Category: Road Trip

This morning I safely arrived in Panama City, PAN, where I went directly to the shipping agency. While I was waiting for my turn, another foreigner entered and mumbled bad Spanish at the receptionist. After he sat down I asked what his intention was, and he responded that he wanted to send his car with the next ship to Colombia. I told him that I did too, so we didn’t even have to speak out loud what we already had decided that exact moment: We will ship our cars together in the same container saving a little bit of money.

We were attended together and got explained the process. It included several steps in Panama City, Colón (where the cars will be shipped from) and Cartagena. After about 1.5h we left the office and started doing the steps in Panama City, which the agency estimated to take 2 days. Being really quick and lucky in some places, we managed to get everything done today and went back to the agency.

There we got the next steps explained and had to pay. $1050 each. In cash only. So we used all the credit cards we had and I raided all my secret cash reserves. Luckily we got exactly the necessary amounts together.

Then we went to the hostel and discussed the next steps and how to get to Colombia ourselves (by boat? by plane?). We decided to stay one more day in Panama City to explore the city (also to clean up our cars as this is required for the customs inspection) and to go to the harbor in Colón on Wednesday.

The traveling method for ourselves is not yet decided.

This morning I swam in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life. It was great! Warm water and finally big waves (after all the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea didn’t have waves at all). After breakfast I headed towards Panama City.

The border crossing was pretty easy and quick (contrary to what I was told before and probably only thanks to a “volunteer”s help who I totally paid too much tip afterwards but whatever). This is why it would have been possible to make it to Panama City on time, but I liked my idea to stop somewhere else and to go into the city tomorrow morning, so that I can see a bit more. I googled for a nice location on the way and then safely arrived in El Valle de Antón, PAN. I arrived too late to actually see anything here, but the drive up and down mountains on serpentine roads was precious!

Tomorrow morning I’ll directly go to the shipping agency’s office and check out Panama City later, where I’ll have to stay a couple of days for doing loads of paperwork.

Today I managed to get up early and took the (almost) first ferry leaving the island Ometepe. I went straight towards Costa Rica, hurrying up because I planned to visit a national park my friends recommended me, which was on my way.

About an hour before arriving there I saw a hitchhiking backpacker at the side of the road. I know, in this area of the world it is not recommended either to hitchhike or to stop for hitchhikers, but I figured that rule wouldn’t apply if both of the people are obviously travelers. So I stopped and picked her up.

She was going to the same town as I was and she would have been fine to join me to check out the national park, but she googled and found out that it closed 45min after our estimated arrival and costs $16 to enter. That didn’t sound like money spent well, especially considering that it was raining on and off.

So we decided to pass on that and to continue straight to Uvita, CRI, where we arrived safely and will now check out what to do on a rainy day’s evening.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading towards Panama City, where I have to be at the shipping company’s office on Monday. I’ll see whether I already make it all the way tomorrow or whether I’ll stop before and do the rest on Monday morning.

Today was a very strange day regarding my schedule. In the morning I drove from Managua to San Juan del Sur in the south of Nicaragua to meet up with two friends of mine who currently are on surfing vacation in Central America.

As soon as we met, we started discussing travel plans. Me – not knowing about whether I would be able to finally ship my car to Colombia or not – I wasn’t sure about how much time I was able to spend with them. Eventually we decided to go to Masaya which they got recommended, despite it was located all the way back up almost to Managua (where I had slept the night before), so it was contrary to my route north to south. Arriving there, we went to the hospital due to a serious skin infection of one of my friends.

Waiting for his turn I continued to research shipping options for my car. Eventually I found an agency which offered me a service. It brought me down to reality as shipping dates weren’t as random as I had hoped them to be, but only once per week (Saturdays) and due to preparation (paperwork, payments, etc)  took almost one week. So far, this is the only shipping option I have, so I am the one who has to adapt. Looking at Central America this is very doable, but it would bring me into serious troubles in South America. I will have to look at the schedule and route planning once again to take a decision. The alternative would still be to turn around and to go back to the US.

Afterwards we explored Masaya for a bit. It’s a nice but touristy town. As we had troubles to find accommodation there, we decided to continue driving to Córdoba, NIC, being located quite close, where we arrived safely.

Today I made it to the “most dangerous country” I’m crossing on my trip and safely arrived in Puerto Cortes, HON.  I’ve checked into a hotel in a touristy area and so far the only notable things that have happened is that I was swimming in the Caribbean Sea, that a family who I talked to during dinner, invited me to a beer, and that the tremendous rain which is following me since Mexico, stroke again. As everywhere else, I’ve been assured that it usually doesn’t rain, maybe once per year and that I really had bad luck.

Let’s hope that this “most dangerous country” stays as calm as it is right now.

I decided to pass on Mexican independence celebration and continue going instead. I crossed the second border and safely arrived in Belize City, BLZ, where I am now researching on container ships to eventually find a solution to ship my car from Panama to Colombia. I still didn’t fully abandon that plan.

Also, I learned something today: Belize’s official language is english not spanish! I feel stupid for not having known that…