19 year old travelling South America

[TajBurrow69]

Im currently 18 years old from Australia, and have just finished my schooling career and am about to do my first year of university in 2010. for the past few years i have wanted to do a 5 month trip of central and south america in 2011 on my own for the majority, however some of my friends and family members have made me a little concerned claiming that it could be very dangerous. by that age ill be 19 years old, and i do posses a good amount of street smarts, i am just curious as to whether from your experience you think that im probably a bit out of my depth in wanting to do this trip on my own at 19???

i had planned to go to brazil, venezuela, argentina, bolivia etc. id really appreciate it if anyone had some advice on what they thought?

by the way, the reason i havent got a friend or two to come with me is because i dont have any that are willing to do it

[Mark]

Traveling for a long time alone for the first time saddles you up with a lot of unanswered questions. More often than not you're surrounded by people who have no experience traveling alone and their comments do not help much to build up confidence for the upcoming adventure.

That being said, both Central and South America have their fame of being 'dangerous'. Is this true, Yes, I've seen some troubling things happening on the streets but these also happen in big cities in the States or Europe.

I backpacked 18 months, traveled thousands of kilometers, cities, jungle, islands, mountains, carnival, spent 6 weeks in a street child care center in the favelas of Salvador da Bahía (Brazil)... nothing. I repeat, nothing happened.

Use common sense. Avoid badly lit streets at night and if your sixth sense is giving you the "something's wrong" sign then take a taxi to your destination. Lock your backpack while traveling on public transport and in dorm rooms, don't walk the streets with valuables, always have some cash on you ($10) in case your 'worst case scenario' comes true, they just want money. Never argue or start a fight, it's just money.

I met a lot of young backpackers on the road. They were all having lots of fun.

Read some more about Backpacking in South America

[TajBurrow69]

Thanks a lot, i really appreciate your advise, as i am from Australia and only had a few people i know exposed to travelling South America your knowledge means a lot

[voxy]

that was very nice, you know in this time there are a lot of traveler who are very young for traveling around the world, they said enjoy your life while you are still young because when you going to married you cant even do all the things that you want to do