What I Learned in 4 Years of Nomad Living in South America

By Alexandra Allover | September 16, 2024

I always thought I was a good planner, but life often teaches us lessons that we can’t prepare for. In 2018, my partner Paul and I decided to quit our jobs, sell our belongings, and travel the world as nomads. We gave ourselves two years. During this time, we prepared all the necessary things and researched permanent solutions for our lifestyle. Our main focus was to find a flexible home base that would allow us the freedom to travel. So, during our preparation, we explored options for permanent residencies, starting online businesses, and optimizing the tax situation for our new setup.

(This article was originally published by Alexandra Allover for Nomad Stays ®)

Watch my video on our nomad life reality, how we make money and how we (mostly) manage 😉

(it’s in German with English / Spanish / Portuguese subtitles)

We did all this before even having a well-established business or making any income. Nevertheless, the more we learned about the digital nomad lifestyle, the more it became clear that the right planning would go a long way. Many fellow travelers we met in the following years were seeking or had already found similar solutions for a permanent travel lifestyle as digital nomads.

Building a Foundation for Our Digital Nomad Journey

I used to be a high school teacher in Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands for eight years. I always loved traveling and working abroad, but it was never open-ended. When we decided to change our lives in 2018, I knew we needed to find a permanent solution to continue doing what we loved. Consequently, Paul and I compared countries that were suitable for a digital nomad lifestyle. Over the next two years, we narrowed it down to South America and, due to lower costs and a fast-track option for residency, chose Paraguay as our official home base. This country allows long-term worldwide travel without revoking your residency status. It attracts many digital nomads who rarely set foot there for exactly those reasons. Today, after traveling all over the continent for four years, we also enjoy living in other countries, like neighboring Brazil. However, obtaining permanent residency there is much more costly. Luckily, our Paraguayan residency allows us to easily cross borders within Mercosur countries with our Paraguayan car and local identity cards.

Accommodations Suitable for a Nomad Lifestyle

We’ve explored numerous short-term rentals and learned what matters most for our nomadic lifestyle. Having stayed in over 300 homes, including hotels and Airbnbs, we’ve figured out our comfort needs and common challenges. For example, internet connections in smaller towns can be spotty. In hotter climates, some windows lack glass and have only wooden shutters, letting in mosquitoes and heat, which makes it hard to focus on work. Also, sharing a 1.40m double bed is often standard in South America, which we find quite uncomfortable.

We’ve discovered that finding accommodations that meet our needs often means staying in higher-end hotels. Thankfully, prices in South America are still much lower than in Europe, allowing us to enjoy quality stays at a fraction of the cost. When we’re on the road, we often check in and out of hotels daily until we find a comfortable and affordable spot where we can be productive. Let’s face it: working online from a car isn’t practical every day. We do our best work in a comfortable space with a good workstation, nice views, and nearby restaurants. When we find such places, we cherish them!

Living through Challenges

The most adventure you experience often comes from being out and about, especially when driving a 26-year-old car to secluded areas of the continent. We’ve journeyed through deserts and indigenous villages to reach Punta Gallinas, the northernmost point of continental South America. Although our hearts raced at times and we had to hide our nervous sweat during uncomfortable encounters—whether with the police or self-proclaimed village sheriffs—we always emerged unscathed. These experiences make for great stories later on.

Speaking of stories, have you noticed that people who don’t share your lifestyle often struggle to respond when you share your experiences? My friends and family are often speechless by my stories, and I assume it’s because they’re unsure how to react. They might not know whether to laugh or pity me. This highlights how important it is to connect with other travelers. Engaging with fellow nomads, both online and in real life, enhances our experiences and helps us reflect on our travels.

Can You Experience “Too Much”?

Recently, my partner Paul and I faced the challenge of maintaining a sustainable routine amidst our travels. We thought we were “slow traveling” since, compared to other nomads who fly from one destination to another, our car travels seemed slower. We aimed to see as much as possible across the continent, a goal we later realized was overly ambitious.

In the last six months of our trip, we encountered numerous challenges. A landlord in Colombia tricked us into a poor housing arrangement. Police in Bolivia tried to scam us multiple times. Our car broke down after we towed someone out of the dunes in Brazil. To top it off, we had a family emergency back home. All these issues contributed to our mental exhaustion.

After over three years of traveling, covering seven countries, driving over 60,000 kilometers, and staying in 300 hotels, we returned to Austria to see our families. During this time away, we reevaluated our approach to travel. We realized we had taken on too much.

Now, we’re looking for a different travel style—one that offers more stability. We’ve coined it the “quarter-yearly challenge.” As the name suggests, we don’t expect our lives to be completely smooth, but we aim to keep the adventure alive. After all, it’s the challenges that help us grow.

Our New Nomad Goal

After almost four years of traveling, we now know which places we appreciate the most. Our new lifestyle plan involves choosing four favorite locations in four countries. We’ll find a place we truly connect with in each and limit our moves to just four times a year, always staying within the 90-day tourist visa limit per country. We hope this approach will boost our productivity and promote mental stability while we continue our nomad journey.

We’ve already picked four countries, but before we begin this new phase, we have one more destination to check off: Ushuaia, Argentina. After reaching the western, northern, and easternmost points of continental South America, we aim to visit Ushuaia, the point closest to the South Pole. Ushuaia’s harsh weather limits visits to their summer season, around Christmas, and it’s a popular spot for adventure travelers.

Currently, we’re recharging in Bahia, Brazil, one of our favorite places. With its long coastline, year-round 25°C temperatures, and affordability, Bahia will be one of our four chosen spots for our quarterly living plan, alongside Paraguay.

From now on we look forward to traveling with a clear goal and choosing our destinations more wisely. Our nomadic adventure is far from over, and we’re excited to continue it with a new approach that better suits our style and lives.

Alexandra has been traveling through Latin America since 2020 as a digital nomad and travel journalist. She specializes in reporting on the best places to live and work from. Along with her partner Paul, she offers calls for those looking to travel or relocate to Latin America.