Sorry for not posting for a while. I traveled to Latin America for 6 weeks with just a backpack, hence I did not bring along my laptop. It was then I realized how little I could do without it. Couldn't properly run my GTO sims, couldn't do poster designs, couldn't even write an official letter, let alone post on my blog. After returning for a few days, I took another trip this time without my laptop again, only reunited with it yesterday.
For some reason I have always been drawn to Latin America, to the extent that I started learning Spanish since 2020. My thought has always been that if I can speak 3 out of the 4 most spoken languages in the world, I can travel anywhere and make friends everywhere. (The 4th is Hindi) Needless to say I was super excited about this trip.
I decided to make Mexico my first stop. Mexico is actually considered Northern America and despite the news about the dangers of traveling there, it did not deter me. After checking in I was excited to go explore the city and put my Spanish to the test. Within less than 5 minutes, I heard someone speak in fluent Cantonese. 😂
The thing I look forward to the most was the food, especially the variety of tacos. However most of them were a let down, except for tacos de mollejas, which was recommended to me by my first Uber driver. I much preferred tortas and gorditas, and was pleasantly surprised by the fresh blackberries. (Mexico is one of the world's biggest producers of blackberries)
I played at a local tournament but lasted only 3 hands when my kings ran into a set. I also took the opportunity to visit Teotihuacan, a 2000+year old city.
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| Touristy, but really nice in person |
Peru was my next stop. Lima was added to my itinerary by ChatGPT because it is known to be the food capital of South America, and boy it was right. I had so many great meals in Peru, including ceviche (raw fish), cuy (guinea pig), anticuchos (meat skewers, some of beef hearts) The surprising thing was, I did not have any stomach issues at all and they were all so tasty.
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| Really charming town, Ollantaytambo |
I played some poker in Lima to make Peru my 37th poker country, visited the famous Machu Picchu, had some issues with my hotel in Cusco, but ended up meeting the sweetest uncle and his wife who hosted me and am now friends with, made an impromptu stay at Ollantaytambo which turned out to be my favorite stop of my trip, had to cancel my visit to Bolivia because ChatGPT messed up on visa requirements, pivoted last minute to Arequipa which turned out to be a fantastic city as well.
I was having fun until I reached Buenos Aires, Argentina. The country was hit with hyper inflation, so everything was super expensive. Many business probably suffered because of it and the area I stayed in had so many deserted shops it felt sketchy walking back at night. There were many homeless people and the streets smelled of piss and shit. Mostly I was super tilted by the lack of system in almost everything. For example, the subway station can top up subway cards but don't sell new ones. Buses with the same number and color stop at different stops and go to different destinations. The airport bus did not have non-Spanish signs or English speaking drivers. The arrival terminal did not have a money changer and I assume because of the unstable economy, my bank does not allow my card to be used there.
I took a day to visit Uruguay by ferry but it was a pretty boring day. My highlight was picking free mulberries from a street side tree. Went to play a satellite with some friends I made there. The casino is a 20-minute Uber ride away but I took a bus that got me there in 2 hours. The best part of my trip was a visit to the Iguazu Falls, the biggest waterfall system in the world and had a butterfly land on me and spent minutes licking my palm. Other than that, Argentina did not impress me at all.
Looking forward to get out of there, I went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next. Only a few days before I landed, about 20km away from my hotel was a gun battle between police and gangsters that ended up with 130+ casualties. Similar to Argentina, many downtown businesses were deserted and many people ended up homeless and begging for money. Even though I was just minutes away from the beautiful beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, I too was just minutes away from the favelas and slums. Made a genius move of walking back at night after busting a local tournament, I have never walked so fast in my life.
Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer were my bucket list places and I do feel they are worth visiting. But I had more fun exploring a nearby path that I had to myself than the tourist packed, selfie-crazy people that felt it was more important to make the right pose than actually admire the beauty of the location itself.
Final stop was Sao Paolo which is the business capital of Brazil. Met the lovely people at the World Poker Federation, played cash games at the H2 club, and played a tournament at BSOP. Did not enjoy this city much either. Still I fulfilled my dream to visit all 5 continents (not including Antarctica), hit 39 on my poker country list and had new found appreciation of my corner of the world. Would I visit again? Probably not. Do I regret visiting? I definitely do not. Until the next one, peace.
