Last year at this time, we had just started our world travel.

We were staying at the Hotel Aranjuez.

I encountered my first Costa Rican spider and wrote the following.  Enjoy!

It seems a shame to me that in the last 7 months, we didn’t see more, do more, meet more people.

We had plans to do and accomplish different things, and I kind of feel like we planned to do *more*) during the past 7 months of our lives.

My friend Patrick Shaw says that people greatly overestimate what they can do in a year, but greatly underestimate what they can do in ten years.

So maybe we should talk in ten years.

But thinking about it, I realize that we did do a LOT over the past 7 months in central and south America, and laid a foundation for coming back to this part of the world throughout our lives.

However, we had plans.

This post talks about what we had planned to do versus what we did.

(I have written this post to remember what we planned to do, actually did and didn’t do, and also should help others traveling through Central and South America to discover some great places and things to experience.)

Lakes:
We didn’t see lake Titicaca (Bolivia), or Lake Nicaragua.
But we did get to see the beauty of Lake Atitlan (Guatemala).

Islands:
We didn’t see the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Isla del Omitepe (Nicaragua), or the San Blas Islands (Panama).
But we learned to SCUBA off of Isla Colon (Panama) in a town called Bocas Del Toro.

Animals:
We didn’t get to see whales or dolphins.
But we helped guard baby turtles and were part of their introduction into the world.  We saw monkeys in lots of places throughout central America; saw llamas mating; hummingbirds and butterflies in Mindo, Ecuador; and many other animals and critters.  We loved the variety of animals we saw, even if the insects were sometimes disturbing.

Language and culture:
We didn’t spend time living in an indigenous community, (though we spent lots of time around indigenous people).
But we speak Spanish pretty well now.  (Thanks Maribel!)  We speak well enough to be well understood, to receive compliments on how good our Spanish is, and to understand even difficult topics like politics and religion.

Business:
Because of taking Spanish class every day, and the time involved with both planning and getting from place to place, we didn’t grow our business in the way that we wanted to.
But I know 100% that our videos and written reviews of the places we’ve stayed in Antigua, Guatemala; Boquete, Panama; Quito, Ecuador, and Cuenca, Ecuador; have resulted in more bookings for the owners of those places.  Our knowledge of marketing on the Internet has helped other people to grow their businesses.  That’s exciting to me.

Ancient Cultures and Civilizations:
We didn’t get to San Augustin, Colombia; or in Peru – the Ruins of Kuelap, Macchu Picchu (due to flooding in March), or the tomb of Sipan near Chiclayo. But we saw the remnants of powerful and amazing ancient civilizations at Copan, Honduras; Tikal, Guatemala; Guayabo National Park, Costa Rica; Ingapirca, Ecuador; Cuenca, Ecuador; and Cajamarca, Peru.

Land Travel:
We did not see Belize; visit Santiago, Chile; return to Buenos Aires, Argentina; nor did we get to most of the countries in South America.
But we saw every land country in Central America (except Belize); went to or near the top of five volcanoes in three countries (Irazu and Poas, Costa Rica; Pacaya, Guatemala; Masaya, Nicaragua; and Cotopaxi, Ecuador); we covered thousands of miles by bus, plane, car, in the water, and on foot; saw amazing markets at Saquisili and Otavalo, Ecuador, and at Chichicastenengo, Guatemala; got to the capital cities of Guatemala (Guatemala City), Nicaragua (Managua), El Salvador (San Salvador), Costa Rica (San Jose), Panama (Panama City), Ecuador (Quito), and Peru (Lima); and met many amazing people along the way.

Personal Growth:
I’ve recognized and let go of some of my own ethnocentricity (which I didn’t know I had); become a Spanish speaker; learned that the jungle is a great place for me to visit, but for short-term visits only; and have learned that even though the longest we’ve been apart in the last 7 months is 4 hours, Carrie and I love and appreciate each other as much or more now that we ever have before.

I feel like a year or more could be spent exploring just Ecuador and Peru, with a mention to the lifetime that could be spent exploring Colombia and the other countries in South America.

I do think that these are areas which we will return to at some (as yet undetermined) future point in our lives.

At the same time, 7 months in central and South America has given me an even greater appreciation for the country I call home, the place where I grew up.

The United States of America is a place where stores almost always have change for a $20 bill, many stores are open 24-7, the bathrooms nearly always have tissue paper and toilet seats, and the spirit of the people, more than anywhere else I’ve ever been, says both in word and in action, “we can do it if we’ll just work hard at it.”

I am so grateful for the opportunities provided by our travels of the last seven months, and I’m very grateful as well for the opportunities and life I’ve been able to have growing up and living in the United States.

Carrie &Jonathon,

I’m confused looking at your site… you guys have traveld a lot looks like… where all have u been?

james

Hey James!

Well, we have done a lot of travel in the past, but since October, we’ve been permanently on the road, living wherever we are…

Here are a couple of maps to show where we were in October-December.

After that we were in Colorado briefly.

In January, we flew back to Costa Rica and took the bus to David, Panama.

What we have been up to since January is on the map below.

Now we’re in Quito, Ecuador, taking Spanish classes.

Thanks for asking and for visiting our website!

In this podcast, we cover about 7 weeks of travel, from the time we left Granada, Nicaragua, early in December, through today, January 18.

Download the travel podcast MP3 here
We cover our travels through places and experiences like:

Parading Mary through the streets of Granada, and fireworks
Nicaragua to El Salvador through Honduras – didn’t get off the bus at all, no stamps in our passports
Staying at Hotel Novo Apart
Climbing Puerto del Diablo
Pupusas
Walking through the Calle Ruben Diario Market in San Salvador
Ticabus to Guatemala at 5:00 AM
Jerk taxi driver in Guatemala City
Dai Nonni hotel (great shower and packed us lunch)
Eating at Friends (oh joy) where we had a salad w/hearts of palm, avocado, pesto (tomato and red onion)
National monument of Guatemala
Walking through Guatemala City at 4AM to be picked up to go to Copan, Honduras
Arriving in Copan at 10:30 AM felt like 3 PM
Seeing Copan ruins (and meeting the Dutch people)
Napping in Copan
Beers in Honduras (not so good)
Breakfast with no power and artisan market
Shuttle to Antigua
Hotel in Antigua didn’t have our reservation – stayed at Casa Luna (kind of like a hostel, but only $17) instead
Booked Pacaya – went to Pacaya Volcano (lava roasted marshmallows -riding horses – Getting separated from Carrie taking other trail)
Pizza w/Robin from Belgium
Macadamia tour near Antigua
Mexican food at Fridas, and eating street food in Antigua (yummy!)
Left for Panajachel/Atitlan (tubas early in morning) crazy driver – suicidal driving + crazy loud music
Atitlan boat tour (3 cities)
Hotel Utz Jay (finally got some sleep on uncomfortable beds, but hot showers)
Chichicastenango (colorful city for sure – lady+daughter with sour Atol who asked us to take her daughter with us)
All day at chichi (trip back to Antigua took 45 minutes longer than trip there)
3 hours in Antigua
Antigua to Guatemala City
FDN Bus company in Guatemala City to Flores bus station – waiting 1 hour 15 minutes in Flores
Jorge showed up.
Waiting 2 hours at airport
Pick up Nixon (Tikal tour guide) and head to Tikal
No park entry paid for (even though we paid for it)
Touring Tikal
Dinner and staying overnight at Hotel Jungle Lodge (good sleep)
Trying to figure out how to get tickets for next day with no cash… asked 7 people
Touring Tikal day 2
Going back to Santa Elena – spent the afternoon on the Internet from a backpacker’s hotel in Santa Elena
Arriving in Guatemala City at 5:30 am
Asking to be taken to Westin Camino Real because it’s all we knew
Trying to “hide” from WCR people so we could stay there until something opened.
And Cafe
Breakfast
Taxi back to Tica Bus
TB is 2.5 hours late
Arrival in El Salvador, stay at TicaBus hotel
Leave early in the morning (TB is 30 min late)
Arrival in Managua, getting back to Granada
Dinner at Mexican restaurant, meet Tom (from the states, who bought a house in Granada)
Day at Hotel Terrasol
Dinner at hotel Terrasol
Massages
Market
Dinner w/ martin and Tom (Don Luca Pizza)
Seeing Tom’s house
Breakfast at hotel
Tica bus station in Granada
Bus is 1 hour late
Crazy traffic, and long time at border
Arrive at San Jose, Costa Rica
Hotel Adventure Inn in San Jose
The great breakfast at the Hotel Adventure Inn
Returning to Colorado for Christmas
Returning to San Jose, Costa Rica
Heading to and touring David, Panama
Arriving and house-sitting for a couple of weeks in Boquete, Panama
Things we forgot to talk about were in Nicaragua.
These included:
Street food in Granada (Yummy)
Mombacho cigars (fun tour)
Cemetery (Huge monuments like those in Buenos Aires’ Recoletta Cemetery)
Scheduling TicaBus (Where to find TicaBus in Granada)
Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed talking about our travels!
Listen to the podcast or download it below.
(If you use the player, after you click the play button, it may take a moment, so please be patient or click the download link.)

Download the travel podcast MP3 here
The call was produced using Skype. it was edited using Sony Vegas.

There’s not much newsworthy to report when you spend a few days in a hotel in Costa Rica, working on a computer and talking on the phone

(We use Skype for most of our calling – Carrie’s actually on the phone with the hotel lobby in this photo).

But I think it’s important to post here too about the work we do.

Alongside all of the cool things we get to do, and places we get to go, we also do spend a fair amount of time working.

So, we’ve spent a few days at the Adventure Inn hotel, not really going on any adventures in Costa Rica.

But the hotel is nice, relatively quiet, and the Internet is good speed (especially compared to the speeds we’ve experienced in many parts of Central America).

That means that this is a good time and place for us to be working.

Instead of having adventures, we’ve been reviewing our adventures from 2009, working on posting content and communicating with the people we work with, and also generally getting prepared for an awesome 2010.

I post this picture and post here just to show that we do work while we are living in different countries around the world – it’s just that our work, and the way we’ve set up our lives (and have worked to set up our lives since 2004), allows us to travel while working.

And in case you’re wondering (people have been asking recently), here are some of the sites we’ve been working on:

• http://www.ThreeMoneyMethods.com (make money online)
• http://www.CarrieAndJonathan.com (this one)
• http://www.CarriesClassics.com (Carrie’s book, movie, and restaurant reviews)
• http://www.strive4impact.com (Jonathan’s site about… well, everything)
• http://www.GreenJoyment.com (Simple Ways to go green)
• And others…

In three months, we visited 6 countries, covered over 2,500 land miles (mostly by bus) and saw some really amazing places.
We also met some truly fantastic people – both people who are involved in tourism as tourists and tourist guides, and people who are living their lives in the countries we visited.
This map is not yet 100% complete, but gives you an idea of the places we’ve been and what we’ve been up to.
If you’re looking to ride Ticabus or Tracopa and want to know exact locations, this map should be rather helpful for you.
Also, we’ve tried to put in all our hotel stays (Think we got them all on here) and will be linking from this map to the reviews on our site so that you can easily get to everything in one place.
This should help you know where to stay if you visit these countries.
If you’re going to Central America, we hope that this helps you to both find things you’d like to see and do, as well as to know where exactly those things to see and do are located.
If this map does prove helpful for you, please comment below and let us know!

visited 15 states (6.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World
On our trip through Central America, I got to add 6 countries to my map of visited countries. It’s too bad not all of them have a stamp representation in my passport.
I’ve actually been to more countries that this, but I didn’t spend the night, so they don’t count. I’ve been to France numerous times when I lived in Germany, and I also drove through Austria. They’ll be added to the list sometime soon through.

What can you really do about so much noise but laugh?
I’m a relatively light sleeper, and have learned to travel with earplugs. In fact, before departing on this part of our travel/working experience, Carrie and I bought a box of 500+ earplugs on Amazon.
We used some of these at La Tortuga Feliz and haven’t used them too much since. Not that we haven’t had occasion to. With the exception of Hotel Angela (where we had an interior room) and our time in Boquete, Panama, every morning and often in the middle of the night, I’ve been awoken by the sounds of roosters, children, fireworks, children, dogs, parades, or bells. In general, I find North Americans and American culture to be pretty noisy, but I’m finding Central Americans and Central America to be even noisier.
As I’m writing this, Carrie just woke up and asked me (first thing – not “good morning” or anything like that, but) “Is that a dog or a sick frog?”
In general, every city in Central America (and in Argentina) has some stray dogs which seem to do the majority of their barking between 9PM and 3AM. About 2:30 AM and continuing through to about 5:30 or 6:00 AM come the roosters. They continue throughout the day, but this is when the majority of their sounds occur. Roosters are PLENTIFUL in almost every place we’ve been in Central America, most of them sharing their calls LONG before I can see any sign of sunlight.
Then come the fireworks. I like fireworks as much as anyone, but regardless of where we have been (again excepting Boquete), there have been fireworks every day just before 6AM, just before 6PM, and frequently around noon. Sometimes they also get shot off for a few minutes at midnight.
Why so many fireworks? Well, apparently that’s what they do in Central America in December and January to celebrate Christmas. There’s even a saying in nicaragua which goes something along the lines of “a man always has money for beer and fireworks, even if he can’t afford to feed his own family.”
In Granada, Nicaragua, they have 9 days of celebrations for the Immaculate Conception of Jesus in which they revere statues of Mary and parade them through the town to the church. These are fun festivals which include candied apples, trinkets, and of course, fireworks.

I’ve tried to get more in-depth explanations in the other cities where we’ve been of why people light off so many fireworks, and the response has been that it’s part of Christmas tradition.
We’ve come to love geckos and the sound they make because it means there’s something around us eating bugs and flying insects. But geckos as well are quite loud.
There are church bells which go off at 6AM, and in some places, every hour as well.
In David, Panama, where there used to be several banana plantations for Chiquita, there’s a siren sound that goes off three times/day, something like 7AM, 12PM and 7PM, marking the beginning and end of the work day, and lunch/siesta time. It’s not really necessary since the advent of the alarm clock, but they continue to do it (as we understand it) out of tradition. Also in David, we happened to be there for the Panamanian Independence Days celebrations, which meant being awoken both days by parades. I thoroughly enjoyed these parades – just giving a sense of all the noises around.
Construction, in hot places like Granada, begins at 7AM (or earlier). I’m assuming they do this so that there’s time for the afternoon siesta, because it really is too darn hot to work in the middle of the day.
Usually, by this time of day (7:30 AM), there is someone up and around in the hotels and apartments we’re in (as there is right now), making usual morning noises like opening doors, scooting chairs, taking showers, making coffee, sneezing, whistling, or attempting to talk quietly. And if you have managed to sleep through all of that, there are always children playing somewhere by (at the latest) 8:30 AM.
Maybe it’s just the places we have been, or the speed at which we’ve been traveling the past couple of weeks. When we slowed down in Boquete, Panama, it was quiet there. When we slowed down in Bocas Del Toro, it was quiet there. But part of the reason we slowed down our travel in those places is because it was quiet there. So, I’m not really sure which came first.
In any case, it seems that life in Central America is (in general) loud. It’s not so much a complaint as a statement of fact and a realization (on my part) of this fact.
One thing I’m really liking this morning in Antigua is the cool, crisp air. It’s really nice to be able to huddle down under a couple layers of blankets in the 60degree (Fahrenheit) temperature.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens (includes waterfalls – $35/each for non-nationals – $70 total.).
La Paz Waterfall Gardens is not only a set of gardens and waterfalls, it’s also a small zoo with monkeys, birds (including toucans), jungle cats, frogs, and my favorite part of all, a butterfly house.
Carrie and I are not big fans of going to zoos. Though we think in concept they’re a good idea to get people interested in conservation and to make people aware of what exists in the world, for ourselves, we’d just rather find a way to go see the animals in the wild. But not all people are thinking that way, so it’s good that the opportunity exists in many cities around the world in the form of a zoo.
Anyway, because the road was closed due to an earthquake from a year or so ago, the only way to see the waterfalls was to pay to go through the gardens/zoo.

We really enjoyed the waterfalls and zoo. We also wondered why it was $35 instead of $20 or $25, which seems like it would have been a more appropriate price for the experience.
However, maybe we were still just a bit frustrated about the driving hassles of the days before.
In any case, La Paz Waterfall Gardens comes as a recommended experience.

There are several great waterfalls (two of which you can actually see right now – earthquake damage to trails prevents access to the rest), and the plants and animals there are worth seeing for sure.

Again, I especially loved the butterfly experience, as well as the waterfalls at La Paz Waterfall Gardens.




So far, our favorite two days in Costa Rica have also been the days we’ve become tourists and done touristy things. (Today, and our day visiting the sloths, waterfall, and cacao house close to Puerto Viejo.)
These two days have also been the most expensive days we’ve had in Costa Rica.
We’ve met some really nice Costa Ricans whom we are looking forward to staying in touch with and building better relationships with.
The Ticabus office was closed today , but fortunately we learned here at the Costa Rica backpackers hostel (where we are for one night since our bus leaves at 3AM for Nicaragua) that Ticabus has moved the location where they pick people up.
We’re taking a taxi across town and are headed to Nicaragua in just a few hours.
We will attempt to catch a few ZZZ’s now, and hopefully we’ll get the rest of our sleep on the bus to Nicaragua (a 9 hour trip with what will hopefully be another interesting but ultimately uneventful border crossing).
So I’m going to wrap up my thoughts on Costa Rica for now.
Based on this limited experience of four weeks, my recommendation would be that if you’re coming to Costa Rica, just pay for a tour that’s structured and planned.
You’ll pay for it at the same prices (or higher) you’d pay for somewhat similar experiences in the US.
However, you’ll probably enjoy the experience much more with a local to guide the experience, even if it’s a bit contrived and tailored specifically to offer you an authentically touristy experience.

Today was a great day in Costa Rica.
We spent some money to do it, but we got to the top of Poas Volcano (our second day attempting to see Poas).
On the way up the volcano, we got some very good advice from the driver of a tour minibus who had stopped his bus so tourists could take pictures of a natural sloth he spotted.
We stopped and took pictures of the sloth as well.

This Poas guide’s advice: if it’s rainy in the morning on the top of Volcano Poas (regardless of what the weather is doing elsewhere in the country), go to La Paz waterfall gardens or do zip lines first, and then go to the top of the volcano.
So we took his advice. (More on La Paz Waterfall Gardens in a bit.)
We got to the first crater of Poas at the right time for the sky to be clear and to see the whole crater ($10/person +$2/car for non-nationals).

We learned some interesting factoids about Poas that I would like to share, just in case you want to come to Volcano Poas as well.

The water in the lake of Poas’ lower crater changes colors based on air temperatures, but water temperature stays somewhere around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, the steam coming out of the vents is over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pretty crazy, huh?
And it doesn’t seem like it when you’re on top of the lookout, but the crater of Poas is almost a mile across (not around, but ACROSS).

We also hiked further up Volcan Poas to see the lake at the top (in the second crater). It was beautiful and a really nice hike.
Very near the top, we saw the Poas green squirrel… Apparently the only place in the world that this squirrel exists is on Poas.

He doesn’t look as green in the picture as he did in real-life – part of this could be the camera we used.
We actually arrived at the second crater (at the top of the mountain) when it was foggy, so we were unable to see much at all.

However, about a minute after we got there, Carrie suggested that we wait for a few minutes to see if it would clear.

The fog began to lift, and we got a clear view of the entire lake for about 2 minutes, before the fog came back in and blocked the view.
The experience definitely gave the lagoon at the top of Poas a mystical air… like it heard Carrie’s willingness to wait, and because of this, it was willing to show the secret that it contained.

It was a bit like something out of a fairy tale that beckons you to come closer and explore its secrets (in a Fairy Godmother way, not in an Ursula-the-sea-witch kind of way).
Volcano Poas was actually our second stop of the day… Our first stop (because we were waiting out the morning rain and fog) was La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which is close to Poas.