Country-guessing Latin America
Identifying the right country in Latin America can be hard. This guide helps figuring it out systematically! First, there are a few metas that are quite common and can help you pinpoint the specific country right away. If you can't find any of these, you can find the most common differences regarding poles, milestone markers, signposts, street markings, and license plates. Lastly, there are some unique metas that are only found in one country, which are listed at the bottom.
First impressions
Look for these metas first as they are the most common and can help you identify the country right away.
Portuguese language
🇧🇷 Brazil uses the Portuguese language which includes the 'Ç' and 'ã' characters.
Black Google car
🇦🇷 Argentina, 🇺🇾 Uruguay, and some of 🇵🇪 Peru have a black Google car.
Overcast grassy landscape
A typical scenario in Uruguay often includes overcast weather and landscapes dominated by open grasslands with gentle hills. The roads here are generally in poorer condition compared to those in neighboring countries.
ALTO stop sign
Mexican stop signs use the word "ALTO".
License Plates
Thankfully, the 4 South African countries share the same highway sign design, which is a great way to identify the region. When you see a sign, you can use the highway letter prefix to identify the specific country.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Commercial vehicles in Brazil have a red license plate. Non-commercial vehicles have long white plates, sometimes with a top blue bar.
🇦🇷 Argentina
Some plates in Argentina have a black blob in the middle. Others are white with a top blue bar like in Brazil.
🇨🇴 Colombia
Colombia uses yellow license plates.
🇪🇨 Ecuador & 🇨🇱 Chile
In Ecuador and Chile, commercial vehicles such as taxis have orange license plates.
Milestones
Some Latin American countries have distinct license plates.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Brazilian highways are labeled "BR-XXX". Regional highways are labeled "YY-XXX" with YY being the state abbreviation.
🇦🇷 Argentina
Argentinian roads have these small black and white milestone signs on small posts. They always show the kilometre of the road, and sometimes show "RN" (Argentinian National Roads) or "RP: (Provincial Road).
🇺🇾 Uruguay
The green-painted stone kilometre marker is a unique feature found in Uruguay.
🇨🇱 Chile
This is a kilometer milestone marker in Chile.
🇨🇴 Colombia
In Colombia, two types of kilometer markers are used: a tall green version with "Pr" at the top and a traditional stone marker with black lettering, both unique to the country.
Signposts
Signopsts can be a great way to identify the country. They can be very helpful because you can find them in rural and urban areas.
🇧🇷 Brazil
Most Brazilian road signs have the backs painted black.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
Ecuador frequently uses road signs that are square with white background.
🇺🇾 Uruguay
Sign posts in Uruguay are typically thick, white, and wooden.
🇨🇱 Chile
Chilean road signs are mounted on poles that are quite thin and often have a slot at the top of the signpost.
🇨🇴 Colombia
In Colombia, it's common to see crosses on the backs of road signs. Also, Colombian signs use unique thin poles, which sometimes are painted white.
🇧🇴 Bolivia
In many parts of Bolivia, road signs are mounted on thick, unpainted posts.
🇵🇪 Peru
In Peru, sign poles are distinctively striped in black and white. Also, they are often being set in solid concrete blocks that are elevated above ground level.
Poles
Utility poles are found all across the continent. Memorize the most unique layouts listed here to identify the country.
🇧🇷 Brazil
In Brazil, the most common utility poles resemble a ladder at the bottom portion. They are rectangular with long segments running along the bottom and have small holes near the top.
🇨🇱 Chile
In Chile, square concrete poles with indents on both sides are common. They are similar to Brazilian poles but have fewer horizontal supports in the indent. The upper part usually features small pinholes.
🇦🇷 Argentina
In Argentina, it's common to see round concrete poles supporting three electricity lines arranged in an alternating pattern.
🇪🇨 Ecuador
In Ecuador, most utility poles have a generic round and concrete design. However, there's another type of pole (the 'ladder pole') with numerous small indents resembling ladder steps. This type of pole is more or less unique to Ecuador within Latin America.
🇲🇽 Mexico & 🇺🇾 Uruguay
Mexico and Uruguay feature three upward-facing bulbs that makes the pole resemble a trident.
🇲🇽 Mexico & 🇨🇴 Colombia
Maxico and Colombia have octagonal poles. They tend to be more prevalent in Mexico.
🇵🇪 Peru
Peruvian poles have 3 arms sticking out like this.
Road Markings
Some Latin American countries have unique street markings.
🇧🇷 Brazil
In Brazil, roads typically have double yellow lines in the middle and white outer lines.
🇦🇷 Argentina
In Argentina, road lines frequently consist of white dashes in the center alongside a continuous yellow line.
🇺🇾 Uruguay
In Uruguay, roads often feature triple lines, consisting of double yellow lines with white dashes in between. This design is not found elsewhere in the Americas.
🇨🇱 Chile
In Chile, all-white or all-yellow road lines are common. Be aware that Argentina also sometimes has all-white roads, but not all-yellow.
Unique Metas
If you can't find any of the above metas, you can use these unique metas to identify the country.
Transparent satellite dishes
🇧🇷 Brazil often has transparent satellite dishes.
Yellow-on-black chevrons
🇧🇷 Brazil mostly uses yellow-on-black chevrons.
Red-on-white chevrons
🇦🇷 Argentina mostly uses red-on-white chevrons.
Black and white arrows
🇺🇾 Uruguayan has many of these black and white arrows affixed to walls and poles.
Striped traffic light poles
🇺🇾 Uruguay traffic lights are often mounted on poles with black/white or black/yellow stripes.
Back of Google car visibile
🇨🇱 Chile's Google car often has its white rear visible.
Unique bus stops
🇨🇱 Chile has many of these bus stop shelters.
Double guardrails
🇪🇨 Ecuador frequently uses double guardrails.
Many bollards with red elements
🇪🇨 Ecuador has many bollards. They are either round with two red stripes or flat with two red reflectors on a black background.
Side taxi license plates
🇨🇴 Colombian taxis often have license plates printed on their side.
Rudimentary wooden fences
🇨🇴 Colombia has many of these rudimentary wooden fences.
Reddish sidewalk tiles
🇨🇴 Colombia often use reddish tiles on sidewalks.
Tuktuks
🇵🇪 Peru is the only Latin America country that has Tuktuks.
Square electricity counters
🇵🇪 Peru has these rectangular electricity counters with a rectangular section within them.
Square electricity counters
🇲🇽 Mexico has these circular-shaped electricity counters
Black water tanks
🇲🇽 Mexico has these large black water tanks atop many houses.