Having to stop by Central America before heading for the Pacific wasn’t part of my plans, and caused me a problem. Up to that point, my road back home had always been blocked by water, and that obstacle helped me forget about heading back home. The simple thought of getting back home was just too much work. But stopping in Central America before tackling the Pacific connected me to my home. I knew that being back on my continent would bring back nostalgia. And in fact it did! My goal was convinced me not to fall for it, but the pressure was on.
But also getting back into known land gave me the opportunity to compare countries with themselves, and now speaking Spanish, the opportunity to learn more about them. Panama was pretty much what I expected it to be. The farther south I was, the easier was the hitchhiking, but the closer I went north, the harder it got. At first I thought it would be due to the proximity of the border which has always slowed me down, but after looking at my old statistics, I realized that it is simply your location. On the other hand, I was surprised to be picked up twice by single woman which has been quite rare since I had left the USA.
Being back on the road needed me to get into old habit, and one was figuring out where to sleep. Being late November meant it was still rainy season, and the sky reminded me that. So by the time I reached Santiago, it was clear I needed to find shelter; not so easy in a bigger city. Therefore, my time in Brazil reminded me the Bomberos could help me out. I asked the lady which I rode in town with and she brought me the firehouse, and without any more problems, I had found a place to lie down for the night.
For my second day, I decided to leave the Pan-American Highway and instead do a little detour through the rural roads. It turned out a little harder than I thought, but the scenery was nice. As I was getting closer to David, I stumbled across a gorgeous waterfall emerging from the canopy. Not being in any hurry, I decided to take a look. I hopped out of the small truck I was riding, and started walking. Sadly enough, no trails were connecting the bottom of the waterfall, always nicer than the top, but still I decided to keep walking and at least head to the top. The trail was steep, the weather was hot, and my energy level was low. I walked for an hour before reaching the top, but the view wasn’t as pretty as I thought, and there was no viewpoint where I could see the entire fall. Disappointed, I decided to head back. Once on the road, I noticed a grey cloud come in. I knew it was bad news, but I couldn’t do anything. I waited on the side of road, hoping to get a ride out before the rain, but luck weren’t on my side. Suddenly, the sky gave up, and started pouring on me like I’ve never seen on any of my trip. Within seconds, everything was wet. The rain was so hard that the water not only managed to pierce through my bag (which had never happened before), but also managed to find its way in all my Ziploc bag, leaving all my electronics wet, and my through the waterproof bag holding my sleeping bag. Not only did it go in, but it got through every single waterproof layer. When I got in town, the night was setting in, and I knew I could camp with all my wet equipment, so I headed to the firehouse, where I found shelter. Therefore, even with a full night of drying, everything was wet the next day, and my sleeping bag stayed wet for another two night; hurray!!!
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| Beautiful from the road, but impossible to reach |
Entering Costa Rica was easier than I remembered, making my entry quick. But Costa Rica was a country I had bad souvenir of, and I was expecting the worst. I raised my thumb expecting somewhere around an hour of waiting, but instead caught a ride to the next town. From there, I started walking through town, and randomly got whistled by a parked car which invited me to join him. We drove all the way to Dominical and he also invited me for lunch, and gave me his contact for me to call once I would explore Costa Rica; again on my way down south. My ride kept on stopping with short wait, and the people were a lot more enthusiasts then I remembered, but didn’t get much luck for the night, as I couldn’t find a roof. The next day was as easy as I got a ride that not only was getting to Liberia, but made a huge detour around the northern peninsula of Costa Rica, helping explore a none-explored region of the country. One thing was clear about Costa Rica, it was a pretty country. After a year wondering around America, I had a good samples of countries to compare it to, so rather comparing it the hitchhiking ease of Central America, I could compare it the an year worth of data, and suddenly realised that those 45min wait weren’t so bad.
From the outskirt of Liberia, I found a ride which was climbing half of Nicaragua. This sounded nice as it gave me the opportunity to bypass Managua. When we got to Sam Benito, my driver and I split, but rather than leaving me alone in the dark, he called a friend which offered me a hammock for the night. The sky had a few stars meaning rain wasn’t too big of a threat, but the mosquitos were. Yet, these little bastards weren’t the only thing keeping me awake, as a herd of dog decided to kick me out of the property. And so, every once in a while, the dog would gather around me and bark for about half-an-hour.
I woke up tired the next morning and got back on the road. It took some time, but got a ride to a few kilometers before La Trinidad, where I could change highway and head toward Cerro Negro. A truck ride later, and I was in Malpaisillo where I thought I could hitch to the cinder cone. Everyone told me not to use this route as there weren’t any passing car, but the sign mentioned about the “touristic road”. I tried getting a ride, but failed. As I started walking back toward the main road, a lady working in a small mini-market stopped me. Her and her husband told me to wait a little extra as there were cars using that road and offered me to stay with them until I could find something. Rapidly, the sight of a gringo in town caught everyone’s attention, and soon, we were surrounded by all sorts of people. They had fun trying to lift my heavy backpack or watching me juggle, or though ball, and just like that, the time flew by. I finally got a car, after 3h55min of waiting, but the closer we got to the pile of ash, the worst was the weather, and after getting lost a few time, we decided to quit, and we all got back in town.
I hitchhiked to a near town, but after 2h of waiting and the night set, I gave up and started looking for a place to sleep. I had no option and the sky was very menacing, but as luck prevailed, some try-wheeler taxi stopped by and asked what I was doing. When I told him I was looking for a place to camp, he instantly told me there was a community house I might find shelter in. It turned out pretty nice as it rained almost all night.
It had been almost a week since I got back in Central America, and my mind was all over the place: should I keep on going or should I go back home. My heart wanted the experience of the world, but the thought of 3 month of hitch-boating, followed by 5 to 10 month at sea, plus the tiny budget with no margin for error, the countries at war I would need to cross and the constant fight against bureaucracy for my visas, forced me in quitting. It was a sad decision, as I really wanted to make it happen, but I think it was the good one.
This being said, despite having decided to close my trip, I wasn’t out just yet. I still had a few more month of hitchhiking before getting back home, but more importantly, I was heading to the Great White North for the dead of winter. Closing my trip early had a cost, and it was to cross the USA during winter.
My change of plan filled me with even more nostalgia, as I now knew my house was just around the corner, so I decided to leave Nicaragua as fast as possible. Without too much effort, I connected Honduras and stop for the night in Danli. I looked around for a place to stay, and finally settle in a house in construction, but despite having a peaceful settlement, I couldn’t fall asleep. Winter was in my head, I all night I thought about my plan of attack. When the sky finally lit up, I packed my stuff, and got to the edge of town. My next destination being all the way across the country forced me to pass through Tegucigalpa (the capital), but its reputation and the idea of crossing such a big city by foot forced me to use an alternative route. I looked at my map, and designed a route going through the back road. The first section of the road wasn’t too easy as it was ranch-land; lots few cars, and fewer going elsewhere than the next ranch. I got stranded for quite a while, but eventually got picked up by a man who had lived a few years in Canada, and was now waiting for his residency. When he learned I lived in Canada, he instantly invited me for breakfast, and introduced me to everyone in town.
Despite not being the easiest road I’ve hitched on, the next road was a whole lot more remote. I caught my first ride quite fast, which brought me to a construction zone. I waited just a few minutes, and got picked up by one of the truck working on the road. He dropped me in the center of it all, where I found my third ride, within a minute or so. So far, things were looking good, but once the construction zone over, the medium size road disappeared to leave place for a tiny trail zigzagging through the pine covered hills, and crossing countless bridge-less rivers. I was riding the back of the car, and had absolutely no idea if I was still on the right track, or the guys had forgotten about me. After an hour or two lost in the middle of the back region of Honduras, the car drove in San Luis, a small town I had as a reference. From there, though, they weren’t going to the next town, but just a small percentage down the road; to a ranch. They knew it wasn’t a good spot to leave me, but offered me a ride back in town if I weren’t to be lucky by night fall. Needless to say a gringo hitchhiking this far off-road, caught the attention of everyone working at the ranch. Thanks to the low traffic of the area, I had plenty of time to enjoy a good talk with them. I felt nice, as I believe these people living far off the grid are much closer to real Hondurans, than the one tourists are in contact with; but only while hitchhiking will you find them.
The Sun was throwing its last ray of light when a small truck passed by. I jumped on my feet and ran to the side of the road lifting my thumb up, and got the truck to stop. To my happy ears, he told me he was heading all the way to Camuyagua; the main road. The tiny trail through the forest stayed narrow for quite a while and became harder and harder as the visibility was slowly vanishing, but at least, after a full day trying to avoid Tegucigalpa, I got to where I wanted.
The next morning, I woke up early, to cross town before the heat would get settled. I got to the intersection of the main routes and waited. It took some time, but finally got a car to stop by. He was going near Santa Barbara, and from there, I started heading West until Copan. Copan is the second most touristy area of Honduras, thanks to its ruins and its thermal pool, so I thought it would be easy to get a ride, but unfortunately for me, more tourism come from Guatemala, just 12km down the road from town. This considerably slowed me down, but I still managed to reach the ruins before it closed. Having been in a few ruins in this trip, I got to compare them to the other park management, and most say that Copan has been my favorite. Most ruins are either over protected from the rain, which means you cannot appreciate the ancient architecture without blue tarps covering half of them, or are left completely abandoned, which ends up looking like a pile of rock covered by tree. But park managing of Copan was perfect. They had a few bird feeder station for us to have more access to the fauna (most importantly, the majestic Macao Perot), but the actual ruins are left in three different state, depending where you are in the park. There is the obvious reconstitution of the ruins (cut grass, protection from the erosion, tourist in the way, etc.), the left “as-is” (just a pile of rock covered in vegetation), but most importantly, they have a half reconstituted city, which a rebuilt of the city, but without cutting the forest. This last section of the ruins really leaves you with the sensation on discovering ancient ruins.
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| What a beautiful bird |
After a two-three hours walking around the park, I got back to the city with feet covered with blisters. Wanting to take care of them and to contact my parents, I decided to head for the firehouse where I was greeted by the chief.
A few days before, I had received an email from my parents saying how much they would enjoy having me back for Xmas. Unfortunately, despite being on way back home, and eagerly wanting to see my family and my friends, I didn’t wanted to just take a plane out and finish my adventure so quickly and easily, but on the other hand, with all the encouragement my parents have given me throughout my trip, I couldn’t let them down. I took me good night of deep thought but end up deciding the best way to tackle the last part of my trip would be to head to Guatemala City, and leave for Montreal to spent the month of December with my family. Then, after the New Year, come back to Central America, and raise my thumb until I’d reach my home. This option allowed not only my family to see me again, but would force a 1 month delay which would allow me to tackle the Great White North at the end of winter, rather than at its coldest. And so, the next morning, I got to the edge of town, and hitched to the border of Guatemala, and finally reached the city; well, at least its periphery.
Being on the periphery of the capital wasn’t too great for me, especially this late in the evening. Thankfully, this bad situation was quickly overcome thanks to an intrigued lady seeing a gringo trying to catch a bus in this far from town. She asked me where I was going, and when I explained I was trying to reach the airport, decided to help me out. Normally, I would gladly accept the help, but now having money, I refused her help paying the bus, but despite reminding her I could pay for my own transportation, she still paid the bus driver, and helped me figure out how to cross the entire city without getting lost; and two bus ride later, I was at the door of the Airport.
It was Thursday and I knew I needed to get a flight home on Friday, for my parents to be in Montreal rather than Vermont (our cottage), but it so happened I entered just a few minutes too late as the last receptionist had just closed her station. I was a bit bumped about not getting my plane ticket, but at least, I still had Friday morning. I walked around the airport and after finding a “quiet” spot where to lie down, I went to sleep (well, just for an hour, as I was quite uncomfortable).
The next day, I got in line to get my plane ticket, and after a few hour of waiting, I realized I couldn’t pay for my flight home as my credit card seemed to be broken. I tried a few times but nothing was working. I began to panic since the only plane leaving for Montreal was leaving just under an hour, and I couldn’t get a ticket. After running all over the place to find internet and ask my parents to buy my plane ticket for me, I raged quite, and jumped in a cab to find a hostel where I could stay and workout on my problem. As we say: a problem never comes alone; Trying to find a hostel at 5am close to Xmas, turned out to be harder than I thought. The taxi and I went all around the area and eventually found an open hostel. I tried calling my parents, but it was still too early, so I looked for flight option and found one heading to Burlington, Vt, close to my cottage. It was my best bet, as despite leaving at noon, was going to land in Vermont at 2PM the next day, but it didn’t leave me much time to figure everything’s out. When I finally got a hold of my parents, I realized that their credit card wasn’t working either. Was I to be stuck in Central America for Xmas? I didn’t know, but it was starting to look this way. I couldn’t buy a ticket at the counter, I couldn’t buy a ticket online, and my parents couldn’t buy a ticket for me. Things were looking worst and worst, but one thing was still pretty odd and left me with a thought; the odd of all our credit card not working didn’t make much sense, what if the problem was with the website? So, as my parents were trying to make their card work, I tried a few more sites, and eventually found one with a different interface. I thought it was worth trying, and just like that, I got my ticket back home. What a relief it was; but still not the end of my journey home, as still needed to get back to the airport check-in, and hope this website worked indeed.
Despite having already paid for the night, thinking I wasn’t going to leave for another day, I just left telling the owner to cancel my night. Feeling bad of taking my money without me actually using their hostel, they offered me a ride back to the airport, which allowed me to get there on time. I ran to the counter, and gave my passport, and just like that, I received three plane tickets.
I got to the terminal and waited for my plane to load. I climbed into the plane and got ready to take-off. As the plane finally got up, I looked out the window to appreciate the view, and suddenly, notice the Pacaya Volcano, just on the outskirt of the city was in eruption. The timing was perfect as a massif black cloud was being spit from the perfect cone. And to look at it from a plane made the experience a whole lot nicer.
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| Perfect timing |
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Country's Statistics
Guatemala
Number of nights : 3
Numbers of days on the road : 3
Percentage of invitation at night : 67%
Overall waiting time : 4h
Average wait : 9min
Longest wait : 1h 20min
Male vs female : 65% male – 9% female – 26% mixed
Total amount of rides : 23
Average spending per day : -26,75$/day
Place visited : 2
Total km : 717km
Meal offered : 11%
El Salvador
Number of nights : 1
Numbers of days on the road : 1
Percentage of invitation at night : 0%
Overall waiting time : 2h
Average wait : 13min
Longest wait : 40min
Male vs female : 50% male – 25% female – 25% mixed
Total amount of rides : 8
Average spending per day : -15,68$/day
Place visited : 0
Total km : 188km
Meal offered : 67%
Honduras
Number of nights : 3
Numbers of days on the road : 2
Percentage of invitation at night : 67%
Overall waiting time : 5h
Average wait : 16min
Longest wait : 1h15
Male vs female : 65% male – 0% female – 35% mixed
Total amount of rides : 20
Average spending per day : -24,35$/day
Place visited : 1
Total km : 584km
Meal offered : 22%
Nicaragua
Number of nights : 2
Numbers of days on the road: 2
Percentage of invitation at night : 50%
Overall waiting time : 10h
Average wait : 44min
Longest wait : 3h55
Male vs female : 54% male – 0% female – 46% mixed
Total amount of rides : 13
Average spending per day : -12,17$/day
Place visited : 0
Total km : 566km
Meal offered : 50%
Costa Rica
Number of nights : 1
Numbers of days on the road: 2
Percentage of invitation at night : 0%
Overall waiting time : 3h
Average wait : 18min
Longest wait : 1h 35min
Male vs female : 90% male – 0% female – 10% mixed
Total amount of rides : 10
Average spending per day : -8,73$/day
Place visited : 0
Total km : 595km
Meal offered : 100%
Panama
Number of nights : 3
Numbers of days on the road: 2
Percentage of invitation at night : 67%
Overall waiting time : 7h
Average wait : 31min
Longest wait : 1h20
Male vs female : 38% male – 15% female – 46% mixed
Total amount of rides : 13
Average spending per day : +3,39$/day
Place visited : 0
Total km : 594km
Meal offered : 22%
PHOTOS
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| Copan - Honduras |
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| Copan - Honduras |
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| Copan - Honduras |
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| Macao |
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| Monkey |
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