Wrap up on Central America

Central America Caribbean
July 17th 2015

Published: October 15th 2015

What a Blast

Central America has tested & tried us and given us loads of great opportunities and memories. All told we wandered around this area for 156 days or 5 months and 6 days. It's been a lazy bit of travel since we don't tend to give ourselves timelines or a schedule. That has been a blessing at times, when we weren't sure if the bus/boat we wanted still ran, and a curse at others, when we might sit in a hostel for a couple days lacking motivation or inspiration. While we could often pass those days off as 'resting' or 'recharging' more often than not it was just us being lazy. But it's who we are, we've come to terms with it.

We met loads of people spending time going through Central America. Some going from Mexico City (I realize Mexico is part of North America, I just don't want to bounce between NA/CA) to Panama in two weeks (zoom-zoom) and others that wanted to learn Spanish so started back packing in Chile and went north and have taken three years to get just over the Guatemala/Mexico border. Some were pensioners from the UK that have been back there every winter and others were straight up expats living in a warm country with a decent exchange rate for them. We met a few people doing volunteer work in schools and other, larger groups tended to do more 'voluntourism'. A lot of people are comfortable with Costa Rica and Panama as valid holiday destinations now, and the way things are going, the other Central American countries are coming up too. Since we're cheap, now was a better time to visit rather than waiting for all the infrastructure.

Our Impression of the People

Generally we tend to be cautious and hyper aware as we're traveling, while trying not to assume the worst of the people we meet. We find that most of the locals we meet while travelling were happy to provide us service and help out if they can. They frequently over anticipated our command of their language and rarely got exasperated if we didn't understand and they then had to spend several minutes trying to communicate a simple concept to us. Most were always eager to help with directions and other simple things, even if they didn't actually know. They might give an confident sounding answer just to show off or seem knowledgeable. In the case of directions it never hurt for us to keep asking along the route someone has indicated, just to make sure we hadn't misunderstood anything; it saved us some headaches. People on buses also tended to be helpful in letting us know when we reached our stop.

It was expressed to us by one long term traveler that pretty well everywhere you go (mostly in rural areas) people are going to be eyeing you up. It can sometimes be off putting but most are just curious about you. You will of course get the ones eyeing you up trying to determine how much they'll be able to fleece you for. Some people will join you in conversation and have a long chat, eventually offering to sell you their wares; be it trinkets or chocolate. We didn't have any issues turning down someone who was trying to sell us something we didn't want. Sometimes you'll just have a great chat without having to turn them down afterwards.

One of our favorite stories was from a guy who got off at a local bus station and was engaged by a local who 'Just wanted to practice his English', a common approach that tended to send up flags for us that he's going to sell something, or time to start watching each others backs to make sure he's not just a distraction while someone grabbed our goods. Anyways, this guy entertained the conversation with the local and just as he goes to say good-bye the guy wanted to ask 'just one more question' and pulls out his wallet (oh-boy, here's the pitch). The local pulls out a piece of paper and asks how to pronounce the word written there-on: 'pumpkin'. Sometimes it is just someone who wants to chat.

Getting Fleeced

From what we could tell most financial interactions we had weren't unfair or jacked up prices because we were foreign and it was quite rare that we felt ripped off. If something seemed a reasonable price that we were willing to pay, we did, if not we walked away. A few times for transportation an obviously high price was stated to us and we just came back with half the price, usually quickly accepted indicating we still overpaid but it's something we could afford. Not a great precedent to perpetuate, "Over charge the foreigners" so we tried to keep an eye on what others were paying and hand over the smallest notes possible; if it's more they'll ask for it. Dan's Spanish teacher also expressed to him that he should really learn his numbers. It would probably be the most common way of getting ripped off. You ask how much something is and you miss it and hand over a big bill and get short changed; opportunity.

We had one friend tell us that everyone on the road they know in Central America had been robbed at one point. Fortunately that wasn't the case for us, but we did hear of a couple first hand accounts. In both cases it was a lone woman walking with a bag. In one case just as she reached her hostel in a town a guy grabbed her bag and they had a tug of war while she screamed. He eventually took off without getting her bag but she was distraught how no one in the well populated area came to her aid. In the other case it was out in a remote area as she walked to a well known, nearby site. She greeted a man dressed for working in the fields going the other direction and half a minute later her was tugging at her bag; another tug of war ensued with her cussing him out and he fled after a few seconds. Others told us of crooked cops who would stop them in the street after a night out and empty their wallets and take their cell phones. Any stories we heard were opportunity and not planned or any overt threatening with harm.

Borders

These weren't nearly as daunting as we were originally concerned about, and a lot less expensive when we did them alone. They may try and charge an extra fee regardless of being alone or on a shuttle. One of the worst rip offs we witnessed (but weren't taken by) was a shuttle leaving Mexico where the "Tourism Tax" or "Pay when you leave visa fee" was collected by the driver and he went to get the passports stamped and pay the fee. We couldn't find any information on official Mexico websites but the gist was if you enter over land and leave over land you'll probably have to pay the fee; either at any major bank that will give you a receipt to present at the border, or at the border (but make sure you go to pay it and don't give someone your money and passport). When we arrived by plane (one-way) the fee was included and when we booked our outgoing flight after leaving and returning over-land, it was included again.

There was no fee to enter Guatemala. Although that didn't stop them trying. If they're asking you to pay something always request a receipt.

For the rest of the borders we crossed (not Belize) down to Costa Rica there was between a 3USD and 15USD fee. On the Tica Buses we paid 12USD or 15USD but only ever got a receipt for 10USD so even major bus companies aren't immune to a little bit of shadyness (or the countries border control were too cheap to pay for printing new receipts with the proper amout).

There are plenty of money changers at all the borders for local currencies on either side of the border or to USD. They may try and take advantage. Your best protection is to know the exchange rates before you cross the border and crunch the numbers yourself; know what percentage or fee you're willing to pay and stick to your guns. One guy tried to charge us 30%!t(MISSING)o exchange, when we walked away another came at us with something more reasonable. They got into it a little but in the end we were happy with the exchange we got; and who knows, maybe we still got ripped off and they work together to put on a show, sharing whatever fee they get away with. They won't ever give a the exchange rate you find Google or XE just before you change, remember this is their livelihood; every little bit helps them and hopefully their family. If you really want a great exchange rate you can almost always find another traveler at a hostel going the other direction that might exchange straight across.

Travel/Time

Traveling almost always takes longer than you think in Central America. With any public transport assume that you'll never travel faster than an average of 50km/h. Between all the speed bumps and loading/unloading, all buses take a long time.

If you plan on spending a long time in Central America, and you're not on a strict schedule, make sure you give yourself some time to recharge. For us, the culture shock, language barrier, and lack of personal space made places like Utila and Little Corn Island havens where things were simple and relaxing, if a little more expensive.

Accommodation

We had a big range of prices:

• 5CAD for a hammock under a roof
• 12CAD (avg.) for a dorm bed (anywhere from the 4-8 bed range)
• 13CAD for a private room, ensuite
• 40CAD for a private bungalow, ensuite
• 50CAD for a private room, ensuite

It will of course depend entirely on where you go: how far off the track, and how basic.

Our Budget

We won't tell you how much we saved for Central America since it's part of a larger world tour and we didn't really plan a certain amount for any given country or region. We didn't even track how much we spent on any particular area of expenses. All we can really tell you is that it cost us $49.29CAD/day (each). This number includes all overland transportation, food, accommodation, entertainment, entrance fees, and adventures over the whole time. That being said we are definitely not partiers, so drinks didn't take up much of our budget and we stayed in hostels (private rooms for two were often comparable to two beds in a dorm). We didn't skimp too much for our big ticket item of SCUBA diving, having planned to take our open water certification some time on this trip and then doing seven more dives when an opportunity presented itself.

Food

Huge range, but almost always some fried chicken available nearby. Or rice, beans, eggs, and some form of tortilla. Of course there's always being wary of fresh fruit and vegetables and how they are cleaned. We had to get used to repeat meals since we ate a in a lot of markets and street carts and there are only so many variations of street food. I honestly can't remember any of the food cost, but there is always something very affordable around, and there's almost always a restaurant you'll trust... enough.