3 months to travel Jan-Apr/2017

>>1179227
More info: I am happy to take daytrips from my 'base' city. I just want to soak up urban life for a few months rather than travelling around too much. My goal is to just get in shape somewhere warm away from the Canadian winter, go somewhere where people are friendly and not get mugged or killed.

If you really want to learn Spanish, go to a place where you can get a local girlfriend easily. That is how you will really learn. Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina are the hardest in that respect on the continent, and also where the accent is the hardest to understand and English is widely spoken. Not great places for it IMO though many do it there.

I recommend Peru or Colombia. In Peru, Arequipa or Lima is your spot. In Colombia, Medellín would be a good bet. The only problem with Medellin is that everyone will assume that you're a sex tourist.

>>1179227
The obvious choice would be Buenos Aires where you have everything in one place but the costs of living there add up fast. You have endless options to blow money away 24/7

A other good choice would be Vina del Mar in Chile (2h by bus from STGO, runs almost 24/7 and the price is about $3), although it's never really summer there more like eternal spring.
But it fulfills all your requirements but one it's not the very large city urban life.

For the accent I agree with >>1179332 you will pick up the local spanish and every other spanish speaker around the world will ask you how you got that.

>>1179227
not the cheapest places to learn Spanish, especially Chi-Uru. Also, these countries aren't necessarily safer. Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia have lower homicide rates, and, dependind on the source, there are several other countries in LatAm that have a lower rate of crime victimization.

>>1179344
Thanks for reply. Just curious, are homicide rates mostly due to gang infighting? In other words, do they apply to tourists as much as rates of violent mugging?

Might not be too useful, but southern Spain is very nice during the winter, and not too expensive. Seville in particular I really enjoyed

>>1179332
>everyone will assume that you're a sex tourist
I mean, isn't every guy somewhat of a sex tourist wherever he goes? :)
How would this negatively affect me? Since I'll be busy doing classes and exercise, I think I will meet some girls naturally in the course of doing those things.

My Spanish comprehension sucks bigtime so I appreciate your comments about southern cone vs north.

>>1179509
It's a great city and I had considered it. I've visited there twice before in Sept-Oct, the last time to learn flamenco guitar during the flamenco biennial. That was truly a unique experience I could not have gotten anywhere else.

I found the accent there particularly hard to understand. They drop letters at the end of words a lot and some speak with the Barcelona lisp, iirc. With all the siestas they should have more energy to make an effort to speak properly :)

I believe it's significantly more expensive than South America, no? (In fact I really don't understand, with the Spanish unemployment rate, how they manage to go out as much as they do.)

Acc to this site, avg low is 5-10 c. I don't know whether evenings get cool quickly there or not. I guess you didn't find it cold then.
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=19380&cityname=Seville-Spain&set=metric

Thx for great suggestion :)

>>1179343
My biggest concern with Buenos Aires was getting mugged. Pickpocketing I can take precautions against and I'm willing to risk. It's the violent crime I want to avoid. I like to get around by bike and I still have a memory of that youtube video of the Canadian guy biking in BA and a guy with a gun runs up and tries to steal his backpack. (The Canadian guy manages to escape without giving anything up which is pretty damn ballsy and probably stupid)

I heard that with the election, the economic outlook was improving somewhat and things were turning around. (I'm assuming that would affect the rate of violent crime). Overall, from the cultural and amenities point of view, BA would be my first choice.

Vina del Mar - I took a daytrip for a few hours last time and it looked nice. Ocean is also a plus.

>>1179510
"Southern Cone" is just a meme. Chile is very different from Argentina/Uruguay. Chilean accent is difficult to understand. Rioplatense is much more clear.

>>1179509
Southern Spain has a horribly difficult accent, I wouldn't recommend going there to learn Spanish.

>>1179227
Spanish ppl say that Peruvian accent is the most neutral. As for Spain, the neutral one is in Salamanca.

>>1179518
You're going to let one persons experience in a city of that size influence you? You can get robbed in a rough part of any city.

>>1179227
>White male from Canada in South America

Bring a bsndolier of condoms. You'll be safe, nobody will have the chance to attack you because they won't be able get through the hordes trying to suck your dick.

Hey guys, not OP but I'm also traveling in Argentina around that time. I was wondering if someone knows about the best way to spend NYE in Buenos Aires. A few things I've found so far;
-Go have dinner in some of the hotel/restaurant. Are there any you would advise?
-Watch the fireworks around Puerto Madero.
-Dont expect great transport on NYE.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

OP here
I changed my travel plans bc I found something really interesting to do and I will not be travelling in Latin America this time around.
Thx to everyone who answered

>>1181037
What are you doing? Don't keep us in the dark!

>>1180970
Also still looking for something to do on NYE!
Plane leaves next Tuesday.