We spent ten weeks driving across Mexico and it was epic. In Baja, we wild camped on the most beautiful beaches, spotted grey and humpback whales, met amazing friends, saw bioluminescent algae, got stopped a few times by cows crossing the road (… and mating in the road), ate fresh fish that Andy caught from the ocean, and sipped on a lot of Coronas. At one point, we found ourselves trapped in some soft sand on a beach in Baja, with the relentless pull of the ocean threatening to swallow our car (which was also our home!). As the water began to rise around us, a group of local kids appeared out of nowhere and jumped in to help us dig our way out. Despite almost losing our Land Cruiser to the ocean and Cooper surviving a run-in with a black widow and a scorpion, we didn’t want to leave! We finally took the exhausting 14-hour ferry from La Paz to Mazitlán (“mainland Mexico,” as overlanders refer to it). There was so much to explore and a lot of ground to cover! The tolls were insanely high and the cops were super corrupt, but the ancient Mayan civilizations, magic mushrooms, smelly hippies, colonial architecture, tacos, Tequila (with a capital T), and topless beaches definitely made up for it.
MEXICO
Belize is tiny so we spent just ten days exploring here. We decided to explore some new spots since we’ve been to Belize before: laid-back Hopkins, the famous Hummingbird Highway, and Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce Factory. The ocean was warm, the vibes were chill, the stew chicken was full of flavor, and the people were welcoming—plus they speak English! The only downsides were that gas was a whopping $7/gallon and my attempts to clean up the trash off the beach were unsuccessful as more washed up every night. The highlight: We pulled up to a private beach in Hopkins, spotted the owner’s dilapidated old houseboat and he let us make it our home for the week.
BELIZE
Guatemala is vibrant: the textiles, the jungle, the lakes, the volcanos, the people, the culture. We spent three weeks exploring some new spots and some old favorites. We were lucky to be in Antigua for part of Semana Santa, where we got to enjoy the processions and colorful alfambras, plus an epic after-party where a couple locals stole some cones and blocked off the street to blare music and dance into the early hours of the morning. We hungout on the tiny lake island Flores, where we visited the expansive Tikal ruins, made some great friends with crazy stories, and battled terrible food poisoning. We relaxed at at the beautiful Lake Atitlán, surrounded by volcanos and tiny towns, which is a special spot for us since we also spent part of our honeymoon there.
GUATEMALA
Initially, we were nervous about Honduras and planned to cross the country in just two days, but we ended up staying five nights. After an 8-hour border crossing in the grueling heat, it was getting dark and the hotels were all full due to the holidays. We “lucked” upon a vacancy at the “Love” Motel, which was charged hourly (yikes) and ended up being the most expensive lodging of our entire trip (insert eye roll). We ran into car problems the next day as we approached Comayagua, the old capital city with a beautiful historic center. The locals were very kind and welcomed us to join in on their Semana Santa celebrations, where they jammed to classics by the The Eagles and George Michael. The owner of our hotel even offered to do our laundry for free since she knew we were stranded for a couple days. We were so thankful for their kindness—and Honduras ended up not being so scary after all.
HONDURAS
Nicaragua was a whirlwind of a month. We sand-boarded Cerro Negro volcano, walked barefoot on a stunningly white cathedral roof, explored historical Granada and Léon, spotted tons of monkeys, partied in a treehouse, visited the hand-carved cliffs of El Tisey, took the ferry to the volcanic lake island of Ometepe, experienced heat like no other in San Juan del Sur, and met some life-long friends. We might have overdone it because I was hit hard by the worst sickness I’ve experienced in my life. Andy ended up bring me to the hospital, which looked straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie. The nurse used her phone flashlight to check my sore throat before jamming a shot of penicillin in my butt cheek. The rest was a blur.
NICARAGUA
We spent a few weeks in beautiful Costa Rica exploring the coastline, the jungles and the capital. In La Fortuna, I became an expert at spotting poison dart frogs, Andy tried to double bounce me off a hanging bridge, and we spent a lot of time soaking in the hot springs with the locals. At Playa Islita, we body surfed for hours while Coops jumped in the waves. We swam in a few waterfalls—at one point in the pouring rain! We had the most amazing reina pepiada arepas hand-made by Andy’s aunt in San Jose. The wildlife was phenomenal at Manuel Antonio National Park. At this point, we’d seen two-toed and three-toed sloths, howler and spider monkeys, capuchin, coati, scarlet macaws, a fer-de-lance viper, caiman, glass frogs, poison dart frogs, red-eyed tree frogs and bufo toads—all in the wild.
COSTA RICA
We had just a couple weeks to explore Panama’s stunning biodiversity as we were locked in with a date to ship the Land Cruiser around the Darien Gap. Escaping the heat, we headed to Boquete, a tiny mountain town, where we finally spotted the elusive Quetzal on a long hike. We had been searching for these these magnificent endangered birds for months, and their beautiful blue and green feathers took our breath away! Finally, we made it to Panama City, where we visited the Panama Canal and wandered around Casco Viejo, while we prepped the Land Cruiser and paperwork for shipping. The city was super hectic after all the small beach and mountain towns we’d been staying in for the prior months. We went to see Top Gun at a mall and exclaimed that it must be the biggest mall in the world… Turns out it was just a bit of culture shock as it was only the third biggest mall in the city!
