Couldn't be bothered with Central America so can just talk about North America from bottom of Mexico to Alaska, and South America from Colombia down to Ushuaia including a fair bit of brazil but not Uruguay or paraguay.

We have/had vehicles in both areas and our scheme was to travel for 3 to 6 months and then leave the vehicle and fly elsewhere to travel there for a few months and then return.

There are two parts to be considered - the people and the culture which for us includes historical stuff including buildings, and the second is nature.

Broadly speaking, Mexico (for us) is closely representative and therefore satisfactorily equivalent of the whole of the rest of the countries south as far as cultural aspects go, so in hindsight we traveled a hell of a long way in South America to see the same sort of peoples and buildings and cities and historical stuff as is readily available in a wider range in Mexico. Again, solely from my point of view, the USA and Canada have almost zero to offer me as far as unique European culture, cities, and historical stuff goes, but others will certainly disagree. Plenty to see if you are interested in native culture and history though

So that leaves "nature" and once again, although of course there are obviously some unique natural features in South America, there are not so many that are so unique that close equivalents can't be found in North America and there are enough that are as or more spectacular that it is hard to justify a need to travel extensively over both north and south Americas just for the very few natural wonders that are exclusive to one or the other.

Now for the disadvantages. We found South America a fairly constant source of concern about how each interaction with officialdom would turn out. The constant niggles of police checks and officials with their hands out in some countries did take the shine off things a bit. We never had successful bribery attempts but did have several incidents involving stupid or aggressive police with guns out and pointed plus a lot of really nice interactions with helpful police as well, so how do you know which is going to be which other than that which country you are in has a huge bearing on how the police are likely to behave. Mexico of course has exactly the same sort of uncertainty so why travel so many extra tens of thousands of miles to get the same sort of hassle further south.

Storing the rig in South America wasn't too bad but was always a concern because of the official steps required to do it legally or having to do things illegally and hope we get out of the country when we return. No such problems in North America.

South America resulted in several interactions with army or police or ??? EVERY day and that happens in Mexico too and despite them mostly being non-events, they do have an effect. In US and Canada the interactions with officials are pretty much confined to borders or take place under strict rules so don't really count.

After 5 trips, we sold the rig in South America and still have the motorhome in North America and we are going back for the 6th time in two weeks for another 6 months.

If we did what many or even most travelers do and that is blast down from Alaska to Ushuaia in a few months and bypass all of the eastern half of South America, I think my perceptions might be quite different in that the US and Canada would seem quite bland and SA more exciting, when in fact taking it slowly the opposite might be true.

Would I do it again knowing what I know now - yes, probably because we are retired and fairly intent on NOT dying from boredom in an lounge on the back patio but we still have a lot to see in North America and in Europe (where we have another vehicle) so I still think we could leave out South America and not lose too much because of it.

--
Tony Lee
Photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379
Travels map at https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5cfc50ef7ac22ca2d&hoursPast=2400&...

Hola
Ist natürlich immer relativ!
Für uns IMMER Südamerika. Unendlich weite Gebieten mit tollen Landschaften, wo es einem schon mal die Spreche verschlägt. (Atacama-Wüste/Anden/tolle Strände in Brasilien. Spektakuläre Landschaften mit grandiosen Passstrecken im Norden von Chile/Argentinien. Wild Campen was es sonst NIRGENDS mehr auf der Welt gibt. Wenig, bis keine Menschenmassen. Valdés DER Wal-Spot schlechthin auf Erden. Die Möglichkeit ein Last- Minute Angebot in die Antarktis. Die Möglichkeit Saisonal unterwegs zu sein. Im Winter im Norden, im Sommer in Ushuaia.
Die Möglichkeit noch Abenteuer erleben zu können, was in den USA nicht mehr ist. Zentralamerika zu heiss zu feucht.
Gruß Gringa