Nica Life: Granada to Isla Ometepe
Like much of Central America, Nicaragua has a complicated history with the U.S. Most of us may remember the Iran Contra affair - the 1986 scandal in which the Reagan administration illegally sold weapons to Iran in order to fund the Nicaraguan soldiers trained by the U.S. to overthrow the Sandinista government under Daniel Ortega. I was in graduate school in the late 90’s, earning a Master’s degree in public policy, and Central America factored prominently in our foreign poli
El Salvador – A Tale of Two Countries?
Paula and I entered El Salvador on Saturday, July 18th. We had a smooth border crossing with our friends Janice and Gregor, and were thankful they advised us to take a less busy crossing with them on the CA 8 instead of the busy PanAmerican crossing. Our rigs at the border entering El Salvador...a little underwhelming which was just fine for us. Janice and Gregor were checked inside and out. Our guy only looked at our VIN. There is no rhyme or reason at these borders. And we
(un)Productive in Tulum
Productivity, Relaxation, Yoga, Kiting, Reality vs Expectations. Basically, me....rambling. When we have the interweb, I love it with my whole heart. I love being informed with up to the minute updates on the markets and news and stock prices. I drink it in with the satisfaction of, of well, being up to date. Other than checking in with the finances and emails, I am really wasting a whole lot of time under the guise (my guise) that I am doing something productive or worthwhi
You Better Belize It: Part 1.
Belize is our first foreign border crossing. We decided to do our border run into Belize instead of Guatemala because we heard it was an easy crossing. It was. The hardest part was finding our way around the newly constructed roads (with no signs) to get through each step in the process. All in, the crossing it took us about an hour. Which is good news, because 2 weeks later we will do it all over again in the opposite direction. As we cross the border and drive less than a
Turning 50 with good friends...and a burro: PV to Yelapa
I first came to Puerto Vallarta and then Yelapa 25 years ago. Paula and I were dating when she came across an ad in the newspaper for a cheap all-inclusive package to Puerto Vallarta. This was my first trip out of the U.S. and my third time on an airplane. I was 25. It was a difficult weekend for me as I was so focused on not being a tourist or doing touristy things that I was a bit of an ass, got my sister’s camera (and our clothes!) stolen, missed the panga to Yelapa and
