Chap 3 (Central America)

---November 2nd 2015---

As I was crossing the bridge to enter my third country, a border patrol stopped me, and told me to come in. After looking at my passport, he looked at me at asked me where was my immigration paper and my stamp. As mentioned at the very beginning of the Mexican chapter, when I crossed the border, the people told me there wasn’t any border, so for the last 2 weeks, I had being visiting Mexico illegally. I did my best to explain my situation using the few Spanish words I knew, and eventually, the border patrol stamped my passport. That wasn’t without paying the 50$ immigration tax, that I tried to argue up until he showed in the law book, that he was right and that I was wrong.

I then got to the Belize side of the custom, they didn’t quite understand why I was hitchhiking the country but they let me pass, this time filling the paperwork. When I got to the question: How long do plan staying in the country; I answered with 3-4 days, thinking it would actually take me that amount of days to go through the country. The border patrol looked at my optimism telling me: “Are you sure you can cross in only 4 days? It does seem very realist.” but I was confident. And so, at 7:30 on the 2nd of November, I got through.

Fifteen minutes it all it took for me to get a first ride in this new country, and it is the longest I had to wait in Belize. I wanted to get to Dangriga to go snorkeling, and despite being quite south, I got there by 14 o’clock. I went to the agency to go snorkeling only to find the most inefficient business I’ve ever had to deal with. I asked for a price on snorkeling, but they didn’t know. so I asked how to go snorkeling, to be told that I needed to walk around town to ask people to lift me (by boat) to the islands, and that from the island, I would need to go to the different resorts to ask for a price, also telling me that I couldn’t camp for free on the island. I asked if she had an idea of the pricing, but she once more told me no .I asked her, if she any pamphlets: no! Could she contact one of the resorts to get a price: no! In other word, I need to walk to the river to ask random people to boat me to the island (40$ US) to be forced to pay for a night (at least 10$ to camp) and once on the island I could see if the price is indeed reasonable and take a decision; snorkeling might be nice, but that is too much maybes and the chance of regretting going too far was big, so I just left.

Back on the road, this time, destination Guatemala. I got a ride out of town, and another bringing me 20min drive from the border, also buying me a burger. From there, I got to the border, but it was not for today. I notice 2 abandoned houses, but needing to charge my things, I got to a small gas station, asking for electricity, and they greet me like kings. I got to charge my electronic, got 2 papayas, 2 oranges, a bag of cookies, a cake, they gave the internet connection of the neighboring business, and knowing the owner of the business told me I could camp under the roof on the porch. To finish things of, one of the guy, came back to bring me some bread, 2 extra oranges, and a can of tuna. Definitely, people in Belize are really nice people.

As I was told, I threw my tent on the neighbour’s porch, thinking he was going to be informed, but he wasn’t; and intrigued by the fact someone was camping on his shop’s property, he called to cops, not to arrest me, nor to kick me out, simply to have them check who I was. And so the cop showed up, I talked with them, explained who I was, what my trip was all about, and why I was sleeping on the porch. They told me all was good, and that I could stay there for the night, and that was it. 

Overall, I may have stayed for only 24h in the country, but I still managed to travel through 429km (which is the quasi-totality of the entire road system of the country), and got into 12 cars and got 3 meals. All that with 15 minutes waits at my longest, so a definite thumb up for Belize.

For the second time in 2 days, the first thing to do in the morning was to tackle a border: Guatemala. I passed through the Belize side to “check out”, which once more had an exit fee of $18.75 (US) and got to the Guatemala side. One stamp later, I got in my 4th country. 

I crossed town and started hitchhiking, but without much luck. The only car who would stop were taxi or buses, and after repeating the same phrase I always say when they stop “No tienes dineros”, they would leave (unlike in Mexico). Finally, a man working in a nearby store felt bad for me, and gave me 35 quetzals (Guatemala’s money), and told me 30 was for a taxi to Flores, and 5 for water. I thanked him, but said I wasn’t going to use it for taxi, but he didn’t mind. 

Finally, after 1h05 I got my first ride, a taxi which accepted to give me a free ride. Not long after being dropped, I got another ride to the exit of Flores, and after a few minutes, the last ride I had to wait for. I got myself 4 rides in a row within 1min from the previous ride. The second to last ride was the longest, bringing me to Cobán. Despite not being very impressive at first, once I got to the sierra near Cobán, the Guatemalan’s nature showed its true beauty. All along the road, step and pointy mountains, by the hundreds, were sticking out of the flatness of the previous landscape, and without any foothills. Eventually, the road got in the sierra, and we started zigzagging between these jungle covered pointy peaks. 

As we arrived in town, I got hit by reality, breaking the magic created by the road, as it started to rain, and I couldn’t find a place to shelter from the rain for the night. I got to the edge of town, and tried to hitch one last ride before the imminent darkness, and got one. The two guys brought me to San Pedro Carchá, where once more, I was in a city without shelter. The “rain” was still just a drizzle, so I followed the instruction (half-understood) and got to the central park, where I asked the police to help me out, and they sent me to a church, where I stayed for the end of the speech. Being the only white person in church, and carrying a big packsack, the priest immediately knew why I was there. So after church, he came to see me and asked me who I was. I explained my situation, in English since the priest spoke it, and he offered me to stay in a classroom behind the church. For the 3rd time, since I left the Northeast Kingdom, I found a way to escape from the rain before it could affect me.

Two nights out of the rain at the church's school

The next morning, the priest of the church, Victor, asked me if I wanted to come back to sleep after having visited Semuc Chamey. I wasn’t sure if I was going to, but realised that the forecast was going to be wet for another day, so I’ve arranged my day to come back to San Pedro Carchá. 

Reaching Semuc Champey was a challenge due to its remoteness, but my hitchhiking skills got me there in not time, and with class. I first got a ride out of town by a motorcycle. Ten minutes later, a minibus stopped and after having told them I had no money, they told me to hop in. Just a few miles from the intersection, I got another motorcycle to ride me for a mile. But this is where thing were not looking great, well not the view. The road to reach Semuc Champey was a tiny dirt road zigzagging through the steep wall of the mountains, with surprising inclination. Oh, and let’s not forget the thousands of potholes spread through the entirety of the road. There was no way I was going to meet a car, but having to walk 22km to reach the park, I thought that eventually, I would meet someone and try to get a ride from him. I thought right since only 10 minutes later, a Pepsi delivery truck (not an 18-wheeler) passed by telling me to jump in the back. So, the first 11km of the dirt road took place with both feet hanging out of a Pepsi truck, shacking and bouncing in all direction, and passing through rain, as I was hanging on chains (just in case).

Once in the tiny town of Langùin, I barely had time to cross town that a pickup stopped by my side asking my favorite Spanish phrase: “Dónde vas?” They were also going to the river, so I hoped in. After hearing about my trip, they invited me in the park, where we hiked a very difficult trail to an overlook of the gorgeous travertines creating incredibly turquoise pools, with a few waterfalls connecting each pools. To go back to the trek, it wasn’t difficult for its length or its cardio, but the trail was extremely steep and slippery, the step were very traitorous and uneven, and missing a few, of course. After the view, came the swimming. The travertines were open for public, so I undressed to my underwear and jumped in the first pool. The Sun was warm, the sky was blue, the water was at perfect temperature, and I felt amazing. Hitchhiking, you don’t get much relaxation time, you don’t sleep well, always hungry and thirsty, too hot or too cold, sometime stuck under the rain, constantly waiting for cars, walking through city carrying heavy loads, and always stress as where to sleep at night. But to be taking some time off and swim in this incredible masterpiece of nature, knowing you have a ride back in town and knowing you have a place to sleep just felt like magical. 

The magical view from the overlook of Semuc Champey

After the more than appreciated swim, the couple which brought me to the park, and were going to bring back in town stopped at a small food stand near the river, and got to eat, not only a great local meal, but in surprising portion. And since nobody, except me, could finish there plate, I got leftover food for breakfast. What a great day!

After a second night at the church’s school, I packed my bag and left for El Salvador. As I mentioned a few times, I may not eat much on this trip, but that day was definitely an exception, as I finished the leftover from the night before, one of my ride bought me a burger, and another one brought me to a restaurant for lunch and bought me food before leaving on the side of the road, for a total of 4 meals in my day. 

Once at the border, I started looking for a place to sleep, but everybody would tell me how dangerous it was to stay outside at night, finishing by saying to go at the border and ask for help. When I got to the border, the official told me to sleep on the concrete porch, right next to the security’s door, and that they would keep an eye on me. Still being early, I read for an hour, took my shirt off to sow it (a normal thing to do at the Guatemala-El Salvador border!!) and went to bed. I didn’t take anything out of my bag, so I sleep with my clothes on, wrapped around my bag. At first, I couldn’t help but laugh at the craziness of the event, but very rapidly, I realized how long my night would be. Being on the porch of the border, I was right next to very heavy traffic (lots of loud 18-wheelers, buses, motorcycles, etc.) and having a roof over this traffic, everything was amplified by their eco. Furthermore, not long in my “sleep” the security guard closed his door, so I, the gringo, was sleeping in a “dangerous” area, under the spot light, with my bag easy to steal, I technically, I’ll be unconscious for a few hours; reassuring indeed!!! I fell asleep at around 10:30, to wake up at 12:00, 2:00, and finally, at the 3am, the vendor took over the border. Steel pipe banging, people waking very close to my bag (a little stressful), rope thrown on me; there was no way I was falling back to sleep where I was, so I got into a small bent, between two columns, about 4 feet from each other, and tried to go back to sleep despite the discomfort, but another vendor came by me, once more pushing me to change place. So I went to sleep on a small patch of trash and dirt, where I wrapped myself once more around my bag and “finished my night”. Not able to fall back asleep, I just laid down until about 4:30am. I crossed the Guatemalan border, crossed to the El Salvadoran one, and in pitch darkness, at around 5:15am, I started hitchhiking. 

Sleeping "homeless-style" for the first time

Fifteen minutes is all it took to get a minibus to pull over and accept to give me a ride. Still in the darkness, we got to cross a road block, where a fully geared army patrol with a face mask approached me from the dark and started taking to me in Spanish. I didn’t understand, but since he was looking at my bag, I told him what I had, and he let us pass. Once out of the bus, I cross yet another road block, but this time they didn’t ask me for anything. I raised my thumb, and another bus stopped, this time a bigger one, which brought me to Santa Ana. 

My goal was to reach the Laguna Alegria, and against all odds, I managed to reach it in one day. I went around the lake, and asked for direction to the overlook, but not understanding the direction, and not able to find the trailhead, I improvised my way up the crater. The path up wasn’t hard, as I followed cow path up the hill. Once at the summit, I couldn’t find the actual overlook, but a big rock let me have a great view of the green sulfuric lake in the middle of its crater. Seeing some sort of trail, I thought it would bring me back to the road, so I followed it, nut not long after, I realised that it wasn’t a trail. I looked around, and no more trail. The vegetation easy to push around, and noticing a dry creek, I decided to follow the creek downhill where I knew I would cross the road I had just walked on. I was wrong to think it was going to be easy as the vegetation became denser and denser. Every step became a war against nature. I had to break hundreds of branch to be able to take one step, would need to crawl in the dirt to bypass some ridiculously dense zones, walk on top of the plants, would get stuck, wrapped in vines, not able to see where I was going: it was hell! But eventually, I got back on the road, and walked to the office where I took my bag and left. It was starting to get late, and I was quite remote, but I wanted to eat, and shower, but not having changed my money to El Salvadoran dollars, I couldn’t. My solution, push my luck until sunset and try to talk someone into helping me out for the night. It didn’t work out, as three rides later; I was dropped at an intersection in the middle of the lightning show offered by Mother Nature. As I walked back to a small bridge where I thought I could hide from the coming rain, someone whistled at me. He asked me who I was, inviting me at the same time. His brother showed up a few minutes later, and he spoke English, so we talk for a while, and then he invited me to eat. After an amazing meal, we got back to his home, and a few minutes before the storm finally started, I got inside where I took a shower, washed my cloths, and fell asleep on a hammock. Needless to say that after the lack of sleep pf the night before, the starvation endured during the day, and the way to difficult and dirtying hike I had just done, I slept like baby.

Finally, a view point

As I was hitching toward the border, I got picked up by a guy who was also crossing the border, and so, for the first time on this trip, I crossed the border with someone. Once on the other side, we went our separate way as he was heading east, and I south. But twenty minutes later, he picked me up again. The road he tried to take was a dirt road, so he decided to pass by the capital instead. 

Honduras was easy to cross, and took less than a day. I usually prefer crossing border in the morning, but I wanted to accumulate a few more miles and decided to cross to Nicaragua in the evening.

The Nicaragua border was definitely different from the others, the people around that border were even worst then the one from any other border I crossed. For instance, the “Bicycle-taxi” told me that there was a 3km gap between the two borders, but not having the money to take one of those, I kept on rejecting the offers, and little did I know, the Nicaragua border was only 10min walk. The other annoying person was the typical money exchange person. I took the money I had to change out, calculated how much I had, and using the application on my phone found how much I was supposed to get. The price I and on my phone was far from the price he came up with. I told him he made a mistake.

-No mistake senor, he said. Look, you have 400$, multiply by 2, and you got 800$.

-Yeah, but on my phone it says you own me 1236$, I’m 400$ short.

-No, no, look, you have 400$, multiply by 2, and you got 800$, he repeated.

-Yeah and where does this “2x” come from? Do you have a proof, because on my phone, it tells me otherwise?

-Ok, look, you have 400$, multiply by 2.5, and you got 1000$, he said trying to make me believe he was compromising, but I just took my money back, giving his back and left telling him I wasn’t going to trade with him.

-Ok, look, you have 400$, multiply by 3, and you got 1200$, he desperately said seeing I wasn’t going get fooled.

I finally accepted seeing I was only loosing 36$ from Nicaragua (note that I don’t remember the actual price as so the number might not make perfect sense, but it gives an idea). After all, I lost about 0,30$, which is far from being that bad.

As I tried to have one last ride for the day, an 18-wheeler stopped by. He was going to Managua, half way across Nicaragua. We drove for a big portion of the evening, and part of the night. Closing in on our destination, he invited me for diner, and finally let me off at the intersection between the road leading to San Juan del Sul, and the one going to Managua. 

As I was looking to brake-in an abandoned property to shelter in the abandoned house, a guy stopped by and invited me to stay over at his house. Once home, he prepared me a bed. The house was a 1 room bungalow, with 2 beds (1 for him and the other for his father), a small fridge, and a motorcycle. It really was like you see on TV. As for me, he piled up a few wood pallets, threw a tarp, and gave me clothes to use as pillows. I must say that pallets are not that comfortable, but at least, I can sleep in peace. As we were talking (his father, him and I), a few friends came over, and offered me food.

In the morning, I hiked across the city and hitchhike toward San Juan del Sul. Now I have no idea of how it happened, but as I walked the opposite way I came in (from the north), I was still going north, since I ended up going to San Raphael del Sul. So I was stuck going though quite a big detour. But after a few helpful rides, I was back on track.

I got to San Juan del Sul, and explored the area. When the Sun started to go down, I started looking for a place to sleep. Usually, I don’t mind sleeping close to towns, but in a very touristic town, I don’t feel as safe, so I tried to hitch back to the intersection going to Costa Rica, but instead, got a lift from an American, who offered me to camp on his law (away from the city).

The next morning, he brought me back to the main road, and as a bonus, I got to go groceries shopping. Not having spent money for two days, my budget was of 2$ (roughly 42 Nicaraguan Cordoba). With my only 2$, I got to buy 5 bags of Ramen Soup. I have to add that this was the first time I bought food in a groceries store. In other word, within 40 days on road tripping, I paid for only 1 meal at a restaurant, and spent 2$ in groceries, not bad at all.

I finally got to the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border; Hell, as usual! Crossing the Nicaragua border was full of unexpected additional cost (they were all justified, so I couldn’t contest them), but the worst one was the Costa Rica one who didn’t except my entry until I had a proof that I was exiting the country. Try to do that when you are a hitchhiker. I argued with 3 border patrol for about an hour, trying all sorts of compromise, but in the end, the head border patrol, told his employees that they were not allowed to talk to me unless I had a bus ticket in my end. Fearing to be blocked from the country if I kept trying to pass with paying for a bus ticket, I went to the bus vendors, and tried to help me out by purchasing a bus ticket and cancelling it, but no tickets were cancellable. Finally, I gave up, and bought the cheapest ticket, just to get my stamp, and through the bus ticket away (it was a bus to Nicaragua which was not the border I was heading for). Finally, I got my stamp, let change my money and get out of the hell hole. But once again, the money guy tried to fool me, with the exact same trick, so I repeated the same things I told my Nicaraguan Friend a few days before.

It took me about 3h to reach Rio Celeste, my first destination, but when I arrived, they told me the park was closed until the next day. Being 10km on very low traffic dirt road, I had no place to go, and there wasn’t any place to camp around which wasn’t private property. So with the help of Randi, a volunteer from the park who spoke English, I got permission to through my tent in the tall grass next to the parking lot. Because of the tall herbs, I couldn’t see the landscape of where my tent was. I went and hung out with the rangers for about an hour, while the rain started to fall down. When I got back to my tent, I lay down, and noticed that there were different pools of water in my tent. I got out, and looked around only to notice that a pool had started growing under my tent. In the darkness of a cloudy and rainy night, I got out, only in my underwear, feeling the cold drops of water sliding down my spine, to try to find a new place to move my tent. I tried a first place, then a second, but there was no way the dirt was going to hold the picks of my tent (mandatory since I only brought half of the structure). The result, the tent fell on me almost instantly and I lost one of my picks. I was discourage, what do I do now; I can’t see, can’t put up my tent, the rain is getting stronger and stronger, and I clearly need to find a new place to camp which is not in the tall grass. So I packet my bag, put on some pants, took my tent (still assembled) and walked back to the ranger station, where completely wet, I explain the situation to Randi who translated it to the head ranger, which gave me permission to sleep in the gazebo. My tent being wet, I folded it, and decided to simply sleep on one of bench of the gazebo. The bench was about 5’8 (I’m 5’10), 1ft across and nothing to lean against. I put my sleeping back over the bench and hoped no cockroach would come visit me that night. As I was trying to balance myself while falling asleep, the rain doubled its intensity, enough for the splash to get to me (nothing intense, but definitely not fun), but that was the best place I would get, so I just ignored it.

The next day, the ranger cooked me a typical breakfast, and knowing the normally turquoise water would be brown because of the rain, I decided to head toward San José, but I was still 10km in low traffic dirt road, and it’s early in the morning, so it took me 1h35min walking under the rain to see a single car going my way. At least he picked me up.

I crossed the mountain pass, and the rain disappeared, and my clothes got to dry, as I was waiting. Costa Rica is definitely the hardest country to hitchhike in Central America, which was very frustrating. I had a lot of distance to go through, and I was used to wait only 15min, but now it was closer to 40min. As I got closer to San José, a huge dark grey cloud appeared behind me as I was desperately trying to get one last ride direct to San José, and 10min after an 18-wheeler picked me up, a massif rain fell down on us, once more, my luck saved me from the rain.

I didn’t that rain as much since the 18-wheeler was going to the capital, and there, Laura was waiting for me. I called Laura, and passed the phone to the driver, and they talked to find the best way for me to meet her. And once in town, Laura came to pick me up, brought me for lunch, and finally at her home. I got to shower (with hot water for a change), wash my cloth and she helped me organise my stay in Costa Rica. She called one of her friend, Andrea, and got me a ride for the next day to visit the Poas Volcano, and another place to stay overnight. It felt good to have a place to relax for a night. When my head touched the pillow, I felt it felt weird, what was that comfort I missed so much? I started thinking, only to realise that I hadn’t had a real bed, nor pillow since Ciudad Mante, on the October 22nd, and we were November 10th, so for 19 days, and through 7 countries!!

The next day, I got in a bus toward the north end of the city where Andrea was waiting for me. We drove to the volcano through the sinusoid road, and finally arrived at the park entrance. The view was amazing. The path was surrounded by tropical plants, whereas the crater was pure rock, with a perfectly turquoise sulfuric pond in the middle. The walls of the crater were a mix of black, beige (the rhyolite), sulfuric yellow, and a little red (from iron). To finish off, being in high altitude, we could see the massif clouds bellow us with just enough overture to see the valley down below. What a sight, and what a day to visit it.

What a beautiful day to visit the Poas Volcano

We drove down the volcano, where I started heading toward the beaches, and the Pacific. Getting to Athenas was quite easy, but getting out was a whole other game, as I waited 1h15min in the heat of the Sun. Finally, got two back-to-back rides to the interstate where 50min later, I finally got a ride; and a good one. We drove for quite a while up until my driver got to Quepos. I looked around, couldn’t find a place to sleep, so I hitched, and immediately got another ride to the next town, looked once more, but still no, so I hitch again, and that ride brought me to Manuel Antonio beach where it was already dark. Looked around, no place to sleep, but I can’t keep on going, so I went to the extremity of the beach and through my tent, hope the tide isn’t too high!!

My next target was Colon, Panama. To reach it wasn’t too hard. A few rides to the border of Costa Rica, where thousands of people were striking at the border. As for myself, I had to squeeze my way through the mob, which is easier said than done with 45lbs strapped to you. After losing patience a few times against the electronic border machine, a patrol came to help me and off I went to the Panama border, probably the easiest border so far as I didn’t have to open my mouth once. Got in line, got a stamp, and got to go. And so on November 12th, I entered my last country of North America (this exclude the Caribbean), and the 9th country of the trip. 

My first ride took some time, about 40 for two ladies to pick me up. The next one, a guy and a girl my age, picked me up almost as I exited the car, but once out, I once more had to wait a few minutes. Was it worth it; definitely, since a truck stopped. They were going to El Chorrera, only an hour from Panama City. But not only have I got a massive ride near my destination, but they had leftover food, that they gave me, plus invited me to a restaurant at a truck stop. They even proposed to me to sleep in the truck as they were rolling through the darkness of the late evening, but it was only 18 o’clock. 

Finally at destination, I looked behind the grass station only to find a vast piece of grass, with a few trees here and there. I the darkness, it was easy to hide from the people from the city, but I still hide between the trees for the next morning.

Once up and running, I went to the first end of town, but I could see that there was more of the town coming up. It took me 1h20min to have a car stopping by, and they weren’t pleasant as the traffic was very high and not friendly. People faking to stop, making gestures through their windows, and taxis, lots of taxis stopping constantly. I guess in Panama they don’t know the difference between hitchhiking and calling a taxi. 

The guy brought me to the intersection of the road passing along the Panama channel, and from that point on, hitchhiking became the easy as easy can be. The second car stopped to bring me at destination, easier ride were to come, but first, I stopped at Colon. Since I entered Mexico, every time I mentioned I was going to Colon, everyone would tell how dangerous the city was, no exceptions. I was supposed to stay in town in exchange for some work, but as I entered the dangerous town, I could reach my host. All I knew is that I was going to volunteer for Panamax. Since I couldn’t reach him, I decided to head to the port and try to find where the sailboats were. Despite being in the city, I walked with my thumb exposed, and 5min later got a first ride. Immediately, I got a second one, by 2 girls. They brought me to the port, but with the amount of safety and guards at the entrance, I didn’t even try to get in. Anyway, there were no sailboats. Instead, I asked a first police officer where was Panamax, he didn’t know, but after 5 other polices (always called by the last police officer), I got an answer; go to the Zona Libre. Once at the Zona Libre, I asked around, and was told I was in the wrong Zona Libre, I had to walk 30min to get to the right zone. I need to add that throughout my trip, I saw some very poor people, but the dump city of Colon was by far the worst; it looked like a city that got bombed, definitely not the most fun place to walk through with a big backpack containing money, passport, computer and camera. When I finally got to the right zone, the security guard gave me some indication, but as I followed them, I realised that Panamax didn’t seems to exist. Everybody was sending me to San Panama, despite me showing how to spell Panamax. Giving up, I got back to the mall, where there was internet, and looked at my email for some update from my host. First, I went to a restaurant, I thought that since I had reached my destination, I got pay myself a little treat, plus it would calm me down from the frustration of going all over town (dangerous town) to only end up at the starting point. Finally, I got news from my host telling me he couldn’t help me out, and that I was on my own for the night. Not knowing what to do, I looked at my map and at the satellite view of my phone to realise that in Pertobelo, there was a port with what looked like lots of sailboat. Furthermore, being a small town in a national park, I thought I wouldn’t be too dangerous overnight. 

So, after having lost 5h getting lost in town, I got up and left the mall to get a bus stop by my side inviting me to hop in: for free of course. I talked with the lady next to me in the bus, and she helped me find the road to the national park. Barely off the bus, and still in the middle of town, that a car stopped by my side. They were going to Pertobelo, thus being my last ride in North America (from an overall 326), and the 5th car in a row who picked me up under 5min. 

Once in the small village, I realized that for the first time since I left, I didn’t know what my next step was. It felt weird, since I had never done anything remotely similar to hitchboating, and I didn’t know anyone who had that could help me. Where was I going to stay for a few days without spending money? Are some boats going to South America, or are do they all belong to the locals? Where was I going to find the captains? 

As I was visiting the ruins of an old fort in town, I met a group of strangers from Paraguay with whom I talked. Excited about my trip, they tried to help me out. First, they offered me a bit of food, some apples and two sandwiches. Then, they came with me to talk to the local for some information about the boats. Since they spoke both English and Spanish, they could help me ask question and understand the answer. Finally, one of the captains showed up, but he had just taken someone to sail with to Colombia, a guy from France that arrived a few hours before me. On the other hand, despite not having a ride, they told me how to find a ride to Colombia. I had to go to the hostel “Captain Jack” and give my name to the receptionist, and if a captain would pass by, they would inform him that I’m willing to work on the boat in exchange for a ride to the lower continent. And so I did. There was one last problem, where to sleep? I asked the receptionist if it was possible to work for my stay, but the answer was no. She told me to go see another hostel, but the answer was the same. I finally got to a third hostel (which I’m not sure is an hostel), and there, I found a room I could sleep in for free if in exchange, I help with the maintenance of the property. All I have is an empty room, and access to a bathroom (with no light), but at least, the gears are running, and it’s now time to wait for a new captain to arrive in town.

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Country's Statistics

Belize

Number of nights : 1

Numbers of days on the road : 1

Percentage of invitation at night : 0%

Overall waiting time : 2h

Average wait : 7min

Longest wait : 15min

Male vs female : 92% male – 8% female – 0% mixed

Total amount of rides : 13

Average spending per day : -24,92$/day

Place visited : 1

Total km : 429km

Meal offered : 100%

Guatemala

Number of nights : 3

Numbers of days on the road : 3

Percentage of invitation at night : 67%

Overall waiting time : 4h

Average wait : 13min

Longest wait : 1h 05min

Male vs female : 76% male – 6% female – 3% mixed

Total amount of rides : 17

Average spending per day : +2,03$/day

Place visited : 1

Total km : 796km

Meal offered : 44%

El Salvador

Number of nights : 1

Numbers of days on the road : 1

Percentage of invitation at night : 100%

Overall waiting time : 2h

Average wait : 9min

Longest wait : 25min

Male vs female : 81% male – 0% female – 17% mixed

Total amount of rides : 16

Average spending per day : -0,33$/day

Place visited : 1

Total km : 382km

Meal offered : 100%

Honduras

Number of nights : 0

Numbers of days on the road : 1

Percentage of invitation at night : n/a

Overall waiting time : 1h

Average wait : 8min

Longest wait : 15min

Male vs female : 86% male – 0% female – 14% mixed

Total amount of rides : 7

Average spending per day : -3,95$/day

Place visited : 0

Total km : 130km

Meal offered : 33%

Nicaragua

Number of nights : 2

Numbers of days on the road: 1

Percentage of invitation at night : 0%

Overall waiting time : 3h

Average wait : 11min

Longest wait : 35min

Male vs female : 68% male – 0% female – 32% mixed

Total amount of rides : 19

Average spending per day : -7,36$/day

Place visited : 0

Total km : 401km

Meal offered : 33%

Costa Rica

Number of nights : 3

Numbers of days on the road: 3

Percentage of invitation at night : 33%

Overall waiting time : 9h

Average wait : 25min

Longest wait : 1h 35min

Male vs female : 74% male – 2% female – 17% mixed

Total amount of rides : 23

Average spending per day : -24,17$/day

Place visited : 2

Total km : 808km

Meal offered : 56%

Panama

Number of nights : 32

Numbers of days on the road: 4

Percentage of invitation at night : 100%

Overall waiting time : 5h

Average wait : 15min

Longest wait : 1h 20min

Male vs female : 75% male – 10% female – 15% mixed

Total amount of rides : 20

Average spending per day : -12,37$/day

Place visited : 1

Total km : 788km

Meal offered : 35%

PHOTOS

Path of Central America

Belice - Iguana

Guatemala - Two night in the church's school

Guatemala - A glimpse of a Guatemalan live

Guatemala - Sleeping at the border

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey

El Salvador - Hitchhiking with the police

El Salvador - Whip Spider

El Salvador - First night in a hammock

El Salvador - Laguna Alegria

Costa Rica - Banana Spider

Costa Rica - Poas Volcano

Costa Rica - Hermit Crab

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio

Costa Rica - Cooking rice on the beach

Panama - Monkey