backpacking SA mid june-mid august! some questions!

[oatmealfriend]

Hello! I am new to the forum, and am hoping for some helpful advice! This post may be kind of long, sorry.

I am first time traveling South America this summer (mid june - mid aug) most likely.
The route we would like to take is:
Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, (either Boliva or Paraguay here, not sure yet) , than end the trip in Brazil.

Unfortunately one way flights out of Brazil seem to be way too expensive.
I am traveling with a cousin from England, and a cousin from Ireland. They will probably both come here before our S.A adventure (here meaning Philadelphia, USA). We will probably fly out of New York.
Any advice on cheapest flights to take based around that route? We are willing to change where we fly into/leave from. Columbia has been in mind for flying into (is it as dangerous there as people make it out to be? haha)

Would it be easier for me to get my Irish Passport, and travel S.A with that passport? It seems using a U.S passport seems to be a bunch of work. But I really am useless when it comes to Visa stuff. How exactly do you get a Visa checked our whatever, incase I do end up having to use my U.S Passport. We will be traveling by bus the whole time in S.A.. So are there stops when you get into the next country to check your passports and visa's and such? Any Visa advice would be totally helpful.

Last but not least, I know June-August won't be too hot in S.A. Any suggestions on what kind of clothes to pack for a backpack?

Sorry if these questions are silly, I am just trying to get all the basics down from experienced travelers. Thanks so much.

-Kevin

[oatmealfriend]

I also forgot to mention the fact that we really would like to do some sort of volunteering while we are in S.A. But because of our limited 2 month travel length, and we would like to get a lot of site seeing done, we could probably only do 2 weeks top of volunteering? And none of our Spanish Speaking skills are THAT good. Any suggestions? thanks again!

[Mark]

Great to hear you're going to South America. I can't give you advice on which passport is best to travel in South America (I'm from Belgium). You can check visa requirements for all countries in South America here. Border crossing in South America is very straightforward. I have a page on TASA about South America border crossing.

For information about air passes I've found excellent information here. You can also check out Kayak.com for international flights.

About what to pack, you can buy pullovers in South America. The only thing I would recommend packing is a good quality gore-tex jacket (not too heavy) and gore-tex hiking boots, you'll walk for many hours. Check out some jacket images on Google.

Do have a look at my page about backpacking in South America. You'll find basic information on how to prepare yourself. Check this forum thread for volunteering in South America.