Device & Offline Kit — what lives on the burner, the main phone, the laptop

Companion to APPS_AND_LINKS.md (which app to install). This is the loadout: what goes on which device, what gets downloaded for offline (you won't always have signal — buses, borders, mountains, dead-SIM days), and the "lose-a-device" plan. Rule of thumb: anything that gets you home, gets you money, or proves who you are must exist OFFLINE in at least two places.

The 3-device philosophy

Burner phone = your daily carry / street phone. Cheap, unlocked, takes a local SIM/eSIM. If it's stolen out of your hand at a stoplight (the #1 SA phone-theft mode), you lose ~$80 of hardware and nothing else. It holds the minimum to function.
Main phone = your vault. Stays in the hostel locker / money belt most of the time. Holds banking apps, the real authenticator, your photos, your iCloud/Google. You pull it out in safe places (hostel, café), not on the street.
Laptop = your base station + backup. Hostel-only. Holds the master offline folder, full docs, the trading pipeline, and a copy of everything.

You can run burner+main as the same model if you want, but the separation of roles is the point: the device that's exposed isn't the device that holds your life.

🔥 BURNER PHONE (street carry — keep it lean)

Hardware: cheap unlocked Android (~$80-150), so a thief gets nothing valuable and you're not heartbroken. Buy before you go or in BA. Put a cheap case + grip; do NOT walk-and-text in the open.

SIM/eSIM: local SIM per country (cheap, see MONEY_AND_BANKING.md) or an eSIM (Airalo/Holafly regional SA plan) so the burner is your hotspot.

On the burner (minimal):

Maps.me + Google Maps — with the offline map of each country/city downloaded (do this on hostel wifi before you move). This is the single most important offline asset: it gives you streets + walking nav with zero signal.
WhatsApp — the messaging app of SA. Hostels, tours, drivers, friends all use it. Register on a number you control.
Uber / Cabify / DiDi — whichever works in the country (see apps doc). Safer than street taxis.
Google Translate — with Spanish + Portuguese language packs downloaded for offline, camera-translate on.
A throwaway email logged in (not your main).
One photo each (in the gallery, offline): passport photo page, your visa/entry stamp, vaccine card (Yellow Fever), travel-insurance card, the hostel address you're heading to.
Notes app with: emergency numbers, your insurance policy #, embassy contacts, blood type/allergies, "in case of emergency call ___."
Spanish cheat-sheet (the learning/spanish/ one-pager, saved as an image/PDF — usable offline).
Hostel bookings (Hostelworld/Booking) — but also screenshot each confirmation so it survives offline / app logout.

NOT on the burner: banking apps, real authenticator, irreplaceable photos, password manager with everything. If the burner walks, your money and identity don't.

🔒 MAIN PHONE (the vault — hostel/locker)

Banking apps: Charles Schwab, Capital One, BOA (to manage from afar — but the BOA card stays home). Your trading/broker apps.
Authenticator app (the real one — Google Authenticator / Authy) for 2FA on banking + email. Back up the authenticator seeds (Authy cloud or written codes in the laptop vault) so a lost phone ≠ locked out of your money.
Password manager (Bitwarden/1Password) with the master vault.
Main email + iCloud/Google (photo backup ON, auto-upload over wifi).
eSIM management (if you keep a US number alive for bank SMS — a Google Voice number forwarding to email is the classic move so you're not dependent on a US SIM for bank codes).
Photo backup running so your trip photos survive a lost/stolen device.
Same offline maps + translate packs as the burner (redundancy).

💻 LAPTOP — the master offline folder

Make one folder, e.g. SA_TRIP_OFFLINE/, and keep a copy on a USB stick + in cloud (Google Drive/iCloud). Three copies of the documents that matter.

SA_TRIP_OFFLINE/

docs/ — copies of every travel/south_america/ guide (countries, health, money, packing, base route, transport, adventures, beaches, apps). PDF or markdown — readable offline.
identity/ (encrypt this folder, or zip-with-password):
- Passport photo page scan (+ a few printed paper photocopies in your bag, separate from the passport).
- Passport-style photos (digital + 2-4 printed) — needed for visa extensions / SIM / replacements.
- Vaccine card (Yellow Fever cert), driver's license, birth-certificate scan.
- Travel-insurance policy PDF + claim phone numbers.
- Credit/debit card front+back scans (so you can cancel fast if stolen) + the bank's international collect-call numbers.
money/ — the banking plan (Schwab/Cap One), card numbers (encrypted), the Argentina blue-dollar notes, a running budget sheet.
bookings/ — flight confirmations (incl. the onward/exit ticket some borders ask for), hostel confirmations, tour vouchers.
language/ — the full learning/spanish/ course + the cheat-sheet (also offline on phone).
media/ — downloaded offline maps backups, a few downloaded shows/music/podcasts (Spanify listening) for long bus rides, downloaded books.
pipeline/ — the Lighthouse repo (you said you'll have the laptop + hostel wifi; trading runs from here).

🆘 Lose-a-device / get-robbed plan (set this up BEFORE you fly)

Everything important exists offline in 2+ places (phone + laptop + USB + cloud).
Card scans + bank int'l numbers saved offline → you can cancel a stolen card in minutes from any device.
Authenticator seeds backed up → a lost phone doesn't lock you out of your money.
Find My / Find My Device ON for both phones + the laptop; know the remote-wipe steps.
A second email as recovery, not tied to the lost device.
Some USD cash hidden separately from your cards/wallet (money belt + a stash in the bag) — the universal fallback.
Paper backups: 2-3 passport photocopies + 2-4 passport photos + the first hostel address written on paper, kept apart from the originals.
Embassy + emergency numbers on paper in your bag (not just on a phone that might be gone).

Quick pre-departure checklist (devices)

Buy/prep burner; lean install per above.
Download offline maps for BA + first 2-3 cities; Spanish + Portuguese translate packs.
Build SA_TRIP_OFFLINE/; copy to USB + cloud.
Scan passport/cards/vaccine/insurance into the encrypted identity/ folder + print paper copies.
Back up authenticator seeds; turn on photo backup + Find My on all devices.
Set up a US-number-over-internet (Google Voice) for bank SMS if needed.
Screenshot all bookings + the onward ticket.