exchange rate at that time. It was difficult to use the appropriate currency symbol for each country, so for convenience, the US dollar sign ($) is used in many locations with the local currency name following the amount. Also, prices shown for hotel rooms and entrance fees are the total we paid for the both of us, unless noted otherwise. Most rooms we booked were doubles, and were charged as such. Rates for single rooms may be cheaper, but not necessarily. We have tried to indicate lodging that charged per person rates.
We have tried to standardize the terms we used to describe the different types of camping, parking, and bathrooms we encountered on our trip. Here is a basic description of each term:
Camping:
Camping- Sleeping in our truck somewhere that it is legal and not uncommon, typically at places where you have to pay, like national parks, or RV parks.
Pirate camping- Sleeping in our truck where it is not legal, or where it would not generally be an accepted or common thing to do, such as on city streets, private parking lots, or in the open country where you don’t know who owns the land. In these situations we typically did not open the pop-up tent on the truck and we tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible so that no one would know we were sleeping in our vehicle.
Gas station camping- Sleeping in our truck at gas stations overnight was free and acceptable everywhere we went, though sometimes at smaller independent stations we asked permission first. We usually parked out by any big trucks that also sleep overnight at gas stations, though closer to the actual building and in good lighting if possible, just for added security.
Parking:
Street parking- Parking on the public street with all the other cars.
Parking included- When an establishment provided an actual spot to park the truck, off the street, and secured by some sort of gate or fence.
Bush parking- Parking off the main road or street, some place where you have to drive over land not usually traveled by vehicles, such as into a forest, on a beach, or across a desert- often requiring the use of 4-wheel drive.
Gas station parking- Parking in a gas station parking lot where it is legal and common.
Bathrooms:
Public bathroom- A bathroom with many toilets or showers that you can’t lock the door and multiple people can come in and use at the same time you are using it.
Shared bathroom- A bathroom that is shared by multiple people, but that you can lock the door for privacy when you are using it.
Private bathroom- A bathroom that only you have the right to use, usually connected in-suite with your room.
And though I shouldn’t have to say this, we can’t be held responsible for any inconsistencies, typos, or any wrong or misleading information provided in the following list.
Click on the links below to view places we stayed in that region:
As a convenience for those who might be setting off on their own adventure South, in which case it is sometimes handy to have saved copies of information such as this due to lack of internet, you can download the entire “where we stayed” list by clicking the following link:
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