Leaving Nicaragua and entering Costa Rica was easy peasy. Maybe we were just getting good at borders. More likely, we had border burnout and neglected to be firm when we told the helper that we needed no help. He was persistent and ended up making things go pretty smoothly. He probably saved us about 15 minutes of confusion. Leaving Nicaragua is a little different than leaving other countries. Continue reading “Costa Rica”
We stayed in a hotel the night prior to crossing the border into Nicaragua. We did this so that we wouldn’t have a bunch of life maintenance to deal with in the morning and could get to the border nice and early. Best laid plans… We hadn’t counted on finding a channel on the television that had movies in English. We were faced with the choice of arriving at the border early in the morning, beating the afternoon heat or watching Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Since one bad choice usually leads to another, we opted to stick around for The Terminator as well. As the Terminator was doing his damnedest to wipe out the human race, I was becoming more and more caffeinated and anxious about our border crossing. I finally asked Scott to just tell me how it ended so we could get on the road. Continue reading “Nicaragua”
We almost snuck into Guatemala through a backroad. I had dropped a pin on my Google Maps app on the Guatemalan side of the border and tapped the button for directions without looking at the route. We were about five miles into a smugglers route across the border before Scott smelled something fishy. It didn’t seem right to him that the road to a major border crossing would be a torn-up dirt affair with almost no traffic. That guy is a thinker. I double checked our route and we promptly turned around and headed back towards the paved highway leading to Guatemala.
Full disclosure, we did not give Belize the attention it deserved. There were a couple of factors at play here. I have visited Belize. And it is really expensive. Last time I visited, I was fairly thorough in my discovery so if Scott wasn’t super jazzed to do something we just skipped it. Mostly due to the expense involved. I have linked my self-worth with our ability to stay on budget and most things in Belize cost more than they did in Mexico so it was a difficult time for me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, we have to get to Belize before we can discuss Belize!
Well, we made it. The final leg of our Mexican adventure. I have wanted to go to the Yucatán Peninsula ever since I found out that most of my favorite parts of the movie Romancing the Stone were filmed there. I imagined mountains with monkeys and handsome expats of questionable character around every corner.
The beach was calling our names. We could hear it loud and clear. We just had to get there. I may have mentioned that we are not the best at getting an early start on our big driving days. This was no different. Lucky for us there are plenty of nice places to stay along the road between the city of Oaxaca and the coast.
Scott and I had been bouncing around Mexico like a pinball for a while. We were enjoying ourselves but looking forward to when the pinball that is us bounces off the beach again. We hit that beach in a tiny town called Las Casitas. It is located on the Gulf of Mexico just a smidge north of the city of Veracruz.
Our ride on Baja Ferries ended much as it began. With Scott and I taking the role of last people to check out of the cabins and last truck off our parking level and even last passenger trolley to leave the ferry terminal. We are nothing if not consistent. The free plastic-wrapped pastry and
When we were planning out how to set up our truck we definitely wanted to be able to sleep in the back of the truck if need be. So far on this trip, it had not been needed. But now we are in Cabo San Lucas and there just aren’t too many desolate beaches to be had! I don’t really feel super safe wild camping in urban areas.
Continue reading “It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Burglarized”
I try not to complain about anything having to do with our travels. I really do realize that we are living a charmed existence and our woes are negligible. I learned this lesson when I tried to get sympathy from our friend Justin while we were back visiting in Chico about how
Continue reading “Further Adventures in Baja California”