Travel the world with Carrie and Jonathan! » El Salvador

Thoughts After Seven Months of Travel

strive4impact — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:19:09 +0000

It seems a shame to me that in the last 7 months, we didn’t see more, do more, meet more people.

We had plans to do and accomplish different things, and I kind of feel like we planned to do *more*) during the past 7 months of our lives.

My friend Patrick Shaw says that people greatly overestimate what they can do in a year, but greatly underestimate what they can do in ten years.

So maybe we should talk in ten years.

But thinking about it, I realize that we did do a LOT over the past 7 months in central and south America, and laid a foundation for coming back to this part of the world throughout our lives.

However, we had plans.

This post talks about what we had planned to do versus what we did.

(I have written this post to remember what we planned to do, actually did and didn’t do, and also should help others traveling through Central and South America to discover some great places and things to experience.)

Lakes:
We didn’t see lake Titicaca (Bolivia), or Lake Nicaragua.
But we did get to see the beauty of Lake Atitlan (Guatemala).

Islands:
We didn’t see the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Isla del Omitepe (Nicaragua), or the San Blas Islands (Panama).
But we learned to SCUBA off of Isla Colon (Panama) in a town called Bocas Del Toro.

Animals:
We didn’t get to see whales or dolphins.
But we helped guard baby turtles and were part of their introduction into the world. We saw monkeys in lots of places throughout central America; saw llamas mating; hummingbirds and butterflies in Mindo, Ecuador; and many other animals and critters. We loved the variety of animals we saw, even if the insects were sometimes disturbing.

Language and culture:
We didn’t spend time living in an indigenous community, (though we spent lots of time around indigenous people).
But we speak Spanish pretty well now. (Thanks Maribel!) We speak well enough to be well understood, to receive compliments on how good our Spanish is, and to understand even difficult topics like politics and religion.

Business:
Because of taking Spanish class every day, and the time involved with both planning and getting from place to place, we didn’t grow our business in the way that we wanted to.
But I know 100% that our videos and written reviews of the places we’ve stayed in Antigua, Guatemala; Boquete, Panama; Quito, Ecuador, and Cuenca, Ecuador; have resulted in more bookings for the owners of those places. Our knowledge of marketing on the Internet has helped other people to grow their businesses. That’s exciting to me.

Ancient Cultures and Civilizations:
We didn’t get to San Augustin, Colombia; or in Peru – the Ruins of Kuelap, Macchu Picchu (due to flooding in March), or the tomb of Sipan near Chiclayo. But we saw the remnants of powerful and amazing ancient civilizations at Copan, Honduras; Tikal, Guatemala; Guayabo National Park, Costa Rica; Ingapirca, Ecuador; Cuenca, Ecuador; and Cajamarca, Peru.

Land Travel:
We did not see Belize; visit Santiago, Chile; return to Buenos Aires, Argentina; nor did we get to most of the countries in South America.
But we saw every land country in Central America (except Belize); went to or near the top of five volcanoes in three countries (Irazu and Poas, Costa Rica; Pacaya, Guatemala; Masaya, Nicaragua; and Cotopaxi, Ecuador); we covered thousands of miles by bus, plane, car, in the water, and on foot; saw amazing markets at Saquisili and Otavalo, Ecuador, and at Chichicastenengo, Guatemala; got to the capital cities of Guatemala (Guatemala City), Nicaragua (Managua), El Salvador (San Salvador), Costa Rica (San Jose), Panama (Panama City), Ecuador (Quito), and Peru (Lima); and met many amazing people along the way.

Personal Growth:
I’ve recognized and let go of some of my own ethnocentricity (which I didn’t know I had); become a Spanish speaker; learned that the jungle is a great place for me to visit, but for short-term visits only; and have learned that even though the longest we’ve been apart in the last 7 months is 4 hours, Carrie and I love and appreciate each other as much or more now that we ever have before.

I feel like a year or more could be spent exploring just Ecuador and Peru, with a mention to the lifetime that could be spent exploring Colombia and the other countries in South America.

I do think that these are areas which we will return to at some (as yet undetermined) future point in our lives.

At the same time, 7 months in central and South America has given me an even greater appreciation for the country I call home, the place where I grew up.

The United States of America is a place where stores almost always have change for a $20 bill, many stores are open 24-7, the bathrooms nearly always have tissue paper and toilet seats, and the spirit of the people, more than anywhere else I’ve ever been, says both in word and in action, “we can do it if we’ll just work hard at it.”

I am so grateful for the opportunities provided by our travels of the last seven months, and I’m very grateful as well for the opportunities and life I’ve been able to have growing up and living in the United States.

Where Have You Been?

Jonathan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:54:18 +0000

Carrie &Jonathon,

I’m confused looking at your site… you guys have traveld a lot looks like… where all have u been?

james

Hey James!

Well, we have done a lot of travel in the past, but since October, we’ve been permanently on the road, living wherever we are…

Here are a couple of maps to show where we were in October-December.

After that we were in Colorado briefly.

In January, we flew back to Costa Rica and took the bus to David, Panama.

What we have been up to since January is on the map below.

Now we’re in Quito, Ecuador, taking Spanish classes.

Thanks for asking and for visiting our website!

Podcast #5: The Northern Part of Central America

strive4impact — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:33:09 +0000

In this podcast, we cover about 7 weeks of travel, from the time we left Granada, Nicaragua, early in December, through today, January 18.

Download the travel podcast MP3 here
We cover our travels through places and experiences like:

Parading Mary through the streets of Granada, and fireworks
Nicaragua to El Salvador through Honduras – didn’t get off the bus at all, no stamps in our passports
Staying at Hotel Novo Apart
Climbing Puerto del Diablo
Pupusas
Walking through the Calle Ruben Diario Market in San Salvador
Ticabus to Guatemala at 5:00 AM
Jerk taxi driver in Guatemala City
Dai Nonni hotel (great shower and packed us lunch)
Eating at Friends (oh joy) where we had a salad w/hearts of palm, avocado, pesto (tomato and red onion)
National monument of Guatemala
Walking through Guatemala City at 4AM to be picked up to go to Copan, Honduras
Arriving in Copan at 10:30 AM felt like 3 PM
Seeing Copan ruins (and meeting the Dutch people)
Napping in Copan
Beers in Honduras (not so good)
Breakfast with no power and artisan market
Shuttle to Antigua
Hotel in Antigua didn’t have our reservation – stayed at Casa Luna (kind of like a hostel, but only $17) instead
Booked Pacaya – went to Pacaya Volcano (lava roasted marshmallows -riding horses – Getting separated from Carrie taking other trail)
Pizza w/Robin from Belgium
Macadamia tour near Antigua
Mexican food at Fridas, and eating street food in Antigua (yummy!)
Left for Panajachel/Atitlan (tubas early in morning) crazy driver – suicidal driving + crazy loud music
Atitlan boat tour (3 cities)
Hotel Utz Jay (finally got some sleep on uncomfortable beds, but hot showers)
Chichicastenango (colorful city for sure – lady+daughter with sour Atol who asked us to take her daughter with us)
All day at chichi (trip back to Antigua took 45 minutes longer than trip there)
3 hours in Antigua
Antigua to Guatemala City
FDN Bus company in Guatemala City to Flores bus station – waiting 1 hour 15 minutes in Flores
Jorge showed up.
Waiting 2 hours at airport
Pick up Nixon (Tikal tour guide) and head to Tikal
No park entry paid for (even though we paid for it)
Touring Tikal
Dinner and staying overnight at Hotel Jungle Lodge (good sleep)
Trying to figure out how to get tickets for next day with no cash… asked 7 people
Touring Tikal day 2
Going back to Santa Elena – spent the afternoon on the Internet from a backpacker’s hotel in Santa Elena
Arriving in Guatemala City at 5:30 am
Asking to be taken to Westin Camino Real because it’s all we knew
Trying to “hide” from WCR people so we could stay there until something opened.
And Cafe
Breakfast
Taxi back to Tica Bus
TB is 2.5 hours late
Arrival in El Salvador, stay at TicaBus hotel
Leave early in the morning (TB is 30 min late)
Arrival in Managua, getting back to Granada
Dinner at Mexican restaurant, meet Tom (from the states, who bought a house in Granada)
Day at Hotel Terrasol
Dinner at hotel Terrasol
Massages
Market
Dinner w/ martin and Tom (Don Luca Pizza)
Seeing Tom’s house
Breakfast at hotel
Tica bus station in Granada
Bus is 1 hour late
Crazy traffic, and long time at border
Arrive at San Jose, Costa Rica
Hotel Adventure Inn in San Jose
The great breakfast at the Hotel Adventure Inn
Returning to Colorado for Christmas
Returning to San Jose, Costa Rica
Heading to and touring David, Panama
Arriving and house-sitting for a couple of weeks in Boquete, Panama
Things we forgot to talk about were in Nicaragua.
These included:
Street food in Granada (Yummy)
Mombacho cigars (fun tour)
Cemetery (Huge monuments like those in Buenos Aires’ Recoletta Cemetery)
Scheduling TicaBus (Where to find TicaBus in Granada)
Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed talking about our travels!
Listen to the podcast or download it below.
(If you use the player, after you click the play button, it may take a moment, so please be patient or click the download link.)

Download the travel podcast MP3 here
The call was produced using Skype. it was edited using Sony Vegas.

Tourism Map of Central America: Our Map from 3 months of Travel

strive4impact — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:31:44 +0000

In three months, we visited 6 countries, covered over 2,500 land miles (mostly by bus) and saw some really amazing places.
We also met some truly fantastic people – both people who are involved in tourism as tourists and tourist guides, and people who are living their lives in the countries we visited.
This map is not yet 100% complete, but gives you an idea of the places we’ve been and what we’ve been up to.
If you’re looking to ride Ticabus or Tracopa and want to know exact locations, this map should be rather helpful for you.
Also, we’ve tried to put in all our hotel stays (Think we got them all on here) and will be linking from this map to the reviews on our site so that you can easily get to everything in one place.
This should help you know where to stay if you visit these countries.
If you’re going to Central America, we hope that this helps you to both find things you’d like to see and do, as well as to know where exactly those things to see and do are located.
If this map does prove helpful for you, please comment below and let us know!

Carrie’s Current countries visited

carrie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:32:47 +0000

visited 15 states (6.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World
On our trip through Central America, I got to add 6 countries to my map of visited countries. It’s too bad not all of them have a stamp representation in my passport.
I’ve actually been to more countries that this, but I didn’t spend the night, so they don’t count. I’ve been to France numerous times when I lived in Germany, and I also drove through Austria. They’ll be added to the list sometime soon through.

Geckos, Roosters, Fireworks, Car Alarms, Children, Dogs, Sneezing, Parades and Bells, Doorbells, and Construction

strive4impact — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:15:04 +0000

What can you really do about so much noise but laugh?
I’m a relatively light sleeper, and have learned to travel with earplugs. In fact, before departing on this part of our travel/working experience, Carrie and I bought a box of 500+ earplugs on Amazon.
We used some of these at La Tortuga Feliz and haven’t used them too much since. Not that we haven’t had occasion to. With the exception of Hotel Angela (where we had an interior room) and our time in Boquete, Panama, every morning and often in the middle of the night, I’ve been awoken by the sounds of roosters, children, fireworks, children, dogs, parades, or bells. In general, I find North Americans and American culture to be pretty noisy, but I’m finding Central Americans and Central America to be even noisier.
As I’m writing this, Carrie just woke up and asked me (first thing – not “good morning” or anything like that, but) “Is that a dog or a sick frog?”
In general, every city in Central America (and in Argentina) has some stray dogs which seem to do the majority of their barking between 9PM and 3AM. About 2:30 AM and continuing through to about 5:30 or 6:00 AM come the roosters. They continue throughout the day, but this is when the majority of their sounds occur. Roosters are PLENTIFUL in almost every place we’ve been in Central America, most of them sharing their calls LONG before I can see any sign of sunlight.
Then come the fireworks. I like fireworks as much as anyone, but regardless of where we have been (again excepting Boquete), there have been fireworks every day just before 6AM, just before 6PM, and frequently around noon. Sometimes they also get shot off for a few minutes at midnight.
Why so many fireworks? Well, apparently that’s what they do in Central America in December and January to celebrate Christmas. There’s even a saying in nicaragua which goes something along the lines of “a man always has money for beer and fireworks, even if he can’t afford to feed his own family.”
In Granada, Nicaragua, they have 9 days of celebrations for the Immaculate Conception of Jesus in which they revere statues of Mary and parade them through the town to the church. These are fun festivals which include candied apples, trinkets, and of course, fireworks.

I’ve tried to get more in-depth explanations in the other cities where we’ve been of why people light off so many fireworks, and the response has been that it’s part of Christmas tradition.
We’ve come to love geckos and the sound they make because it means there’s something around us eating bugs and flying insects. But geckos as well are quite loud.
There are church bells which go off at 6AM, and in some places, every hour as well.
In David, Panama, where there used to be several banana plantations for Chiquita, there’s a siren sound that goes off three times/day, something like 7AM, 12PM and 7PM, marking the beginning and end of the work day, and lunch/siesta time. It’s not really necessary since the advent of the alarm clock, but they continue to do it (as we understand it) out of tradition. Also in David, we happened to be there for the Panamanian Independence Days celebrations, which meant being awoken both days by parades. I thoroughly enjoyed these parades – just giving a sense of all the noises around.
Construction, in hot places like Granada, begins at 7AM (or earlier). I’m assuming they do this so that there’s time for the afternoon siesta, because it really is too darn hot to work in the middle of the day.
Usually, by this time of day (7:30 AM), there is someone up and around in the hotels and apartments we’re in (as there is right now), making usual morning noises like opening doors, scooting chairs, taking showers, making coffee, sneezing, whistling, or attempting to talk quietly. And if you have managed to sleep through all of that, there are always children playing somewhere by (at the latest) 8:30 AM.
Maybe it’s just the places we have been, or the speed at which we’ve been traveling the past couple of weeks. When we slowed down in Boquete, Panama, it was quiet there. When we slowed down in Bocas Del Toro, it was quiet there. But part of the reason we slowed down our travel in those places is because it was quiet there. So, I’m not really sure which came first.
In any case, it seems that life in Central America is (in general) loud. It’s not so much a complaint as a statement of fact and a realization (on my part) of this fact.
One thing I’m really liking this morning in Antigua is the cool, crisp air. It’s really nice to be able to huddle down under a couple layers of blankets in the 60degree (Fahrenheit) temperature.

Thoughts From El Salvador (2)

strive4impact — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:45:25 +0000

10:45 PM
Hotel Novo Apart

Verb of the day – Pensar – to think
Pienso (pensarme) – I think
Pensamos – we think

Notes:

Met Gerard Akse from Holland
- Helped him with email issue, had great conversation over dinner.

Met Josue (our surprisingly 23 year old) taxi driver who took us to Puerto del Diablo, where he hiked with us to the top. He also took us to have traditional El Salvadorean food – Pupusa (a thick corn tortilla filled with whatever you want to put in it – cheese, chicken, etc.)

Took Taxi back to hotel.

Took additional taxi to Museo Antrrpologico, which was pretty interesting. It would be even more interesting, I´m sure, if my Spanish were better.

There was a mummified Mayan person there in a glass case which was rather surprising and a bit shocking since I was in the room for a while before I noticed it.

Took another taxi to the National Cathedral – Catedral Nacional – huge and beautiful.

Saw the Palacio Nacional

Walked back along Calle Ruben Diario (street named for a famous poet) and 3-4 blocks of the street are a crazy market lining both sides of the street.

Saw an additional church on the way which had been extended or remodeled at some point. Looked like two churches smashed together.

Had dinner at the hotel restaurant (good salad and good pasta) and a great conversation with Gerard.

El Salvador Prices:
1.5 Liter Bottle of water = .70
Car and driver = $7-$10 per hour
Taxi across town (10 minutes) = $5

Novo Apart Hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador

strive4impact — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:14:50 +0000

The Novo Apart hotel is appropriately named. It´s apart from the main part of the city while still being a part of the city. The rooms at Novo Apart are also set up to be like apartments.

The beds at Hotel Novo Apart were comfortable and the shower was warm. Not hot, but it was definitely a warm shower for the entire duration of my 8 minute shower, something I´ve discovered to be a bit of a novelty in Central America.

My favorite part of Novo Apart Hotel was the breakfast (Desayuno: dess – eye – you – no in Spanish). They had cook-to-order omlettes (a treat we haven´t had since hotel Aranjuez in Costa Rica), fried yucca with spicy salsa, watermelon, bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, and plantain sweetened and with cinnamon.

People do a lot with plantain in central America. It´s fun to discover all kinds of new options for things we can do with food when we get to a place where we`ll be cooking again.

We could have cooked at our kitchen at Novo Apart… there were dishes and a pan and a stove, but we were only in San Salvador for 1 day and 2 nights so we wanted to maximize our time in seeing the city.

We also had dinner at the hotel. Novo Apart´s restaurant has many options on their dinner menu, and Carrie and I both found options we liked, which included a side salad… something we’ve been missing during our travels in central America.

We didn’t use the pool, but from our experience, Novo Apart´s pool is very clean and a nice place to sit while relaxing or catching some El Salvadorean sun.

Most El Salvador hotels we found were $110 or more per night. At $65-$80 per night, Hotel Novo Apart is one of the least expensive nicer hotels we found in San Salvador, and it comes recommended if you´re looking for a less expensive option where you will still feel comfortable and catered to.

Thoughts From El Salvador

carrie — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:37:13 +0000

1:30 AM
Hotel Novo Apart
Quick thoughts since I’´m so very tired right now.

Today –> Granada –> Managua (UCA Bus Terminal) –> TAXI –> Managua Ticabus Terminal –> Through Honduras –> El Salvador (Ticabus) –> TAXI –> Hotel Novo Apart

Traveling by public transport is cool, fun, interesting, and difficult.

Man snoring loudly on Ticabus

Carrie´s great story about 2 lemosn, 1 lime, a pomegranate tree, a telephone pole, and boys playing a game around the tree where they beat eachother with their shoes (ask her to tell the story some time)

Rest stop in El Salvador ha¨d Secrets of the MIllionaire MInd by T Harv Eker – been meaning to read the book, but didn´t even look at the price because all the other books an the same rack were way ´´over´´priced. Only later did I realize the tragic irony of not buying a book that´s been mentioned to me multiple times, placed within easy reach (in El Salvador, of all places) and that it´s MY mind that needs changing, and the book will help me with that, and I didn´t buy it because it´s my mind that needs changing. (The same thing that prevented the purchase is the exact reason (or at least a reason) why I need to buy the book.

Oh yeah, El Salvador uses the United States dollar as its currency.