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.

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.

Missed writing last night because I was so tired. We caught the bus from Guatemala City to Copan, Honduras, at 5 AM from a hotel that was about 6 blocks away from our hotel (Hotel Dai Nonni). The shuttle picked us up at the Westin Camino Real, where we didn´t stay due to cost of the rooms, but it looked nice from the outside. We spent the morning head bobbing in the back of a 15 passenger van , sort of pretending to sleep, because every time the driver went careening around a curve, I nearly fell off of my seat.
We got to Copan about 10:00 AM where we stayed at the Casa de Café, Copan. We got settled in our room (and got some yummy tea from our hosts for the day/evening at the hotel, and then walked about a mile to the Copan Mayan Ruins.

We walked back to the town and stopped at the shotgun-guarded ATM.
People have said how huge the structures are which were built by ancient civilizations. I´ve been to Stonehenge in England. I´ve walked through St. Peter´s in Rome. I´ve been to Mesa Verde in Colorado, USA. But I was not prepared for the massive nature of what exists at Copan. And people say that the society which lived at Copan is small compared to the society which lived at Tikal. So now I´m looking forward even more to seeing Tikal.
At Copan, there is an amazing staircase which upon first look appears to be an amazing set of stairs made from limestone and sandstone.

After looking at them for a minute though, it becomes apparent that each stone was carved into a symbol and the staircase itself can then be read. It´s the long form story of the recorded history of the people who lived at this place from around 100-1100 AD.

Why did they die out? Where did they go? What gave them the idea to carve stones so precisely and build structures like they did at Copan? Why had I never Heard of or seen pictures of this place? Are Mayan ruins really so plentiful?
A thousand other questions eked their way into my mind throughout the four hours we spent wandering through the ruins at Copan.
For foreigners, the ruins cost $15 per person. It seemed expensive at the time of purchase, but was absolutely worth it.
My recommendation – take the tour at Copan Ruins even though it costs more.
We ate pupusas at at a café in Honduras in the afternoon (full lunch cost $4.33 for both of us), and fell asleep at 5:30 at Casa de Café. Woke up at 9:45

Jonathan and I really needed a nap yesterday.

We got back to Casa de la Cafe after the ruins closed, at about 5:30 last night. We decided to just lie down for awhile.

4 hours later, we woke up. By that time, almost everything in town had closed (the internet cafe, and most restaurants).

We had a good talk with Cid about the current state of affairs in Honduras. We also got to hear his perspective on the situation.

It’s always interesting to talk politics. So, here is the run down from a native Honduran:

The President who was kicked out of the country (wearing nothing but his jammies) was becoming good friends with Caesar Chavez over in Venezuela.

He was also trying to institute some very socialistic policies into the government of Honduras (think WWII). He also tried to illegally extend his election term.

The people didn’t like that. So, they kicked him out.

Now there is an interm president who is “watching over the country” until the newly elected President can take over. (Honduras holds elections on November 29th, so they just elected someone new.)

Of course there are people from both “sides” of the issue who are upset, but Cid says that CNN in particular, and the US, are really blowing things out of proportion.

Interesting to hear someone’s perspective who is actually in the country.

From there Jonathan and I went to ViaVia (a restaurant, which Cid suggested might still have their kitchen open for dinner). The kitchen wasn’t open, but we did get to have a few Honduran beers.

We can´t say we visited a country without trying the local beers, can we?

We closed the place down (after less than 1 beer each) at 11:00pm.

Then it was off for a good night´s sleep.

With all we have heard about political unrest and the lack of safety in Honduras, we were not sure if it was a country we were going to visit on this trip.

After lots of research, Jonathan and I decided that it would be very safe for us to travel to Copan.

Copan is one of the safest places in Honduras, and it is really easy to get to without passing through any of the “bad” areas.

We had also heard that it is best to visit the ruins at Copan before visiting Tikal, Guatemala. (Something about visiting Copan being anti-climactic after seeing Tikal.) So, we found a shuttle between Guatemala City and Copan.

We left our hotel at 4:30am (yep, AM) to walk (yes…we walked through Guatemala City) the 6 blocks (see – not far) to where the shuttle would pick us up.

After about 5 hours in the shuttle (more on shuttles later), and a very easy border crossing (where, sadly, we received no stamps, just a little slip of paper) we were in Honduras.

We checked into our hotel (Casa de la Cafe) which was recommended to us by the owners of Hotel Terrasol in Granada, Nicaragua. Cid brought us iced tea (which normally I don´t like very much, but tasted very good on a hot morning in Honduras).

From there it was only a short walk to the ruins. Cid, from Hotel Casa de Cafe, gave us a map and really good directions for the walk, and some suggestions for great local eateries for lunch.

For some reason, Jonathan and I didn´t think about bringing enough cash to pay the entrance fee (US$ 15 per person). Luckily, they accept cards at the visitor´s center.

The ruins at Copan were our first experience with Mayan Ruins. They were amazing! We took a short trail, and came out with a view of a temple.

It was really tall, and there were people on the top. You can climb the ruins? That´s crazy. We had to do that.

I asked Els, whom we had met while crossing the border into Honduras, to take a picture of Jonathan and I. When I asked if she would like one, she said “Of this one? No.”

Hmmmm…

(Els said earlier she had recently been to Tikal).

It must be a good thing that we visited Copan’s ruins first, rather than Tikal.

It´s very difficult to convey the magnitude of this place. We tried to take pictures to show how big everything is, but it doesn’t really show it.

Copan ruins is one of those places where you walk and walk and think that you are at the end, but then you turn a corner, and there´s a whole lot more.

Yeah, Copan is kinda’ like the energizer bunny.

I loved the way that the fields were cleared and open (which I realized while at Tikal later). It was easier to see and appreciate the whole area, and how it might have looked in the height of its civilization.

Jonathan and I really took our time. Our museum mode kicked in. If you don´t know this about Jonathan and I yet, we´re the people who take F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to go through museums, because we like to see everything.

At one point we had to just sit down. No, not from all the walking. We just wanted to sit and appreciate what we were seeing.

It´s difficult as well to convey the feelings that come with seeing something like the Mayan ruins.

It goes something like this:
How did they do that?
Why?
Where did they get all those rocks?
How did people who were only 4´ – 4´6″ tall, climb stairs that are not easy for me to climb when I have at least 18 inches on them?
What was it like to live here?

Well, we didn’t get a guided tour, and we wish we would have.

I don’t really feel like I know a lot about the place.

On the other hand, is it really possible to understand what went on 1300 years ago?