I was enamored with my little cream car when I purchased it from a salesman named Dennis back in ’05. For a Colorado girl, driving a cute, bubbly convertible VW in the California sun was a dream!
Four years later, the cuteness wore off, and the little bug’s ugly side reared its head. I started having trouble with the accelerator and the startling sounds of a mechanic’s cash register crashed in my ears. I was hoping it would be a cheap and easy fix but there is no “cheap” or “easy” in the German engineering lexicon. I needed a new transmission, which would cost a pretty penny.
After dropping off my junk heap with Art, the mechanic, Chris and I were cruising down the 163 in his reliable, problem- free 1992 Geo Metro. I was talking about all the cars I wish I had bought - any car that passed seemed better than mine. I saw an old conversion van roll by, and I told Chris maybe we should just buy one of those and go road trippin’. An idea took root -- my memory is foggy, I can’t remember who conceived the plan – but we started talking about buying and fixing up an old van only to drive to the tip of South America and back north to Alaska.
This absolutely crazy idea seemed reasonable to both of us.
When we got home that afternoon I started researching the purchase of said van and driving to Argentina. I hit a big road block pretty quickly in my search: The Darien Gap. How had I never heard of this? I didn’t realize that the Pan American highway stopped abruptly in the southern jungles of Panama! From the Gap you have to ferry your car to Columbia which is a huge money and time suck.
Reality started to set in from this point. I love Chris, but did I really want to live with him in a VAN for a YEAR? His body odor, his freakishly straight body hair and lack of underwear seemed underwhelming and extreme. Plus, we didn’t have the financial resources to wing such a trip. Still our hopes for an adventure did not die.
From our headstrong goal of covering two continents and thousands of miles, we paired down the excursion to several months in Central America…and scrapped the van. We both knew this would still be an adventure of a lifetime.
So that’s how the seed was planted for us to quit our stable jobs, head to Central America for several months, travel, volunteer and have crazy adventures in foreign places. I never thought I’d thank Dennis for selling me a crappy car, with a crappy transmission, crappy electrical system and a steadily unraveling convertible top. Who knows? We may have never thought of this hair brained scheme if my transmission wasn’t left for dead on the east bound lanes of Highway 54. Thanks, Dennis.
Our adventure begins the morning of February 13 in Panama City, Panama, where we arrive from LAX on an overnight flight. We’re going to take a city bus from the airport to our hotel in Casco Viejo. Originally, I wanted to take a cab but Chris said we should dive in head first and travel the way we’ll be traveling for the rest of our trip – “Donde esta la hotel?” Unless the water is shallow, headfirst is always the best policy, right? That or a cannonball.
We spend two weeks in Panama. We don’t have firm plans yet, but we’ll be in Panama City for about four or five days, then we head north for the city of Boquete beneath Volcan Baru, after which we press on towards Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side. This is our last stop in the country before we cross the border into Costa Rica.
On the South East side of Costa Rica we bed down in an area called Puerto Viejo where we will be volunteering with an organization called the Jaguar Rescue Center. We’ll be volunteering for roughly three weeks and have rented a small “tree house” to live in while we’re volunteering. It was Chris’ “dream house” – off the grid, in the jungle, a hammock outside and an outstanding price tag.
From Costa Rica, we continue north to Nicaragua where we scoop up our awesome brother and sister in law for a week-long adventure in Isla Ometepe and Granada. Eric “the small” and Mandy “the wrecking ball” Parkes, we love you guys so much and are excited to have you share in our experience. Thanks for coming to see us!
After we drop Mandy and Eric back at the international airport in Managua, we’ll head to the rustic, tropical paradise of Little Corn Island. The idea behind Little Corn Island is to do exactly nothing for at least a week!
Our itinerary opens up wide after our sojourn to Little Corn. We want to have this trip unfold naturally for a few months. Sometime in April we start another volunteer deal with an organization breeding/rescuing sea turtles, but we are stilling working out the details with the folks from Loma Linda University. I’m learning that things happen slowly in Central America, so I must be patient.
As of now, we plan on being gone three to four months. We’d like to see as much of Central America as possible. We’ll definitely be hitting up Guatemala and Belize to see some Mayan ruins, Lake Atitlan and who knows where else!
We’ll end our visit with a stop in Oaxaca, Mexico, where we’ll spend a week or so and then catch a plane ride back to TJ. Only after purchasing hot churros, a cup of corn, two el borracho wrestling masks and a velvet Jesus will we step back across the border and snag a cab to 4075 Georgia St.
That’s it for now. We should be pretty well-connected during our entire trip – allegedly, Internet cafes are everywhere. I wonder if the rebels let you post to Facebook?
