Last spring I spent two months backpacking South America, solo female travel style, with one day pack strapped to my front and another to my back. Here are 19 tips I learned from my eight weeks abroad.

Rio de Janeiro was one of my absolute favorite stops across the five countries and over 12+ cities I explored over these eight weeks, though many people warned me against it. If you are considering Rio, please do it! Do your research, find good spots, and explore. There is so much to the city and the people, I honestly can’t wait to return.

You haven’t seen waterfalls until you’ve been to the Iguazu Falls (or Iguaçu Falls if you’re Argentian or Foz do Iguaçu if you’re Brazillian). I will be completely honest, I thought these would be mildly impressive but likely nothing to knock my socks off. Let me tell you… my socks were obliterated. If I had to rank this UNESCO Heritage site in my list of the most magical places my traveling eyeballs have beheld… it definitely lands within the top 3.

After spending two days exploring the Iguazu Falls National Park, here are my tips for you ahead of your visit.

I tell you what, I am a sucker for positive reinforcement. Give me a motivational quote on a coaster, the back of a t-shirt, scratched into a wall or spelled out with food, and I will feel automatically empowered. So you besta believe, when I see any and every type of could-be motivation while I’m traveling, I capture it. These are 15 of my more recent finds.

This isn’t the comprehensive list we all love and adore BUT I believe it’s just as important of one - it’s the random stuff that you don’t always think to pack but praise yourself when you do. During my two months backpacking South America, these are some items that came in handy during my trip.