I think you’re tilting at windmills here
Sorry feeling under the weather and can write out something longer later.
Most of the killing in Baja Norte is targeted cartel stuff. Hits on rival members, cops, politicians, etc. There’s also a bunch of young women/girls going missing which is super fucked and makes me never want to raise a daughter here. But from what I gather, they’re not fighting over street corners to sell like in the US so there isn’t as much random violence and innocent bystanders being caught in the crossfire. They make money by moving drugs across the border and the violence needed to accomplish that is different.
I lived in Midcity LA for 4 years and Eugene OR area for a decade. Honestly dtown Eugene is the most sketched out I’ve felt of the 3.
Mision19 is increíble btw. Verde y crema too. havent been to TJ as much since Gramps left but there’s a strong brewery and gastropub scene that’s been building. The food truck game is strong.
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In the past couple years I’ve been to 6 of the Mexican cities among Top 50 highest murder rates in the world (Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Morelia, Cancún, Los Cabos (was #1 last year), and Guadalajara) and I’ve never felt remotely unsafe in any of them. None of the areas we’re likely to visit will be too dangerous although occasionally there are random hits in some of these cities and collateral damage in the crossfire, but fortunately I haven’t seen any of it in my 3.5 years in Mexico.
I’ve also to been to some of the Brazilian cities on that list (Fortaleza, Recife, Natal, Salvador, Rio) and felt quite a bit more sketchy than Mexico, but still not enough to make me think twice about visiting again. Rio seems to go through waves, and apparently it was much calmer than normal while we were there. My gf and I didn’t think it was any different than other safe places in LatAm and even walked thru 2 favelas by ourselves. In Salvador, we were walking in a safe-ish looking place in the lower city and a local warned us that there was mafia activity up ahead, so that might not have ended well. Probably stupid of us to take those risks, but if I’m visiting areas like that, I use a backup phone, leave the cards behind, and just have $40 and am ready to surrender everything if needed.
Brazil is a really, really weird country. Out of about 30 countries I’ve been to, it’s the biggest pain in the ass to be a tourist. It’s almost like they’re purposely trolling tourists. Random stuff like needing to go to 5 cell stores to find one that would give us a SIM card b/c we didn’t have the Brazilian nat’l ID #, and even to get us a SIM they were breaking the law. Had to go to 12 different sites to find one that would let me book a national flight with a foreign CC.
It also has the most in your face poverty I’ve seen. Like one second you’re in a super pretty square in São Paulo and the next you’re in a homeless camp with 50 tents and an overwhelming smell of human feces. Brazil also does very little to attract tourism or make their monuments stick out in any way. In Mexico City, if you walk the main tourist areas, they will be very clean, freshly landscaped, etc. But not in Brazil. It’s sad b/c Brazil has some insane natural beauty, and Rio should be like the #1 tourist destination in the world, but the country seems like a mess (even by LatAm standards).
Finally, I was in Guatemala City recently, and yah, that’s the one place I’ve been that I was sketched out. Just walking the centro I felt like a ton of local dudes were sizing me up in a bad way and I started speed walking out of there. Everyone says just skip GC and head straight for Antigua, but I like to give every city a chance and spent a night there, but couldn’t really find any redeemable quality, so yah, skip it. Really love Lake Atitlán though and Antigua’s also cool. The northern part of Guatemala is also supposed to be interested, but haven’t gotten a chance to visit yet. Pretty underrated country.
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Guatemala is the best country in Central America imo. But yeahhh absolutely no real reason to spend any time in Guatemala City. Did you do the Acatenango overnight hike from Antigua?
Just curious, what was your favorite part of Brazil?!
Sadly no, but it’s a good excuse to go back!
Probably a cliché response, but hands down Rio. The energy on Copacabana/Ipanema is just unrivaled. I’m a big people watcher, and there’s always tons of things to take in there. 8-10 different sports going on, the people look like gods/goddesses, music, drinking, eating, the scenery, etc. Even if you aren’t a big beach person, just walking or biking the boardwalk is fun. I’d probably stay in Flamengo if I lived there though, that’s a cool area.
For a less obvious answer, I’d say João Pessoa was a pleasant surprise. The beach/boardwalk area is extremely nice, but that’s about all it has to offer. The center is a big nothing burger. Salvador Pelourinho was pretty stunning. Fortaleza/Natal kinda meh. I tend to favor large cities, city centres, and architecture, so the center of São Paulo was kinda cool for me. I like that they’re started to revitalize it and mix in restaurants/bars so people have an excuse to go outside business hours.
That being said, out of the 8 or so big cities I visited, Rio is the only I have much desire to see again (I would live there as well), maybe Salvador in the distant future. Next time, I’d like to see some inland stuff like Belo Horizonte, and more of the South: Floripa, Iguazu, etc.
Although I’ve pretty much been in Latin America for the past 4 years (3 mos. Brazil, 2 mos. Colombia, 1 mo. Perú, 2 weeks Guatemala, 3+ years Mexico), save for 1.5 months visiting family in USA, so I’m probably not gonna be back to visit for quite some time. I’ll likely be in E. Europe/Asia, near Turkey/Georgia and exploring nearby countries, and probably 3-4 months each year knocking more destinations in Europe of my list.
I like several places in LatAm, and could see myself settling in a # of different places here, but my heart has always been in Europe. I value history and architecture and it’s to match in/around Europe for that.
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Cool, thanks I’ve never been to Brazil before, but it’s on the list. Although I must say we are kinda opposites in travel preferences! I don’t care for big cities much, and Europe gets boring to me real quick 
I do like Turkey and Georgia though!
And if you do ever get a chance to go back to Guatemala, that Acatenango hike watching Fuego erupt is pretty freaking cool
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Got a full condo in Cabbagetown right by the venue for cheap af.
Now, any Nashville recommendations are welcome. My friend is a musician and art teacher there so have a few from him and will be hanging out with him before the shows but am down for more.
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Bearded Iris has some of the best beers in the city if that interests you at all.
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It does! Drinking a Breckenridge Brew Hazy I’m really liking this fall/winter.
Awesome. They have elite hazies. Southern Grist is my other favorite. They do a lot more fruited and wild beers but equally delicious.
That also appears to be within a few blocks of the venue so fuck yeah we will hit it up. OK, maybe a dozen or 2 blocks but close enough to uber for sure.
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My friend said to look in Edgehill, 12 south or 5 points first and they seem close enough and the prices for AirBnb also seem cheap af. I’ll definitely check it out. Thx!
I’ve stayed in 12 South twice and it was a decent enough time. Just prepare yourself for Instagrammers and bachelorette parties. There is a beer store / draft house there that is worth checking out. I believe it’s called The Filling Station. There is also a brunch spot called The Frothy Monkey that has great bathrooms for vomiting up biscuits and gravy because you thought it was a good idea while incredibly hungover.
LOL! I like bachelorette parties! Not my reason for going though. I just asked him to tell me places close to the venue (Marathon Music Works) that I would also be close to other shit to do. I party way harder than this guy so unless he gets crazy I will be trying to check out some other shit when he goes to bed.
I listen to this podcast called the ‘Working Drummer’ and I think it was the Sly & Family Stone said that the music scene (right before COVID) was as diverse and awesome as anything he had experienced since late 60s San Francisco so I really just want to hit any and all music spots I can whether country or rock or folk. I hate country mostly but I’ve heard the country drummers there are insane.
ETA: It is after 4 Atlanta shows in a row though so I might ready for home by then instead of partying anywhere. Getting old.
I flew out of BH the last time I was in Brazil. It’s got a nice climate and a reasonably pretty setting, but I couldn’t shake a feeling of sketchiness there, like Rio or Salvador without the upside. Also, there wasn’t much to see. The Pampulha is the most famous thing by far to see, but in comparison to the architecture in Rio and SP it was nothing to write home about.
The draw card of BH is proximity to Ouro Preto, which is like a Brazilian Guanajuato and easily one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen.
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Why on earth would anyone spend a few days in San Ysidro?
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Any outdoorsy, non-city type stuff you enjoyed in Brazil?!
Ilha Grande (near Rio) and Morro São Paulo (near Salvador) are both amazing beachy islands. The entire coastline between Rio and Santos is spectacular.
I don’t know much about the outdoorsy offerings of Brazil, but it’s really not known for (or set up for) that afaik. Besides Iguazú obv. But I’ve seen some damned cool stuff come out of the northern states, especially Toncantins. It looks completely unlike what people would expect from Brazil, and it would probably make a badass, off the beaten track trip.
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Oooh nice, thanks, lots of good stuff. Any trouble without speaking much Portuguese? (I presume)
I’m guessing I’d be more a North Brazil person and after doing some googling Toncantins does look pretty awesome, definitely right up my alley. And over in Maranhao the sand dunes + lagoons at Parque Nacional dos Lencois look out of this world!
Lack of Portuguese was NBD, but I speak okay Spanish so that helped.
Like fossilkid said, Brazil is unexpectedly difficult for its level of development. It makes Mexico look like an incredibly orderly and functional country. That can be appealing and/or agonizing depending on the situation.
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