Asking for advice from seasoned travelers, and recent travelers to Latin America: Am I overthinking this??

TLDR: I want to be safe. I have no problem seeing touristy things but I’m not into staying in resorts, I still enjoy experiencing culture. I’m not into things like ziplines or Disney world, more things along the lines of hiking, walking around a city. Will my girlfriend and I stick out and be unsafe in Latin America?

I’m a Spanish American and have extensive travel experience in the U.S. and Western Europe. I’m white but am often mistaken for middle eastern, nobody assumes that I’m Spanish speaking. I speak Spanish (with what I’m told is a thick Spanish accent) so I assume that’ll stick out. I’m a large man so I rarely feel unsafe, however my girlfriend is white and an inexperienced traveler. We did travel to Puerto Rico and really enjoyed it. I understand Puerto Rico can be considered dangerous, but it’s still part of the U.S. so some things I assume are pretty different. I also just want to be aware of any place that is completely unfamiliar on the ground like Latin America may be to us.

I grew up in a Latino community in the U.S., and I’m very familiar with the culture. I’ve always wanted to travel Latin America, and I now have that opportunity. My main concern is safety as it seems things have changed since covid. Two childhood friends were from Colombia so Cartagena had been on my bucket list, but after reading the posts in this sub recently, I will not be visiting.

The rest of this first trip was to go to Costa Rica and Panama City. After searching this sub it seems that Costa Rica is extremely touristy, expensive, and someone even described it as an enormous resort. It was also mentioned that even the nature seemed very touristy. I appreciate national parks in the U.S. and that you can be left to hike alone a lot, I would prefer that. I’m leaning towards visiting just Panama/Panama City now.

I would love to visit other places but I worry about safety. I’m fine sticking out with my accent, and the way we might look in Latin America. Visiting another country, my belief is that you may still stick out no matter how much you may try to blend in and not try to call attention to yourself. My worry is that sticking out will lead to us getting robbed, accosted, or worse. I also don’t want to sit at a resort and do events that feel like I’m in Disney World.

I’ve never been to Latin America so I have tried my best to research both online and in this sub, so please don’t take my questions the wrong way. I’m just a new traveler to this region and I simply don’t know everything, so I’d really appreciate advice from someone experienced. Am I overthinking this whole thing?

Submitted December 05, 2023 at 10:46PM by CabanyalCanyamelar https://ift.tt/Dix2yHd