Chicken Buses

If you ever wondered what happened to our school buses after they had seen their share of years in service, I believe I have the answer for you.  They all get shipped to Central American countries, get repainted, and get put back into service for another 20 or 30 years.  Who cares if a window doesn’t close, if the padding from the

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Leon: Boarding down Nicaragua's most active Volcano

Well, Julita can now officially say that she has never been snowboarding and yet boarded down Nicaragua’s most active volcano.  What an insane day!!!  What a hot and dirty day!!  I’ve done both snow and sand boarding but this was still different.  The only thing that remains a constant is that both volcanic ash and sand are

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Granada's Surroundings: Masaya, Catarina and Laguna de Apoyo

One of the benefits of Nicaragua is that distances are relatively small.  As such, within a short hop from Granada one can find numerous other attractions and enjoy an endless array of day trips.  One such day trip can be made to Masaya, a town renowned for its artisans and its markets.

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Granada: A Colonial Jewel

As the Lonely Planet puts it, “The goose that laid Nicaraguan tourism’s golden egg is beguiling Granada, whose restored colonial glories render it a high point of many travelers’ time in Central America.”  Being in Granada is like traveling back in time to a relatively peaceful colonial era.  The city’s highest building is its

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Isla de Ometepe: A Fairytale Setting

Nicaragua is an interesting country with quite the turbulent past.  It has seen significant corruption, civil unrest and strife and some unfortunate international meddling, especially on part of the US.  As a result it is a relatively impoverished country with over 50% of Nicaraguan’s still living under the poverty line.  With

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Nicaragua: Hot Enough to Melt Wheels

If we thought that it was hot in Bocas del Toro, we were mistaken.  The refreshing cool air of Monteverde has been left behind and we have entered the Nicaraguan oven. Not that we’re complaining about the nice weather.  Well, maybe just a bit.

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Costa Rica: Cost Breakdown

Costa Rica has been billeted as one of the most expensive countries in Central America (along with Belize). As such we were expecting increased costs but found it quite surprising in the end, that food prices were one of the main factors.

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Panama: Cost Breakdown

Panama came out under budget, which is always a nice way to start a trip. Below you will find the detailed breakdown for our expenses throughout the 7.5 days in this country.

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Expenses: How can I afford this?

The most common questions at the end of my trips are those related to the finances:  How much did the trip cost?  How can I afford to travel so often?  Did I have a budget?  The general answer is that all my trips are done on a relative shoestring budget.  However, there is more to it than that.  Firstly, its worthwhile to keep track of one’s expenses, not only so as not to lose sight of one's financial limitations, but also for future reference.   

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Monteverde and the Costa Rican Cloud Forest

One would assume that since distances in Central America are not large, then travel times would also be relatively short.  However, anyone maintaining such an assumption would be greatly mistaken and today’s marathon 12 hour commute would have been proof enough.  Especially were one to consider the last 38km

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Costa Rican Jungles Teeming with Life

They are bright yellow ones, green ones, brown ones as well as red ones.  They come really tiny or even quite large.  The smaller they are the more poisonous they tend to be.  At first we had a hard time spotting even one, but with the help of the skilled eyes of our guide, we probably saw nearly 20 different snakes in the

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Beach Bumming in Bocas del Toro

After Boquete the day was once again spent in transit, heading first south to David and then north across the mountains and the clouds to Almirante on the Caribbean side of the country.  From there a 20 minute ride brought us to the town of Bocas del Toro, the capital of the entire Archipelago and province. 

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Boquete: Coffee Heaven

We left Panama on Tuesday on a 7 hour bus ride to David from where we transferred onto another 1.5 hour ride to the highland town of Boquete.  Higher up, this town has much milder temperatures and is considered by many Americans as an ideal place for retirement.  For us, the main draw of the town was a famed Quetzel

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Panama City: Waterlocks and Sunburns

Apparently there is absolutely no need to have an alarm clock in Panama so long as you need to wake up around 7am.  Still exhausted from the previous night’s flights and unable to fully open my eyes I was woken by drumming and percussion.  Completely confused I finally managed to force one eye open and check the watch only to realize that it was barely past 7 am compounding the confusion even more.  Why would there be a marching band and a procession passing in front of a little quaint and peaceful neighborhood at 7 am?  Apparently this is standard procedure here for the

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Panama City? Maybe Havana or Miami?

After a sleepless and uncomfortable night spent on two Continental Air flights we finally arrived in Panama City to be greeted by 35 degree temperatures and gorgeous sunshine. Not bad in comparison to Vancouver, but a bit overwhelming after a long journey. With an airport located 35km out of the city, our first introduction to Panama City was the drive in: first among lush forests, then in between highrises which would put the Shangri-La tower in Vancouver to shame, and finally right along the waterfront. 

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Getting Ready for Central America

I seem to be haunted by the number seven.  Last year it was Via the Seven Seas (I think in reality it turned out to be 8 or 9 of them), this year it's trip number 7 to the seven countries of Central America in essentially 7 weeks (well - officially it will be 8 weeks). 

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