Dusting Off a Photo After Seven Years

A day or two before we headed to Cuba last month, I remember looking for personal photos which may have been taken geographically closest to that point. For Cuba, the nearest came from a trip to Florida.

Now, we have a few upcoming flights on Aeroméxico. In fact, I found my backpack and spent a few minutes filling it this afternoon. We leave tomorrow night for a week in Panama City, Panama. So, I tried doing the same and believe I found one. This was taken in San José, Costa Rica in 2011. That was the year we did a bit of a backpacker-type bus tour around Central America. Having skipped Panama at the time, it is now time for a view of that country.



This is why I would have been very sad if I had lost my Flickr account in a recent scare. Being able to do a quick search of personal photos seems invaluable.

My 9,000th Picture on Flickr!

I tend to think that most recent photographs from my life are already online. I do maintain a very large collection. I add them to Flickr as I don't want my personal pictures scattered all round. This is the primarly reason I don't use Facebook as way to store photos. After all, Flickr is the granddaddy of Web 2.0 and it's easy to share those images at different venues and in different ways. For quite some time, I have been simply embedding all my blog photos directly. (If you click the photo below you will open its URL on the Flickr site.)

Then, once in a while I find missing pieces of my life. I had a hard time finding photos from last year's trip to Central America. I went to check and, in truth, did not upload the majority of pictures from last srping. So, here is one in commemoration of photo number 9,000 on Flickr.


This was taken on April 25, 2011 in Granada, Nicaragua at sunset.

Putting Things Off for Another Day

"Argh." Is that what pirates say? I wasn't trying to be nautical, rather I was just showing disappointment in my own uploading activities. I was thinking about the upcoming trip to China and Malaysia. Yet, I recalled that I haven't yet got most of the images from last spring's Central America trip on Flickr.


The Mayan Ruins of Tikal in Guatemala, April 2011.
Why do I always insist on taking photos and then get home and just leave them on a hard drive? Add these to neglected photos from the trip to Italy in 2008. "Argh," again. This time more loudly though!

I'd Rather Be Barefoot

We've been back from Central America for a bit more than a week and I have to add that Vancouver's weather has been, how shall I put it, unspectacular. It still feels like winter with cool temperatures and unsettled condtions. I don't think it's going to make it to 13C (57F) today and, although bright, I cannot see any blue sky.



A little less than a month ago, we were on Caye Caulker in Belize. It is a destination island only five miles from north to south and much less the other way. Here, Jay is standing on Front Street. There are only three and none are tarred. This is a premier sandal destination or mabye a place where footwear isn't needed at all. I just checked and the present temperature is almost 30C (85F). I'm sure the aqua waters are as inviting now as they were last month. It sort of begs the question of why we rushed back here.

Feeling Special

(April 11, 2011) - On our flights from San Jose Costa Rica to Belize City, Belize we had to wait a bit and change planes in San Salvador, El Salvador. We were bumped to first class on these flights. It's the first time we ever had seats #1 and #2 in our copious time in the air. We even got food! Unfortunately, each flight only lasted about an hour.

Yesterday's Complaint Revised

I was so not looking forward to yesterday's flight back to Vancouver mainly due to the 7 plus hour stop-over. As it turned out, it was not as bad as the last, automated entry would indicate. Coming from an International destination, after going through customs, one must pick up one's checked bags and re-submit them. After doing that, we just followed the signs for ground transport.

A few years back on a few week trip in Arizona and California, we noticed that work was underway in downtown Phoenix. Light rail was being built. We found out that the free airport shuttle will take one to the 44th Street / Washington Station. (We still noted construction on a rail replacement for the bus shuttles which looks quite complete and might open soon. It will allow a short walk over to the station in the future.)



We rode to downtown Phoenix. Even adding our $3.50 cost for 1-day tickets, we ate at a subway at substantial savings over what'd be available in the Sky Harbor airport. I love the yellow sun of Phoenix. The day couldn't have been better with temperatures of 78 degrees and a light breeze. We rode to both ends of the line but checked back in just an hour and a half before our 8:00 pm departure.

Still we didn't get in the apartment until 1:30 am here in New Westminster.

Day 22 - Growl, Spit, Complain!

Again this is the same photo as used on April 9th here. This time around, unfortunately, we'll be staying a whole lot longer waiting for a connection at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. We arrive there at 12:25 pm from Costa Rica and depart at 7:59 pm. The tickets were cheap. The tickets were cheap. The tickets were cheap. There, I almost convinced myself I don't mind getting into YVR at 11:40.

I'm going to pack my notebook computer in my check-in. At least when flying outside North America each passenger still gets one free bag. As a consequence, this message is on auto-pilot.

Day 21 - The End is Near

It is interesting how much more I appreciate San Jose on this end of our trip. This city seems more modern after spending almost three weeks in other places in Central America. I like the fact the downtown is walkable. I welcome the organization. Although more expensive than other cities, we've visited, the capital of Costa Rica seems open and accessible.

We've walked a lot up to this point and will spend the evening out on the pedestrian-friendly Central Avenue Boulevard. Later this evening we've got to get the backpacks in order as it's off to the airport on the 5:00 am airport shuttle to the airport!

Day 20 - Back at the Best Western

Last night, while at the hotel in Liberia, Jay booked a room at the Downtown Best Western in San Jose. It was the place we stayed when our plane arrived on April 9th. We also spent the 10th here too. On the 11th we went back to the airport and flew to Belize. Our vacation has consisted of getting back here overland. It's been our Central America sampler tour.

We decided to get back to San Jose a day earlier than necessary. On Saturday, we have a very horrible flight schedule when going back to Vancouver. We have to leave for the airport at 5:00 am and then have about a seven-hour stopover in Phoenix. I will have to constantly remind myself that our flights were a full $500 a ticket cheaper than most anything else.

So rather than rushing into town and away the next morning, we have one additional day in this city. There isn't much to see here but it'll be a relaxing day.


The bus trip from Liberia to San Jose took about 4 1/2 hours today. The bus stopped for lunch about in the middle.

Day 19 - We've Still Got It!

Now that we're in Liberia, Costa Rica, I'm sort of happy the agent told us the Tica buses would be full today. The big bus lines do take some of the hassle out of travelling around Central America but they also take a lot of the fun out of it too.



Today, we walked from the waterfront in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua to where the local buses run to Rivas. It took about 45 minutes and cost about 75 cents. Getting to the bus station, we opted out of the first bus to the frontier (border). Well, it looked like we'd have to stand, so we waited a little less than an hour for another. That too was pretty packed and I ended up standing with a great deal of others. In fact, when the conductor and sellers tried to get from one end of the bus to the other people were almost injured! It was a surprisingly short hour and cost each of us $US 1.00.

The border was not hard even without the 'helping hands' of the bus lines. Leaving Nicaragua cost $4 in total. We had refused to tip those offering the customs declaration form and picked them up an filled them out at the counter. Then, we walked about a half mile with our bags through no-man's land and into Costa Rica. Near a restaurant on the Costa Rica side we got in a direct bus to Liberia for about $3. So, for only $5.75 we arrived here. It was gratifying to know we can still be real travelers and not simply tourists.

We ate a late lunch at the bus station and then asked a taxi to take us to a reasonable hotel. We're at Hospedale Casa Vieia. It's average and clean but we realize by the price we're back in Costa Rica. It's a bit more expensive here because the country is a bit more developed. For example, we just paid over 15,000 Colones for dinner. Well, we wanted to splurge a little and went to a second-floor restaurant overlooking the park and main cathedral. The menu was amazingly complex but we figured we'd have tastefully presented, abet meager, food. Well, there are seldom times a meal can get the best of me, but I was unable to finish my chicken breast. It was stuffed with ham, mushrooms, and cheese and topped with a cream sauce. The fries were sufficient for a small army. Jay ordered a different type of chicken and had rice. So, the total bill of $30 wasn't really much after all.

We're going to head back to San Jose tomorrow, somehow.

Day 18 - San Juan del Sur

What's to say?



The Caribbean side might have the fun culture but one can't beat the geography of the bays and coves along the Pacific.

We got here before ten in the morning. We were the only people in a 14-passenger van we'd booked from Granada. As we paid $26 each for the mere one and a half hour drive, we didn't feel as though we needed to tip the driver. He might have had a differing opinion.

We are staying in Hostel Esperanza, in an individual room. Most of the others are young travelers here for the surf or adventure. I'd have to say this city is probably what Mexican resorts would have been like 50 years ago. We like that a lot.

Day 17 - On to 'Another' Granada

We checked out of the hotel as soon as we finished the breakfast. The weather was pleasant enough at 8:15 in the morning to sit at a raised outside table in a courtyard. The breakfast wasn't quite as special as the surroundings, but hey, it was included in the cost of the room. The receptionist lady helped flag down a taxi to tell the driver which bus area we wanted. We had to catch the bus to Granada quite far from the hotel area. They left as soon as filling across the street from the University of Nicagara. (We were in the original Granada, Spain last fall.)

We were moving by 9:15 and in Granada by 10:10. As is our way, we stumbled around looking for a place to stay. That's the beauty of carrying everything in a small backpack; it's not hard to move about. Luckily the bus dropped us off nearly in the middle of the city. In fact we were nearly in Central Park. After cold drinks and and fresh bakery sweet rolls, we leisurely continued our quest for a place to sleep. Actually, Jay is quite good at scounting and getting a deal. I sometimes stand with the bags.



We're in Hotel Casa La Luna. It's not the most luxurious place but it has a nice inside garden. Also, at just $20 / night, it will push our average hotel room for this trip back towards that average. I like it here. Lots of tourists, mostly Americans, apparently do too. Yet, we will move on towards Costa Rica in the morning. We bought local van tickets to one more destination in this country. Tomorrow at 8:30 we are heading towards San Juan del Sur. It's been weeks since we started in Belize on the Caribbean side and now we're ready for a dip in the Pacific.

Day 16 - Easter in Managua

We figured we could check out all the folks attending Easter services today. We went up to the Municipal Cathedral. Unlike other Central American cities so far, Managua does not really have a central historical district. This city is rather spread out too and requires getting around by taxi. Most tourists probably do not stay long in town here but we thought it´d make a good day off. Most things are closed for the holiday.

It is sobering to realize we have to be in San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday evening for an early return on Saturday, the 30th. Damn, so soon? We will probably spend a night in Granada, and perhaps San Juan del Sur before going back into Costa Rica. Then, Liberia is on the list. We go as we see fit.

(My power cord seems to be acting up now. Perhaps my blog entries will be a little sporadic for the next few days.)

Day 15 - Another Border

Today, we checked out of the Hotel Granada after three nights. We got a taxi and went over to the other side of the city to catch a 9:00 am Tica bus. We had plenty of time to eat a small breakfast at a shop nearby.

As the buses weren't moving yesterday, there was a crowd waiting for our bus. We purchased tickets on Thursday, so were assured of our seats. It was a long drive and I surely saw an eyeful. The only real change of pace was at the border between Honduras and Nicaragua. We stayed on the bus when leaving Honduras but had to get out and have our bags checked while entering the new country. We left that area about 2:00.

We pulled into town here at about ten past five. In the hour of light, we decided against staying at the Tica Bus Hotel and opted to go to a tax driver and ask for a cheap hotel. He brought us to Villa Angelo not many blocks from the station actually. We thought it was good and checked in. Almost immediately we walked up two blocks and over two more to a 3-story shopping plaza near the Intercontinental Hotel. It has a food court on the top floor near a cinema.

By what we could see in and hour of light, Managua is nice. It seems modern and quite pretty. Tomorrow we'll hang around to confirm that opinion.

Day 14 - Good Friday in Honduras

We had a rather leisurely day just walking around town here in Tegucigalpa. Last evening's thunderstorm was torrential. Consequently all the preparation for today's church procession literally went down the drain. We were surprised by the fortitude of the artists. Although the procession didn't start until 5:00 pm, the streets were being re-covered with coloured sawdust before we ate breakfast at a Dunkin' Donuts down in the main square in front of the main cathedral.



We found a Chinese restaurant not far from our hotel which was open today. I ate but have taken a few Imodium today as has Jay. Oh well, it goes with the territory. We were back in the square when things finally kicked off. In Canada, Good Friday is a statutory holiday but it might be hard for knowing. There's no mistaking this special day in Central America, good Catholics that they are. The procession still isn't finished but it did go right by the hotel at 7:14 and it's now on it's way to completion back downtown.

Day 13 - Tegucigalpa Today

The name of the capital of Honduras doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Tegucigalpa is where we awoke this morning and will for the next two days. Nothing much moves on Good Friday, so we have reluctantly settled in here for a while. It was interesting enough today. In fact, we saw a bit of the city when taking a taxi to purchase bus tickets to Nicaragua. When we learned things shut up at around noon today, we rushed over to the Tica Bus terminal to buy passage to Managua on Saturday morning at 9:00 am.

Being in this city has rather cosmic connections for me. Almost exactly thirty years ago, I got an acceptance letter into the US Peace Corps. It said that I'd been selected to teach in a program in British Honduras. Yet, one week prior to that I had taken up a teaching position in the country of Kuwait. How different my life would have been if the offers had come the other way round! Today, I wondered if I was meeting people I might have if I had arrived in 1981.

Day 12 - A Slight Change of Plans

We got up this morning and again ate at the hotel's restaurant. The staff are such hard workers and prepare great food. Generally food seems inexpensive to us as we've never spent more than $3.00 for a meal and drink. One girl was most helpful as she spoke a lot of English. In fact, she's in Jay's Facebook photos.

From breakfast we walked over to the King Quality bus station. The terminal is only a few blocks away. We asked for tickets for tomorrow morning at ... ummm .. for the 5:30 am departure to Honduras. The agent spoke no English but printed tickets which showed a 2:30 departure this afternoon. They showed us getting into Tegucigalpa at 8:30. That is not a good time to arrive in an unknown city as the sun sets about 6:00 pm nowadays. It was then we discovered the El Salvador-based company will not be open tomorrow or Friday. We really can't afford that much time in this country although we do like it a lot. So, we accepted the tickets.

Then we went downtown for the last time. How busy it always seems!

We went back to the room, packed up, ate a lunch, and went back to the station 45 minutes ahead as stipulated. We really didn't need to. There was some sort of problem with the bus scheduled to take us. We waited and 2:30 came and went. Then 3:00. Eventually, our bus pulled up at 3:45. We had several hours of view when leaving. El Salvador is a bit more tropical than parts of Guatemala.



Then on, and on. Finally the border at about 7:45. We didn't have to get out of the bus at all. First, the El Salvador immigration agent came on the bus and checked the printed list including our passports we'd proviced when we bought the tickets. Then the bus steward took our passports and returned them with the Honduras visas. They cost $3 each.

The remainder of the trip was cold as the a/c on the bus was full blast. At 10:45 the bus pulled into a dark lot for that bus company. Unfortunately in Central America there do not seem to be big, general bus terminals. Instead, each bus company has it's own depot and ticketing agent. It's a bit inconvenient as these may not be near the town center. For example we paid $10 for a taxi last night. He dropped us at the Hotel Granada. It was okay although a bit more expensive than we've been paying of late. I'm really tired. If I think of anything else, I'll mention it tomorrow.

Day 11 - San Salvador Streets

I am only a little worried that I caught some soft of tropical sleeping-sickness. I slept a sound nine hours last night. Then, after a leisurely breakfast right at the hotel's restaurant, we went to the historical center of town. We got on bus 29 and overshot a lot. I figure we probably had to walk further back to the centro than we would have from this side. That was okay, as it was, of course, all new to us.



The main part of San Salvador is an amazing, confusing, and enormous shopping area. Street after street of shops vie for one's attention. There is unrefrigerated chicken meat for sale next to ladies bras. The next shop fixes old tube televisions but the one beside it plasticware. The shops have creeped onto the sidewalks; the sidewalk vendors into the street; and the pedestrians into the middle of the street along with buses, cars, motorcycles. It's an experiece for each of the five sences. We still find similarites to places in Asia and enjoyed it.

After getting back from 'round one' we showered and ate lunch. Then, as I started talking about in the first topic sentence of this writing, I just had to take a nap. It turned into an hour and a half sleep. Yet, it's okay. This is vacation and the temperature and activity promotes a siesta lifestyle. By nine tonight I'm sure I'll be ready for bed again. Not to worry. Maybe we'll make the trip to the close volcano or at least the big park ... Maybe, we'll accomplish something mañana! Yet if we don't I won't get too concerned either.

Day 10 - Spending Dollars

It was cold at 6:15 am when the van arrived at Burkhard Posada. We were the first two passengers of an eventual six who made the trip to San Salvador this morning. We rode the bumpy stone streets picking up others and headed straight for the border. We figured this choice was better than waiting until nine but having to go back into Guatemala City to catch a big bus. We drove to the southern of the two main borders into El Salvador on a fairly good set of highways . The van driver didn't stop for breakfast so it was good that we had brought along a large raisin cake and big bottle of water for the road.

We quickly went through the first border side but had to wait about a half an hour at the El Salvador side. They officials didn't have the equipment to swipe the passport as I assumed all countries now do. We were with an older (than us) American couple from North Carolina and a young new teacher originally from Virginia working with six graders in Antigua. Off internationally after student teaching sounds like me exactly 30 years ago, although at different points on the compass. The final rider was perhaps Hispanic and on a longer trip with full backpack. We crossed the border by 10:00 and made it into town here, at about 11:30.

The van stopped at the Tica bus stand rather than coming into the Centro area. So, we had to walk down the road to catch a taxi. He was a very helpful guy giving us lots of information in broken English which was about a million times better than our Spanish. We checked into Hotel Passadena II. It's simple but clean and $17 night. I am positive about the price as El Salvador doesn't have its own currency. It simply uses American bills and coins.



The walk to the busy shopping part of the downtown seems a lot like a market in India. Really, we keep making mental connections to places in Sri Lanka or even Cambodia. The physical environment and standard of living really has a lot in defining the characteristics of a society. The culture, religion, and language may be vastly different but surroundings have a remarkable resemblance. I love the tropics for all the potential hardships of life here.

Day 9 - A Day in Antigua

We had our breakfast at the hotel at about 8:00 and were ready to leave for Antigua by nine. The first problem was the hotel called for a cab and it was taking a long time. After about 20 minutes we decided to take the chance one would just happen by if we went out on the street. It wasn't long at all. Unfortunately the driver made a turn which put us right into competition with a traffic jam due to a Palm Sunday procession. We were stuck. None of the streets had been blocked by police so the cars just sort of piled up, although not literally. After about 10 minutes, he realized it'd take too long so we did a U-turn and headed back on a one-way street. It was safe as everybody else had also done the same thing.

We got to the bus station which serves Antigua. We got on a chicken bus which was waiting right in line. They're called 'chicken buses' in Central America but we saw no birds. Actually, they are retired US school buses with many in inpeccable condition. It stopped quite frequently to pick up passengers but the distance today was only about 30 kilometers. We arrived in Antigua with what seemed about half the country. Lots of folks were on the trip to see the Good Friday procession here. It goes for about 12 hours! People carry enormous floats with religious symbols. We'd seen these type of things before in Europe. What we'd not seen was the 'carpeting' that is done in the streets. Many sections of the street are covered with coloured sawdust, flowers, fruit, or grains. The carriers don't actually step on them as they sit under the sacred floats. What I also didn't know what that cleaners follow the parade and immediately clean almost as part of the procession itself.



The route taken is a maze of most steets I expect. We ran into the men's and women's floats a number of times. Once we ate street vendor food for lunch. We've yet to see the end as it's not expected to finish until 11 pm. We did splurge at a pricey dinner right down in front of the main cathedral though. We will be in bed soon. For you see, we bought tickets to San Salvador, El Salvador tomorrow. It should stop by our hostel at six in the morning!