Am I nuts?

You have more guts than me. I couldn't do that. But I am sure it would be fun!

Pura Vida,

Mike Reply to this

Hello. I just wanted to chime in here and tell you all my boyfriend and two other guys are going from Missouri all the way to CR and back starting May 22nd. I am FREAKED out for them. I pray everyday that he will be safe from the bad things that can happen on the roads and in the little countries. I am flying down on June 1 to meet them in CR. WE are taking the bikes over to Joca? the coast....for a week, then I fly back and they are riding home and should be home June 15. I am hoping that donjuane can give me some tips to pass along to them. They do not know spanish either. I have been telling him to take a class for a year. He has been planning this trip for 2 yrs. ugh. I am just worried they will get kidnapped by druggers in Nicaragua! =(*
Thanks for any tips you have. I can even give you my email! Thanks.
Nicki Reply to this

Well with no Spanish I would imagine it would somewhat difficult. They should at least learn the words for left, right, straight, blocks, sign, how many, how to count to 10, better to 500, etc. unless they have some GPS system that I was unable to find where they will never need to ask directions. Well if they are staying on CA-1 and never pull off the main road into a city to find a hotel, they may not need too much Spanish. Also crossing the border, usually the English speaking "helpers" they are called will cost them more to provide "help" (agree on price first for everything ("por todo") Well actually urchins is what I call most of them, particularly around the Tapichula MX crossing to Guat. The ones at northern MX entry and extreme northern Guat/Hond crossing were mildly pleasant and were happy with the $5 tip I gave them, although I could have made it just as easily without them, knowing a little Spanish and how to follow pointing fingers.

Safety? Well I just met a couple who had backpacked from Brazil north and they did get robbed, so you have to watch out. Oh by the way, the place they got robbed on their trip was San Francisco. Anyway, lucky for me I am not dead yet. Bigest danger I have encountered so far after circling through Central America for 7 months now is having too much to drink and stepping into oncoming traffic. Of course don't drive at night, which I am sure you arelady read, and find a hotel that has parking to feel more secure, don't drive a new automobile, and when you cross the border don't have a lot of money in your pocket, just enought to get through (easier to show you are broke should you hit a dishonest border guard [read - fat ass at south Tapachula MX crossing who wants 20 bucks for exit stamp.

If they are planning on just barreling through on CA-1 they may not have too many problems, well other than figuring out all the insurances and car permits. It is only when you get out in the sticks that you really need Spanish to save your but from being continuously lost, well you need it a little on CA-1 but for the most part, just follow the smoking trucks.

If you want to sleep along the way, there are hotels here and there on the road, but not really that many. Most of them are in the central plaza of the cities. The Auto Hotels you see a lot of on the road are cheap for a short time, expensive for longer. They are for sleeping with your favorite hooker or your wife once a week when you live in a 1 room house with 7 kids. I have a Lonely Planet guide I used at first to find the hotels, now I just drive to the center of town, park and walk around an hour or so until I find the hotel I like. If it doesn't have parking, there is usually a public lot nearby where you can overnight securely. And this assumes you are walking around looking for a hotel before sundown, to minimize your taking a wrong turn off the central park.

Don't act stupid and when you need help, stop at a gas station or some other official business. Don't stop on a downtown busy intersection and ask the guy for directions who has just shouted "hey mister, looking for something?". And if you have a question on directions or driving, ask someone who may have driven a car once in their life and not someone at the corner bus stop.

All that aside, can they make it OK? Well likely so. I am a weak old fart driving an old car. Both it and I have more or less Gringo tatooed on our front sides. Of course the Texas plates don't help. A friend who drives from Dallas to Argentina every year and sells his car there, says the secret to less trouble parking is to keep your car off the streets, because, and I have found this true, your car and plates at first sight is a bit like the locals seeing a space ship when it is sighted. It is only after it is parked in the same accessible place day after day or hour after hour that the people here begin thinking what they might find inside or what benefit it or you might be to them.

Good luck to them, make sure they at least take an onling Spanish course to feel a little more comfortable, make sure their ATM card is full, they always have plenty of local currancy in the country to by a tank of gas when they need it and a hamburguisa and to stay cool and have a good time. Reply to this

I would hope you also have researched these tidbits ..... The car must be paid off or there must be an approval letter from the lender that it is OK to drive the car into foreign countries, i.e. Central America,. They must carry along the original and 2 copies for each of these documents for each country they will pass through. Multiple copies of their passport, driver's license, original title, car registration (especially if the license plate listed on the title is different than the one on the car, i.e. some document showing the transaction where the license plate changed). Sanborns is a good place to get instant Mexican insurance and there is a 2 week delay or more obtaining Central American insurance from them. Also when going into Mexico one must get the car permit at a place called a Bank that is almost never at the border. In Laredo it is 1 block south (along the river, I may have my direction reversed) of the border entry, under a bridge and easy to miss. If you miss it, 30 or 100 or 500 miles into Mexico, the first check point will send you back to the border to get it. In Tapachula for the exit crossing to Guatemala (assuming you won't be back to Mexico within 6 months), the place for the entry/exit permit it is about 20 miles from the border on the bypass that runs near the SAMS club on the edge of Tapachula toward the border at an obscure place called VIVA MEXICO which is only an arched checkpoint with a small room that is the car permit place, or Bank. You have to get the Mexico exit permit (as well as the entry permit) at one of these Banks they call them or when your 6 month mexico permit runs out, they charge you a big fine on your credit card for not properly exiting and you cannot re-enter Mexico with a car again. For example, the car permit office is open only a short time on Sat/Sun and during normal business hours M-F. The border is otherwise open 24 hours I think. Other CA countries have the car permit office at the border crossing.

Also driving through cities like Mexico City will almost guarantee to get you lost. Last ditch effort, learn how to ask for a guide to cross to the highway to the next city, i.e. Puebla and get ready to lay down 20-40 bucks for the taxi to lead you through town.

God, that sounds more difficult than it was for me ;-) Reply to this

I'll take a short moment here to update everyone on my situation. I spent the past 2 weeks in Grenada, Nicaragua, longer than I had anticipated because I was waiting out the transportation stirke that just got settled yesterday. They said it was not dangerous on the roads but some fellow gringos reported that there could be nails on the road so I decided to just wait, and what could happen in Grenada other than me spending all my money, right :-).

The main point of my story is to update anyone on what might occur on their trip from Nicaragua to El Salvador on CA-1 headed toward Guatemala. I spent a lot of money today! First of all just north of Tipatapa, Nicaragua there is a section of road that is a few hundred feet that is marked with a 25KM speed sign when the normal on this stretch is 80KMpH. Well, over the hill when I hit it I was doing 99KM (acutally 80KM but the cops radar was fixed on a glowing 99KM which he must have just gotten from the guy across the road he had stopped. That is beside the point, as I would have been speeding had I not been speeding and I whould have had to slide to a screeching stop to not fall in this trap. He told me the fine was $1150 Cordobas or about $60 US. I just happend to have about $18 in my wallet, showed it to him and said I was sorry (I conveniently forgot my Spanish) and after him threatening and threatening to take me to the station, he finally accepted it and sent me on my way.

When I crossed over into Honduras a couple of months ago, I had been required to pay $39 for a 90 car permit so I today as I crossed into Honduras from Nicaragua I was actually excited when they only charged me $28 for a 30 day permit. All this was legit and just the cost of driving a car until I approached the border crossing from Honduras into El Salvador. Here I received my first indirect robbery from "runners" or guides with fake IDs on chains around their necks. When you approach El Salvador from the southern tip of Honduras, there is first a building where you stop, then there is a custom agent right before you cross the river. Before the river is where you get the fraud. As I approached the customs building, a "runner" with a fake ID came up and asked if I would like help. He took my passport and license and said he needed $15 for my car permit. He returned with a fake document and my passport and license and I later found he did nothing but take my money. At this time I had to pass the customs office where the police officer told me that I had been defrauded (in Spanish). He then told me all paperwork was in order. I approached the customs agent just before the river bridge (Honduras side) and he sent me back to the building saying I needed an exit stamp. Here another guide iwith a valid looking ID on a chain around his neck old me he would take care of everything, including my car permit for $40 which included tip. I gave him the money, he crossed the bridge on foot to El Salvador and returned 10 minutes later with a small yellow reciept with my full name and amount paid ($35) plus his $5 tip. The yellow receipt, about the size of an index card had an offical looking stap on it as well as my name imprented on it with a typewriter. He then walked with me to the guard on the Honduras side of the river bridge and pointed out to the guard how he was reading the passport wrong and the guard let me cross the river bridge. I got about 5KM past the bridge into El Salvador and was stopped by a policeman at a road block who sent me off to the left of a "T" in the road just a few feet behind him, to obtain my permit.

I drove only a block and a half or so and all I saw was what looked like a truck unloading dock. I was comforted to see that the place I pulled into had 2 police cars parked next to the long semi unloading dock. A small door past the yelping, caged drug sniffing, snapping dogs led to the small door. Here I presented the $35 type written yellow receipt and the police told me that entering El Salvador was free, no cost for car permits and not only had the first guide with the fake ID robbed me of $15, the second one had robbed me of $40 US.

The short version - entering El Salvador with a vehice is free and these steps can allow you maybe keep from getting robbed like I did today. I reported the problem which legally happened on the Honduras side to the El Salvador police and they said they get these fake receipts every day, so I didn't feel so bad. If you can make your way past the baying hounds of fake guides of this border and follow my suggestion of what you need to do, an exit stamp at the small building in the middle of the road on Honduras side, show the passport stamp to the guy on the Honduras edge of the bridge, drive 5KM into El Salvador, where the policeman is turn left at the T, drive a couple blocks to the giant buildign with the unloading dock, show the buy behind the very back door your passport, title, license, PAY NOTHING, return to the T in the road, go left toward center of El Salvador and you are home free, well excpept that there seems to be a lot of vagrants hanging around gas stations and convenience stores here, more so that anywhere else I have enountered.

El Salador I am sure is nice but all the comotion at the border set me back 3 hours and I drove into San Miguel, El Salvador under the cover of darkness. Still alive and kicking, a little pissed, but I am sure I will forget it before too many more days pass :-) I hope to see some nice sights in the morning after sun-up.

Happy travels! Reply to this

A few more tips for you, from the electronic communications department .....

I met a man here who had a data enabled phone and when he got back to the US, he had a bill for $1200 so be careful to phone your provider and have data services disabled, but better yet, take an old cell phone without data services with you if you plan on taking one, or simply buy one when you get down here. They run around $20. You will need a different phone or SIMM chip for each country you plan to spend an extended amount of time in and wish to have a cell phone.

I have a Motorola model about 4 years old that is classified as a "world phone" and have simply purchased a new SIMM chip for it in each country. My AT&T plan gives me incoming/outgoing calls at $1 - $3 a minute in/out but that is impractical for my budget. If the phone is one with a replaceable SIMM chip in it and the phone is "unlocked" (you must have service, i.e, for 6 months, pay bills on time, etc and you can contact your provider and ask for an "unlock code" that will allow a SIMM chip from another phone company to be inserted in your phone). For example, you might try a SIMM chip from T-Mobile in your AT&T phone before you leave, use the "unlock code" provided by AT&T to see that the phone really unlocks and works with the other company SIMM chip. This would be nice to know before you get to Central America. The trick with this pre-testing exercise is to find someone willing tol let you try this with their T-Mobile chip. People get all freaky when you start taking apart their phones and especially when you remove something from it they have no idea the function of. If this fails or if the phone provider will not supply you with the "unlock code", there is usually a guy who knows a guy at a kiosk in the mall who will put the phone on a machine that will hack out the code for you.

I find that in Mexico and Central America, for some reason incoming calls are free and you can call home and have your loved one phone you back and you pay only for the short call to them and they pay only the toll from the US to here, and we assume that the person calling has a great plan where they will not be charged a big rate for calling the country (and new number you get in each country with the new chip). Of course, Skype is the mainstay of call home activity at around 2 cents a minute, and a warning here is you may want to bring your own USB headset, as many Internet cafes charge a $1 - $5 "headset rental" and this is how they cash in on Skype users.

Of course unless you are doing what I am doing, staying a few months in each country, it may not be practical to buy the new SIMM chip or new phone (with new local country phone number) in each country.

This is what I remember as far as SIMM chip purchases:

All countries south of US have cell phone providers that supply free incoming calls (that I found -let me know if this is not right, as I did not enter Costa Rica, Panama or Belize on this trip, as I have traveld by air to them 5 years ago and did not investigate cell phone coverage and rates at that time).

Be sure to record the number off the SIMM snap-off plastic piece because it will likely be impossible to pull the number of the phone from the phone. In an emergency, phone someone next to you with caller-ID.

{ ALL HAVE FREE INCOMING CALLS LOCAL/LD }


{BELOW IS OUTGOING CALL RATES}

Mexico:
Telecel - SIMM around $20-$25 with varying call credit , to US = $1 a minute;
MoviStar - SIMM around $20 with $10 phone minute credit, to US = 35 cents a minute

Guatemala:
Tigo, MoviStar and Claro - Claro was cheapest rates to US, poorest coverage but I used only Claro for low rates
Tigo - has best coverage but is highest (not sure rate) to US
Claro - SIMM free with $15 air time first purchase, to US 11 cents a minute, 7 cents weekends/nights

Honduras:
Tigo, Claro - Claro was cheapest rates to US
Claro - SIMM free with ? minimum airtime purchase, to US 22 cents a minute all hours

Nicaragua:
Claro (may be others but Claro ruled all of Nic.)
Claro - SIMM $20 with some airtime included in purchase (forget how much), to US $1.10 a minute

El Salvador:
Was not in El Salvador long enough to warrent a SIMM for phone

Of course one SIMM will work in the other country when you move to the next country, but the roaming charges will eat up what you have left on your credits in a matter of a few minutes.

NOTE: There are all kinds of places in the cities here that have phone booths where you pay Skype-like prices, well actually no more than 20-30 cents a minute to call the US and you don't have to worry about a cell phone or a computer to make your call. I have seen them in all cities of any size.

BUYING TIME:
On all these SIMM chip and short use (disposable?) phone purchases, you add time to your "cash credits" by either purcahsing a card from any store with the cell company sign in front or from a cell phone shop that takes your money and your number and adds the credit for you. If you go the scratch card route, you buy the card, scratch off the number, dial a special access code printed on the back of the card and the number provided and you are credited. The number to check your credits is different in each country and the credit amount is spoken in Spanish (i.e. Bienvinito systema de Claro, su saldo es cien viente quatro quetzales, spoken in Spanish, or 124 quetzales)

TIME GOOD:
The time you put toward your phone credits by buying the scratch-off card or buying from a cell shop does 2 things, of course the first is to give you call out credits. The second is to extend your date when all the time you just bought will expire and how long you can receive the free incoming calls. Buying a new card of course extends both. In Mexico I am not certain, as MoviStar has just come in to compete with the gov. Telecel and things seem to change often. I Guatemala & Honduras, you get about a month of time, which means during that time if you don't use your minutes, they expire (the ones you purchase now) and during this window your phone works to receive all incoming calls, regardless of if you have any "outbound credits" or not.

CARD GOOD:
Will the card still be good when you come back into the country? From what I recall and this is all I know, Mexico MoviStar - number is good for up to 6 months (will not be deleted from system) with no credits or usage; Guatemala & Honduras - 3 months of no usage. If the number expires and goes out of the system, you have to buy a new SIMM card.

FUN GAMES:
All countries play this game, but places like Guat and Honduras where there are more competing phone companies do it more often. Watch for all the little stores that hang out the signs "Double" or rarely (moreso in Guat) "Triple". Or simply ask, i.e. if you have Claro "es Claro double hoy?" (ess klar-oh doe-blay oy). On the double and triple days, you get 2 or 3 times the talk credit for the amount of card you purchase. You can also purchase for example, four 25 Quetzali (around $3.50 US each) and then start using them as you need them. Then the day you see "double" appear on all the stores in town, you scratch off the whole batch of them and key the numbers in your phone to get all the credit. That keeps you going piece meal at the single rate, then when you see the double or triply, you dump all the cards into the phone to get all the credit on the bonus days. Notice: Nicaragua "double" days give you your bonus credit to only talk to other like-provider phones and the credit is not added to your total like in Guatemala.

Had enough? Well I am on a roll .....

LAPTOP AIRCARD:
Forget about it! If you have one from the US and you want to ROAM down here, you will be broke with the first bill you get. If you want to subscribe in Central America, it requires a 18-24 month commitment and you will need to make a new agreement with each provider at the new country you enter. The rate is $35 to $70 and for this extended agreement time. Not smart, just use an Internet cafe.


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Hello Schwidy!
I read about you learning some spanish in Mexico and I got a little concerned 😊 even though we share the same language, Costa Ricans use a LOT of slangs and words are different from other spanish speaking countries. Get acquainted with words like: pura vida (means cool), diay! (compared to the word "well"), tuanis (nice, cool), mae (man, mate), guaro (national alcoholic beverage)... I would also recommend some
I hope you enjoy your trip...

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i only go as far as to the next block in our Harley Bike...

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Hi,

Just a small note...make sure you have a proper insurance which could cover any medical or evacuation cost. Make sure that it does cover you if you drive a motorbike...may sound stupid....but a small accident can ruin a holiday...and without a proper cover...a full family life for years....you don't want that!

Have fun, that's going to be an adventure!

Peter Reply to this