Where should I go to latin america for the winter? Im planning on spending 2 weeks somewhere with a buddy in december. I have an option to go to puerto rico and live at my grandmas vacant old house thats an hour away from any bigger city, but im debating trying something like colombia for the thrill and cheapness
LATAM gay here, Bariloche Arg
prob shouldve mentioned my budget, i dont like the idea of spending over $1K on just the flight. What about places like around brazil/colombia? I hear alot of good things about Argentina but idk.
Why not go to Cancun if all you want is a cheap flight to a place with lots of fun shit to do? There's a reason toorists go to toorist destinations and not the "cheap" areas. Pursuit of "thrills" on the streets of Bogota or Medellin rarely ends well... while in Cancun you could stay out til 4 AM partying with random girls you meet and not have to be paranoid about safety.
>Pursuit of "thrills" on the streets of Bogota or Medellin rarely ends well...
I've gone to medellin multiple times and the worst I has was a nasty old hooker grab my crotch and stole my travel wallet that had the equivalent of $20 USD in it.
thats just your experience
I did ok for myself there but something I still get hard thinking about is this black woman in her 40s gagging herself on a lollipop while making eye contact with me. I let her put her number in my phone and then once my erection wore off I decided it wasn’t worth it.
But does Cancun have it’s official cheap hookers like Colombia does?
Yes, Mexico does have hookers, and prostitution is legally tolerated in certain zones. Go to the high-end clubs and bars.
Chiapas is basically Mexican Guatemala. The Yucatan Peninsula is geographically Central American. However, the rest of Mexico is simply Mexico. It doesn't fit neatly in any continental division, just like Texas doesn't fit neatly into the South, or the Southwest, or the Midwest.
While northern Mexico may be industrialized and car-centric, it is still VERY much different from the USA. Chihuahua is nothing like Albuquerque; Monterrey is nothing like San Antonio; Hermosillo is nothing like Phoenix; Tijuana is nothing like San Diego.
>Yes, Mexico does have hookers, and prostitution is legally tolerated in certain zones.
The Cancun zone is kind of far from the tourist part of the city, probably by design. There's a ton of other beach cities in Mexico that have much better access to umm. friendly ladies. Places that attract a larger percentage of wealthy Mexican clientele like Puerto Vallarta or Veracruz are better since Mexicans do not have the same stigma about sex work Americans do. Acapulco for sure, though that place is a shithole.
How dangerous are big cities in Mexico? It's impossible to get a straight answer from anyone on sites like Quora or Reddit because negative (meaning "honest") responses seem to get deleted. Can you live normally in places like Guadalajara or Puebla without getting thrown in a van and ransomed or anything?
Yes but with caveats. It varies a lot certain cities like Juarez are definitely unsafe. It seems to get better the further away you go. Puebla and Guadalajara have pretty good reputations. Normal for Mexico involves avoiding things you'd do in the US, like traveling on the highway at night and being more aware of your surroundings.
>thrown in a van and ransomed or anything?
That's more of a Hollywood thing. But in CDMX you have to watch out for pickpockets on the buses and trains.
Yeah, Hollywood plays up the whole cartel thing but crime is a serious issue even in the nicer areas of places like CDMX and Guadalajara. Police shakedowns are a b***h as well.
There are certain areas in the major cities where it's not wise to wander around. But that's the same of every city in the Americas, including the US. I mean it's even worse in the US, so Mexico is no different there. They say Tepito in CDMX. Tepito is like DIsneyland compared to places like Skid Row in LA or Hastings in Vancouver.
It’s dangerous but not that bad as long as you’re careful. Medellín might be worse. I met up with probably around a dozen women and got intimate with 5 or 6. You just have to vet their socials. Trashiness is its own culture in Colombia and if you see anyone who looks remotely sketchy, they are. I saw a homeless man shaving using water from the canal once. Even poor people take care of their appearance there, so if you see someone who looks unkept, you generally want to avoid them.
Bogotá is great. Wynwood House has some good downtown properties to stay at. They are loud and expensive but you can walk anywhere worth going, and taxi to anywhere else (use the apps). Wynwood will negotiate discounts on longer stays, don’t be fooled by their web page.
Ignore the dating apps, you will get murdered. Language learning apps are fine and select for women who like foreigners. Vet them using Instagram. If a girl looks like a prostitute, she is one, and you should avoid her since she is probably on the platform to rob you. Women in Colombia love sex so that won’t be difficult as long as you’re not deformed, but it’s a conservative country and normal women will NOT approach you first. Be weary of anyone (men or women) who does.
Study the basic verbs and conjugations. It helps a lot. More people speak English there than you might expect, but you can’t rely on it and you generally don’t want to be holding your phone in the middle of the street.
The Nacional Museum and Monserrate are must-sees. The malls are nice there. Don’t go out at night alone.
I cried for several hours when I returned home realizing it was over, be careful if you’re using this trip as a way to run away from something.
1K is going to be fairly typical to get to Colombia and most of South America unless you live in a city with a major Hispanic population (e.g. Miami to Bogotá is $300 round trip, whereas it’s more like $700 from Seattle). Flights *in* Colombia are really cheap. Don’t bother springing for first class on those. It only ends up being $10 to $20 for most flights, but the seats aren’t bigger and the food is just a ham sandwich.
May I ask you some dumb questions?
Does Nicaragua hate American citizens that much? I have cursory understanding of why and can't say as I blame them, but am I going to get fricked with hardcore when I go there? The State Dept says (I know I'm a homosexual and not a Real Traveller™) that Americans have been getting singled out by the government.
Aside from all that Nicaragua has been interesting to me for a while I'd like to go if I can do it without too much hassle.
Mexico should count as Central America, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise
The problem is that it's geographically large and diverse enough that different cultural regions develope.
Tourist hot spots can be VERY Caribbean or Central American. Industrially developed area in the north can be VERY North American. Finally, some hellholes can be very South American.
The only good parts of Puerto Rico are away from the cities. I'd go there. South America is a destabilized shithole after COVID. Southern Chile may be a good option but flying there won't be cheap
>are away from the cities
have examples? Im gonna be looking at staying at a house thats basically right in the middle of the island
was south america ever... not a destabilized shithole?
the only example I can think of specifically is argentina back when it was 90% italian
Colombia was awesome in the 2010s. Peru wasn't so bad. Venezuela was king in the 90s. My point is, it's more destabilized and shitty than before. If you want a fun, crazy country go to India or Kuala Lumpur
In what way destabilized?
For Colombia, half of Venezuela moved there and covid killed the economy for a few years and never recovered so they went back to their old ways. Argentina is into the price controls -> shortages loop since their government believes in doing all the discredited socialist policies at the same time.
just get an airbnb in san juan for half of it for a few hundred bucks
how easy is it to find cocaine and prostitutes for a tourist in colombia
It’s risky. You can find girls who will do it for free if you’re remotely charming, good looking, and / or tall. If you’re solely into whoring there are some designated districts. Medellín is supposedly the best place for it. You have to be careful of getting drugged / robbed operating outside of the official markets (and probably within them, too, to be honest).
You would be shocked at the caliber of woman you can pull there if you make any kind of effort.
Easy to find, hard to survive.
Brazil is a nice place but it will be their summer, so bring shorts, an umbrella, decoy wallets, flashlight, concealed cash, crowbar, ski mask, rope, and grit
bolivia