With Semana Santa over and the buses running again we were free to travel to our next and final destination: Panama. Our first stop was on the west coast of Panama at a little-known beach called Playa Venao. A prime spot for learning to surf, we stayed in the peaceful area for one week. Playa Venao is a place that, most likely, will be filled with hotels, surf shops, restaurants and condos in a few years to come. But for now, it is just one old bar and a beach, with a wonderful beach break and empty waves. We felt fortunate [View Full Entry]

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With a few great weeks of Nicaragua under our belt, we headed south once again into Costa Rica. Having heard from many people that Costa Rica is too developed, expensive and not as good as Nicaragua or Panama, we decided to focus on a few National Parks too see for ourselves. After dealing with cordobas in Nicaragua for a few weeks, where a Canadian dollar would get around 15, 450 colones made everything seem really expensive. (Which it usually was a bit more!) We hopped on a few busses and headed down to National Park Chirripo. Having heard good things about [View Full Entry]

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After a week of diving in Hondurous it was time to move on south. On recommendation from some other travelers we decided to check out the Esteli region in the north, known for its agriculture and cowboys. We spent a night in the provincial capital of Estali before heading out to Miraflor reserve. Miraflor reserve is a large farming collective of about 5000 people. They raise cattle, grow crops (including coffee) and live a simple lifestyle sharing and trading what they have. It is all off the grid and they rely on solar power and still enjoy outhouses as their form [View Full Entry]

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After hitching a ride to the Honduras border from El Salvador, it took a few hours for another vehicle to come through going our way. Finally a nice pickup pulled up and the customs officials arranged for us to drive with them to the next big city, about 3 hours away. Once we were in the truck we noticed a suspicious amount of guns. Not only were all four men toting pistols, but one of them stood seemingly on guard in the box holding a rifle. Apart from Britt being convinced we were in a drug smuggling truck, the Hondurans were [View Full Entry]

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Our entry into the land of pupusas was very relaxed; we were greeted by a man standing on a bridge who looked at our passports and...that was it. We immediately bused to a small El Salvidorian coffee town in the mountains called Jauyua (WHy-you-ah). After checking out the local waterfalls and swimming holes we had two unique experiences. The first was the weekend food festival where the main streets were packed with hundreds of stalls selling various food dishes, from chicken, beef, sausages, to shrimp cocktails, rabit and frogs. It makes you wish you could eat 10 different plates of food [View Full Entry]

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After a week in Belize, we headed across the boarder to continue our trip through Guatemala. Immediately we felt the difference of a Spanish speaking country and realized this would be a bit harder to travel in. None the less, we found it best described by the Lonely Planet as it says “it is no longer the scary country your mother thinks it is!” With our limited grasp of Spanish, we found our way to El Ramate, a pretty little town at then end of Lake Peten Itza, and enjoyed our first night in Guatemala. We woke up early in [View Full Entry]

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Every great trip has to start somewhere. After a great visit in Vancouver, we flew overnight to Belize for our first taste of Central America. Landing in Belize City, we hopped on a water taxi and headed out to Caye Caulker, the popular backpackers hangout. With “Go Slow” as the island motto, we did our best to get into the traveling groove, enjoying the island life for a few days. After a few relaxing days of trying not to get too badly sun burned, we decided to try a sailing trip down the Coast. Despite word of a “cold front” circulating [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, After years of hard work at university and varsity sports, Britt and I are ready for an extended vacation. Having re-experienced the winter in the Yukon, its time to head south and search for heat, sun and sand. Check out this blog over the next few months as we journey from Belize to Panama in our Central Adventure. [View Full Entry]

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