For those of you who have traveled Central and South America and expected to stay in hotels only. Was there ever a time you wished you had a tent and sleeping bag along?

I have dragged tent and sleeping bag all the way and I am not sure i would do it again.

There are several sides to it:

1. Economic. You will save money by camping, but hostels are n ot that expensive and I have used them all the time. I would also like to add that you can find hostels/hospedajes/hotels in just about any little town/village. I have found hostels everywhere and generally they are cheap in the countryside.

2. Loneliness. main reason I did not use my tent more. Driving around alone and camping alone, is just too much alone for me. If you are alonely type or in a group then a tent is worth more i think.

3. Safety. Main reason I brought it really. If you get stuck somewhere in the mosquito infested jungle or in a mountain pass, you want to have some shelter. I never had to use it, but I think I would have been really glad I had the tent if I had to.

4. Quality and price. If you want something truely usefull you have to shell out quite a bit of money. I had a decent tent, but my sleeping bag was not good enough to use comfortably in the mountains (gets freekin cold there) and my sleeping mat died in Mexico. So I would say that you should reserve 100-300$ for tent, 200-500$ for sleeping bag and 100-200$ for mat if you want something that you will appreciate to use. You can spend much much much more of course!
An alternative would be to only bring a light weight tent for emergency use.

I had a petrol stove with me and havent used it even once. Coffe is cheap and I am not the type who sits down and makes coffe for myself in the middle of nowhere without anyone to talk too. Maybe you are different.


All in all, you will not know until you try. When you come back you have a better idea of your specific needs.

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Peter Kongsbak
South East Asia, USA, Central and South America and Scandinavia.

I go on these trips not just to see places and put kms under me, but to meet people. So unless I was camping at camp grounds or in someones front yard, I would just be isolating myself. "Rest" between kms is not just getting off the bike, it is "being with peolple". Anyway, that is how I see it...

On the last trip my son and I took Around the Block 2007 | we planned it to stay in inexpensive hostals. We would set a plan for a certain destination, but by 3 pm we would check our progress and stay where we were if it was not possitive we would easily make our destination before dark. NEVER drive in the dark except in an emergency, because it WILL BE an emergency if you do!

I agree with Peter. In fact if you add up the cost of tent, bag and roll, you have enough $$ to stay in inexpensive places every night for 4 months!

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http://www.aroundtheblockmotoadventures.com/
'We build the bike (in Peru) for your Epic Ride of South America.'

Thanks for the advice.

Len

I agree with the recommendation not to bring tent, sleeping bag etc in Sth Am, and i am the strange type of person that actually likes to ride in the night, in all countries, and off road! But i still always find cheap places to sleep. And if you couldn`t i`m sure you could knock on someone`s door and at worse pay the going rate!
Plus is cheap and the people nearly always friendly/fun, so you end up wanting to stop in a town.

I`ve used my tent 3 times, and that was only because i was in a hurry for a certain destination. This way i would ride until around midnight, stop and be sleeping 20 mins later, then up at sunset, which was quicker than finding a hotel in larger cities in that region and also enabled me to stop when i wanted to. Let`s not question my sanity here(!), i`m just adding weight to the recommendation since even without careful planning you don`t need it.

You can alwas take a tarp and some rope and pegs for a tent, works for bike cover to. Do take a silk sleeping bag liner some beds are funky.