So I’m 3 months into my trip across South America & I’m thinking it’s pretty close to my midpoint as I’m tentatively targeting end of June / beginning of July for my return. Let’s be real… Chicago is an amazing city, especially in the summer, & I need to minimize the missed Cubs games, boat days, street fests, etc (my life is real tough right now I know). I thought I’d take the time to (quickly) reflect on a few things as people recently have been asking me what I prefer: South America or SE Asia. I respond by saying the 2 trips are completely different but then I’m left unable to explain myself. So I did some thinking & came up with the following:

• The food – A big part of traveling for me is experiencing the food. I love to eat. I can’t overestimate how much I miss the food in SE Asia, especially the soups & noodle dishes of Vietnam & the curries of Thailand. The food here in South America? Bleh. It’s nothing new, thought provoking or life changing like Asia. Inland it’s a lot of meat & potatoes. On the coast, it’s a lot of fresh seafood. Have I had good even great meals? Of course. But it’s so familiar that it just doesn’t get me excited & I oftentimes find myself daydreaming about Bun Bo Nam Bo in Hanoi & wondering how much a flight to Vietnam would cost. 
• My stomach – So this is related to the food but it’s much more than that… something about the food, beers, wine, booze, etc in SE Asia just agreed with me. In 6 months I never had travelers’ stomach issues & no matter if I over indulged a bit, never suffered from a hangover. Neither are the case here. So not only is the food more boring, it far too often leaves me feeling like shit. Same goes for the booze. In SE Asia, I inquired about ingredients or lack thereof & people responded the countries had different laws regarding preservatives (as in much more strict) & everything was very fresh. Now I don’t pretend to be a knowledgeable health nut but something is different down here & it’s unfortunate for me. Now I’ve only just arrived in Argentina so haven’t yet tried their “amazing beef” but there sure is a lot riding on that if it’s going to totally change my opinion. 
• The sights – With the exception of the Northern coast of Colombia & the Galapagos, which are both phenomenal trip highlights, most of the places I’ve visited & things to do on this trip are land based. Obviously it’s driven by this little ol’ mountain range known as the Andes that runs the length of the continent. That terrain is without question more varied than SE Asia as it includes mountains, deserts, cloud forests, salt flats, lakes, etc. & I’ve enjoyed it immensely but I’m going on 2 months at altitude with no view of an ocean & while I’m loving it, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss my remote island paradises every now & then. I’m thinking of ending my trip in Brazil wandering the northern coast from tiny beach to tiny beach, after swinging by the Amazon, so hopefully that’ll give me my fix. 
• The activities – This is obviously related to the above. There’s a helluva lot of trekking & hiking in South America while I’ve only gone diving once. Ask me before my trip & I’d be bummed about it but I am really enjoying getting outdoors & getting dirty, perhaps more than I even imagined (I’m in Patagonia as I type this & I’m fucking loving it) & I keep extending my trekking stays bc there’s never enough time. After days here filled with challenging 8-10hr treks & incredibly beautiful mountainous views, I feel more physically accomplished much more often than I did in SE Asia. But there is something about being underwater in this crazy different world & totally reliant on this stupid air tank that really gets me going so I’m going to have to find a good spot for that before I leave.
• The language – So this is going to seem counterintuitive to just about everyone but my elementary knowledge of the Spanish language & ability to communicate & have basic conversations obviously has its perks but I kinda miss having to really work hard at communicating. It’s crazy I know. I’ve thought long & hard about this but I really think it’s true for me. Now it certainly makes functioning on a daily basis much easier. I can read menus & signs / trailheads & ask questions & understand the answers which is all great. But it also means there are fewer surprises, misunderstandings & challenges throughout the day & I apparently somewhat miss those. I fondly recall communication struggles in SE Asia & I don’t think I’m rewriting history or my memory is failing me. Traveling in SE Asia was much more difficult than traveling in South America & i think it made me feel a bit more accomplished. Not that I mind the ease of traveling here. 
• The culture – I feel as if the culture in SE Asia was overwhelming. The Asian cities screamed culture as they were vastly different from what I know while many big cities in SA are obviously more westernized. The food, the language, the religion, the cities in SE Asia are all very different from what I know so it seems a bit more foreign or exotic. And many of the places I visited in SE Asia seemed very remote & rather untouched by tourism. The only place that nears that so far in South America is Punta Gallinas in Northern Columbia. I’d love to find more of that down here. But so far, South America to me is less about the culture & more about these incredible outdoor adventures around every corner. And that’s an amazing thing. 

So I still don’t have an answer but all I know is I’m having a great time & not even close to ready to returning. So on to the next adventure.