Corrupt Cops (2) - Us (2)

After two brushes with corrupt cops and twenty-seven dollars poorer, we've finally figured out how to avoid highway extortion.


Just call the cops on their bluff!

We ran into a couple opportunistic cops in northern Nicaragua and on our way back through Honduras. It always starts the same...

"You've broken the law, we're going to have to take your licence and impound your car because the bank where you would pay this ticket is closed."

It just so happens that we've broken the same law the last two times we've heard this spiel...lack of a fire extinguisher and reflective triangles in our car.

The act is the same every time. They try to pull the good cop vs bad cop routine. One guy breaks the news that he's going to write you the ticket, take your license, and impound your car while the other gives you the option to pay the ticket on the spot and be on your way.

We've discovered that if you just tell the cops you'll take the ticket and that you have plenty of time to deal with the bank it takes a bit of steam out of their act.

Yes, it does take a while to get them to cave in, but the last two times we've stuck to our guns and haven't gotten a ticket or had to pay the cops. Pretty sweet...hopefully, this works the rest of the way home.

Nicaragua = Lighter Vehicle & Good Waves

We headed up to Nicaragua and a town called San Juan del Sur after spending time Costa Rica. San Juan was a nice enough tourist town with some beautiful beaches to the north. Brandon was still recovering from dengue so we coughed up the money for a hotel room (with secure parking) so that we could lay low and chill for a couple days.

Here, we found out that secure parking with a security guard doesn't guarantee a car's safety. Brandon woke up early the second morning we were there to go to the car to get his medicine. He woke me up with the bad news that our car had been pillaged once again. This time it looked like the entire neighborhood went shopping in our car. They took almost all of Brandon's clothes, all of our food, cooler, hammock, backpack, shoes, fins, masks and snorkels, Brandon's GPS, our crappy CD player, our burned CD's, they even took our ziploc bags and dish soap. Luckily, we had our surfboards in the room and were also able to protect our important documents and money.

We spent the majority of the next day filing a police report...not exactly sure why we bothered seeing as how the chances of the police making an effort to locate our belongings is slim to none. The hotel took minimal responsibility for our loses...we were able to get a refund for one of our night's stay and that was about it. Not sure whether the security guard kept his job or not.

On the bright side, if this keeps up we'll have a lot less to unpack when we get home :)

From San Juan del Sur we drove north to a pretty remote surf break called Popollo. We were able to catch some great waves. It was about 6-10 ft faces with a howling offshore wind. The drop-in's were reasonably steep, but the wave backed off a bit after that which made the rides really fun. Turns out that Nicaragua is the land of offshore winds because of the huge lakes in the middle of the country.

After Popollo we traveled further north to visit a couple we had met in El Salvador. They had just landed a job managing an Eco Surf Lodge in the north of Nicaragua called Los Cardones. The lodge was very interesting...only solar power and compost toilets.

We were only able to stay a couple days because the prices were a bit higher than our budget could afford, but it was totally worth breaking the bank. The lodge was really the only place to stay in the area, therefore, the waves were the most uncrowded we've seen in this trip.

The picture at the top is of one of the secluded breaks close to the lodge. This break is called Hemorrhoids. Brandon was finally able to use his 6'6" surfboard. There was also a great long board beach break out front which I was able to enjoy.

Now, we find ourselves back in Suzal, El Salvador. We decided to scratch spending time in Honduras given Brandon's touch of dengue. Honduras has a slight problem with dengue and we didn't want to take the chance of him catching it again...that's when the disease gets dangerous.

It's great to be back staying with the family we got to know the first time we were here. They're really great people! Tonight they're cooking dinner for Brandon and I...good times :)

Brandon Caught Dengue Fever

After our second experience with robbery, we hung out in Dominical, Costa Rica for few days. After we had our fill of that town, we headed up to Playa Guiones on the Nicoya Peninsula to visit some of Brandon's family friends who live in the area.

The morning after we arrived Brandon started showing flu-like symptoms...tired, no appetite, slight temperature, lethargy, and aching in his joints. His friend suggested that we go see the doctor because there had been a nasty stomach flu going around. We had a weekend full of festivities ahead of us so we heeded his advice and made the trip to the doctor to nip this thing in the bud.

Long story short, after a blood test the doctor diagnosed Brandon with Dengue Fever. The good news is that we caught the virus early so Brandon's symptoms aren't horrible. After talking with the doctor and a bunch of Ticos, we found out that Dengue is actually pretty common down here AND very treatable the first time a person gets infected. We just have to take care that he doesn't catch Dengue again within the next year...that's when there's potential for hemorrhaging.

Looks like Brandon won't be donating blood this year...

If any of you are interested, we've posted a link with more information about Dengue Fever. Just click the link below.

Robbed in Costa Rica...AGAIN!

I bet some of you are thinking, "What do they mean, 'AGAIN!".

Well, for those of you who didn't know, Brandon and I were robbed while on vacation in Costa Rica about 2 years ago. It was a major pain in the ass. Our car was broken into while we were on a beach...novice move on our part. They got all of our cash, credit cards, and passports. Luckily, we were able to have money wired to us in order to get to San Jose and the American Consulate. Believe me, it's not how they portray it in the movies...you know, where you come running in screaming, "I'm an American!" We showed up on a Saturday morning to find out that American Embassies and Consulates evolved on a regular Latin American business schedule...9-5 Monday-Friday with a two hour lunch break. Needless to say, we spent the rest of our vacation in the capital waiting for our new passports.

As for the most recent robbery, we were much better prepared. Given our previous experience, we had taken precautions as far as kill switches and lock boxes to secure our credit cards and important documents before we left for the trip.

Well, it always starts with, "I'm just gunna run in for a minute." Here's how it went this time...we were on our way to Dominical from the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. We stopped off in a city called San Isidro del General, about 30 km from Domincal to stock up on food. We parked the van in front of the main entrance of the Super Mercado and secured the vehicle. Keep in mind, this is on a busy street at 5:30 in the afternoon.

When we came out with our groceries we notices that the surfboards had been moved from where we had left them. We both felt that sinking feeling in our stomachs associated with just realizing you have been robbed.

The culprits popped open one of the back sliding windows and punched out the metal screen to unlock the driver's door. We could tell they had rummaged through the glove box, refrigerator, cooler, and backgammon set only to get away with my camera (luckily, we had just uploaded our pictures in Panama City), Brandon's sunglasses, our medicine bag, and a handful of change from different countries. It was to our benefit that we had the surfboards inside the car making it incredibly difficult to get to anything.

Overall, I think the robbers were pretty disappointed with their plunder. For us, the robbery was an annoyance, but at least we still have all of the important things to keep traveling without another visit to the Consulate.

Check Out the Photo Album

We've finally posted more pictures...check us out :)

From top to bottom...the first album is Belize, 2nd is Panama, 3rd is El Salvador, and last, but not least, is the lovely country of Mexico.

The Panama Canal

So we decided that our most southern point on this road trip would be Panama City and the Panama Canal.

We checked out a bit of the city, the Panama Canal museum, and the Miraflores Locks. The history of the canal is pretty interesting. Get this...the canal was finished 6 months ahead of schedule and about $6 million under budget...my how things have changed :) We also learned that the canal is 87km long and takes a ship about 8 hours to pass from the Carribean to the Pacific.

This is a picture of a huge cargo ship entering the locks. The ship only had about 2 feet clearance on either side. The structure of the locks are pretty amazing...especially when you reflect on the fact that they were finished being built in 1914.

Carnival in Panama

We were lucky to roll into Panama just in time for the biggest night of Carnival. We celebrated in a town called Pedasi on the Azuera Peninsula.

This particular town celebrated in the traditional manner. There were two Queens...one from the north of town and one from the south. This particular picture is one of the Queens with her court and live band. There were also tons of people supporting their Queen by dancing in front and behind the floats.

The two Queen teams circled the square for hours competing by dancing and singing different songs. We were told that most of the songs badmouth the opposing Queen.

We had a phenomenal time drinking the Panamanian form of rum called caña and chatting with a bunch of locals and ex-patriots.

After the Queen and their teams were done the fireworks came out in full force. Latinos and their explosives...a deadly combination :) Luckily, everyone still had all of their fingers after all the fireworks had been lit.

From fireworks to the discoteca...we danced til 3 in the morning! Remember, we´ve been camping a lot so 11pm is usually pushing it for us, but powered by caña we had not problems keeping up with the Panamanians :)

Overall, a great time...would recommend Carnival down here to anybody.