After our life changing experience with the Ngabe-Bugle, our elevated spirits drove us to keep exploring the wonders of Panama. We knew the next few weeks were going to be mixed with excitement and stress with the border crossing into Colombia looming. There are no roads between Panama and Colombia which leave very few options to get a vehicle south of Panama. We decided to ship in a container with Tim and Andrea to cut the costs in half, so the first…
Panama, the last and final country of Central America and the connecting landmass between the 2 larger Americas. As we approach this modern, yet culturally rich country, we cannot help but realize we are likely right at the mid-point of this journey. Having fallen for Costa Rica, and with our thoughts of the big mountains to our south, we hadn’t yet imagined what Panama had to offer, but we were in for many pleasant surprises.
San Jose was a refreshing break for us up at 3,850ft with a cold night of sleep after many warm days on the beach. Mid-day came and Chris, Sarah’s brother, was due to arrive to spend a quick four days living pura vida with us. His flights were successful, so we swooped him up and made our way back down to the beaches.
We left off in Samara where we stopped for some time to volunteer at Camp Supertramp and explore the laid back beach town.
So here we are, almost 9 months on the road, with van, in foreign countries, living with ourselves and each other in the most unfiltered way either of us have even experienced. Let me tell you, it’s not all epic sunsets, Corona in hand. Do we regret our newest life choice? Hell no! We’re living our lives fully, and in ways we’d never dreamed of, yet the harsh realities should be shared just as much as the dreamy photos and…
The time was upon us once again to traverse across another political border, this time into Costa Rica. Leaving Nicaragua behind for now, we eagerly anticipated the country known for ‘pura vida‘ which has a deeper and more profound meaning to the locals, which we quickly began to feel once over the border. Famous for it’s biodiversity, lack of military, happy people and potable water, we were ready to jump right in.
With Belize in the rear view mirror, and Guatemala glaring at us through the windshield on the fateful United States election day, we proceeded west, excited for new adventures and admittedly nervous about the historical election. We planned to visit the famous Mayan Ruins of Tikal during the ‘super’ full moon and were beyond excited to get our feet wet in a new country. The border crossing was relatively painless with just the normal disorganized cluster of cars and people. TV’s were on…
The time came to leave Potrero Chico and continue south. Having thought we’d seen one of the most incredible canyon sites, we made our way to the unbelievable area known to climbers as El Salto, named after a famous waterfall on the Rio Santa Catarina in the canyon during the rainy season. We first needed to navigate our way through the center of Monterrey, one of the bigger cities in Mexico. We can confidently say that it was one of…
The first thing that should be noted in this post is the ease with which our border crossing happened. With our minds full of anxiety leading up to the crossing, we had no idea what was to come. American media and worrisome family and friends having infiltrated our expectations with thoughts of negativity and danger, we were on high alert. How long would it take? Will they rip our hippy van apart looking for who knows what? Are the cartels waiting…