All points along this route are south of the United States in Spanish-speaking countries. Now in the Western media the term "gringo trail" is sometimes used to describe any popular tourist route where it is almost more difficult to meet a local than a pale-faced visitor.

The gringo trail is much the same as the Pan American Highway, a network of highways that stretches from northern Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city in the world. The Pan-American Highway is interrupted only in one place, the so-called Darien Gap on the Panama-Colombia border. It is a strip of about a hundred kilometers wide, where no road can be built because of the jungle and swamps. There are drug dealers, illegal migrants, smugglers, communist guerrillas, and the occasional tourist who decides to have a real adventure running through the Darien woods. People who do not fall into these categories travel from Panama to Colombia by water or air.
As with the previous two routes, movement along the Gringo Trail depended largely on the current political climate
Half a century ago, as now, Mexico was a popular destination, and American tourists were plentiful there even though the crime rate was high. But just behind it, problems began to emerge in the south. In Guatemala, civil war raged from 1990 to 1996. Almost all countries of the region went through wars, coups, dictatorships and other troubles: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador and Paraguay. It is therefore only relatively recently that it has been possible to explore all the attractions of the Gringo Trail.
The Gringo Trail has very few of the backpacker neighborhoods that have appeared in many Asian cities-the tourist ghettos like Bangkok's Kaosan Road or Delhi's Paharganj. In such neighborhoods you can always find cheap accommodation, eat European food, change money and buy equipment. In Latin America, these neighborhoods have not yet had time to form - also because of the political instability of the region.
It is now safe enough in Latin America to travel the route Mexico - Belize - Guatemala - Honduras - Nicaragua - Costa Rica - Panama - Colombia - Ecuador - Peru - Bolivia - Chile - Argentina and visit the main attractions of the region. Some versions of the trail include Brazil, but like the previous two, there is no strictly set route or list of points on the map. Nor is it necessary to go all the way from start to finish to check off a box, as pilgrimage itineraries do.