I am a 23 year old female graduate student ready for my first solo trip. I have not traveled abroad and am unsure of how to get started planning my journey.

I would like to travel through South America, perhaps Peru, Chile, or Brazil over 12 days. I am interested in backpacking, hiking, surfing and other outdoor activities.

I am unsure of when to go (I'd like to go within the year), how much money to have saved, sites I can't miss, and other beginner questions. I am interested in small, culturally rich areas as well as larger cities. Any advice or words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

I have just a couple comments. Three countries is way too much for 12 days! Most backpackers would spend a couple months to do that trip. Also South America is not the easiest first trip to pull off.

I don't mean to sound negative, but would reconsider most of your plans. For instance, 12 days in Mexico you could see and do what you mention quite nicely.

I just can't stress enough that 12 days is not enough to "travel through" anywhere really.

Another good website to check for backpack style travel is the Lonely Planet. They have a forum similar to this one called The Thorn Tree. There are many young, experienced, adventure travelers who post there (Fodor's skews a bit older and more mainstream generally speaking). www.lonelyplanet.com

Guidebooks such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Moon Publications are also good for this type of planning.

How to start planning? I would go to the library and check out anything they have (free) on these locations. And use a map to start getting a feel for the distances.

You can't figure how much money you need until you get a few more things lined up and planned. For instance in your original post, are you flying between these countries, etc. etc.

Buena suerte!!

Rockyraccoon~ Also you might want to double post over on the Latin America branch here. As it has a much wider readership than the Solo forum.
suze

Try Peru first. Get a Lonely Planet guide to decide exactly what you want and for information. Book flights and hotels on the internet. It'll be all laid on when you arrive.

A few days in Miraflores which is the upmarket area of Lima seeing the museums, etc then off to Cuzco by plane. It seems that there is a travel agent on every corner there. As well as looking around town, there are some good trips as well as Machu Picchu which you can join a group and backpack to it (but otherwise, stay in hotels in Peru).

You can book onward trips from Cuzco. NMazca lines are quite a long way north. 12 days will barely cover your first trip there. The people are friendly but watch out for petty theft and pick pockets.

I found December very nice there. Take lots of money and credit cards, just in case. If you book most of the things on the internet before you go, then you won't need much money there.

Advice. Try it out. I've come across girls travelling on their own all around the world. It just needs a bit of common sense for a safe trip, as it does in most downtown areas of America or any other western country.

I traveled alone to both Peru and Ecuador. For your first time, both are good places to go. You will meet other solo travelers in both places. However, you will need to choose one or the other based on 12 days.

You may also want to consider looking into a group tour somewhere. That way, you travel with a group and usually have options for going on the side trips that you want. This gives you the best of both worlds (group and single travel). After that, you might be comfortable of planning a whole trip on your own!

Dont know if you are still looking for suggestions Rocky. If you like hiking/backpacking you could try Patagonia in Argentina. Specifically the areas around the Fitz Roy in Argentina and Torres del Paine (Chile) are magnificent. Seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere, i usually go in october/november travelling solo. Arrive in Buenos Aires.spend a few days there and go onward. Safe and easy on the budget.

In Brazil it's really helpful to speak some Portuguese. I've been traveling around the world almost annually for over 3 decades and speak several languages. When I went to Brazil about 4 years ago, that was the most difficult place linguistically since I don't speak Portuguese. It reminded me of the early 70s in some European countries. Happy Travels!

I just reread your post and all of those places in 12 days? Not! Pick one country and two places maximum within the country of your choice. Happy Travels!

I lived in Chile for 4 months, and also have been back, and still have barely scratched the surface! I agree with the other posters here - you should choose one as 12 days is not nearly long enough.

I did Peru solo in 1999, and loved it. I was there for 7 days, and would love to go back. Chile is great as it is very geographically diverse - in Nov you can not ski, but there is a lot going on in the beach towns, and getting around either via public transport or flights is very easy - beach, mountains, desert, metropolitan and Antarctic zone all in one country. I have also been to Brazil - Salvador de Bahia, and it was nice, but out of all of the countries I have been to in South American (7) it was my least favorite.