10 Things I Learnt in Central America

With my time in Central America now at an end, I thought, like my list of things Ilearnt in Mexico, I might put together a collection of things that stood out while travelling through this part of the world.

You can do anything you want

Central America is a great place for doing almost anything you want to do. From adventure sports to surfing to hiking, or just relaxing or having one (or 6) too many beers on a pool party crawl (really, its a thing). There are very few things you cant do while you're there. Some of this has to do with very little being regulated, so its just a matter of finding a way to do it. 

Sliding down a mountain on your butt is just one of the many things you can do

Getting vaccinated was a great idea

Before leaving Australia I went to a travel medical clinic to get all the vaccinations and inoculations you need before hitting the road. If you're anything like me this is something – along with travel insurance – that you wish you could skip, and you'll give it some serious thought before eventually getting every shot they recommend of you.

I'm certainly glad I did. After being attacked by a pack of dogs in a small town in Guatemala, I was very thankful for the fact that due to my pre exposure vaccines for rabies, I had some time to sort out the last few shots of the course. If not for the vaccines I would have required the urgent, expensive, painful and hard to find urgent shot and could have totally ruined my holiday.

Border crossings are not fun

While I've been travelling heavily for 10 years now, much of that travel has been through the first world and I'll admit that has formed some complacency when crossing borders. 

Not anymore.

An error by a border official when I entered Guatemala meant that I didn't receive the necessary entry stamp, which led to me not being allowed to leave the country when I tried several weeks later. After paying a couple of fines for being "illegally" and wasting a couple of days Guatemala City, I was finally able to leave. Since that point I have learnt my lesson. Every border crossing - check your stamps!

Check your stamps people!

A further lesson came when trying to leave Costa Rica, where a $7 exit fee should have been paid when buying the bus ticket from the capital and the only option for paying it at the border being open for a mere seven hours a day. 15 hours at the border later and I'll make sure I do more research before crossing any more borders.

All travel in the area is...interesting

The modes of travel throughout Central America vary from overly packed taxis, to chicken buses and small boats (launchas) that feel like they could sink at any moment. Even shuttles, popular through Guatemala and aimed directly at tourists, would be considered the least comfortable form of transport where most of us are from.

Chicken buses are one of the most authentic experiences of travelling through Central America. The former US school buses – some of which have been pimped out with big screen TVs, and crazy colour patterns – go from town to town as well as picking up people and random points along the road. The first chicken bus I got on was missing a seat as well as the part of the floor that was supposed to be under that seat.

Chicken Bus

While they can be uncomfortable, chicken buses – named because of that fact they cram so many people into them – are cheap and relatively efficient and you get to see how the locals travel, as well as how they transport everything from fresh produce to electrical goods.

The food is better in Mexico

I've made no secret of the fact that I loved the food in Mexico. My current body shape stands testament to that fact. Central American food doesn't quite measure up. That's not to say it is bad, it has just suffered by comparison. While beans and rice can be good, beans and rice making up a large portion of every meal gets a bit old.

There are a lot of volcanoes

It seems every city and town in Central America has a "famous" volcano and a bar or drink called "lava". While it may seem as though it becomes repetitive, many of the volcanoes offer different things to see and do. 

Most of them offer good hiking and views, while many also offer the chance to camp out on top. One volcano in particular, affords you the chance to go "volcano boarding" and it is every bit as fun as it sounds. 

Ready for Volcano Boarding

A 34 Year Old Aussie learning to surf in El Salvador is a bit sad

Sure, you get the "you're never too old" to learn something new types. However when an Australian - whom everybody in the world expects to know how to surf - is taking his surf lessons with a couple of Canadians, a girls from cold parts of Europe, you start thinking you might have missed the boat. Particularly if a tiny girl from Denmark is instantly better than you. Sure I had fun trying for a few days, but I think I'll stick to volcano boarding.

Central America is Beautiful

While you hear a lot about certain landmarks and attractions in Mexico or South America, you don't tend to hear a lot about the beauty that Central America has. Starting in Tikal, Guatemala one of the most stunning of the Mayan ruins, all the way down to the San Blas Islands in Panama, the region is bursting with amazing things to see. 

Semuc Champey

One of the most amazing is one that I'd never heard of - Semuc Champey in Guatemala. I first heard of the place - a series of beautiful clear pools in a natural limestone bridge which lies over the top of a river - from people coming in the other direction while I was in Mexico and so glad I did.

You will see the same people again and again

There is a very established "gringo trail" in Central America. I'm sure there are people who will find a way to stay off the beaten path, but in reality they're beaten for a reason. Most of the places on the gringo trail are genuinely worth visiting. Running into people you have met in a past town can be problematic, sure, but most of the time it turns out to be a lot of fun, and that person you hung out with once for a day or two turns into someone you travel with for a week purely by chance.

It's easy to spend longer than you planned

Anyone who has been keeping up with this blog knows I have a difficult time moving on from any place I love, and Central America proved that. What I thought might take me 4-6 weeks took me around twice that. While this has left me with far less time to cover South America on my way to the cup, I wouldn't change any of it (OK, the dog bites and dodgy border crossings I would) as I had such a great time everywhere I went, and it's not like I cant ever come back.

When Travel Goes Bad

I've been known to use the line; “a bad day travelling is still better than a good day working”.

In fact I've been known to use it a great deal, and for the most part it is certainly true. Compared to fighting peak hour traffic, trudging through a job you probably hate only to spend all of the money on bills and your mortgage, most travel problems are pretty minor. I missed my bus, I lost my debit card, this bus taking me to my next awesome location is kind of uncomfortable or I couldn't remember the name of the bar I was supposed to meet that girl I just met.

Sometimes though, travel throws some bigger problems at you. This week it happened to me.

I spent a couple of weeks in the lakeside town of San Pedro La Laguna on Guatemala's Lake Atitlan. It was a fun little town with lots of like minded people and usually the biggest problem being that you're too hungover for your Spanish class.

Street dogs are very common in this part of the world

One night though, after making the silly decision to walk home from a late bar alone, I encountered a pack of dogs. They were not happy to see me. The next few minutes (it could easily have been just 15 seconds) were the scariest of my life. Most of the dogs seemed content to just bark at me, but at least a couple of them were actively trying to take a bit of my leg with them. Luckily I was wearing jeans, so most of the times they connected I was reasonably protected. They did manage to get through a couple of times though and break my skin with a couple of gashes.

After making it back to my hostel and encountering some locals on the street who seemed less concerned with my ordeal and more with whether I had a light, I spoke to the night guard and sought his opinion on what, if anything, I should do. I was in a bit of shock, so all I could do was laugh when he told me I'd be ok, and there was nothing to worry about – and then asked if I had a light for his friends on the street.

Fortunately I was one of those people who got every jab possible before hitting the road, so I'd had the rabies pre exposure vaccinations back in Australia and therefore needed only the booster shots to ensure my antibodies were strong. I first attempted to get these in the local clinic in the tiny town I was in. The language barrier made this virtually impossible. Sure, I'd been taking some Spanish classes, but you sit down with your teacher to learn; “Hi, my name is Steve, I may have rabies” in your class. So I quickly moved to the nearby and much bigger town of Antigua and was able to get the shots sorted and a local private clinic.

Check your stamps people!

Thinking that my bad luck was behind me, I decided that four weeks in Guatemala had been great (you know, aside from the obvious....and by that I mean the food) and it was time to move on to El Salvador.

Arriving at the border I was in for a rude shock. The immigration official at the border had not stamped my passport when I entered the country and therefore I wasn't allowed to leave. I questioned the officer at the border (in perfect Spanish obviously) as to whether they could just get them to stamp me from the other side of the counter. No, it made much more sense for me to have to go back to the immigration office in Guatemala City.

With no luck coming discussing it any further with the official, I was forced to take my stuff off the shuttle bus that was taking me to El Salvador and wait for a chicken bus to take me back to the city. Chicken buses are something I knew I would have to use at some point in Central America, but I wasn't prepared for this to be that day. They're generally old American school buses that have been decorated – sometimes very elaborately – and can cover big distances throughout the region. While they're very cheap, they regularly stop every few minutes picking up and dropping off passengers (and sometimes chickens). The one that I'd gotten on had a person sized hole where the seat behind me should have been. What was a two and a half hour journey to the border ended up being almost 5 hours returning – all the time wondering what I would need to do get a stamp so I could leave the country.

Typical chicken bus

As it turned out despite locals and resident foreigners alike telling me the process could take up to two weeks, my luck started to change at the immigration office. While I had to pay two fines – one for entering the country illegally and one for being the in country illegally – due to an error another person made, the whole matter was sorted in just over an hour and I was free to leave Guatemala. In other circumstances being in a country with no proof you are there legally could get you in far more trouble than just a fine.

While it has been by far the worst week of my trip, I've now had my jabs, got my stamp and tomorrow I leave for El Salvador, again. Compared to the many backpackers that get themselves into trouble (sometimes through their own actions, but often just being in the wrong place at the wrong time) I'm coming away in good shape.

I will say, however, that I will be glad to be crossing that border tomorrow morning.