A lust for travel and adventure drives the Messiah of Budget Travel and his unwitting disciples to extraordinary lengths as they strive to journey a bit further and a bit longer. None more so than the Tightwad Economist, who has just $3000 and ten months to get from Los Angeles to Santiago de Chile. Budget about $10 a day for transport, food, accommodation, visas and booze. This tale chronicles the adventures of Tightwad and his Gringo mates on the Gringo Trail in the early 1990s when post offices and the Gringo grapevine were communications bread and butter for travellers. Much of Central America was just emerging from civil wars and ruthless dictatorships, while South American countries struggled with drugs, and poverty and a reputation for violence and corruption. Tightwad and his mates dispel some of the myths as they irreverently ply the trail and open their eyes to the magic of Latin America.