El Salvador & first days in Guatemala

We had to make El Salvador quick because of the aforementioned visa issues, and it's just a small country to begin with too. Our first stop was La Palma just over the border from Honduras. It's a sleepy mountain town and we headed to the coast after one day there. On the Pacific we stayed at Playa El Zonte west of La Libertad. Lots of good surf but we didn't have the time or energy to track down a reputable surf instructor to take lessons with. We did go to see a kicking reggae band play at an outdoor bar in nearby Playa El Tunco on the Saturday night though.

Next was back to the highlands but we couldn't decide between hiking in Juayua or Tacuba, so we went to both. A great hostel was recommended to us in Juayua and we stayed there briefly, but after we missed an early morning bus to go hike Cerro Verde we figured it wasn't meant to be so we packed it in for Tacuba.

In Tacuba we successfully got out into the woods and hiked through coffee plantations and jumped into the pools formed by a 30-metre waterfall. Almost got stuck there when the guide that was recommended to us asked us to run his hiking guide business while he went to Europe for 2 months. But since he couldn't seem to leave my girlfriend alone we figured not to do him any favours and left early the next morning for Guatemala.

First stop in Guatemala was Monterrico on the coast not far from the border although it took us several hours to get there - the trip included a spooky boat ride down a murky canal after dark to get to the actual city. Pretty much the only reason we went there was to participate in the releasing of baby sea turtles that happens on the beach every night. That's me in the photo above with our little fella that is now living the good life swimming around the big, deep blue.

After that was done we grabbed a direct shuttle to Antigua. It was an expensive ride at $10 US each, but the buses in Guatemala seem to be chronically late and over-crowded so we did ourselves a favour.

The photo below is me prior to jumping off a 30-metre waterfall in Parque El Imposible in western El Salvador.

PS - Remember that I am constantly updating our list of destinations, so click here to check out that post to get an overview of the trip so far.

Another Country Checked Off

Time flies when you´re having fun and that´s why the blog posts may be coming a little faster these days. That and our alotted time to finish up El Salvador and Guatemala ends in mid-January so we will be moving a bit quicker in the coming weeks.

We were sort of stuck on the Bay Island of Utila in Honduras for a bit while Mary Beth did her Open Water SCUBA certification, but we learned while we were there that it´s not uncommon for folks to get stuck there. Most people come for the cheap diving and some get stuck there doing a dive master course or maybe they just keep missing that 6:20 am ferry. We actually missed the ferry too because I urgently needed to use the bathroom and when I got back the ferry was long gone. Luckily there is a 2 pm ferry for those that aren´t too swift at such an early hour as 6 am.

When we finally got back to the mainland it was off to Omoa, a sleepy seaside village that has a very nice Spanish fort on its shores. We only spent 2 days there before we were off again. Next was Copan, the only Mayan ruins in Honduras, and they were amazing. I just hope that seeing Copan first doesn´t ruin visiting Tikal in Guatemala later on.

From Copan we high-tailed it to the border and are now in La Palma, El Salvador. It´s a nice mountain town with not much to do, so we´re doing some e-mailing and other dull stuff today before we head to La Libertad on the coast tomorrow.

Hello Honduras!

Hey, we're in Honduras. Yup, we finally left Nicaragua behind, but not without a little bit of hassle.

As it turns out Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua are all on the same entry stamp, so when we entered Nicaragua months ago we had 3 months to spend in all 3 countries. But nobody told us that, so we were all set to head into Honduras with one day left on our passport stamps. Luckily we were on a hike wth QuetzalTrekkers in Leon, Nicaragau and our guide filled us in on the latest visa developments for the area. Once we got back from hiking up and sleeping under an active volcano, we made a beeline to Managua to get another visa extension. We had heard it could take 7 hours or 7 minutes to get the process completed, so we were a little worried we would have to make a run for the Costa Rica border lickety-split to get a new 90-day stamp in our passports after spending 72 hours out of the country. After an hour at the immigration office we had a 2-month extension to spend in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. We celebrated with lunch at McDonald's (the fast food fiend only has restaurants in the capital) and headed north to Esteli for a night before we crossed into Honduras.

Not much of a shock upon entering the latest country on our trip. The money has a new name (lempiras), but the exchange is identical to the Nicaraguan cordoba. The biggest difference I noticed at first was the non-stop reggaeton coming from every radio and stereo in Nicaragua had been replaced by some kick-ass classic rock blasting on Honduran buses.

We started out in Tegucigalpa, but the big city didn't agree with us. We actually went to a huge, modern shopping mall to get more cash before we headed to the north coast. A couple nights in La Cieba to get some much-needed laundry done and we were off to the Bay Islands, Honduras' little corner of the Caribbean. And that's where I am now writing this post.

Mary Beth has done her Open Water Scuba certification and I did a refresher course, and today we had our first dive together. Lots of coral and fish to see, and the water is so warm, nothing like the Canadian waters I first learned to dive in. We plan to do a couple more dives, hopefully we'll see some whale sharks, before we get back to the mainland and check out a couple more spots in Honduras before going to El Salvador.

Nicaragua Update

Without the usual lame excuses for not having posted in a while I’ll just get into it.

Since my last post we settled down in a pleasant apartment on a residential street in Granada not far from the central plaza. Mary Beth was teaching English about 6 days a week, and I was letting myself be little more than a quiet observer of the town and its inhabitants. Really not much else happened beyond many pleasant walks along the colonial streets and nights out with other travellers. We made a small number of Granadino friends that enriched our time there and even resulted in an invitation to be godparents to a young man’s first child. It remains to be seen if we will be able to get back to Nicaragua to be there for the baptism, maybe we can do it by e-mail.

So that was 3 months ago and now we are just regular backpackers again, going from hostel to hostel, bus ride to bus ride. Directly after leaving Granada we headed to Ometepe Island, an island formed by 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua. A lovely place really, with very charming island atmosphere, but as October is the rainiest month in the region there was little going on and the rain prevented us from freely exploring the entire island. One morning we woke up with the intention of hiking up the larger and still active Volcan Concepcion, but a rainstorm had turned the main street into a river and we decided it better to spend the day writing postcards and other leisurely activities. We rented a motorcycle one day and had an adventure circumnavigating the sometimes barely passable road around the southern volcano. Other than that we found the food to be overpriced, and not well prepared, after having access to the number of good, traveller-oriented eateries in Granada.

After Ometepe we spent a night in Managua before catching a flight to the Corn Islands in the Caribbean. Once again the weather prevented us from experiencing everything the islands had to offer, but the people and the scenery more than made up for the lack of action. The island lifestyle certainly agrees with us and I felt as though I was in heaven with the constant blasting of reggae music from every business, bar and taxi we passed. At first we stayed on Big Corn Island and spent our days walking and biking around the island. A lack of convenient ways to get cash meant that we planned to head back to the mainland sooner, but a mis-communication at the hotel had us at the dock a day before the ferry would even arrive. The only boat leaving that day was a small panga (an open, 14-foot boat with an outboard engine) to Little Corn so we said to hell with our plan and went there. Little Corn proved to be the more comfortable of the islands. So small that there are no cars, just a series of foot paths, which makes the island a very tranquil place to visit. We settled in a bamboo hut on the eastern side of the island and went snorkelling in the waters just outside our door and ate wonderful seafood meals at night. But again the same problem with cash arose. Big Corn at least had a bank, but Little Corn had no such thing so we had to leave a day before the ferry for the mainland came.

From Bluefields on the Atlantic coast we made a long journey by river boat and 2 buses to Leon, another colonial city and Granada’s arch-rival. Leon is much larger than Granada and more liberal, which I think is due to the large student population that attends the university here. We got ourselves a cheap room at BigFoot Hostel and have been exploring the many churches and museums here. There are several volcanoes in the area and we immediately got ourselves a place on the volcano boarding tour offered by the hostel. It was a blast to sled down a black sand volcano face, but I forgot to close my mouth and ended up with a mouth full of black dust and pebbles.

And that pretty much brings us up to date. We may stay in Leon for a couple more days to hike another volcano or go to the nearby coast. But our time in Nicaragua will soon be over as our visas expire on the 15th I think. El Salvador and Honduras are next.

Nicaragua - First Impressions

I’ve noticed while traveling through a relatively small continent like Central America that the differences between each nation can be subtle at best. Panama and Costa Rica both had a healthy dose of North American influence - Panama because of the USA’s longtime involvement with the Canal, Costa Rica because of its highly-developed tourism industry. Since arriving in Nicaragua though I’ve felt much more like I am travelling in a relatively untravelled country. You can tell just by looking at the faces of the Nicaraguans that the country has retained a stronger connection to its indigenous culture.


Our first stop in Nicaragua was the beach resort community of San Juan del Sur, a place we thought would be a good starting point because of its popularity with tourists. It was the weekend that the town celebrated the fiesta to honour the Virgin Carmen, patron saint of fishermen, and there was quite a bit of activity. We saw horses parading down the cobbled streets and street musicians playing Latin American music. The oddest thing we saw was a couple of transvestites strolling down the street. It was just as we rode into town in a taxi and the driver honked at the two trannies, right away the whole car erupted in laughter. The two Germans that were sharing the cab with us and the driver all understood our surprised exclamations of "Ellos estan hombres!"

A popular way of celebrating for Nicaraguans is to set off bottle-rocket-like fireworks. There wasn’t any sort of colour in them, just a loud bang. For the first few days in San Juan del Sur Mary Beth and I would duck and look frantically around whenever one went off as they are quite loud. But by the time we arrived in Granada, the day before the country celebrated the anniversary of the victory of the Sandinista Revolution, we were pretty used to the almost constant bangs of the bottle-rockets.

In Granada we were guided to a cheap hostel by a couple of American volunteers that were in town to work with local schoolchildren. At $10 US a night for a private room with private bathroom, it was one of the cheapest places yet that we have stayed in. But we soon learned that the joys of cheap travel are often balanced by certain hardships. In Granada, and Nicaragua in general, the defining characteristic at the moment is the country’s energy crisis. Apparently the nation’s aging electricity-generating plants are not meeting the needs of the country. Plans are in the works to remedy the situation, but the new plants won’t be online until later this year so meanwhile the country is getting by on 30% less electricity than it needs. In practical terms this means that for 5-6 hours a day most citizens deal with the rolling black-outs that the government has scheduled. Our first week in Granada there was no juice from 2pm to 5 or 6 o’clock, the next week it switched from 5 to 10 at night. The lack of electricity is really no big deal as one can get by with flashlights and such to see, but most buildings’ water pumps rely on electricity so the lack of running water is the most trying part of the energy crisis. For us it meant we could only flush the toilet once each morning and splash a bit of water on our faces before the water flow returned to full force in the evening. Not every community is affected and some homes have water reservoirs that allow them to get by for most of the outages.

For the first few days we searched fruitlessly for a public pool to cool off in since the A/C and fans weren’t running, but to no avail. Our first solution was to head to the Laguna de Apoyo - a lake in an extinct volcano crater - to swim and relax, but we realized we couldn’t go everyday as it was a full-day trip to get there and back. After two weeks we finally heard about a hotel that allows non-guests to swim in their pool, so it’s safe to say we’ll be there often.

In general every one we meet agrees that Nicaragua is a great country for travellers. Every one coming from Costa Rica comments on the lack of American influence and the more tolerable number of tourists. Though we haven’t had a chance to travel very much within the country as we get settled in Granada, Mary Beth and I are both excited to spend a lot of time in Nicaragua and see the many attractions available.

Costa Rica - A Summary

While I usually like to write about more important things than our touristy activities, I realize that most people that read this blog just want to know where we are and what we are doing. So here is a quick summary of our time in Costa Rica.

After leaving Panama we went to Dominical, a smallish surf town on the Pacific coast. At first we planned to be there one week, but ended up staying for two weeks. We got a good deal on a hotel room because we wanted to stay for a while and ended up meeting some nice people there. The guy we hung out with most is a semi-pro skier from France named Max. He is a real adrenaline-junkie type and was in Costa Rica to surf as much as possible, as well as "to make bungee jump, make jump out of plane" and other extreme activities. Max is a real solid guy and invited us and any of our friends to come to the French Alps - where he’s from - for a ski vacation anytime.

Next we headed to Jaco, what we hoped would be another charming surf town, but instead found an over-developed, over-crowded resort beach community. Because it’s the closest beach to San Jose, Jaco is the most popular spot for Costa Rican urbanites to spend a weekend. We got there on a Monday to avoid the weekend crowds, but we were gone before the next weekend because we found the place over-priced and just generally not the kind of place we were looking for. People in Dominical had also warned us that there were a lot of prostitutes, summing it up by saying that all the girls in the clubs and bars were just there to sell their bodies. While eating dinner one night we overheard a group of older gringo men talking about how "Costa Rican girls will fuck you til your eyes roll back in your head." At the same bar I say a large gringo with a big belly to match his big white beard leaving the bar after having dinner with his young Tica (Costa Rican woman) girlfriend and their baby, with them was the Tica’s parents who looked to be much younger than the gringo. I couldn’t believe my eyes as the Tica’s father loaded his granddaughter into the car and sat next to what would be his son-in-law if they were married, although the gringo looked like he could be his grandfather. Scenes like this painted Jaco as a pretty seedy place in our minds, so we opted to take off before the weekend parties started.



After Jaco we headed to Monteverde, a very popular mountain town. The crowds in Monteverde weren’t much better than Jaco but we were getting used to them. We were there mostly to do a canopy tour (zip-lines through the cloud forest trees) and not much else. The whole town seems to exist for these types of tours and we were swamped as soon as we got off the bus by people trying to get us to stay at their hotel and take their tours. Our canopy tour was a blast, although they didn’t warn us about the rappel drop and Tarzan swing until we were already strapped in and seconds away from a quick free-fall that brought a lot of screams from some and laughs for the rest of us.

Andrew had recommended visiting Volcan Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica, and we decided to head there next. There were several options for getting there from Monteverde, including horse rides, a taxi-boat-taxi combo trip and taking a public bus that would take over nine hours. We took the taxi-boat-taxi which included joining a convoy of vans driving to Lake Arenal, loading into a boat with everyone for a trip across the lake the back into a bunch of vans to get to the town of La Fortuna. The volcano is one of the three most visited destinations in the country and prices reflected it. Our hostel was nice as there aren’t many backpacker hostels that have pools, but all the activities in the area were pretty expensive. We did a volcano hike that included dinner at the resort hot springs that cost $60 each. The hike was interesting because our guide was funny and informative, but we didn’t get to see the volcano as it was hiding behind constant cloud cover. We did hear it rumbling though. The hot springs were very deluxe and the dinner was great. We actually skipped lunch so that we could take full advantage of the buffet dinner.

After that trip in the highlands we headed back to the coast. Our first stop was Puntarenas where we spent one night before catching the ferry to the Peninsula de Nicoya where we went to Montezuma. All the guide books talk about how it was a quiet fishing village before a group of ex-pats moved in a made it a traveller destination. Now there is a nude beach not far from town (the first I’ve heard of in Central America) and loads of blonde haired kids running around town being chased by their single Tica moms. The place was very nice and we had an ocean view room and went to the waterfalls one day and the nude beach the next (there was no one nude there). We also did a boat tour to Isla Tortuga for snorkeling and hanging out on an idyllic beach. The snorkeling wasn’t great as the visibility was bad and there were tiny jelly fish that kept stinging everyone. Montezuma is the kind of place I could stay for a while, but there were no bank machines there and we were running low on cash. We tried to find a bus up the coast to Samara, but the state of the roads meant no buses would go that way. Our options were a $45 per person shuttle or a day-long trip back towards Puntarenas. We figured since we needed to go that way anyway we would just go all the way to San Jose where we could catch a direct bus to Samara. I also read in the Tico Times that there was a clown convention in San Jose at that time that would include public shows of fire-juggling so we wanted to check it out.


San Jose was quite a nice town though many people have told us not to judge Costa Rica by the capital. There’s a very nice pedestrian mall down the middle of the city that’s great for walking and people watching. The fire juggling clowns were a little rudimentary but still neat to see. We only wanted to stay for a couple of days, and that’s what we did before catching a bus to Samara.

Samara turned out to be pretty much just another beach town that was taking full advantage of growing tourism. Not that it wasn’t nice, but we have been through so many beach towns now that it would be nice to find a place that’s truly different. While in Samara we mostly lazed on the beach and read. I should say that a definite plus of visiting all these beach communities has been great seafood at cheap prices. Lately I’ve had shrimp dishes of every imaginable variety, and am just waiting for a restaurant that has lobster at cheap prices before I start ordering that regularly.

From Samara we went to Liberia, a large city in the north, where we would spend a night before making a run for the Nicaraguan border. So now we’re in Nicaragua and looking forward to taking Spanish lessons in Granada, exploring the volcano islands in Lago de Nicaragua, and some many other activities we have planned.

Pics from top are: Montezuma waterfalls, Jade exhibit at San Jose Museo de Nacional, MB & I on canopy tour in Monteverde and Puntarenas church.

List of Places We’ve Stayed (updated & expanded!!)

Here is a list of towns we’ve stayed in since leaving Victoria, B.C. on April 15, 2007. I’ll be updating this list as we go, so check back to see where we are or where we’ve been.

USA:
Seattle, Washington - 1 night at Green Tortoise Hostel before flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

Panama: (entered April 18, 2007)
David (we stayed here several times during our time in Panama)
-the capital of Panama’s northern province Chiriqui. I don’t really know much about the town as we spent most of our time there hanging with Andrew’s friends and his in-laws, and then going to the casino, bars and grocery store.
Valle de la Minas (village closest to the Lost & Found Eco-Hostel)
- only went into the actual village once to see the weekend party, but all they were doing was playing volleyball and there was no beer because the power was out.
Bocas del Toro
- Panama’s corner of the Caribbean, best part for us was a snorkeling trip when we saw dolphins from the boat.
Panama City
- big city, lots of traffic, nice waterfront views and the old part of town has great architecture. Oh yeah, the Panama Canal, too.
Robinson’s Island, San Blas Islands
- a true island paradise experience Just us and the palm trees on a small island you can walk around in 5 minutes.
Pedasi
- small village on the Pacific coast, mostly just surfers come here, but we did see a few older gringos looking for property to buy. Also stayed at the cheapest hostel so far on the trip, a room with shared bathroom for $8 for both of us.
Boquete
- mountain town with lots of old gringos (that explains the midnight curfew), went to some hot springs and a wildlife rehabilitation centre that had parrots, various monkeys, an ocelot and a kinkajou that Andrew subsequently adopted.
Playa Larga on Isla Bastimentos
- went to Bocas del Toro again to see more after Craig left. Mary Beth and I hiked to a secluded beach and camped for 2 nights. Had an amazing last night there when a huge leatherback turtle laid its eggs right outside our tent.
Punta Burica
- not really a town, just an area where you can find the Mono Feliz (translated means Happy Monkey) hostel. Very rustic accommodations and tough to get to since you have to drive on the beach at low tide to get here, but an amazing spot to see howler, white-faced and squirrel monkeys. The owner has been feeding the monkeys for years and now they come around every morning.
NOTE: our time in Panama also included day trips to Las Lajas, a long beach, and Playa Venao, the best surf break in Panama (or so I hear).

Costa Rica: (entered June 11, 2007)
Dominical
- small surfing village inundated with gringos (we would later find out Dominical was relatively unspoiled by the gringo migration to Costa Rica). Did surfing lessons with Green Iguana surf camp. Stayed at a hostel that had iguanas crawling all over it.
Jacó
- Mary Beth’s brother told her about a small cabin he stayed in here 6 years ago for $6, now the whole beach front is private resorts and all the girls in town are prostitutes. Saw a large number of older gringos here with significantly younger Tica girlfriends. We didn’t stay long here.
Santa Elena/Monteverde
- practically the birthplace of canopy/zipline tours and eco-tourism in Costa Rica. Canopy tour was a blast, but once again there were just too many tourists here.
La Fortuna/Volcan Arenal
- expensive to get here from Monteverde, and the super expensive ($60 each!) tour to see the volcano was a huge disappointment as the volcano was behind the clouds the whole time we were there, we never once saw the volcano. The volcano tour did include a trip to a hot springs resort and a buffet dinner that was quite nice.
Puntarenas
- nice coastal town with a large fishing a shipping industry, we were just here for one night to catch the ferry to the Penisula de Nicoya.
Montezuma
- similar to Dominical in that this is a smaller seaside village that is popular with tourists, we went to a great waterfall within walking distance from the town. Good party scene here too.
San Jose
- only went here because there are no roads up the coast from Montezuma to Samara, instead we went to the capital and caught a direct bus for Samara after a couple of days. Saw some of the free events that were part of a clown convention, stayed at a swank hostel: Costa Rica Backpackers.
Samara
- another surfing village that is getting overpopulated with tourists, we just spent our time chilling out on the beach and swimming.
Liberia
- just a one night stop over on the way to the border, kind of glad to be leaving Costa Rica, it just didn’t seem like much of an adventure when there were at least 60 other tourists right behind you at every attraction.

Nicaragua: (entered July 15, 2007)
San Juan del Sur
- first stop in Nicaragua at this small resort town. Prices not much lower than Costa Rica. We rented a dune buggy and drove up the coast and on the beaches.
Granada
- we had thought about staying in this city known for its colonial architecture and friendliness longer to do Spanish lessons, but while looking around town on our first night Mary Beth got a job offer to teach English, ended up staying 3 months. Too many adventures to mention here, but we now have many memories and friends from this place.
Laguna de Apoyo
- a crater lake just 40 minutes from Granada, amazing swimming, good for relaxing as it is very, very quiet here. PS - there are 2 hostels for sale at the laguna, check the Crater’s Edge website, the other is called the Monkey Hut (sister hostel to the Bearded Monkey in Granada).
Masaya
- just did a day-trip here to see the market and traditional dancing. Market was somewhat disappointing after hearing about it so much, all the stalls had the same stuff and I didn’t want any of it.
Montelimar
- the estate of former-dictator Somoza is now an all-inclusive resort owned by Barcelo. We treated ourselves to a night here for my birthday, $70 per person per night gets you a room and all the food and drinks you want, as well as access to the beach, casino and other amenities.
Moyogalpa, Omotepe Island
- an island formed by 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, we actually saw this from the plane on our way to Panama. Amazing geography and scenery, but not much else to do.
Managua
- never wanted to stay here as we heard it was dangerous, crowded and not a particularly nice city to visit. Just stayed one night before flying to the Corn Islands.
Big Corn Island
- Nicaragua’s very little corner of the Caribbean. Didn’t need to speak Spanish here as most of the friendly locals are of Caribe descent. With no ATM and no set ferry schedule it is a bit of a hassle to visit here. When we tried to go back to the mainland we ended up at the other island.
Little Corn Island
- actually better than Big Corn, more backpackers chilling out here and good scuba diving too. No cars on the island make it very peaceful, but when the occasional bundle of cocaine washes up on the beach we heard everybody goes crazy (more on this later).
Bluefields
- just a one-night stop over before taking the river boat-bus combo trip back to Managua.
Leon
- Granada’s rival, Leon is bigger and more liberal they say. A university here, and a population twice the size of Granada, makes Leon a bit better for nightlife, but not as friendly. Lots of volcanoes nearby make for good hiking, we did an overnight with QuetzalTrekkers to Volcan Telica. Also look for volcano boarding at BigFoot Hostel.
Esteli
- quiet town up in the mountains, we stopped here on our way to Honduras. Went to some very nice waterfalls that we had all to ourselves.

Honduras: (entered Nov. 16/2007)
Tegucigalpa
-just one night in the capital, the whole place was too crowded and polluted, the only place we went to was a modern shopping mall to get to an ATM.
La Cieba
- a long bus ride form Tegucigalpa got us to this town on the north coast, it’s really just a jumping off point to go to the Bay Islands, but we stayed for 3 days while trying to get laundry done, our hotel didn’t have a dryer so after 2 days straight of rain we had to take our damp clothes to a laundromat that had a dryer.
West End, Roatan, Bay Islands
- advertised as paradise, but the brochure pics don’t show the all-inclusive resorts full of families just the beach and blue water.
- we ended up staying in the basement of an old local called Uncle Bud, he rented out a couple of apartments as well as having a couple rooms in his basement, it was the best deal we could find which was good because we stayed close to a week after I got sick and had to stay in bed for a couple of days.
Utila, Bay Islands
- we took a ride on a private catamaran to get to this smaller island, at $50 each it was still cheaper than taking the ferry to the mainland and then again to Utila.
- more of a budget backpackers scene here because of the cheap diving, just about everybody was there to do a dive course.
- MB did her Open Water cert. with Cross Creek Dive Center, I did a few fun dives and we met a lot of good people there.
San Pedro Sula
- just one night at this transportation hub on our way to Omoa.
Omoa
- very quiet coastal town with a well-preserved Spanish fort, the most popular hostel, Rolie’s Place, is nice - we slept in a little, raised wooden hut - but Rolie is grumpy and doesn’t like talking to guests.
Copan Ruinas
- our last stop in Honduras was at these Mayan ruins (1 of only 3 sets of ruins we plan to visit while here), surprised to find a cheap room despite the popularity of the ruins, the hotel staff kept offering us a horseback riding tour we didn’t want.

El Salvador: (entered Dec. 12/2007)
La Palma
- a slow start from Copan meant we had to stay in this mountain village right after the Honduras border, spent the next day wandering around the village, then left for the coast.
Playa El Zonte, La Libertad
- just a tiny village on the beach west from La Libertad, wanted to go surfing here but couldn’t find a good instructor, went to a good reggae party on the weekend, if I were to go back I would stay at Esencia Nativa.
Juayua
- a mountain village recommended to us by a guy we met in Bouquete, Panama, supposed to be good hiking but we never went, the tiny town is very picturesque but there are way too many intoxicated guys in the streets asking for money for the size of this village.
Tacuba
- another spot recommended by the fella in Panama for hiking with Imposible Tours, did a great all day tour that included hiking through coffee fields and ended at waterfalls, good accommodations at Mama y Papa Hostel, almost didn’t leave Tacuba when the tour operator asked us to run his business for 2 months while he went to Europe, he kept saying "Don’t go to gringo land and spend all your money."

Guatemala: (entered Dec. 20/2007)
Monterrico
Antigua
San Pedro de Laguna, Lago de Atitlan
San Marcos de Laguna, Lago de Atitlan
Chichicastenango

Belize: (coming soon)

Mexico: (coming soon)

A More Thoughtful Post

If you think that Central America is a Third World backwater full of uncivilized native tribes and poisonous wildlife you may have been right a few decades ago, but not now. Ever since the political situations in the region’s countries became stable tourism has been growing. Costa Rica is by far the front runner in tourism infrastructure, but the high prices that accompany its growing popularity with traveller’s is sending more and more tourists to neighbouring Central American countries.

The evidence of this is everywhere - in consumer magazines targeted to ex-pats, the growth of the English language schools, young people wearing the latest fashions, etc. But the most obvious indicator of this to me has been the huge number of ex-pats we’ve met that are shopping for property or businesses (and that doesn’t include the ones that are already settled here). It’s a safe bet that any tourist you meet over the age of 35 is looking to buy property while they are visiting the region. Again Costa Rica was the first to experience this boom in interest from North American travellers, and again because of high prices for real estate people are looking elsewhere, specifically Panama is being advertised as the next hot spot for gringo retirees.

Because Mary Beth and I have already hit the two most popular retirement spots in Central America we’re both excited to get to the other, relatively undeveloped countries in Central America. The lower prices for food and accommodations will be welcome too.

Ever since I backpacked through Europe and realized how similar it was to life in North America I’ve wanted to travel in more remote and wild places. Parts of Central America may satisfy that urge in me, but part of me is wondering lately if there are any wild places left in the world. Often when I think about this countries like Uzbekistan and Kazakstan jump to mind, or maybe Africa, but I couldn’t say for sure how wild they are until I go there.

But I digress, I was talking about Central America. What does this surge in North American interest mean for the region? Beats me, but when you think about it the USA has been meddling in Central American life and politics for decades, so the influx of retirees and such is really just a more up-front manifestation of North America’s ongoing effects on the region. Whether or not gringo retirees were moving to the region, North American influence would be entering through television, movies, music, international economics and foreign policy.

I should say that I’m certainly no expert on Central America and my two months here has only been a small amount of exposure, so if you think you know better post a comment.

Think Keanu Reeves in Point Break . . .

. . . Not so much the former college football star turned crusading FBI agent part, but more the beginner surfer that discovers the thrill of catching his first wave under the tutelage of a hot surfer chick.


That was me the other day as Mary Beth and I took our first surf lesson with the Green Iguana Surf Camp in Dominical, Costa Rica. Unfortunately our instructor wasn’t a hot surfer chick a la Lori Petty in Point Break, but rather a California ex-pat named Vance whose body was covered in red welts from being shot with a BB-gun the night before. His explanation: "Just another Saturday night partying at the bar."

I had taken one surf lesson before a couple of years ago when I was in Indonesia, but I felt I hadn’t learned much. The little Indonesian guy that took me out didn’t give me a lot of instruction before strapping a board to me and sending me out. Essentially the lesson was him miming what I should do on the board and then yelling at me to paddle for the rest of the day. Because of the low level of instruction then, I told the Green Iguana folks that I had no experience when we signed up.

With Vance our lesson was much better. He even drew diagrams in the sand of what the waves were doing and what rip tides are (apparently there are lots on the Pacific Coast). Once we were in the water I was pretty quickly getting up on the board in the white water. Mary Beth had a little trouble but was catching on later in the two-hour lesson. Of course what we were doing that day isn’t even close to real surfing, where you catch a breaking wave and do turns and stuff, but it was the first step.

We’ve already booked a second lesson, but a stomach bug has sidelined the two of us for a couple of days. We had originally planned on being in Dominical for a little less than a week, but we’re going on our ninth day now. Because Costa Rica is expensive we plan to move quickly through the country to the cheaper lands of Nicaragua, but because learning to surf is one of my major goals for this trip we’ll probably stay until we feel comfortable with our surfing skills to try catching waves at other breaks along the Pacific coast in other countries.

Adventures with Andrew & Panama Wildlife

If you ever get the chance to visit a friend overseas I greatly encourage you to take it. It's like having your own personal guide free of charge. If that friend happens to have a car then it's like having a chauffeur too.

That is what it was like in Panama for me and Mary Beth. Andrew was able to take all the stress out of our time in Panama by giving us the inside scoop on where to go and what to do. Having access to his car also gave us new opportunities to visit out of the way spots we wouldn’t have been able to get to if we were just busing around.

Having a free place to crash at the Lost & Found Eco-Hostel (a.k.a. the Lost Paradise) was also a treat. I’m not sure exactly how much time we spent at the Lost & Found, but we came and went several times over the months of April and May between trips to other parts of the country. It was great to spend a few days up in the mountains at the Lost & Found to escape the hassles of being a tourist in a foreign country. Days spent at Andrew’s hostel included hikes on the nearby trails (one led to a secluded swimming hole), wildlife viewing and endless games of foosball (I’m proud to say that despite his superior skills I managed to beat Andrew twice during my stay).

Unfortunately we had to move on eventually if we want to get back to Canada, so last week Mary Beth and I crossed the border into Costa Rica and made our way to the quiet surf town of Dominical on the Pacific coast. We’ve been here a few days now just soaking in the relaxed vibes, and we’ll be signing up for surfing lessons any day now.

Costa Rica is noticeably different than Panama in many ways. As a result of their higher level of development in the tourism industry Costa Rica is much more expensive (luckily we’re here in the low season and are able to negotiate for lower prices on accommodations) and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an ex-pat. Especially here in Dominical I’d say there are more gringos than locals, and the tiny village that really only has two roads has two or three real estate offices catering to the English-speaking customer.

Because of the higher prices we’ll most likely keep our time in Costa Rica to a minimum and just hit a few spots we really want to see. For me that includes checking out the surf at a few well-known spots along the Pacific, with a jaunt into the mountains to do the equally well-known zip-line tours through the rainforest canopy around Monteverde. Andrew also recommended a trip to Volcan Arenal to see an active volcano and we may hike up Cerro Chirripo, the highest peak in Costa Rica.

I had a few more photos I wanted to upload, but Blogger isn't cooperating right now. I'll try some other time, but at $4 an hour for Internet it isn't worth it right now.

A Few Photos to Catch Up With

I realize that first post was from over a month ago, so here are some photos to catch you up to where we are now.

The best part of the trip so far has been hanging out with my old friend Andrew (below, opening a coconut for us).


He took us to lots of great spots in and around his home base in northern Panama. And he also turned us on to great spots like the San Blas Islands (below).

These hundreds of small islands that make up the autonomous territory of the Kuna Indians were beautiful and remote. We were there for about two days and never tired of swinging in the hammocks as Mary Beth demonstrates below.

Another great spot was Bocas del Toro, another group of islands on Panama's Carribean coast, though these islands were a little more developed and touristy. Below Mary Beth, myself and Craig are on a boat tour that included dolphin watching, snorkelling, and getting a sunburn on Red Frog Beach.

Bocas del Toro had lots of great places to eat on decks that extended out over the water between the islands.

Between trips to Bocas del Toro, San Blas and other spots we would hook up with Andrew again and do smaller trips when he had time. Most recently we drove to Punta Burica to visit a resort called Mono Feliz (Happy Monkey). To get there we had to wait for the tide to go out and drive along the beach.

It wasn't called happy monkey for nothing since there are a number of species of monkeys that live around the 7 hectare resort. Below Mary Beth cuddles with an orphaned baby howler monkey that had been rescued by the resort's gringo owner.

And that brings us up to today pretty much. We are back in David (the major city closest to Andrew's hostel) and will most likely be heading to Costa Rica soon.

The First Step

Everything started with a trip on the Clipper to downtown Seattle, my first time even though I grew up in Victoria and took every other ferry off Vancouver Island at least once. Now that I've done it I wouldn't do it again if I could avoid it. The trip was doubled in time by waiting at the harbour in Victoria before setting off and then waiting again at the wharf in Seattle to clear US customs. After that it was an easy walk to the Green Tortoise hostel that Craig had recommended.

We walked around Seattle for a bit the next day before our flight to LA in the evening and our next flight to San Jose, Costa Rice via a stopover in El Salvador where we ate Subway in the airport. I was so tired after the overnight flight from LA that I hadn't realized it was my first meal outside of North America and I spent the rest of the wait feeling sick to my stomach because I was convinced that the chopped lettuce and tomatoes had been washed in Hepatitis-ridden water.

We landed in San Jose in the late morning and wasted a bunch of time at the airport trying to find the office of a small airline that supposedly had flights to David, Panama. The airline didn't really have an office and we ended up asking all the small airlines, couriers and other companies with offices there until one said that they coordinated flights for the airline, but the flight for today had already left and there wasn't another for two days. That was Plan A out the window since we had hoped to get to David and meet up with Andrew as quickly as possible to arrive at the same time as Craig, who was coming from Columbia.

Plan B was to find a bus from San Jose to David or Paso de Canoas - the Panamanian bordertown -from downtown San Jose. A taxi driver pointed us to the airport bus stop and we got on the first bus that was heading for downtown. Once on the bus we realized we had no idea where the bus was going or where we wanted to go. An Aussie girl on the bus that was in San Jose to take Spanish lessons sort of knew where she was going and helped us figure out the fare. We jumped out at a central square in town and using a map from the Aussie girl we headed on foot for the bus terminal. No street signs meant we were soon unsure of where we were. First we flagged down a passing gringo but he wasn't sure where to go. He also offered us a map of the city from his pocket.

We tried to ask a old woman shopkeeper for help when we were buying a water, but she didn't speak English and we didn't speak any Spanish, and it was a chore just to pay the right amount for the water so we headed out randomly again. I eventually asked a guy just hanging out on the sidewalk in what seemed to be a market area. He was eager to help but also spoke no English but with the map from the Aussie girl and a lot of body language we got going on the right direction.

We got to the bus stop and spotted a hostel on our way. But once at the terminal a taxi driver told us that the bus to Panama doesn't leave from that station anymore and the hostel we spotted was dangerous and we would probably get robbed. I talked back and forth with him for a bit cause I didn't believe anything he said. He wanted to take us for a wild ride to catch a bus that had left already, claiming that he knew the driver and could stop it for us.

The prospect of getting on a bus for Panama as quickly as possible won out and we ended up jumping into the cab and took off for a 20 km ride to a smaller town on the outskirts of San Jose where we could intersect the bus. After sitting at the side of the road in a sweltering cab and a greedy cab driver the bus showed up, but after paying an outrageous price for the cab ride we didn't have enough cash for the bus ride. After hearing this the bus driver and his assistant immediately went to take our bags out of the luggage compartment. I stalled them with questions about credit cards and traveler's cheques until a local passenger piped up and offered the idea that we could pay the fare after getting money out of an ATM at a restaurant that we would stop at along the way to Panama. With that settled we jumped on the bus and slouched in to our seats under what seemed like the hateful gaze of the other passengers that just wanted to get the 8-hour bus ride on its way.

The movie showing on the bus was The Pursuit of Happyness, and it seemed oddly prophetic to me as Will Smith ran around with no money just as I was running around Central America with no money and no clear idea about where any future funds could be coming from. I was obviously overreacting to the strong portrayal of despair put forth by the Fresh Prince because when we got to the restaurant stop I got out a bunch of cash, paid the bus driver, and had a big feast of chicken and rice with a couple of sodas with Mary Beth.

The border crossing was a big nuisance. We got off the bus in Costa Rica to get an exit visa, walked a couple hundred yards to go through a lengthy entrance process for Panama. A young guy that attached himself to us to aid in the process kept saying that not having proof of onward travel from Panama would be a problem. I knew that we could just flash a decent amount of traveler's cheques to show proof of adequate funds, so I ignored him and only gave the small change out of my pocket when he asked for a tip before we got back on the bus.

The whole Panama border are seemed like a make-work project to me. We had to go to a different representative at a different window for each step. One for passport inspection, then on to the visitor visa window for the $5 visa, then a $1 stamp from the municipality, back to the passport verification window to see if we got all our stamps and proof of onward travel (or adequate funds as we showed), then finally to get our bags inspected. After all the tedious steps of the process I thought the search would be just as long when the agent asked to open my bag. But then he just sort of looked at it patted it down and let us go. Back on the bus and on our way to David.

We got to David much faster than I thought it would take. A quick 45-minutes later we found ourselves across the street from a T.G.I. Fridays and a shopping mall. It took me a few tries on the payphone to figure out how to properly dial Andrew's cellphone number, and when it finally worked I got his voicemail. After twenty minutes of waiting to see if Andrew would check his messages we called a hotel and found out how to get a taxi there. During the taxi ride we received a mango from the guy riding shotgun, who I assumed was just another passenger that ended up sharing the cab with us.

We booked a room with a fan and a hot shower and crashed out for the night, after I left Andrew another message telling him where we were. I also apologized for calling him in the middle of the night since my watch had stopped during the bus ride (and we had entered a new time zone) and I had no idea what time it was. The next morning I was awoken by a phone call from Andrew, he was in the lobby waiting to pick us up.