[Dr Feelgood]

@Brosemite: Yes, too many gringos going after their chicks might be the reason - then again, I don't have the feeling this behaviour is just towards foreigners. Not sure though.

(02-09-2015 07:09 PM)ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:  

I have to 100% disagree with your security assessment. You went to a lot of places so I think maybe you have blended everything together. I can't speak for other places but I have never once in my life felt unsafe in Rio. I have been at 4 pm and 4 am, sober and hammered, taking any taxi I find. Never once have I encountered a problem, and certainly never felt scared. Just use common sense like any other city. Solid datasheet though. Out of curiosity, would you stay in each place longer if you could do it again? The first time I went to Europe I had a schedule similar to yours and it really grinded on me. I felt like I spent more time traveling than enjoying each city I was at.

I basically agree with what you are saying about Rio. We didn't feel unsafe either (but we lived in one of the best parts of town). It's just still good to be a bit cautious in countries like these.

Spend more time: It depends on your overall time frame and budget. For us, two weeks was the best solution; just long enough to get a feeling for the city, take a look at it and go on a lot of dates. Any shorter and it gets difficult to schedule many dates. A week longer and you don't gain many more insights. Two weeks is perfect.

The cities we stayed in for shorter than two weeks we either did for a single tourist attraction (Cusco, Iguazu) or we wanted to take with us as a bonus in a packed schedule (Montevideo, Bogota, Cartagena).