Central America

Foodie Friday- You Thought Airline Food Was Bad

November 13, 2009 By Danny

After spending so many hours this week on a bus we figured it was time to pay a tribute to some of the most…adventurous food we eat on a regular basis. Half of me wants to just put some pictures up and let them speak for themselves but first a little background.

When we started our trip, there was no such thing as bus food. Twice in Mexico we were given a can of soda and a small ham sandwich and were quite beside ourselves with excitement…until we bit into the sandwich…and then were thankful for the soda. Generally the food on the buses in Mexico and especially in Central America (Mexico is in North America…never EVER confuse that) is provided by locals who jump on the bus at every opportunity to sell you whatever it is they might have. If this is fried chicken, it might have been cooked last night. If this is fruit, it might have been cut last week. If this is a soda and a bag of chips you are safe but you can only make so many meals out of soda and a bag of chips. They were either indigenous with a giant food basket or a bit more modern with a special vest that a Delta Force commando might wear to hold all their guns and ammunition…only these people are loaded with sodas and frito-lay products.

We’ve come a long way from this down here in South America. Our last bus was a cama bus, only $3 more than the semi-cama and the hours were a bit better, and this meant that wine (much better for sleeping than a cup of coffee loaded with sugar) was included with dinner. Some of these buses like to play “dinner music” as the meal is served which is generally a mix of bad 80’s music videos. The most recent had Jill offer me (a child of the 80’s) an 80’s themed 30th birthday party if in exchange I would agree to provide the entertainment (with some friends, any volunteers?) for a NKOTB (That’s ‘New Kids on the Block’ for those of you who aren’t in the know) party for her 30th birthday. Assuming I can find 4 other able bodied gentlemen to assist me, each of our 30th birthday’s has been planned.

But really, this is about the food. When we do receive it there is often a “prepackaged” portion which we usually save to eat as breakfast, as well as a “fresh” portion; sometimes cold sometime hot, usually some sort of strange ham/cheese combination, or weird congealed pasta. Sometimes the meal is never identified.

Report Card #1

July 8, 2009 By Danny

So now we’re home in the states for a week so we’ll take this opportunity to take stock of how we’ve done so far and what it is we need to change. Overall, it looks like our preparation has paid off. We’ve rarely been without something we’ve needed and have never been completely unprepared. Since leaving the US we have not met another backpacker with smaller packs than we have (we do have the added benefit of being able to share a few things) but we have met many with things we wish we did have.

Our supplies have treated us well but we are swapping a few things out that don’t seem to be standing up to the wear and tear we put them through or just aren’t quite perfect enough for our uses. Mostly this has to do with our wardrobe…we’ve put several reviews up this week and several more are coming. Once we’re done with all our trips to REI and repacking our bags we’ll update our gear page and link to the reviews we’ve written.

As for budget, which is what we are most concerned with on a daily basis, we’re spending less than we budgeted but a bit more than we had hoped to spend. All in all though we’re not in such a bad position. Reminder, these numbers are updated each time we finish a country on the $$$ tab.

Country	Days	Food	Lodging	Activity	Trans	Misc*	Daily Avg
Mex & C. Amr.	111	$17.76	$10.33	$23.31	$20.50	$7.35	$79.25
Mexico	29	$13.71	$9.57	$21.64	$31.80	$6.50	$83.22
Guatemala	36	$19.37	$10.17	$28.18	$7.69	$6.79	$72.20
Belize	4	$22.17	$0.00	$7.75	$51.35	$14.42	$95.69
Honduras	20	$18.44	$11.23	$27.47	$22.96	$4.12	$84.22
Nicaragua	7	$19.21	$9.31	$13.76	$7.94	$3.03	$53.25
Costa Rica	10	$18.88	$15.28	$12.60	$11.60	$6.25	$64.61
Panama	5	$19.10	$12.00	$28.50	$18.64	$7.00	$85.24

MEXICO: Our first country so we weren’t so savey yet. Having said that, we didn’t so do badly. We did some expensive activities, several of which we would not pay so much for now. Overnight buses and couchsurfing helped to keep lodging low but those same buses made for some high transportation costs.

GUATEMALA: This is a very cheap country. We could have lived there very inexpensively, especially given how long we spent there. Spanish school is the sole reason for this being as expensive as it was. Additionally, living with a host family proved to be far more expensive than had we lived alone.

BELIZE: Only went here to visit some family and had a wonderful time staying at their fancy (free lodging) house. Getting there and back from Honduras, by boat, proved to be a very expensive endeavor.

HONDURAS: Another cheap country, but we spoiled the budget here by getting PADI certified. How dare us! Add to that the expense of transportation to some isolated villages in La Moskitia and the island of Utilia and this country looks more expensive than it really was.

NICARAGUA: Not really any cheaper than Guatemala and Honduras, but as we didn’t have any major adventures here we were more on target with our spending. That being said, this spending still represents a few small splurges.

COSTA RICA: Really proved to be too expensive for us to do many of the things we had hoped to do…so we visited some monkey infested beaches (mostly free) instead and continued onto Panama earlier than we intended.

PANAMA: Home to our most expensive hotel room, two overnight (low lodging costs, high transportation costs) bus rides, and finally some awesome whitewater…oh, and a canal!

Central America Summary

July 6, 2009 By Jillian

Central America has been wonderful, but after almost 4 months (including Mexico) we’re itching to move on. By the time you read this we’ll be in the USA for a mini break. Yay!:) The timing and finances worked out so that we’d be able to take a week or so in the States before heading to South America. Fortunately for us it coincided with the 4th of July (my favorite holiday) and the wedding of our friends Aaron and Alexis. Sometimes the stars just align like that!

Anyway, we’re really looking forward to South America. (Really we just need to verify if the toilets do indeed swirl the other direction!). We’ve met so many incredible people, other travelers, expats and locals each of whom has helped us adapt to life on the road. We’re pro card players at this point and play a mean game of 500. 🙂

We’re definitely looking forward to another continent and exploring new regions, hopefully with some different food (if I eat rice and beans one more time, arg!). Our first stop will be Colombia and we plan to move south and east across the continent. Send us tips if you have them!

So, drum roll please…. here’s our Central America wrap up:

# of chicken bus rides: too many to count

# of times we went through San Pedro Sula, Honduras: 5

# of natural disasters: 1

# of coup d’etats narrowly escaped:1

Most number of bug bites at one time on one appendage,: La Moskitia, Danny’s foot, approximately 50

Nights spent on overnight bus: 2

Most expensive hotel room: $30 Panama City, Panama

Least expensive hotel room: $7 San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Biggest surprise: The size and scope of Panama City

Favorite Country: Honduras

Volcanoes Hiked: 5

Monkeys encountered: tons! yay! 🙂

Hot springs enjoyed: 3

Items Lost: 2 more baseball hats, Jillian’s bathing suit (in Honduras), one yellow spork

Best Meal: Chicken, Rice and Beans on Ometepe, Nicaragua

Favorite Snack: Chicky’s!!!!

Tica Bus- Central America

July 4, 2009 By Jillian

We have taken two trips with Ticabus, we will not be taking anymore.

On the first trip, from Honduras to Nicaragua, the ayudante (helper) collected $11 from each passenger for border fees. We were told the fees were $8 to Nicaragua and an additional $3 to exit Honduras. We had already exited Honduras on our own and had never paid to exit so we decided to handle the border ourselves; we paid $7 to Nicaragua and nothing to Honduras. The ayudante pocketed $4 from each passenger and then had the nerve to yell at us for taking too long…we took only two minutes but needed to wait until the officials finished processing all of the bus’s passports.

On the second trip, from Panama to Costa Rica, we left the terminal at 11pm expecting to wake up at the border when it opened. We arrived there two hours early. Why leave at 11pm only to wake everyone up at 5am to wait for two hours? Additionally, as this was an overnight bus we were shocked to find no toilet paper or water in the bathroom. The water problem was particularly surprising as when we woke up at the border we found that all our things (on the overhead shelf and by our feet) had been soaked by water from the A/C. We have taken many overnight buses and all have had a fully functioning bathroom with no flooding inside the bus.

In Central America, there are often no other direct buses between capital cities. When there is competition however, we strongly recommend using it. Say no to Tica Bus!

Review- Boquete Outdoor Adventures

July 4, 2009 By Jillian

Boquete Outdoor Adventures offers the usual array of adventure activities: whitewater rafting, canopy tours and multi-day trips. Luckily for kayakers they also have whitewater kayaking equipment and tours. We’ve contacted a number of adventure outfitters throughout Central America looking for whitewater kayaking equipment. 90% of them never got back to us and the other 10% tried to sell us on rafting tours. Jim, owner of Boquete Outdoor Adventures (Boquete, Panama) returned our email [ad#reviews] within 24 hours and not only ran down our options but gave us plenty of information on the surrounding area and other activities. We opted to attach ourselves as kayakers to a pre-booked rafting trip, but when we arrived in Boquete we found that the group had canceled. Without a second though Jim told us that the two of us could do the river anyway with just kayak guides so we headed out early the next morning on the Rio Chiriqui. Our guides, Demus and Jose were excellent, really experienced kayakers who knew how to have fun on the river. The guided us down without babying us and despite my hesitations (my previous river run was awful), they made sure we challenged ourselves. Although they were professional and focused on safety, it was more like kayaking with friends who knew the river rather than paid guides, which made the experience even better. The Rio Chiriqui was a pretty straightforward Class III at lower levels, and we were able to read and run most of the sections without a problem.

Although we did not do any other tours with Boquete Outdoor Adventures, our experience kayaking was great. We highly recommend them for adventure activities.

Foodie Friday- You Thought Airline Food Was Bad

Report Card #1

Central America Summary

Tica Bus- Central America

Review- Boquete Outdoor Adventures

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