For A Few Dollars More: Day 21

Just diving today and I thought I'd give everyone a short break from tales of the deep. It does gives me a chance to catch-up on some general admin.

Gerald is not well. In fact I think he's dying. He can barely stay awake for eight hours without talking before needing a lie down to recharge the old batteries. If he's feeling chatty, that goes down to four hours or less. He's also started to behave very erratically. We've had some good times, some damnably fine moments. He's kept me sane and kept me laughing when I've needed it most. Not all of our conversations have been a roaring success, particularly when alcohol has been involved but I accept most of the responsibility for that as Gerry is tee-total.

Anyway, if he can hold out for just another couple of weeks, he'll have had a terrific innings and finished his long long life in fine style. Hang on in there Gerald!

A word or two on Central American transport. Flying is a good way to get around but it's generally not cheap and it often doesn't take you terribly near where you want to go, meaning a sometimes lengthy bus ride at the other end.

Taxis are easy but reputable firms are the only sensible option - you don't want to risk anyone without a shirt and badge - but they cost more, even once you've haggled. And they know when your options are limited, so can strike a good deal for themselves if they are the only guy picking up in the vicinity.

Buses come in three basic flavours, old American school buses (for local routes on the whole) ex-Greyhound buses (often for domestic long distance journeys) and new-ish air-con coaches (for international or even intercontinental routes). Buses are the primary method of getting around Central America. They are pretty cheap, even for the posh ones. I paid $41 for the12 hour ride from the middle of Nicaragua to the top of Honduras using Ticabus, the biggest of the available carriers.

Hotels and hosels can arrange shuttle runs from one tourist town to another in an SUV or mini-bus and that works out pretty reasonable if that works with ones schedule. I paid $15 for my trip from Granada to San Juan Del Sur which was about an hour an a half away. Given the convenience factor, it was well worth it. A trip from San Juan to Leon, which I was considering, would have been five hours and $25.

The bits of the Pan-American highway that I've travelled on have all been really good roads. Much better than Central Asia, Southeast Asia or even some parts of Eastern Europe. Outside of the PanAm, it's pothole luck.

There are a few train lines here and there apparently, often built by the likes of banana growers to move produce to port but they don't really get a traveller where a traveller would want to go. There are other options depending on where you are. Small hopper planes in Belize for example, one way car hire is doable if that's your thing (not very economical or safe when travelling solo) or even hitchhiking if you've gone completely doolally.

In all cases, schedules are......flexible.

Finally, knowing a bit of Spanish (oops! In my case) reeeeally helps getting around. You also MUST ask at least five different people before deciding what the real story might be. If you don't get five different answers, you're doing very well indeed.

Onto morale. It's not difficult to have a good time in Central America. The basic ingredients are all there, all the time. I've found no shortage of busy and quiet bars (which one I go for depends on my willingness to be sociable at any given time). Hostels are always busy, so company is never far away. The sun shines most of the time and even when it doesn't, the temperature stays warm. The rain pelts down for a bit every now and then but once its had a good go, it stops as if its got bored and found something more interesting to do. There's oodles to do and plenty of beaches for when doing becomes too much.

The point is, you have to work pretty hard at being miserable. That's not to say there are never any moments of quiet reflection, particularly true when you're travelling solo. If I look back at Central Asia as a comparison though, they were all hard miles and you had to find your own fun. There were many more quiet times, without company, with fewer things to do. It was much more of a physical and mental endurance test than Central America and with fewer opportunities for contact with anyone from home to keep spirits up.

Lastly, food. There are all sorts of national and regional specialities available wherever I've been so far but if you boil it all down, it's basically Mexican with a twist. I'm sure someone will find that highly offensive but what I mean is, the stuff grown in this part of the world ultimately gives you rice, tortillas, tacos, meat and vegetables, the same as Mexico pretty much. The only real variety comes with how you fold the stuff together. None of this is in any way complaint. I love Mexican/Central American food, so I've really had a good time eating so far. Being on the American and Canadian backpacker trail, you can also live on burgers and fries if you want to, although I haven't (actually, just writing that has made me want to find a McD's!). A dinner will cost you somewhere between $6-10 but that's tourist prices. I haven't really sat down at many out of the way local eateries. Street food costs next to nothing but is mostly of the snack rather than full-on meal variety. I guess you could just buy a hatful of snacks and pig out on that. I hadn't thought of that. Anyway my budget allows for knife and fork dining.

Just so there is some pictorial content, I snapped these from the dock of a Caye (small island) where we stopped for lunch today.

Very large Barra and a Lizzie, (Barracuda and lizard fish. I've very clearly been hanging out with Aussies for way too long).