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I was very happy with the numerous COVID restrictions in CDMX in March, but that was one of the reasons we visited. We were looking for a reasonably COVID safe and affordable trip. Really enjoyed the ability to dine al fresco, wander the parks, and to not be surrounded by maskless people at the museums. I agree though about the thermometers and other theater Puerto Rico had been the same way as of not too long ago, so I'm curious how much it is common to the region
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Dec 29, 2022 05:44
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I was in CDMX back in January and yeah locals were taking it super seriously back then as well. The only people who weren't wearing masks were gringos, naturally. We actually travelled across most of Mexico aside from the northern deserts and mask wearing was extremely common basically everywhere except the beach areas of Quintana Roo. The temperature readings were hilarious though, I had one that came up as like 29 degrees which is basically rigor mortis levels of cold. Oh and one place they wouldn't let me in because I came up at like 39.1 degrees (after walking around Chapultepec Park for a couple of hours in the blazing sun), so I went and held a can of Coke against my wrist, went back and scanned at ~33 degrees which they were happy with  With the masks, we sort of figured that westerners assume their travel insurance/dinero/whatever will buy the best health care to get them out of trouble if they get sick, while the average Mexican is probably under no illusions about the access to and quality of healthcare they'd get. Also interesting - we noticed in the 3 months across South America, locals basically only wore masks in their home towns. For example in BA, locals wore masks most of the time. But elsewhere in Argentina, people clearly on holiday never bothered masking up. Weird. Locals cooking churrasco on the grill? Masks. People hopping off a coach to buy some? No masks - ever.
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Dec 29, 2022 13:49
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I just looked at a photo I took on the metro platform and right around 50% of people were wearing masks, so I guess it is down a lot. Nearly all service people are wearing masks, but not all (even within the same restaurants) so it seems like it’s a personal choice. There are a bunch of “mask required" signs up everywhere but so far the only place someone was actually enforcing it was at Diego Rivera’s house and studio. (Frida Kahlo and Juan O’Gorman have house studios there too, but they are also closed for dubious reasons.) Just kind of interesting. In Europe, masks were gone from 99.9% of service workers and 98% of people one hour after the mask requirement was dropped. I do have to say I dislike it when interacting with people because it makes someone much harder to understand, on top of my Spanish being like A2/B1 level and having lovely hearing.
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Dec 29, 2022 14:55
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We flew Libson to Madrid and they required masks and it made me so happy. First time I was on a plane in a long time and didn't feel like my whole family was at risk of 1) getting covid 2) bringing it home to friends and family 3) not spreading it in my community Dropping mask requirements in the USA was a loving dumb idea
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Dec 30, 2022 02:05
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Hadlock posted:We flew Libson to Madrid and they required masks and it made me so happy. First time I was on a plane in a long time and didn't feel like my whole family was at risk of I don't mind the mask but tend to take it off once the incidence rate gets low enough unless it's like a really crowded place or a hospital or something  Apparently I overlooked another message where they asked me to confirm the flight cancellation once again... so let's see, I might be going to Guatemala with nothing booked or planned after all. Or even approved PTO lol.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:08
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Flew LIS to MAD on Air Europa, masks were required. Maybe it's airline specific We got covid back last week of September/first week October so we're in the 90 day "probably, but not 100%, immune so long as it's not a weird rare variant" period so we've been lazy about masks except when boarding or in tsa security line Still covid free, miraculously. Ate in a crowded sushi bar last night so we'll see what happens
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Dec 30, 2022 20:19
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I’ve actually read a couple of studies that suggest aircraft are surprisingly low risk for covid transmission, mainly because they’re designed to circulate the air every few minutes through hospital-grade filters. And that the high seat backs (particularly in economy) act as a barrier to the spread of virus particles. Consequently you’re more likely to get covid on a plane in business class, where the seats are lower and people/assistants move around a lot more. But yeah that’s all kinda moot when you’re going through security/immigration, packing together at the boarding gate etc.
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Dec 30, 2022 23:30
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Hadlock posted:Flew LIS to MAD on Air Europa, masks were required. Maybe it's airline specific I guess so. I flew EasyJet into Lisbon and TAP out of Lisbon 2 weeks ago, and neither one was with masks, nor did anyone (staff or any significant number of flyers) wear them. More on topic with a possibly unpopular opinion Mexico City is nice but... super overhyped? We're here for 12 nights and really running out of stuff to do after 8 nights without going to super low-tier stuff like the absolutely terrible Museum of International Cultures and the mediocre Imagen Museum. Fortunately both were free. The international culture museum was kind of interesting though, as I had never before been in a museum that was exclusively replicas. That's great for education of kids and locals who don't have the money to go to Europe or Asia, but I have no idea why that museum would be recommended for international tourists, ever. Teotihuacan was incredible, although the signage was awful (entirely sun bleached and illegible) and it was a bit of a bummer that the pyramid walkup is closed off. The Anthropology Museum was incredible, we spent 3.5 hours there which is probably the longest I've spent in a museum in about 10 years. Food is good in general but I've had really excellent restaurants all over the world so nothing really to fly here over. Street food is hit or miss; had an incredible gringa in Centro. Everything else has been decent but not mindblowing. We have a couple other meals at top-rated restaurants, but I didn't bother getting reservations far enough in advance for e.g. Pujol. If I had to do over, and this wasn't over the Christmas period, I'd say probably 5N is enough to cover CDMX pretty comprehensively, 7N to do it exhaustively. Like Roma and Condesa and Polanco are all nice, but they're nearly indistinguishable, so once you've walked through one you've seen all three. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I thought it'd be like New York or Paris or Madrid, but from a tourist perspective it's more on par for me with like... Lyon or Chicago or Lima. All of which are nice cities, and I like CDMX, but you quickly run out of really amazingly unique experiences and things to do and start just hanging out in cafes and restaurant patios after day 5. Probably I just expected too much from the hype, like my brain would literally explode when eating a local taco. I've had equivalently good Mexican food in the US and even in Europe, albeit I really like Mexican cuisine and have particularly looked for it when travelling in the US/EU. There are a lot of good restaurants here, but I have a lifetime supply of amazing restaurants within an hour and a half drive of me in Europe too.
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Dec 31, 2022 01:44
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I wouldn't call CDMX overrated, particularly, but tbh I think 12 nights is definitely overdoing it. I think it's more of a 7-8 nights place, max, unless you're there to visit family and friends or something. A couple of things I'd recommend that I didn't see you mention: - I assume you've been to the Templo Mayor museum? It's right off Zocalo next to the Cathedral - not much left above ground thanks to the conquistadors, but there's some cool artifacts etc there - We didn't go to Frida Kahlo's house since most people said it's not much value, but the Diego Rivera house was pretty good - A couple blocks north of the Cathedral is the Secretaría de Educación Pública building, which has a central facing courtyard with three levels of murals, telling the story of Mexico, it's most famous sons & daughters, the Revolution and civil war, and so on. Definitely worth an hour or two if you're at all into art, and not really on the tourist radar - I'm sure you've been to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, but directly across Cardenas on the corner of Avidena 5 de Mayo is an old bank building (currently a post office) with a stunning belle epoque interior - And of course at the western end of Alameda Park there's the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, which has that awesome mural saved from ruins of a hotel in the 1985 earthquake (note that there's basically nothing else here) A bit further afield: - the university campus UNAM has some cool buildings, particularly the ones covered in outdoor artwork - Xochimilco is a semi-rural area on the southern outskirts where the farms and canals are basically still from the pre-Columbian era. Nice spot to just hire a colourful boat and cruise around the canals for a couple hours sipping Modelo or whatever - There's a few monarch butterfly sanctuaries a few hours outside CDMX, might be worth looking into a tour out to those? I don't think there's any public transport out that way, and I think the roads go through some semi-sketchy areas (though the sanctuaries themselves are fine) If you don't mind losing out on a paid-up night at your hotel, Puebla and Cuernavaca are easily reachable for an overnight trip and good for a change of scenery. Puebla in particular had some excellent food, and the Cholula ruins too.
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Dec 31, 2022 04:48
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12 nights is a lot for any city, wow Yeah we go to cdmx for a ~three day weekend every year but that's enough for us usually The museum of anthropology at the bottom of the hill from the castle is a full day project Open Table has enough restaurants to last you 12 days I would probably chop three days off cdmx and head down to Oaxaca for a bit or something. It's like a 4 hour bus ride Edit: yeah the University apparently has an epic library but I was never able to find it
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Dec 31, 2022 05:17
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The trick is to milking long trips is to travel with kids, because you'll spend half your time at random playgrounds and getting ice cream. It's simultaneously frustrating--because you're missing out on stuff, including all night life--- and relaxing, because you get to chill with the locals and see a new side of things. We ended up at some nice playgrounds in cdmx.
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Dec 31, 2022 06:06
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Adding to the CDMX spots: Frida Khalo's house includes admission to Anhuacalli right down the road, which is very very cool. The cool library is Biblioteca Vascocelos Lucha at Arena México and pay the ~$20 to get close The post office is pretty if you're already by Zocalo Xochimilco if the weather is nice. Lots and lots of great mercados selling handmade goods
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Dec 31, 2022 06:17
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There's also some good hikes that are doable as day trips outside of CDMX (depending on your fitness / experience hiking of course) I spent 10 days there or so and took day trips to climb/hike Nevado De Toluca, Iztaccihuatl, Tepozteco, and Cerro Ajusco.
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Dec 31, 2022 10:56
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Yeah it’s a family trip and since it’s over Christmas and NY so most things are closed both days - and all of Christmas was massive thunderstorms and pouring rain - so it’s not quite 12 days in practice. Also since it’s over Christmas time tons of things were booked out weeks in advance, like the Frida Kahlo house. Getting reservations for a table of 6 at nice restaurants was also very hard, since nearly all tables are 2 or 4, so I had to pick weird times and/or call and check repeatedly for cancellations at like 20 different restaurants. I was aware of that but I wasn’t going to book a dozen restaurants weeks in advance, and I knew the Frida Kahlo issue but normally a week out is fine - but I hadn’t accounted for Christmas. On thé plus side there is minimal traffic. We did go go the Diego Rivera house-studio which I liked a lot but my wife was pissed that the Frida house on the site was closed for years with no mention anywhere except (noticed later) in a couple online reviews by visitors. We watched Frida last night which I probably appreciated 100x more having just been to everywhere they went in the movie. It also made me like her art 100x more, since before I only knew her (imo) boring self portraits that get printed on tourist garbage, but she did a lot of pretty fantastic paintings besides that. Too bad almost none of her work is still in CDMX. We hit most of what you all mentioned in the city except the post office and the secretariat of education. Actually I’d never even heard of the second one when looking at what to do online. Maybe we’ll check it out on Monday when we’re back in that approximate area for lunch at the Sofitel tower. Didn’t do the uni or Xochimilco. The latter I’m sure I would enjoy with friends, am positive would not be enjoyed with my family. Thought seriously about an overnight trip to Puebla or SMA but decided against it since it’s the holiday week and we’re here with family and not only for couples tourism. If it was just the two of us I think we’d have eaten a double-paid night. It might not be that CDMX is super hyped online but just specifically for me by 3 different close friends of mine who lived there and loved it. Which I get; I also really liked living in Houston despite its lack of anything for tourists and terrible weather. When you’re a tourist there are only so many restaurants you can eat at in a two week period before you just want a home cooked meal (and we rented a house so we’re cooking a fair amount). We’re doing about one per day. We spent more time in Centro yesterday, San Juan market was nice, as was the nearby Citadel artists market. Vastly preferred those to the two equivalent markets in Coyoacan, which are 10x more crowded and have more or less the same selection for artist stuff and way less selection for food. Not that the additional food selection made a huge difference as I don’t know how to cook an entire shark or an unskinned goat. I think San Juan market is the first time in my entire life I’ve seen sharks for sale — small ones, maybe a meter long. Kind of neat although kind of sad since aren’t they like, all endangered now? The Popular art museum was cool too, although it’s pretty small in terms of what they have despite the building being massive.
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Dec 31, 2022 16:14
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I also really loved Mexico City, but I went as a solo traveler and stayed in hostels. Also I speak Spanish, which made it more fun. Honestly though I think quite a bit of my enjoyment was due to how cheap everything was even tho it's such a big city with amazing options. Every meal and drink not only activated the taste part of my brain but also the "I got a good deal" part of my brain. I'm not cheap by any means, but I definitely get a little fatigued spending a ton of money on good but not great food and drink when I'm in an expensive city like Paris, Chicago, NYC, etc. But in Mexico City it was easier to not think about it. Only other thing I'll add is that the Trotsky Museum near the Frida Museum is worth checking out if you like history. Hashtag Banterzone fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Dec 31, 2022 |
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Dec 31, 2022 17:07
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Trotsky museum and frida kalho museum are on the same block, definitely check it out I'd never heard of Trotsky but basically he was Stalin's best friend and later Stalin turned on him and hunted him to the ends of the earth to consolidate and secure his power. Pretty interesting stuff, probably way more significant than the Frida museum if you're at all a history buff
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Dec 31, 2022 18:11
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Traveling around Argentina for the past few weeks makes me with the US had more nice parks, greener, safer cities, better management of homeless issues etc.
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Dec 31, 2022 21:08
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Hadlock posted:Trotsky museum and frida kalho museum are on the same block, definitely check it out Yeah we liked the Trotsky museum a lot -- it was our highlight for visiting Coyoacan. It was particularly neat / strange / bizarre to still see all the bullet holes in the wall of his bedroom from the failed assassination attempt. Was somewhat bummed to find out that The Icepick is in the spy museum in Washington DC, but it was definitely worth the visit.
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Dec 31, 2022 22:09
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Saladman posted:Yeah we liked the Trotsky museum a lot -- it was our highlight for visiting Coyoacan. It was particularly neat / strange / bizarre to still see all the bullet holes in the wall of his bedroom from the failed assassination attempt. Was somewhat bummed to find out that The Icepick is in the spy museum in Washington DC, but it was definitely worth the visit. Well I guess I'm gonna have to go to that museum now Yeah casually walking into his study and being like, are - are those bullet holes? Was a pretty visceral experience, even 100 years later Big lessons on idealism vs reality were learned that day. Almost a decade later, when my wife and I went there together for the first time, that was a must-do stop
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Jan 1, 2023 02:33
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Cabo airport taxi to the tourist district is $85 USD, and Uber is banned because of course it is Like 90% of the value of a Mexico trip is the value against the US dollar, the other 10% is the proximity to the US. The first portion of the value equation has been decimated. Cabo gets added to my very short list of "never again, grossly way over commercialized tourist hell holes", next to Puerto Rico. I will not be back Sorry if I'm starting the obvious but just repeating this in case anyone didn't know this already Edit: I get that Mexico is getting more expensive but it's a real gently caress You walking off the plane, being denied access to Uber and getting stuck with an $85 USD bill before even leaving the airport Technically there's a chicken bus to the tourist district but it's a local service (stops every half km) and takes over 2 hours Hadlock fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Jan 10, 2023 |
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Jan 10, 2023 22:35
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Jesus, that’s a lot for 9.9 km. Are you sure you didn’t get scammed, like more of a scam than official taxis are? I always lol when I see people posting online about how bad Uber is (ok it is) and how people should take officially taxis instead (lol), especially when people then talk about how they’re safer or their drivers are more knowledgeable and skilled than Uber drivers (lmao). Our one hour drive across Mexico City to CDMX airport last week was $200 but … with the dollar sign meaning Mexican pesos.
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Jan 11, 2023 00:02
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2 minutes on wikitravel tells me the Ruta del Desierto bus takes 45 minutes and costs $5 https://wikitravel.org/en/Cabo_San_Lucas#Get_in Or you could've just rented a car lol 
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Jan 11, 2023 00:15
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Yeah Uber loving sucks as a company and in general, but it is an absolute lifesaver when you’re travelling in a country where you don’t speak the language. Having fares set remotely is also a huge benefit, so you know what’s you’re getting into (and if no Ubers are available you’ve got a reference point to negotiate with the local taxi mafia). With Cabo specifically, I haven’t been but wikivoyage suggests the cheapest way is either organising through your hotel, or lining up a private transport option like a shuttle bus kind of thing. $85 sounds outrageous though!
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Jan 11, 2023 00:23
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Hadlock posted:
hey man, Puerto Rico is cool! What went down there?
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Jan 12, 2023 04:31
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What's the easiest way to do a Pantanal trip? We've been to Southeast Asia, Africa, India, etc. but we're old now and need something less "backpacker."
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Mar 7, 2023 04:34
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The only person I know who visited the Pantanal went on a 4-5 day expedition from Cuiabá in Mato Grosso state. That was a few years ago though, maybe things have changed since then
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Mar 7, 2023 09:08
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My wife and I have just confirmed we'll be going travelling in Central / South America from about mid June to late December (back in time for Christmas). Because we've not been sure it'll be possible until just now we haven't planned at all as we didn't want to get our hopes up too much. We're English but my wife speaks Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese (I've been secretly learning the former on duolingo as a surprise and can generally understand but not really speak). We're going to travel cheap, we're not fussed much about swanky accommodation but we love food and will try to eat and drink like locals. We like cities and culture, walking as much as possible and as we're in our thirties probably won't be setting out to party much. I've travelled before but in South East Asia which I assume is a bit easier to get around and safer (crime-wise at least). The only specifics we have in mind already are Peru for machu picchu, Chile for a trek in patagonia, Argentina wine country, galapogos (if we can do it in a cheap but ecologically friendly way) and Rio, as my wife lived there briefly on a student placement. Does anyone have any general tips, or in particular suggestions about where to go to first, as presumably we can plan as we go somewhat once there.
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Apr 30, 2023 11:33
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Iguazu Falls is amazing. If you go, make sure you go to both the Brazilian and Argentine sides.
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Apr 30, 2023 13:28
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Yeah Iguazu is a can't-miss. Yeah see both sides. Do the boat ride. If you're gonna do Macu Picu plan on spending at least two days chilling at Cusco so you're not totally shocking your system. Cusco is at 11,000 feet which is probably the highest altitude you've ever been at. My casual observation was about 1 in 100 people had to go back to a lower altitude at my hostel. Just climbing around at Macu Picu is exhausting, especially if you do either of the more popular hikes that overlook the ruins. I was reasonably fit at the time and the altitude kicked my rear end any time I started doing anything halfway strenuous edit: and this was after I'd already spent 4 days in Bogota at 8,000 ft Hadlock fucked around with this message at 07:18 on May 1, 2023 |
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May 1, 2023 07:15
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I felt pretty rough with altitude sickness in Cusco after a day or so, we spent about 4 days there and I’m glad we did - did some day trips to lower down in the valley which really helped. There’s actually a lot to do in the surrounding area, some great ruins and such, so I wouldn’t just consider it a stopover location on the way to Machu Picchu, especially if you’re on an extended trip to the region. You can get private shuttles / tours to a bunch of places, but we really enjoyed getting local buses, it was much cheaper and you can follow your own schedule. If you want a warmup hike for Machu Picchu, this guy goes on one direct from Cusco. I like his videos. There’s a guide at the end of the video. https://youtu.be/iZZCst-1BWE Food is great in Cusco too.
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May 1, 2023 07:37
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Yeah there's plenty to do there and the tourist rail will take you to a couple different villages which each have their own ruins I stayed in one village and ran into some gringo in dreads who had grossly overstayed his visa and was living with some hill people in the jungle just doing ayuhuasqa as often as his body and funds would permit. I guess he finally came down to check email and see what the outside world was up to. All kinds of people make the journey out that way. Cusco is a proper city, it was a full size city long before the Spanish got there. Just walking around you can see where the Peruvian foundations ended and Spanish conquistador walls start. No shortage of history there and yeah plenty to do while your body builds more red blood cells
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May 1, 2023 07:44
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Lady Gaza posted:Iguazu Falls is amazing. If you go, make sure you go to both the Brazilian and Argentine sides. Yep, 100% agree with both of those - Iguazu was one of the standouts from three months in South America. In Peru I quite enjoyed Arequipa as well as Cusco, and some of the other ruins near Macchu Picchu are quite good too (like Ollantaytambo). Buenos Aires is a great city with heaps to see and do. The most frustrating thing is that you can't use the banking system at all (unless you're happy to pay 2x the going rate for everything). In Brazil, if you like small towns I'd recommend some of the old colonial towns like Paraty, Ouro Preto and others. Galapagos is a great place, but there's not really any way to do it super cheaply. Flights in are expensive (we bought a cheap "Ecuadorians only" flight out by mistake, but nothing ever happened over it), there's extra taxes for the environment of course, and then once you're there the hotels and expenses aren't cheap either. There's cool stuff to do on the main island, like the Charles Darwin research station, and you can grab a cab/tour out to some of the other tortoise places. Each of the islands basically has different "attractions" - the penguin ones are further away and usually need an overnight boat trip (or staying in the smaller island). We did a trip out to the blue-footed booby island (lots of frigate-birds too), and on another day we did snorkelling with sea lions (and turtles) which was absolutely amazing. I'd strongly recommend going, because the environmental conditions aren't going to get better, and it's probably not going to get any cheaper either.
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May 1, 2023 12:15
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The Aguamoose posted:My wife and I have just confirmed we'll be going travelling in Central / South America from about mid June to late December (back in time for Christmas). For Machu Picchu, if you want to do the Inca Trail you have to book quite a ways in advance. For the Salkantay trek you can book it on the spot. Agree with what others said for acclimating. I had been above 3000m for a month by the time we did the Salktantay trek and I basically ran up and down the whole thing, getting to the lunch/dinner checkpoints at about twice the speed of the main group, so even if you aren't acclimated, most other people also won't be, so unless you have an actual medical issue it will be fine. Also for Machu Picchu if you want to go up the big hill/small mountain overlooking it ( Huayna Picchu ) that has a limited number of ascents per day so you have to book it well in advance. I liked the trek a lot, did not care so much for Machu Picchu, just too many people around, and we had garbage weather on that day, but great weather on our hiking days. The area is really neat though and Aguas Calientes is okay to hang out for a day. We walked in and out because the tourist train is such an lol ripoff price, and because the tourist bus going up and down Machu Picchu is also ridiculously priced. Glad to have gone, but would never in a million years go back even if someone else paid. Cusco was neat, agree it's worth spending at least a couple full days there.
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May 1, 2023 12:33
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Obvious post, but Christmas through like, mid march is the rainy season in machu picchu, it's already in a rain forest so it's exceptionally wet there, I think Machu Picchu is just completely closed for the entire month of january and maybe part of february too. When I went, a week later they had a land slide that took out the train tracks between cusco and machu pichu
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May 1, 2023 22:42
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Hadlock posted:Obvious post, but Christmas through like, mid march is the rainy season in machu picchu, it's already in a rain forest so it's exceptionally wet there, I think Machu Picchu is just completely closed for the entire month of january and maybe part of february too. When I went, a week later they had a land slide that took out the train tracks between cusco and machu pichu Yeah, and it can happen whenever. We went in early November and it was foggy and drizzly for our entire day for Machu Picchu itself. For sure go as early in your trip as possible OP, hiking in rain sucks and if your shoes aren't waterproof and your feet get wet, then expect all your skin to get hosed up and ruin several days of your trip.  A brief shower would be fine, but European gray drizzle was unexpected and probably was a major factor in why I didn't really like Machu Picchu. That, plus the massive crowds of people and the nickel and diming at every opportunity (e.g. paid bathroom only, like wtf we already paid like $50 for entrance fees). Also on the Salkantay hike, I got absolutely wrecked by sand flies on the hike down from the pass, near the bottom. Tons of little swarms of noseeums. I had bug spray, but I had sprayed myself before hiking, and then I rolled up my sleeves and they ate the poo poo out of my lower arms, especially my elbows. I don't usually have any particular issues with bugs and scratching, but these little bastards itched for 2 weeks after and made me look like I had some awful skin disease. Fortunately for me, we were in cold weather climates afterwards (Lima, Bogota) so I didn't have to wear short sleeves.
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May 2, 2023 09:30
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When did you visit Machu Picchu? We were there in June last year and it didn't feel especially crowded. Sure it was busy, but I kinda expected that as one of the world's most recognisable attractions (and unlike say Rome or Paris or New York, it's not a big area so all the tourists are in the same spot). They introduced timed tickets and a daily cap on visitor numbers, so maybe it's just not as crowded anymore? I just flicked back through my photos and most only have few/no people in them - it took a little bit of patience iirc, but you didn't have to wait ages for people to move. The first overlook point (with the classic view, the one you're picturing right now) was busy, but again you could pretty easily find a spot to squeeze in and get photos. Maybe it was still the pandemic effect, but we found it pretty fine. Maybe the late afternoon timeslot helped? I can't remember exactly what time we went in, but something like 1-2pm maybe? Late enough that the "gotta get in early to beat the crowds" crowd had left for the day.
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May 2, 2023 13:29
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We went to Macchu Picchu in January 2020 (lol great timing) and I thought it was fairly empty. Gray and drizzly as all get out but still amazing. Visited Chichén-Itzá a month before and disliked it a lot more as an experience. In South America we quite liked Chiloe island and Lake Llanquihue area in Chile and San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina.
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May 3, 2023 13:38
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Went to MP in September 2018, got there before sunrise and I managed to get some really nice photos with basically no one in them, that I could easily edit out. By the time we made it down from the higher mountain viewpoint, the whole place was heaving and we got out of there. The cool and quiet of the early morning was lovely but it was a hot heaving mess at 11am. So YMMV.
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May 3, 2023 13:44
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Thanks for all the responses and advice. As it looks like you need to have onward travel planned on entry to most countries I'm going to come up with a very rough itinerary over the next couple of days and take everyone's suggestions into account.
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May 3, 2023 15:24
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 05:22 |
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Having done a few months of travel in LatAm recently, we were almost never asked for proof of onward travel - except before boarding a plane from Mexico to Colombia. There are also some websites like bestonwardticket where you can buy a "fake" ticket just in case.
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May 3, 2023 18:52
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