Hi all,
Thanks for reading and hopefully helping me. I am travelling through central america from August onwards, time unlimited. From Lonely Planet books it looks like the dry season is DEC-APR and the best time to go is just before and just after then and for beaches February time. I am going in August and plan to spend a lot of time on the beaches. Is this then rainy season? Has anyone travelled through central america from August onwards? Would you recommen not travelling at this time?
Also re: injections LP says the only required vaccination is yellow fever and thats only if you arrive from Africa or South America, i'll be arriving from the UK. There is a list of recommended vaccinations - chicken pox, hepatitis A and B, measles, rabies, tetanus-diphtheria, typhiod. When you travelled throughout central america did you get these recommended vaccinations? Apologies if this has already been answered, if it has I couldnt find it
Thank you
Reply to this I am also going to be travelling around South America so wonder if it is better to start travel from there in August then head up to Central America?
Reply to this You are probably immune to some of these illnesses. If you had measles when you were a kid, you are immune so dont need a vaccination. Same with chicken pox.
If you need a vaccinaton for yellow fever when entering Brazil you will probably be able to get it at the borders and airports. I have never had this vacination. Nobody mentioned it any time when I was in S. or C. America when I was entering the various countries, so I presume it is not so important
Rabies is optional. If you get bitten you would still need to get to a hospital for follow up shots even if you had this vaccination. If you havent had the pre-bite shot that just means you would need to get to a hospital sooner. I never get this vaccination, but the 6 shots I got after being bitten by a money 10 years ago are probably still causing some protection.
You can get a Hepatitis A and B combo. Then you will need a booster if you want the protection to last longer. I think you get the booster a year after the first shot. At least that is what the doctor told my boyfriend when he got that vaccination last Christmas. I just had a Hepatitis A shot. But you might as well get the combo because it is easy.
tetanus-diphtheria - I dont think I ever got that one. I dont know anything about it. But, maybe I did get it. I dont understand everything on my vaccination card.
Also, check the WHO(World Health Organisation) site to find out if you need Malaria protection.
Typhoid - I always get that one(I mean I get it every 3 years). It is available in pill as well as injection form.
Reply to this PS: Go to a travel clinic rather than a regular doctor. They will know exactly what you need and will have it available all the time.
Reply to this Cheers Mell,
So with your trip through C and S America you got Hepatitis A and Typhiod vaccinations? I'll check with the WHO too like you say.
What do you reckon re:weather at that time in both C and S America?
Thanks again I feel like every time I ask something you always help me! Sorry to take up your time
Reply to this I have never been there in August. I was in Mexico and Guatamala one June. One thing about the rainy season is that is causes the mountain roads to corode a bit at the edges which does not make them any safer, especially with the way the bus drivers tear around them and with the tyres often thread bare in Guatamala. But I didnt come to any harm anyway. 😊
The rain was not too bad and it wasnt everywhere. High altitudes were the rainiest places whereas at lower levels it hardly rained at all. And temperatures vary too. In some places it was 40+ C degrees and in others it was probably not even 20 C.
Reply to this Hey guys in relation to Yellow Fever Vaccination - you dont need it to Enter the country but sometimes you can have issues going back home if you have travelled to a place infected with Yellow Fever and you didnt have a vaccination.
For Example you need it for travel to Panama - not to get in but when you return back to the UK immigration will see that you have travelled to a Yellow Fever infected country and may ask for you to show your certificate of vaccination... not too sure how its regulated or what would happen if you didnt get vaccinated but its better to be safe than sorry. I think Yellow Fever is predominately near the Darien in Panama.
Hope this helps.
Reply to this Cheers Chanel. Re: Spanish I just put a load of beginners Spanish on my i pod, just went to podcasts on i tunes and put about 15 free podcasts on so should help me learn before I go and while i'm away - if you see someone talking to themselves with their i pod on, its me!
Reply to this Wow thats a great idea i havent thought of that - what would we do without technology!!
Reply to this Hey Chanel I thought of something else too that might help with not speaking Spanish too well, it's a bit basic though! - Taking pics on your camera or phone of places you're going to that you are trying to get to - from a travel guide book or computer screen and I guess that can be used for pretty much anything too from food to bus destinations, getting back to the airport (pics of planes etc!! ha). We were in China with zero chinese and zero people speaking English in Suzhou and we needed to get back to the train station as our taxi driver had no idea where he was taking us after he picked us up from the train station (even though we had a map with the directions, the hotel address written in English and Chinese etc - long story but he was just getting more and more angry and grunting and arguing) so my brother had to revert to making a 'choo choo' sound and making a motion with his hands like train wheels moving around!! It worked, but a picture on my camera of a train station would have been a lot easier! Sounds stupid I know. Could also get your camera nicked but thought it was a pretty good idea I think i'll use that, sign language and some broken spanish!
Reply to this good idea with the pictures, when i walk out the door of a new hostel the first thing i often do is take a picture of the signpost on the intersection, that helped me more than once!
PS: im also interested to know what the best time is to visit central america,
last year i did an anticlockwise trip around south america from august onwards (following the sun basically) and it worked out well.
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