Sucking it up in South America

Experiencing the beauty of South America comes with some first-world trade-offs. Here's 10.

Right thigh: 3 of 20+ mosquito bites I'm currently suffering. Numbing the pain with anti-itch cream and Lonely Planet.

1. Mosquitoes
They're everywhere. Compared to mosquitoes in Australia, their South American counterparts are a lot stealthier. You don't realise you've been bitten until after they've had their full of your glorious gringo blood and fled.
My bites tended to be itchiest on days 2-5 before calming the fuck down.
A friend on the tour was adamant that her repellent was attracting mosquitoes instead of deterring them. So she experimented and went a night without it. Mission failed.
Use repellent and suffer 10 bites instead of 20.

2. Lack of insect repellent
You think they'd be stocked in most supermarkets. They're not. Head to the pharmacy and stock up there.

3. You will be on a constant search for bottled water
Be prepared to go through about one million of these whilst on your quest to stay hydrated. You can't drink tap water here (unless you're trying to make yourself sick, by which means go right ahead). In some places the tap water will actually have an orange tinge to it. Buy 5L bottles from the supermarket to refill smaller ones to carry with you during the day.

4. Few hot showers
When it's hot, cold showers aren't so bad. When it's cold, you start reassessing the urgency of needing to take one at all.

5. No toilet paper
Most public bathrooms don't have toilet paper. Always carry a packet of pocket tissues with you. Take spare toilet paper rolls from hostels/hotels and use that.

Some bathrooms charge a small usage fee. There'll usually be a lady at the front entrance collecting fares, but on the plus side this means they're more well-kept and toilet paper is provided.

6. No toilet seats
This may not be such a problem for boys doing a number one. Girls, practice your squats because you'll be doing a lot of "the hover."

7. No running tap for which to wash your hands
Carry wipes or hand sanitizer with you. You don’t want season your next meal with toilet germs.

8. Being charged gringo (tourist) prices VS them not having enough change to give you due to the huge ass notes dispensed by ATMs
It's a catch-22. As tourists, it's in our interest to withdraw larger amounts to reduce the amount of transaction fees. Yet we end up with wads of the biggest notes possible. Then we struggle to make small purchases because no one has enough change to give us, so we either:

(i) buy lots of crap that adds up to a larger, more acceptable amount;

(ii) sadly go without street food (usually mystery questionable meat on a stick); 

(iii) be happily overcharged in the name of street food. In the grand scheme of things, this will usually only be a few dollars, if not a few cents; or

(iv) pay as a group, followed by hours of discussion trying to work out who owes who how much.

At the artisan markets in Otavalo, the starting price of pretty much everything for tourists was $22US. This meant a lot of the things I could get cheaper back home. Stand your ground and bargain. What we will eventually settle for as a fair price, will still be more than what an Ecuadorian travelling domestically would be charged. By paying a little extra, you can help support the local community without being completely taken for a ride.

9. No English
Be patient, take it as a challenge and opportunity to learn Spanish. Either that or learn to treat the ambiguity as an adventure.

10. The locals will stare at you

It was a hot day and my tour group (there was 11 of us) decided to cool down at the local pool. There were a handful of locals already in the water, but the moment we went to join them they all hopped out. I'm not sure if it was out of courtesy, or if it just conveniently happened to be lunch time. They lined the perimeter of the pool, took to their packed lunches and watched us frolic. Within minutes, word about us had spread, and parents and grandparents had also gathered round. 

They don't mean any harm, it's more of a friendly curiosity. They will try speaking with you in the hope that you know more Spanish than they do English (which is little to none at all).

Or it could just be the fact that you're wearing shorts and Havianas despite it being cold and raining.

Love, Noeline

xox