Thoughts After Seven Months of Travel

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.

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(Not So) Frequently Asked Questions

Probably more often than I should, I check what words and phrases people have typed into Google to get to our web site.

Tracking what people want to know about is important if you want to be of service to others.

Also, it’s just fun to see what Google thinks CarrieAndJonathan.com is about.

Today, I want to share a tiny smattering of what I discovered people have been looking for, prior to landing on our site.

Also, I want to answer their questions.

These are all actual search phrases typed into Google by people before they landed on our site.

“what are chifles”/”what is an ecuadorian chifles”
Despite the funny English in this question, I am happy to respond to this one. In Ecuador, Chifles are chips made from thinly sliced green plantain.  They are very delicious.  We like chifles better than potato chips (which we don’t really like, so that’s a terrible comparison.  That previous sentence should say: We like chifles.)

“how far is it from david, panama to boquete, panama?“
Taking the local bus, it’s about 1 hour to Boquete from David, Panama, give or take 20 minutes.  Boquete is absolutely worth a visit for a few days, if not longer.

“are frozen bananas bad for you?”
Is frozen water bad for you?

“does it matter if you use yellow or green plantains when making patacones”
Yes, use green plantain. The yellow plantains won’t work for patacones.  They’re still delicious when fried, just not the right plantain to use for patacones.

“can you see lava masaya”
We weren’t able to see lava at Masaya volcano… lots of sulfuric ash spewing from the mouth of the volcano though.  You can, however, roast marshmallows over lava at Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala near Antigua.  (Take the marshmallows and a stick with you though.  There’s nothing except people renting out horses as taxis up the volcano, and kids selling walking sticks, once you get out to start your trek up the volcano).

“do ecuadors eat cuy/why do ecuadorians eat gineapig”
Yes EcuadorIANS do eat cuy.  Why they eat guinea pig is beyond me as I don’t like the flavor at all. Not all Ecuadorians eat guinea pig, but my guess is that many do because they like the flavor of it.  Others eat cuy as a social custom or tradition.

“does everyone in ecuador have a pet chicken”
No, just the people who live close to wherever you happen to be trying to sleep.

“how many mph can a koala run”
That is a good question… Maybe you should race one to find out.

Keep those Google visitors and random searches coming!

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Where Have You Been?

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

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Podcast #5: The Northern Part of Central America

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:

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Video: Monkeys At The Mayan Ruins of Tikal

This short video of spider monkeys (monkeying around) was taken on Dec. 15 when we visited the Mayan Ruins at Tikal, Guatemala.
Watch as the adult monkey leaps out and grabs a branch so that the baby spider monkey can crawl across it’s back to the other tree.

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

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!

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Carrie’s Current countries visited

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.

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Tikal Mayan Ruins at Tikal, Guatemala (Lots of Photos)

We will be posting our thoughts on Tikal park and the Tikal Mayan ruins very soon…

For now, we’re just posting some of our favorite pictures.
In 2 days, we took over 130 photos of the amazing ruins at Tikal.
Suffice it to say that we loved our visit to the Mayan Ruins in Tikal, Guatemala and will have more to say (in this post) soon.
For now, we hope you enjoy the visuals from a place that is being restored… a city that is over 1,000 years old and is being dug out of the jungle so that it will be preserved in it’s best state for future generations.

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Wanted: Great Travel Agent

I feel bad for the Germans whom we met today, Thomas and Kristin, who got to listen to us complain about the confusion caused by…
I have no idea what it’s been caused by actually. Perhaps different expectations and/or understandings about the travels we booked through plus Travel in Antigua, Guatemala.
Thomas and Kristin met and saw us at the height of our frustration.
Three times in our travels in the last few years, Carrie and I have used travel agents. Three times it has turned out creating frustrating results.
In my mind, in 2009, in an era when anyone can do their own research and make their own reservations online, (or via phone) directly with providers of services, the role of a travel agent is to make things easier and less expensive (since they should be able to pass along discounted prices and connections they have worked to build).
Perhaps the travel agents we have used don’t view their role this way, but at this point, I don’t envision us ever hiring a travel agent again.
In short, here is the gist.

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Chichicastenango on Market Day (AKA: We ARE The Giants from the North)

Did you grow up hearing tales about Giants from the North? I know I did. I’ve even heard them referenced in numerous movies and children’s fairy tales.
I was never too concerned about giants though (it was vampires that terrified – terrify – me).
Today I learned something about myself.
The reason that I was never afraid of giants is because I am one.
I am a Giant from the North.

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