Help - Central America - itinerary and any tips

Hi GWK,

I spent four months traveling, starting in Ecuador, then flying to Panama. From there, I bused through Panama to Costa Rica and then Nicaragua. For the countries I visited I had little troubles, other than being a little lost at times. It helped to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, but was fine otherwise - even through some dusty and remote border crossings. Just had to have my US passport. You may wish to look at my blog on my travels to get some ideas, but let me think some upon your question. Not much time to respond more fully right now, but let me know of more specific questions. Reply to this

Gareth,

From Ecuador, you cannot travel my land to C. America. There is the "Darien Gap" between Colombia and Panama. It is completely jungle, and dangerous one at that. The Panamanian government essentially leaves this area untouched and unpatrolled, and also builds no road from the Colombian border to well into Panama. From Panama City, you could drive on a main road part way to the border and the road would eventually dead-end and police would probably not let you go further. People that are there (in the Darien Jungle), to my understanding, are drug lord guerrillas. Don't get too scared, however, about the rest of Panama - it is as fine as anywhere else. Just know you will be flying (or I suppose boat) from Ecuador/S. America to Panama. Note there are airlines that go more directly from Quito, Ecuador to Central America. Avianca Airlines is a larger one. I decided against them as when I went to fly, the only option I had was with a lengthy layover in Bogota (as in 12 hours). I decided I preferred to fly through Miami, even if not very direct. There is also LAN Airlines to check out.

From Panama to Costa Rica and Nicaragua (and north if you're going to Belize), I travelled by Tica Bus. Modern buses and non-stop between capital cities. They have a website, www.ticabus.com. I can recommend them. From San Jose to Managua, I believe it was about a 6 to 7 hour journey. The Pan American highway is pretty well paved and modern, so that helps reduce time a lot in traveling. The website will tell you the amount of time between stops so you can judge how much time you would need to spend.

Border crossings are boring and seemingly slow, but really not more than probably about an hour stop - at least that was in my experience.

If you decide to fly, there are smaller regional airlines that may be worth checking out once in Central America. TACA has a regional one to consider. www.tacaregional.com is the one I checked out some (but never actually used, so I can't comment on the quality of the service).

Well, that's a bit of rambling and jumping back and forth on topics, but hopefully some helpful information. Let me know of more questions.

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I'm pretty sure the full bus was in Ecuador when I was working my way up from Cuenca to Riobamba. That was a more local bus, inexpensive but crowded. However, that is really the only ground option, I suppose next to renting a car though that would be expensive and I don't/didn't read Spanish well enough at that time to read signs fast enough anyway. Furthermore, roads between cities in Ecuador aren't the best for non-locals to be driving - too much disrepair. Leave that driving to the locals!

The chicken bus is usually the local bus you'll see in Central America (well, I don't remember it much in Ecuador. They had different buses, though local ones). Chicken buses are almost always old school buses from the States that made their way down to C.A. for use as the local busing system. They are privately owned and run, though there is usually some sort of bus stop system between towns or in the city (though "bus stop" is a pretty loose term. It would be just a big dirt parking lot where the buses start/stop their loops). Chicken buses get a bad rep for being unsafe, especially for tourists. I rode them and didn't have troubles. That said, if you choose to ride them keep a watch on your belongings. If you're going to be pickpocketed, it would likely be on a bus - especially if it gets full and the chicken buses never are "too full" for another passenger. In fact, I once heard a story that another tourist was on a bus that had 3 people in every seat that normally seats two, plus the aisle was so full the guy collecting fares actually rode on the OUTSIDE of the bus hanging on to the windows with his hands and feet on that little bump on the side of school buses working his way down and people handed him money out the window. This was while the bus was going down the street fast! Now, that's an extreme example, I didn't observe many buses that full.

The upside of chicken buses is they are incredibly cheap (at least by American standards). You can travel between nearby towns for $.50-$1. Downside is giving up comfort as it is a school bus. However, it's probably these "everyday real life" experiences where you'll get the most feel for a country and area. I realize, however, you have to make decisions if you only have so much time to spend traveling.

I'd also mention that you probably don't have to necessarily plan everything too far in advance. I tend to be something of a planner, so I probably overplanned a little. By and large, I could have likely just popped into a town and found something. Probably the most I needed to do was just check out sites like www.hostels.com or www.hostelworld.com to be able to at least find where the hostels were. I made reservations, but rarely came upon a soldout hostel. Reply to this

Thanks Gary, all v useful!

Gareth Reply to this