Cuba and South America, here I come!

I cannot believe how time flies by so fast.  The time for my solo travel has come again and I cannot be more excited!  Just to recap, I was in the USA and Mexico in 2013, then I was (just) in Europe in 2015!  It's been 2 years already?!

So this year, I am going to Cuba and South America!!!  I am so excited about this.  Ever since I came back from Mexico, I have been learning Spanish on my own.  I have been listening to audio books and watching a lot of Narcos on Netflix haha mainly learning how to swear better in Colombia.

Since my trip is about 3 months away, I really have to start preparing for my visa.  I am going to write about my Cuban Visa and Argentinian Visa experience too.

I will start my trip by going to USA with my sister Girlie.  We just booked our tickets yesterday.  Luckily, we have enough miles in our credit cards to get free flights!  We have finally decided that we're going back to NEW YORK!  (♪♫Concrete jungle where dreams are made of...♪♫) We will be spending a few days pigging out in NY and tax free shopping in New Jersey!  From there, we will be going to Miami (♪♫...welcome to Miami..♫♪).  We were big fans of the TV series Dexter, so it's gonna be fun being there; it is also a great introduction to the real Cuba!

Cuba!  It seems like everyone is scrambling to get to Cuba ASAP before its culture evolves in a different direction. Other than seeing the old architectures and cars, I am interested in their Chinatown (Barrio Chino de la Habana), there was a big migration of Chinese people to Cuba and I heard there are still signs that are in Chinese and a few stores left with Chinese merchants.

After Cuba, we will be heading to Colombia!  Visiting both Bogota and Medellin (and other cities for me).  We are big Netflix Narcos fans so we would like to see Barrio Pablo Escobar and also to see if all women in Colombia are as gorgeous as Sofia Vergara. haha

From Colombia, Girlie will be heading back North flying to Canada to visit our very good friend Zara; then I will head further South to Ecuador and find myself in the La Mitad del Mundo and Ecuador is also where Green Silo's quinoa is from!  It will be interesting for me to see a real quinoa plant and how they are grown in person, learn more about the business that I am in.

After Ecuador, is Peru!  The Haven of Gastronomy and I shall make sure to find the best restaurants and street foods I can find in Peru.  Funnily, while I was browsing thru Facebook while I was writing this blog, came across this video from Pero Like page.

I was introduced to Peruvian food by my friend Jules and if the food I tasted is half as good as it is in Peru, I will come back even fatter!  Peru doesn't just have the best food in South America, they have the Machu Picchu too and other amazing sceneries that I have only seen on Instagram.

After Peru is Bolivia, which according to Wanderlass is the best place to buy native woven embroidered stuff and where she was able to send a balikbayan box back home haha and I plan to do the same!  I bought the most beautiful and cheapest floral embroidered blouses back in Mexico and I regret not buying more because of my luggage restriction.

After Bolivia, is the magnificent Argentina.  It initially wasn't part of the plan because I would need to obtain a visa to enter, but I just cannot miss out the chance of going to Patagonia and go to the "end of the world".

Finally, I head to Brazil.  It is hard to see all of Brazil in just a few weeks, the whole country is too big!  Iguazu Falls is definitely in the itinerary, but I think just BEING in Brazil is enough excitement.

After squeezing in all these places in 3 months and a few days, all good things must come to an end.  If I follow this plan, then I should have 7 new countries under my belt.  So excited!