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Everything you wanted to know about our trip to Central America and much, much more!
We (read, I) tried unsuccessfully to keep a journal during our trip down to Costa Rica. As you may or may not know, I am a chronic procrastinator from way back and Teddy's aversion to writing borders on the pathological. Thus, we decided to start from scratch now that we have arrived in Costa Rica and instead of doing an actual day-by-day, blow-by-blow journal, we opted for the lazy way out and are just posting our photos and some blurbs to go along with them so you know what they are. Consider yourselves lucky, because when I re-read my journal it was brutally boring. It was not only boring, but sort of freakishly enthusiastic and did not sound at all like anything I would say in real life. Anyhoo... I'm including some of the more interesting tidbits alongside the appropriate photos. We had a great adventure driving down. It took us about two months, and we could have easily taken six months just exploring Mexico. We've been in Costa Rica for about a month-and-a-half and right now we're staying with our friends Steve and Jocelyn in Tamarindo. We're having some work done on the van and then we'll head out to explore the country until my parents get here on Feb. 24. We're a little bummed about it being tourist season right now, but it's still pretty much paradise. Every day we wake up to the sound of howler monkeys. In case you're wondering what the hell we are doing and what our plan is, I have three words for you: join the club. We're trying to figure out if living here is really a possibility for us, but in the meantime we're having a great time exploring and *camping on the beach. We'll probably head back to the U.S. in a few months, but we don't have a real schedule yet.
*Yes, for all of you skeptics (and you know who you are), I do camp. So ha.
You'll notice that we did not take many photos between Mexico and Costa Rica (not a single one of Nicaragua, which is a really a travesty). I'm not sure what exactly happened there, because we had many good photo opportunities. Maybe we got lazy, who knows. We had to rush the last bit to meet Teddy's family in Costa Rica, so we only had a few days to spend in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Anyway, we plan to take lots of photos on the way home when we can spend longer in those countries. I'll sum up what you missed from those places here:
Guatemala: Lots of Mayans. What can I say, but, wow. They're really cute and really short and they have style. I was impressed and I'm not a girl who's easily impressed (O.K., so what if I am). The women are shorter than me (about Ellen's height or smaller, if possible) and they wrap themselves all over with brightly patterned pieces of fabric, including their heads. Tres chic. I tried to fashion something out of a tablecloth and a towel, but Teddy said I couldn't pull it off. Didn't look indigenous enough, or something. Whatever that means. They also carry enormous loads of firewood and stuff on their heads, which trick Teddy is very encouraging of me learning how to do. Imagine that. I have to say, though, my favorite outfits were on the men. They wear pink and red patterned cowboy shirts and pants with a black skirt thingy wrapped around their hips. And the whole ensemble is topped off with a cowboy hat. Some might say flamboyant, I say fabulous! Who knew the founding father of Mayan civilization was a flaming queen? A highlight of my trip, no question. I was dying to take pictures, but you're supposed to ask permission and I felt like too much of a jackass. I will overcome it on the way home.
El Salvador: The beaches are really beautiful (there are a few photos of the beach we stayed at near La Libertad in the Central America section). But by far the best part about the country was the people. It took us forever to get across the border and by the time we made it over it was almost 6 p.m. Everyone had warned us not to drive at night there and not to stay at any hotel near the border, so we were kind of freaking out about what to do. Couldn't drive and couldn't stay where we were. The guys that help gringos at the borders (sometimes they help and sometimes they just stick it to you) are called tramitadores. The one we used at the Guatemala-El Salvador border felt sorry for us and invited us to his house to eat dinner with his family and spend the night. We bought dinner for them at a pupuseria, and it cost $4 to feed 7 people. Pupusas are the national food of El Salvador. They're corn tortilla dough stuffed with beans and cheese and sometimes chorizo and then fried on a griddle. They're so cheap they're practically free. Delicious and affordable--we love El Salvador!
Honduras: Didn't see anything worth taking pictures of since we were only there for an hour and a half. We were in a hurry and just decided to blaze through and do two borders in one day. We'll see more on the way back.
Nicaragua: This country had the most gorgeous beaches we've ever seen. I can't believe we didn't take one photo. We reached an all-time low as photojournalists here. We are undeserving of having a camera and we must be punished. We're heading back up there for a camping trip in a week or so, so we have a chance to redeem ourselves before the trip home.
Click on the photos to see more from that part of the trip. The misc. folder has some random stuff that was on our camera from Colorado. You may be in there, so check it out.
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go here to read about our friends Jocelyn & Steve and their little Central American adventure |