Only in Central America

Remember my last post about being flexible?

Well today my ability to be flexible was really, really tested.

Here is how the day went

We got up super early and walked to the bus terminal for our eight hour bus ride from Managua, Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica

(Side Note: In our hotel room last night there was a spare door frame holding up one corner of the ceiling - No Joke)

After a couple of hours we finally arrived at the border. According to immigration Jill had overstayed her visa and would need to pay a fine for the extra days, plus a "gift" in order to make sure she wouldn't have problems getting back into the country.

(Side Note 2: Seriously, if anyone can figure out the visa stuff around here, please fill me in!)

After dealing with all the immigration hassles we got back and the bus and went on our way. For an hour.

And then what happened? Our bus broke down. Yup, dead as a door nail on the side of the road

So we did what all flexible travelers would do. Get real comfortable on the side of the road

Jill doing some reading

After about an hour or so a semi pulled up. We figured the driver was just there to see if he could help fix the engine.

But no, this was our tow truck.

We even got a police escort

Fortunately, they only towed us across the street to the next gas station but we did all get to ride in the bus as the semi pulled the bus.

Talk about a once in a lifetime story

After 13 hours of travel we finally arrived and got settled into our hostel.

Tomorrow we have another long bus ride to David, Panama.

Hopefully this one goes a bit smoother!

Just roll with it...

Flexible:
adjective 
1. capable of bending easily without breaking
2. able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances
3. ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances

One of the biggest lessons of travel is that you must be flexible.

Like crazy flexible

After three days in Managua, Jill and I have decided to change our plans and head straight to Panama (Long story BUT if you can make sense of the abusurdly complicated C-4 regulations/visa extensions for this area let me know!)

What does this mean?

Tomorrow we are heading to Costa Rica so as not to overstay our visa in Nicaragua. We will spend a night in Costa Rica, and then head on to Panama first thing in the morning. 

Basically, it will be two days of long, long bus rides, and then a boat to Bocas del Toro, to spend the holidays there!.

If being flexible means accepting that you will spend Christmas on the beach than I am just fine with it!   

Off we go! 

All the photos!

One of my goals for my 27th year of life was learn to take good pictures

In order to do this, I am trying to take a lot more photos. I made a photobucket to share the ones I really like:

Erin Glesne-Smith's Photobucket

Enjoy! 

EDIT: Click the little arrow, on the left side, next to the phrase "Show Albums and Stories" to see all the albums and photos!

Update

So, this is a long overdue update!

However, since I'm fairly sure my parents make up about 50% of my blog audience, I didn't do any updating while they were in town.

It was a really great trip, and I loved showing them where I am living. We spent a week in Copan Ruinas, two days in Pico Bonito (an incredible National Park), and another week in Roatan. I got very very good at being on vacation!

Also, if you are looking for an amazing place to stay in Honduras you should have my mom do your travel plans. Both of the places we stayed were incredible!

For example, this was our dock in Roatan. Every night we watched the sunset out there:

 Doesn't get much better than that!

Now, Jill and I have started our adventure to Panama. We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua yesterday and head on to Grenada tomorrow!