I have some time off work and wanting to go backpacking again. I am thinking about going to central america starting in panama and going up to yucatan area of mexico. i know that its rainy season in central really that bad, and should i wait until jan to go, or is it ok time to travel. i will be backpacking and camping all over, and i want to do a lot of hiking too. any ideas.
Reply to this This is dry season in Panama, ok till May. so go...Enjoy
Reply to this I was thinking about going in june. thats the rainy season though, how bad is it in panama
Reply to this Hello Eric 😊
I was in Mexico and Guatamala during the rainy season. It really is not that bad and it does not rain everywhere. The most rain fell at high altitudes, while there was hardly any lower down. High up, the rain fell in the evenings. There was a lot of it so I am not sure camping would be such a good thing in those places during the rainy season.
Mel
Reply to this Hate to disagree. Panama is terrible during rainy season and you have to put up with the lightning as well. There are mud slides as well. Been there....And the snakes travel cause they want to get away from the rain.
Re-think your plan for different dates. Panama is beautiful, takes about 4 months to see it all. Great experience!
Good luck. And don't miss the San Blas Islands.
Reply to this It sounds like thats good idea. January is looking like a better idea. then i wont have to deal with the rainy season and get to see more of the countries i want to see. thank you very much
Reply to this There are mud slides as well.
I forgot about some of the nuisance aspects. One rainy season thing in C. America is the roads on the sides of the mountains erode a bit. It make the way the drivers tear around them more dangerous than usual.
Reply to this hey
i was there last year from January till July - travelled from Mexico City all the way down to Nicaragua (so didn't quite make it to Panama).
The rainy season that I caught wasn't really that bad at all. It's a lot worse on the Caribbean coast than on the Pacific, but even on the Caribbean it wasn't that bad. We had some days of bad weather from time to time on the Caribbean, but it was more often sunny than not. The only place I did find it bad was up in the highlands, I think as I travelled through Nicaragua's North Central highlands in early July I hardly saw the sun! it didn't rain that much, but it was overcast a lot. I guess if you like hiking, as you say, it could be a bit more awkward during rainy season.
But on the whole I think "rainy season" conjures up images for us Westerners that aren't quite true...
Reply to this I lived in Panama for a while, and the rainy season is why I moved! Really unpleasant! Panama is weird for my taste, rain, rain, and more rain, after that, heat, heat and more heat! I've been living in Lima, Peru for over a year now and I love it! Despite what people said about the fog... it's not that bad (and I have an ocean front condo on la Malecon Cisneros) some days I get fog, but it never, never rains! And the heat is better than Panama, tolerable!
Reply to this We enjoyed the rainy season for many reasons. First, fewer tourists. Second, the rains were mostly at night or the afternoon. We got up early, did our hikes and zips, came back for a nice lunch and nap, then back out again toward eve. Besides, the dirt roads are no fun unless you see cars and motorbikes slip sliding in the mud.
Reply to this Thanks for the info, i have decided that i will wait until january for the dry season and make my trip then. i want to really get the most out of the entire trip as possible and see as much as i can. It would suck to have to skip a place, or hike just due to the rain, when i could have come back at a later time with a lot of sun. PLus the beaches will be better then.
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