So as I said the other day, we decided to drive straight (more or less) to Panama and then work our way north for the remainder of the trip. It took us about four days to get from El Salvador to Panama. Let me make it clear that these were four LONG days...don´t forget, we crossed four boarders in three days.
We had been having relatively good luck with boarder crossings throughout the trip so we figured crossing from El Salvador to Honduras would be relatively the same. WRONG...Honduras seems to be the most corrupt country we've been through so far.
Here's a little back story...at most boarders down here there are tons of men and kids who are more than willing to take your money to "escort" you through the boarder. Basically, we need to get a permit to bring the car into every country. These people will take the paperwork and go through the whole process for you. We had been doing just fine by ourselves so we refused any help from the men on the Honduran boarder.
Long story short (and $60 U.S. later) we found out that absolutely EVERYBODY is in on the scam in Honduras. The permit official handed our paperwork to one of the "escorts" and we ended up having to pay and absurd amount of money and waiting two hours to get our car into Honduras.
About 30 minutes into the country we had our first experience with corrupt cops and extortion. We were pulled over at a police check point and the cop said he was going to have to write us a ticket that we would have to pay at the bank back at the El Salvador/Honduras boarder. Keep in mind we were trying to make it to Managua, Nicaragua before the sun went down. We were going to lose too much time if we were to head back. Guess what the ticket was for...Brandon not wearing his seatbelt. Also keep in mind, riding in the back of a truck is a major mode of transportation down here. While this cop was harassing us, trucks full of people packed into the beds were passing by the check point.
Twenty dollars later and feeling quite violated we were on our way without a ticket. Hopefully, karma will meet up with that cop one day. We crossed the boarder into Nicaragua before nightfall and made it to Leon.
We continued south through Costa Rica and into Panama without hitting anymore snags. That was until we were on the peninsula in Panama the last day of Carnival.
We decided to head to a town called Las Tablas after talking to the owner of the hotel we had stayed in the night before. The town was packed with people and no places to stay so we hit the road to another town further southeast called Pedasi. It was just our luck that enroute a transit cop pulled us over from the front...we've come to find that being pulled over from the front is always a bad sign.
He gave us a huge spiel about how we didn't have all the correct permits and he was going to have to tow our car and we wouldn't be able to pick it up until two days later because of the Ash Wednesday holiday. His story quickly changed when we started to consent to towing the car. Forty minutes and seven U.S. dollars later we were back on the road with a "warning" and instructions to get to the transit office Thursday morning for the correct permit.
On Thursday, we weren't surprised to find out this cop was full of crap. Turns out you only need the transit permit if you have your car in the country for more than 90 days...we had only been in for 3. I believe karma has another corrupt cop to take care of...
Oh well, I guess we figured shadey people would be part of our trip down here. Until Honduras and Panama, we had just been lucky. Bottom line, if the cops want money they'll find a way to get it.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
The Past Month...Guatemala, El Salvador, & the Frickin Car!
While we were happy to leave Belize, we had little idea what would be in store for us. Shortly after dropping Jason off at the airport in Belize City, Pepe (the van) started running poorly but I assumed that is was bad gasoline. I have always assumed that third world gasoline is very poor quality, and full of water and dirt. After the worst road on the planet (the sixty mile muddy uneven dirt stretch from Belize to Guatemala) I had pretty much decided that this problem wasn´t going to be fuel related. So we pulled into a town called Flores to find a mechanic that could fix the problem. Well, Latin America is very different in it´s automotive services...all you have to do is show up, and nine times out of ten, they just tear into the problem with highly evolved testing equipment. These tests consist of tasting the gas, testing the spark with bare skin, and countless adjusting and listening. After several hours of looking, the mechanics said that we would have to go to Guatemala City for real testing equipment. We got a hotel for the night and in the morning we started the seven hour journey into the city.
So now that the car has made it to Guatemala City we find a mechanic and he prods and probes for at least seven hours and says that he's fixed it and that the problem was dirt. Now I'm not a mechanic, but dirt being the sole reason a car running poorly sounds fishy to me. Nonetheless, the car was running fine so we were happy.
The car is happy, we are happy, and two full days of mechanic service has set us back $70 USD. Finally, we are on the road to El Salvador, where we will spend a couple weeks due to the fact that we won´t be going back through El Salvador on the way up north. On the road we discover that after about five hours of driving that the car isn´t really fixed, and that we are going to need to try again in El Salvador. The search for a mechanic that knows a thing or two about Vanagons in El Salvador is kinda tricky, and after about one week, four shops, and three trips to San Salvador (The Capital of El Salvador) we got the car fixed.
So we had been staying in this little village on the beach called Sunzal, and we were very to just chill for a couple days without having to go and sit at a mechanic shop for eight hours a day. We surfed, read, took a week long Spanish course, and enjoyed ourselves. Also while we were in Sunzal, we celebrated my birthday, and after about two weeks of staying in one spot we had made a few friends...one of them had the same birthday as me. Needless to say, my birthday turned out to be a good party. The next night everyone decided to go into the capital to watch a football match(soccer)...Costa Rica Vs. Honduras. I was hoping for some crazy fans, but that didn´t happen. However, we did get to ride home in the back of a pick up truck for one of those real Latin experiences. After a couple more days at the beach we decided it was time to push on and head up to the mountains for a couple days for some culture, and museums.
In the mountains we visited several places with some good art. There was also a lot of history about the civil war...a very heavy experience. The first town we visited is called Suchitoto, it is a small colonial town with beautiful architecture, and a lot of war history. while we were there, we went on a hike into the mountains to see some old FMLN (Gorilla) camps and where quite a lot of the fighting occurred. The next day we went to Perquin were the civil war museum is. The museum did a great job of portraying how many people were actually affected by the war.
So now that the car has made it to Guatemala City we find a mechanic and he prods and probes for at least seven hours and says that he's fixed it and that the problem was dirt. Now I'm not a mechanic, but dirt being the sole reason a car running poorly sounds fishy to me. Nonetheless, the car was running fine so we were happy.
The car is happy, we are happy, and two full days of mechanic service has set us back $70 USD. Finally, we are on the road to El Salvador, where we will spend a couple weeks due to the fact that we won´t be going back through El Salvador on the way up north. On the road we discover that after about five hours of driving that the car isn´t really fixed, and that we are going to need to try again in El Salvador. The search for a mechanic that knows a thing or two about Vanagons in El Salvador is kinda tricky, and after about one week, four shops, and three trips to San Salvador (The Capital of El Salvador) we got the car fixed.
So we had been staying in this little village on the beach called Sunzal, and we were very to just chill for a couple days without having to go and sit at a mechanic shop for eight hours a day. We surfed, read, took a week long Spanish course, and enjoyed ourselves. Also while we were in Sunzal, we celebrated my birthday, and after about two weeks of staying in one spot we had made a few friends...one of them had the same birthday as me. Needless to say, my birthday turned out to be a good party. The next night everyone decided to go into the capital to watch a football match(soccer)...Costa Rica Vs. Honduras. I was hoping for some crazy fans, but that didn´t happen. However, we did get to ride home in the back of a pick up truck for one of those real Latin experiences. After a couple more days at the beach we decided it was time to push on and head up to the mountains for a couple days for some culture, and museums.
In the mountains we visited several places with some good art. There was also a lot of history about the civil war...a very heavy experience. The first town we visited is called Suchitoto, it is a small colonial town with beautiful architecture, and a lot of war history. while we were there, we went on a hike into the mountains to see some old FMLN (Gorilla) camps and where quite a lot of the fighting occurred. The next day we went to Perquin were the civil war museum is. The museum did a great job of portraying how many people were actually affected by the war.
I´m an Aunt!!
Landon Scott Mariano...
was born on January 29, 2007.
My sister, Alicia, gave birth at 6:11PM. Her husband, Charles, was there too :)
Landon was 9.1 Pounds 19.4 inches...whadda big baby!
Can´t wait to get home and meet him!
The Past Month...Belize
So I guess we left you last in Belize...
We picked up Jason after our last post and then proceeded to tour the country for the next couple weeks. Unfortunately, we were welcomed into the country with the same cold front that had been affecting the U.S. with unusually cold weather. It rained for most of our time in Belize, but we still tried to make the most of if.
We started up in Corozal and then headed out to the cayes (islands) for some sun, snorkeling, and diving. Well, two out of three isn´t bad...in our weeks on the islands we caught, maybe, a day worth of good weather. On the bright side, Jason was able to get his basic diving certificate and Brandon and I were able to join him on a couple dives (sidenote: the water outside the reef was insanely choppy...everytime we stopped the boat I had about 3 minutes to get under the water before I´d loose my lunch). Due to the amount of wind and rain, the visibility was absolutely horrible (I´m talkin' should've-gotten-a-refund-horrible) so we decided to scratch the expensive dive trip out to the blue hole...bummer!
Well, we got sick of sitting in Chinese restaurants all day waiting for the rain to let up so we decided to head back to the mainland for something that wasn´t totally weather dependent. We took a boat out to some Mayan ruins called Lamanai. The ruins were nice, but the boat trip was awesome! There were parts where it looked like we were going to hit a dead end going 35 mph and our driver would swerve left and, suddenly, there would be more river ahead of us. We'll try to post a short video clip of the ride.
That night we camped by the river...the crocodile filled river. Our captain, Edgar, and his buddies that work on the river told us tons of stories about close encounters with crocodiles. These guys were nuts! Get this...they go free diving in the river to find Mayan artifacts (mostly arrowheads). Try to imagine, the water in this river is muddy and murky, the bottom is silty, and the chances of running into a 6-15 foot crocodile are high. They don't even sell what they find. They believe what they find is priceless because of the guts it takes to actually find these artifacts...really interesting guys!!
Well, the rain continued so we headed out to a national park called Jaguar Paw to do some cave tubing. It had been raining hard for a week or so before we arrived to ride this river. We showed up in the morning and our guide hurried us up to the top of the trail so that we could get through the cave before the river was too high and we couldn't clear the ceiling of the cave. I´m not gunna lie, I was a bit sketched out (I´m pretty sure our guide was too). When I asked him what the chances were that we would make it through the cave he said, "I think about 50/50." He followed with, "If the water is too high we can get off our tubes and go under water." Brandon and Jason seemed to be fine with this news, but my anxiety level rose a bit...by the way, our guide couldn't swim. To top it all off, the other groups cancelled because of the potential danger of the river.
Belize it or not, we made it out...with about 1 foot above our heads to spare. After the fact, our guide admitted to us that he had never been in the cave when the river was that high...I'm glad he waited 'til after to break this news. The cave was great...besides the rising level of the river, there were underground waterfalls, bats, and good platforms to jump off of. We also have a short video of the river that we'll try to post.
When we came out of the caves, the clouds had parted and the sun sneaked out so we headed for the beaches near Placentia...we couldn't send Jason home without a tan :) We lucked out and found a great place to camp...the place was appropriately named On Da Beach Campin'. A great couple from Oregon, Bill and Lisa, ran the business. The sun managed to stay out for the next five days and we celebrated Jason's 23rd birthday with everyone who was staying at the campground.
As the sun lost the battle and the rain started to pour we headed back to Belize Airport to drop off Jason via one night in the jungle. We found a cool spot called Caves Branches where they had the coolest outdoor showers I've ever seen and kerosene lanterns for light at night. We decided to go for a quick hike in the morning before we had to head to the airport. Bottom line, it was slippery and we sent Jason home with an arm full of thorns...oops, sorry Jason.
After saying goodbye to Jason, Brandon and I were ready to get out of Belize. Major problems...#1 it's a really expensive country, #2 we were lucky to have consistent run-in's with crackhead garifuna men (decendents from a slave ship that sank off the coast of Belize). They were always either trying to sell us drugs or looking for a free handout.
We spent the night in a town near the border and then headed to Guatemala the next day...
We picked up Jason after our last post and then proceeded to tour the country for the next couple weeks. Unfortunately, we were welcomed into the country with the same cold front that had been affecting the U.S. with unusually cold weather. It rained for most of our time in Belize, but we still tried to make the most of if.
We started up in Corozal and then headed out to the cayes (islands) for some sun, snorkeling, and diving. Well, two out of three isn´t bad...in our weeks on the islands we caught, maybe, a day worth of good weather. On the bright side, Jason was able to get his basic diving certificate and Brandon and I were able to join him on a couple dives (sidenote: the water outside the reef was insanely choppy...everytime we stopped the boat I had about 3 minutes to get under the water before I´d loose my lunch). Due to the amount of wind and rain, the visibility was absolutely horrible (I´m talkin' should've-gotten-a-refund-horrible) so we decided to scratch the expensive dive trip out to the blue hole...bummer!
Well, we got sick of sitting in Chinese restaurants all day waiting for the rain to let up so we decided to head back to the mainland for something that wasn´t totally weather dependent. We took a boat out to some Mayan ruins called Lamanai. The ruins were nice, but the boat trip was awesome! There were parts where it looked like we were going to hit a dead end going 35 mph and our driver would swerve left and, suddenly, there would be more river ahead of us. We'll try to post a short video clip of the ride.
That night we camped by the river...the crocodile filled river. Our captain, Edgar, and his buddies that work on the river told us tons of stories about close encounters with crocodiles. These guys were nuts! Get this...they go free diving in the river to find Mayan artifacts (mostly arrowheads). Try to imagine, the water in this river is muddy and murky, the bottom is silty, and the chances of running into a 6-15 foot crocodile are high. They don't even sell what they find. They believe what they find is priceless because of the guts it takes to actually find these artifacts...really interesting guys!!
Well, the rain continued so we headed out to a national park called Jaguar Paw to do some cave tubing. It had been raining hard for a week or so before we arrived to ride this river. We showed up in the morning and our guide hurried us up to the top of the trail so that we could get through the cave before the river was too high and we couldn't clear the ceiling of the cave. I´m not gunna lie, I was a bit sketched out (I´m pretty sure our guide was too). When I asked him what the chances were that we would make it through the cave he said, "I think about 50/50." He followed with, "If the water is too high we can get off our tubes and go under water." Brandon and Jason seemed to be fine with this news, but my anxiety level rose a bit...by the way, our guide couldn't swim. To top it all off, the other groups cancelled because of the potential danger of the river.
Belize it or not, we made it out...with about 1 foot above our heads to spare. After the fact, our guide admitted to us that he had never been in the cave when the river was that high...I'm glad he waited 'til after to break this news. The cave was great...besides the rising level of the river, there were underground waterfalls, bats, and good platforms to jump off of. We also have a short video of the river that we'll try to post.
When we came out of the caves, the clouds had parted and the sun sneaked out so we headed for the beaches near Placentia...we couldn't send Jason home without a tan :) We lucked out and found a great place to camp...the place was appropriately named On Da Beach Campin'. A great couple from Oregon, Bill and Lisa, ran the business. The sun managed to stay out for the next five days and we celebrated Jason's 23rd birthday with everyone who was staying at the campground.
As the sun lost the battle and the rain started to pour we headed back to Belize Airport to drop off Jason via one night in the jungle. We found a cool spot called Caves Branches where they had the coolest outdoor showers I've ever seen and kerosene lanterns for light at night. We decided to go for a quick hike in the morning before we had to head to the airport. Bottom line, it was slippery and we sent Jason home with an arm full of thorns...oops, sorry Jason.
After saying goodbye to Jason, Brandon and I were ready to get out of Belize. Major problems...#1 it's a really expensive country, #2 we were lucky to have consistent run-in's with crackhead garifuna men (decendents from a slave ship that sank off the coast of Belize). They were always either trying to sell us drugs or looking for a free handout.
We spent the night in a town near the border and then headed to Guatemala the next day...
Monday, February 19, 2007
Almost half way there!
Hey Guys!
Sorry we've been off the radar for a while. Found ourselves dealing with car problems in Guatemala and El Salvador (six different mechanic shops until one finally figured out the problem). Now, we're on the road to Panama...we decided it would be easier to budget our time if we were just heading north, rather than trying to account for a turn around. Four boarder crossings in three (long) days including all the fun of run-ins with corrupt cops, dealing with huslters, crappy pot hole ridden roads, crappy dirt roads, etc. Right now, we're in San Jose, Costa Rica. Just about to head down to la fronterra de Panama (the boarder).
There's lots more to our last month than driving. We promise to post tons of pictures and fill you in on the details when we get to a place where we can settle in for a couple days.
Sorry we've been off the radar for a while. Found ourselves dealing with car problems in Guatemala and El Salvador (six different mechanic shops until one finally figured out the problem). Now, we're on the road to Panama...we decided it would be easier to budget our time if we were just heading north, rather than trying to account for a turn around. Four boarder crossings in three (long) days including all the fun of run-ins with corrupt cops, dealing with huslters, crappy pot hole ridden roads, crappy dirt roads, etc. Right now, we're in San Jose, Costa Rica. Just about to head down to la fronterra de Panama (the boarder).
There's lots more to our last month than driving. We promise to post tons of pictures and fill you in on the details when we get to a place where we can settle in for a couple days.
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