4 Borders in 4 Days

That's right, we went crazy.

After Panama City, we went to Santa Catalina Panama, and I had one of the best dives of my life. Then we went up into the mountains to Boquete and enjoyed two nights of cool air.

Day 1 Border 1 We blasted from Boquete through David and to the Panama/Costa Rica border. Driving in Panama is a pleasure. It was a clam crossing and we were done in just under an hour. We drove up the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and into Liberia. It was about 10 hours on the road. We spent the night in a cheap backpackers haunt, then hit to road the next morning.

Day 2 Boder 2 From Liberia to Leon, Nicaragua. The border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was not as horrific as when we were headed south, but it was still long and unpleasant. The Costa Rica side was fine, there was a small wait for migration, but nothing to long. We got through the fumugation on the Nica side by ourselves, then thankfully spotted Charlie. Charlie is the man who helped us get through the first time. Unlike the kids who hang around and yell and bang on the car, Charlie is calm and efficient. Dave yelled out the window as soon as he saw Charlie. Withouth Charlie it would have been a different story. After the border we headed straight for Leon. We ended up taking the old highway from the Managua area to Leon. The result was a much bumpier and slower ride. We spent 7 hours on the road, and decided to check out Leon for two nights, just to get a rest.

Day 3 wasn't much of a rest. Leon was hot and dusty and just not restful. It does have beautiful old churches and a fantastic art gallery full of work by artists from Central and South America. The gallery was the highlight and for me it is reason enough to go to Leon if you are in Nicaragua.

Day 4 Borders 3 and 4. This was the roughest day. We set out from Leon on a highway that was underconstruction, so two and half hours of dust and bumps, then exited Nicaragua without much effort. Getting into Honduras was a little more work and a lot more money. It costs 40 usd to bring a car in, plus a few dollars per person. After about an hour at the border, we were in Honduras. This stretch of Honduras is notorious for police check points, but we were ready. We bought a new saftey triangle and a fire extinguisher and watched for where speeds were reduced. We were nearly out of Honduras (about a 3 hour drive in all) and through 4 or 5 checkpoints without being pulled over when we got flagged down.

We showed them the triangle, the extinguisher, we chatted it up, then they said we ran a stop sign and wouldn't give Dave's lisence back to us even though we kept saying there isn't a stop sign visible from the road. It was off the road and totally blocked by trees. In the end they got 20 usd and we continued towards El Salvador. It was frustrating because it was so obvisouly a shake-down. Crossing into El Salvador involved waiting around in the heat for a while, but it only took an hour and we chatted it up with some truckers while we waited. We pulled into Alegria around 6pm. Making it a 9 hour travel day. At the end of the day we were rewarded with pupusas, cool mountain air, and friendly conversations.

The only downside was around midnight when we awoke to ''The Gambler'' being blasted in the plaza across from the hotel. Music and singing continued off and on until after 3am. Dave went to the van and retrieved earplugs which helped. Then this morning around 730 we awoke to a drum and brass band marching in the streets. Ends up one of the guys we talked to at dinner is a bit of the town crazy, and this is not an uncommon occurance. This morning we were told people don't try to stop him forcefully because he gets violent when he binges. We still haven't figured out the reason for the marching band.

Pictures from Panama coming soon, as soon as we get wi-fi.

We are headed back to Suchitoto tomorrow. After that we really don't know what we'll do. Probably going back to Playa Mizata for a day or two to clean out the van and collect ourselves. We're kinda waiting to see what the deal is with travelling between Mexico and the U.S.