My Shelter.

Tent or Hammock?

It took me a while to decide what kind of shelter to use, options were only 2 though; basically I would go either for a tent or for a hammock.

Hammock.

Tent.

Despite the fact that the hammock looks extremely comfy, light and useful in the jungle, specially for places like Brazil, the Guyana and Venezuela, I won't have all the time 2 trees or poles where to hang the hammock. This will be mainly when beginning my trip through Chile, the Argentinian Patagonia and then Uruguay. Therefore I think the best option is a tent.


I looked a lot in Chilean retailers and mountain stores for a tent but none of the ones I found would have what I want/need, something light, that would protect me from A LOT of rain and that can be used in warm weather. Sadly most of the things I can get here in Chile are for high mountains or extreme good weather.

Lucky me, my friend Jota is in Canada now and he can bring me a tent from there which as I expected, had more options where to choose. 

Mec and their tents.

Mountain equipment coorp offers a nice variety of tents and hammocks, among these the famous hubba hubba tent, some MSR, Big Agnes and their own Mec tents.

What I chose for the trip is the Mec Volt A/C 2 Tent for CAD$299. Is not as light as I would like but for the prices is quite OK I think.

Among the reasons why I chose this tent are:

• Is free standing, meaning I can camp anywhere.
• Has 2 doors, pretty good for the heat if I need a breeze to get in the tent.
• Inner walls are mostly mesh fabric, so in good weather I can use it without the fly and still not get mosquitoes in.
• Floor is 10000 mm waterproof.
• Fly is 1500 mm waterproof.
• It has 2 vestibules, one for the things one for me.
• I can use just the fly without the actual tent so If I need temporal shelter I can use the fly and protect myself.
• Because of the price I can also get a footprint.
• Reviews seem good and point to a good product.

Mec Volt A/C 2

The color of the tent is quite light for my like but at least is not orange or red, which makes stealth camping a bit more difficult.

Together with the tent, as I mentioned before, I'm getting a footprint to use the fly as shelter:

Tent's Footprint.

This will allow me to easily mount shelter for things and me if I need to wait some time or cook or I just feel like sleeping like that.

So that will be. My friend Jota will buy me the tent in Canada and bring it back with him. I got really lucky he's there now otherwise I would have had to buy it and then ship it which would cost lot more.

Eight Months till I start my journey!