Central America Rewind

It’s hard to believe, but our time in Central America has come to a close. We spent three months traveling over land and sea from Cancun, Mexico to Cartagena, Colombia. This is the longest either of us has gone without a full-time job since graduating college in 2009 and it’s provided us with an amazing opportunity to relax, explore, meet new people, and adventure. We wanted to write a recap blog of our first three months and decided to deviate a bit from our typical process. Normally, Kourtney writes the initial draft and Ben does goes through it and adds funny anecdotes and drops in pictures before the final edit. This time we’re each writing our own responses independently. We added some fun stats at the bottom as well. Hope you enjoy!

Favorite country?

B: Guatemala was my favorite for a variety of reasons. We finally got back into a comfortable climate after a few weeks spent on the Carribean – the highlands of Southern Guatemala offered warm days and crisp nights. We had the opportunity to take a week of Spanish classes, live in a homestay, and spend some time getting to know Quetzaltenango and establish a home-like rythym for a week. We climbed the highest peak in Central America with Tajumulco, saw some of the biggest ruins in the jungle at Tikal, explored caves and swam in natural pools at Semuc Champey, relaxed at Lake Atitlan, and experienced the raw power of Mother Nature with the lava of Volcan Fuego. For me, this encapsulated the best Central America had to offer.

K: Hands down Guatemala! We stayed for one month, and I think that allowed us to really relax the most. We saw a lot and moved quickly, but we also realized that we didn’t need to stick to the “2-3 weeks per country” rule, and we could stay if we were really enjoying some place. Here we stayed at some of my favorite hostels– Vista Verde, Casa Siebel, and Free Cerveza– that infinity pool overlooking the mountains, making “home-cooked” meals and watching sports in the common area, and those three course meals with two hour happy hour. So pretty, so fun, and so, so cheap. In Flores, we visited the Tikal ruins and walked through the jungle looking at monkeys and toucans. We enjoyed the sunshine and cooled off in tropical pools in Semuc Champey. Some of my favorite hikes were in Guatemala: Talhumulco, the highest peak in Central America, and Acatenango with Volcan Fuego erupting spouts of red lava all night! We took a cooking class in Antigua and walked around looking at all of the old churches. Here we also took one week of Spanish classes complete with a home-stay. Immersion language learning is difficult but so fun, and I love to learn so this was particularly exciting for me because I learned something new every single day!

Favorite hike?

B: This was a tough one for me. These hikes were so unique and each offered a new experience, but the most uniquest, and most new, was Volcán Acatenango. And honestly, it wasn’t even about that volcano. The hike up was nice enough, we got a nice sunset, but had a miserable hike to the summit at 4am in the wind and rain, saw no sunrise, and had to pack up and hike down in the wind and fog. But! Our campsite had a direct view of Volcán Fuego, just a few miles away. From the time we got up there around 4pm till our hands were too numb to be outside any longer, we had front row seats to the raw power of Mother Nature. We got to witness 3-5 eruptions every hour and once the sun went down, we could see the molten lava explode and flow down the mountain. It was mesmerizing. There’s a reason this was one of Guatemala’s most popular tourist desitantions and something undertaken by a lot of non-hikers. We’ll see a lot of amazing things in nature on this journey, but I have no doubts this will remain one of my top highlights.

K: I guess I’d have to say Cerro Chirripo. At this point, we were in great shape, but the three day trek was still challenging in a way that was exciting. I really appreciate a well-marked trail and water refilling stations, not carrying all of the water I think I’ll need for our entire excursion. I loved stopping for coffee. We met some really cool people at the base camp lodge with no heat and electricity for two hours a day. We got up at 2:30 in the morning and hiked under the stars in order to watch the most epic sunrise I think I’ve ever seen. We got to enjoy the view at Lake Ditkevi all to ourselves. I made a plan to hike those Crestones we saw at the lodge and I did! We played cards at the lodge, and I won TWO games! I was in such good spirits too because it was my birthday, and your mental state really does make a difference. Nothing cooler than going to bed at 7:45pm (sober) on your 32nd birthday!

Favorite activity?

B: Hiking the tallest peaks of the Central American countries. We didn’t set out to do this. We obviously knew that hiking and camping would play a big part of the trip, but with the hot & humid climate in Mexico and Belize, hiking was the last thing on our mind. I always knew we would hike Volcan Tajumulco in Guatemala since it was the tallest peak in Central America, but once we were in El Salvador and figuring out the route to Honduras, I realized we would go right by the tallest peaks of both El Salvador & Honduras. Within 5 seconds we decided we would try to hike them all. Of course, in my exictement, I had forgotten that Belize was a country, something Kourtney was quick to realize. Crap! After some research, we discovered that the tallest peak in Belize, Doyle’s Delight, was only 3,688 feet, required ~6 days of trekking through the jungle with armed guards, and cost $1,900 per person. Hard pass!

Ok – I think I got sidetracked. Why was hiking the tallest peaks my favorite activity? Besides the fact that I love lists and checking things off, this was my favorite because it got us the furthest off the “gringo trail” of Central America. Of the peaks we hiked, only one was truly on the gringo trail (Barú in Panama), with another one being fairly popular with hiking tourists (Chirripó in Costa Rica). To summit these, we had to take some very long, very full chicken busses and mini vans, find a spanish-speaking guide to safely guide us up a landmine infested mountain in Nicaragua, spend nights in the wilderness, and hitchhike for miles in El Salvador when we ran out of cash. These peaks aren’t on the “Top 10 Things to do in Country X” list and aren’t easily arranged through hostels. For the most part, we arranged our own transportation, food, and self-guided and camped our way to the summits. We had a blast along the way, saw some amazing sunrises, and is something I’ll always remember.

K: Learning to scuba dive has been incredible! I loved that my instructor gave me a briefing of skills we would practice in the water and then we just JUMPED right in! He made me feel comfortable and confident the whole time. And it turns out that I am really good at it! Aris complimented us on our air consumption and our bottom time. The second day he took us to 90 feet even though we were definitely not certified for that depth! We swam through these tiny caverns in places I was certain we might not fit. You really feel like a guest underwater; the colors and the marine life–everything is alive! It’s really indescribable and it leaves you speechless. I was crying tears of joy and awe when we finally reached the surface!

Thing we miss the most (excluding the obvious answers of family & friends)?

B: There’s a lot of things that could go here: our bed, bathroom mirrors I can see my face in without my quads burning, nonstick cooking pans, PBR, a meal that lasts less than 45 minutes, first chair on a pow day, legroom, paying with credit cards, etc. You get the idea. But the thing I miss the most? My car. More specifically, the ability to drive. The freedom to decide what time you want to leave and arrive at a destination with a reasonable time frame. The ability to go from point A to point B without 87 stops and three bus transfers. Whenever a person tells us how long a bus trip takes, we usually multiply by two. For a large portion of the population, these buses are their only means of transportation. That means they really act like the school buses they used to be – they stop constantly to pick up and drop off people. They rarely travel direct past the next moderate sized town, and forget about getting a time table. While it is nice to not have to worry about gas, parking, or car security, the freedom a car provides… sweeter than a cold PBR (yeah, those are probably #2 on my list).

While this is something I miss dearly, it has provided me with some first-hand insight into what it’s like to live without a car. To have to rely on public transportation to get to and from work, to grocery shop, to see a friend. Wow. You can lose hours out of your day on these things. Time that could be spent applying to new jobs, leaning a new skill, cooking a healthy meal, or spending time with loved ones. For us, this is an adventure. It may be tiring and uncomfortable at times, but we know the Subaru is waiting in Mom’s driveway and we can pick our life back up when we’re done. While our wallet is certainly glad we haven’t hired direct tourist shuttles everywhere, three months of public transit has certaintly been eye opening.

K: I miss access to sanitary restrooms. Is it too much to ask to sit down and wipe with the amount of TP I deem necessary? Often I have to pay to use facilities with no toilet seat, no toilet paper, and no flush. Seriously, what is my money paying for? If there is a person outside the bathroom, they might hand me a lump of paper with six single-ply pieces; you must never flush the paper as the sewer systems cannot handle anything that is not organic, so I always get a good look at what others before me were up to as I discard my TP in the nearby trash can. If the flusher is missing, then there are large barrels full of rain water and a bucket; you fill the buckets with water and dump them into the toilet until the toilet flushes. There is usually never soap and forget paper towels or those fancy electric hand dryers. I’ve had to learn to bring toilet paper in with me and I always have access to hand sanitizer. When we luck out on a hostel room with an attached restroom, sometimes the bedroom and bathroom are attached and separated by folded pieces of wood. This way Coons and I can still see each other when we’re doing our business—number one only! Honestly, sometimes it makes going in the woods sound more appealing.

Most uncomfortable experience?

B: Riding the local chicken buses, for a couple reasons. While these provided us with an very economical and convienent way to travel the region and gave us the chance to meet and interact with locals, I was never able to be comfortable on these for a few reasons. First and foremost, these ex-school busses were not built for someone of my size. I had a hard enough time fitting into these seats in high school. Compounding this was the fact that we always ended up with the seat with the wheel well and no matter what time we left, the busses were always packed. I’m talking three to a seat, people in the aisles, chickens in the back, luggage on the roof, packed. Speaking of luggage, this was another aspect that was always a bit sketchy. Since we decided to pack roughly 30% of our remaining belongings in our backpacks, they weren’t exactly “carry-on friendly”. For the most part, this meant that the bus driver assistant would haul the bag onto the roof and strap it on while we got inside. This left us praying that our bag would be there safe and sound (and dry!) when we got to our destination. We’ve heard and read plenty of horror stories, but thankfully we managed to always arrive with our bags intact.

The last component of my uncomfortability was the trash. Specifcially what happened to the trash. Anyone who has visited a third-world country is probably familiar with the scenes of trash littering the sides of roads and sidewalks. Due to our massive amounts of time spent on these busses, we got to witness firsthand where a lot of this comes from. Instead of hanging on to an empty soda bottle or chip bag, the locals simply open up the window and out it goes. It’s frustrating to read about the multitude of environmental issues we’re facing and watch countless plastic items end up on the ground of these beautiful countries. I know a lot of these people live below the poverty line and have more pressing items to deal with every day, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch.

K: When you encounter a rotting canine carcass in the road during your bike ride, it is time to TURN AROUND! We were in Tulum, Mexico–first week–and we thought it would be a lovely idea to rent bikes for a day and explore cenotes nearby. We had a blast cruising around and visiting the first cenote complete with rope swings, diaper bobs, and shelter from the sun. We had some delicious nachos and cervezas, and they hit the spot before heading out to the next destination. The next two we wanted to see were a farther bike ride but close together. Coons had Google Maps ready to go and we set out. The road started out smooth and then became unkept and bumpy with large puddles everywhere, but who doesn’t love splashing through puddles? And then we saw it. The skeleton of what once was a cute little perro. As soon as the words, “Wait, was that a dead dog?” came out of my mouth, we rounded the corner to piles, nay MOUNDS, of trash blocking the road. The smell was unbearable. There were rail thin dogs climbing in the filth to find food and vultures squawking and lurking above. A man and his two sons approached us with this sneer and told us that we couldn’t pass because the rest of the road was filled with garbage. Mucho basura. It would take me hours to tell you all the things that ran through my mind, but I have never been so ready to bounce.

Our Central America travels by the numbers: