This is roughly my route. My tentative itinerary:
Day 1: Land in Guatemala City at around 11 a.m. Check-in at the Marriott. This is basically Fort Knox, and it's popular with State Department folks and desperate Americans trying to adopt Guatemalan babies. I will hire a cab driver to take me to buy my bus ticket and to stock up on provisions. Because I only travel with one carry-on bag, I cannot carry razor blades or liquids (toothpaste, hand sanitizer, water, shampoo, etc.) on the plane.
Day 2: Leave Guatemala City, cross border with El Salvador, spend the night in San Salvador at cheap motel adjacent to bus station. Due to the security situation, there are no overnight buses. So I have to spend the night in a spartan motel room.
Day 3: Leave San Salvador, cross borders with Honduras and Nicaragua, spend the night in Managua. Same security situation. If I am on schedule, I may take a day off and spend it in the colonial lakeside town of Granada.
Day 4: Leave Nicaragua, cross border with Costa Rica, arrive in San Jose.
Day 5: Leave Costa Rica, cross border into Panama, arrive in Panama City.
Day 6: Hang out in Panama City.
Day 7-8: Take a local bus to Yaviza in the Darien Province. This is the end of the North American segment of the Pan-American Highway. Snap a photo. Return to Panama City.
Day 9: From Panama City, take a bus or train to Colon. Ride on a boat through the Panama Canal from ocean to ocean.
Nothing is set in stone, but this gives you a pretty good idea. I have my plane tickets and will make a reservation at the Guatemala City Marriott. Everything else will be done on an ad hoc basis.
The Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, if not all the countries you'll be visiting, is by far the sunnier and more relaxing. Our family visited CR in December 2010 on a volunteering vacation (I worked in an AIDS clinic and an orphanage). The Pacific Coast's blonde beaches and mischievous monkeys were literally the only bright spots of our two weeks there. San Jose was somewhat depressing and the Caribbean Coast was the rainiest rainforest that ever did see rain.
ReplyDeleteMy two articles sprouting from that trip:
http://www.carenvy.ca/2010/12/piaggio-ape-in-costa-rica/
http://www.carenvy.ca/2011/03/non-porsche-cayman-in-coastal-costa-rica/