Because we needed to meet our car shipping deadline in Panama City by a specific date (or risk having to wait an extra 2 weeks if not), the rest of our travels through Central America were essentially transit only. We have collected many spots that we plan to spend more time in on our way back home later in the year.
Also, unlike the USA-Mexico border, there was no possible way to accidentally enter without going through a border checkpoint at any of the other borders.
One of the most interesting experiences of crossing the borders by land was how drastically the people and local culture changed from one side of the border to the next. 10 yards and suddenly you speak differently, dress differently, eat differently and emote differently.
The beautiful thing about traveling by land was that by default we passed through so much of the remote sectors of these countries which gave us a chance to experience the heart of all these countries up close, even in the short timespan we were there.
The star of our show:
Guatemala:
From the sleepy rainforest town of Tenosique, Mexico we drove about an hour to the Mexico-Guatemala border city of El Ceibo.
The rural, quaint feel of the Southern Mexican countryside abruptly changed to much more of a small ghetto just outside the border itself.
The officials themselves were very kind and helpful to us and as soon as our exit stamps from Mexico, entry stamps into Guatemala, and car permit paperwork were completed, we were back on the road. The computer systems went down for about an hour during which we chatted about life, food styles, favorite fruits, and even religion with the Aduanas officer while waiting. It was a very pleasant experience.
Upon entering Guatemala, being in the Tikal region, we were greeted with even more dense, wet rainforest, filled eith such plump and luscious greenery, everything always atleast somewhat damp. It felt very much like Manipal, India in the state of Karnataka.
The people in Guatemala had a very pleasant and welcoming charm.
One thing I adored was how fierce and independent the women clearly were. There were just as many women riding motorcycles as men, women running shops and restaurants, and men spoke to both us with the same level of respect. There was no deference to Prakash over me when speaking as I have experienced in other cultures.
On a wall, I noticed a spray painted sentence: "las mujeres son libres"
(Women are free) ❤️
Here are some favorite photos from our drive through Guatemala:
Honduras
As we passed through Guatemala closer to Honduras, the environment too changed. We exited the dampness of the wet rainforest and entered a much drier, though still partially humid), hotter oceanside tropical environment. The border crossing between Guatemala and Honduras, at the city of Corinto, was quite straightforward given that the two buildings were set up side by side.
Salida Guatemala - Entrar Honduras. Simple.
The Aduanas on Honduras' side was very kind and helpful before sending us off on our way.
Once we entered Honduras the vibe from people was a bit different.
Near the border town, officers and people in general were very rough to start a conversation with. As Prakash only understands some Spanish, the default person to speak to any officials or locals was me, which many of the men in Honduras did not take well to.
Initially we were turned off by this, however as we met and spoke to more people, we realized the conversation only begins rough, until they have decided if you are going to be trouble or not. Once the smiles and jokes flowed a bit, everyone was quick to become friends again.
We drove through San Pedro Sula, a beachside city, the Santa Barbara region, on to the city of Choluteca, Honduras to sleep for the night before crossing the next border the following morning.
Some photos from Honduras:
Nicaragua
We woke up early the next morning to begin the one hour journey from Choluteca to Guasaule, the city of the Honduran-Nicaraguan border crossing.
This was by far the worst, and in fact Only, problematic border crossing and it was solely because of an Aduanas officer on the Nicaragua side and a Migracion officer on the exit border side. We will not go into the whole story, but let's just say what started off as a 30 minute affair turned into a 6 hour fiasco of frustration, heat, wasted gasoline, and wasted money.
Ask one of us about it one day, we will still have it fresh in our memories.
The entire experience soured us against Nicaragua deeply which was unfortunate because Nicaragua itself was filled with such beautiful landscapes and some otherwise very kind people.
Nonetheless, here are some photos from the extremely brief time we spent passing through:
Costa Rica
On the same day, we crossed from Nicaragua into Costa Rica at the border town of Peñas Blancas.
Because we were both so frustrated with Nicaragua, we chose to cross into Costa Rica late at night, rather than to stay in Nicaragua. (We broke our own rule of no night driving for the first and last time).
On the Nicaragua side, the kind Aduanas female officer let us through quickly but at the Immigration officer window, we were once again at the mercy of a lady who literally pretended we did not exist for almost 20 minutes.
The time will matter shortly.
She finally acknowledged our existence, gave our entry permits in 2 minutes and we finally passed into Costa Rica around 11:45pm where the guard notified us that the Migration offices on the Costa Rica side close at midnight. He let us pass in front of a semi-rig to give us our best shot. Thank the Lord for kind people.
We speedily made it through Migracion, meaning we (humans) were allowed entry. We then made it to the Vehicle transit officer; however he informed us that the actual Aduanas for our official vehicle entry permit had closed literally 2 minutes earlier.
It was 12:02am and the officers had left.
We could not enter any further into the country by car.
Remember when we spent 20 minutes being ignored?
Well, thankfully, the same gentleman showed us a spot in front of the Aduanas office where 2 night guards were patrolling continuously. The 2 officers ensured us they would keep an eye on us the entire night so we could sleep peacefully.
The next morning at 6am, we awoke to the lovely jungle sounds of howler monkeys and birdsongs, the Aduanas arrived promptly at 6am, cleared us and sent us on our way.
We drove through the beautiful Guanacaste region, along the Pacific coastline, until we reached the Corcavado Forest and El Sierpe region, the world's most biodiverse region.
Here we found a lovely little cabana and restaurant in the middle of the forest, whose owner let us sent up our tent for free and use his facilities. We had beautiful views of the infamous forests and slept like babies that night after a delicious meal with fresh fruit smoothies and some furry friends.
Panama
Our final drive was from the Costa Rica - Panama border to Panama City where we would begin our tedious process of vehicle inspection, clearance, and loading on to its designated shipping container.
We passed into Panama at the city of Paso Canoas.
There are Many things to be said about Panama and Panamanians, but one that stuck out continuously for us is that everyone, whether a government entity or a local shopkeeper is on the hustle for money. Everyone. And no one is shy about it.
At the border, exiting Costa Rica was straightforward (though also expensive due to random unnecessary hidden fees). Entering Panama was a labrynthine process and the only of its kind. The actual staff were very helpful in directing us from one step to the next, but there were Many steps, in multiple places, in the pounding heat of northern Panama. And every step had its own cost. This was the most inherently expensive border crossing for us thusfar.
Once we made it through, sweaty, thirsty and exhausted, we began our drive down to Panama City.
Firstly, driving in Panama is INSANE. Picture the worst, most aggressive drivers of Sacramento, Los Angeles, and New York City and combine them with the combined route infrastructure of Downtown Chicago and Los Angeles. Getting lost by taking the wrong exit or going straight on the same road instead of straight onto a flyover became a standard of practice by the end of our driving time in Panama.
Drivers in Panama would overtake themselves if they could.
Police officers scam you out of money by threatening to give a speeding ticket and then soften the blow by offering to help by letting you "pay now instead".
It was insane.
We wanted to be close to the police station for our 6:45am inspection, we chose our hotel accordingly. The hotel we stayed in was nice, itself, but as it turns out, was in the middle of the red light district. We realized this when we woke up at 6am to active prostitution, drug dealing, and other general morning routines of the neighborhood. No one bothered us, but it was a rather unexpected welcome.
The police inspection and certificate process were very straightforward and simple but took forever simply for waiting. Hours and hours of waiting.
Regardless, we came across many friendly and pleasant faces and interesting folks along the way. We finally made it to the campground of Overland Embassy, the company helping us facilitate our car shipment to Colombia to bypass the Darien Gap (impassable land connecting Panama to Colombia).
Now that we had successfully loaded our Jeep onto the shipping container and all our documents were in order, we took a huge sigh of relief and relaxation. We did it.
We spent our final day exploring more of Panama City, which was quite nice overall, with it's beautiful coastal side location and diverse citylife.
We stayed at a hostel called Panama House Bed and breakfast, a very colorful, vibrant home with lovely pets and energy.
The next morning, we left the hostel and headed to the airport (BORING) to board our flight from Panama City to Cartagena
Colombia, here we come!
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