The Ultimate Road Trip!
- Thread starter RMP&O
- Start date
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
I will drop you a call a little later today....
I have not recieved the disk from my friend yet with the pics/video of Belize to Panama. It should still be coming....If I don't see the disc before he ships out to Norway for the summer then I will just finish up the trip report with my own pictures. So there is more to come...
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
A friend told me a story the other day about when they were in Baja years ago. The same thing happened with cops and white powder. But it ended up with them arrested and it cost them $15,000 to get out of jail and back into the USA!
I had a "white powder" incident with the cops in Panama City... it turned out a lot differently than yours did... but, that story will be saved for campfire!
loved the pics of your trip?
what was the most memorial city/town you stayed in?
what was your favorite restrant/ food down there?
I love latin american beers... what was your favorite? (Dont say Negro Modelo!)
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
Looking forward to the story then some day...
Maybe Granada, Nicaragua....maybe not the best city but it was entertaining there.....the first night we got there it was on Valentines Day and the place was going off with a festival and all that. Leon looked cool but we just pasted through it 2x.
Favorite would be Santa Catalina in Panama but it is so small not really even a town.
Panama City was cool, I liked the Relic Bar. Boquete in Panama was also really cool but we were only there one night. San Jose, Costa Rica looked pretty cool with the boardwalk through the middle of the city but once again was only there one night.
My least favorite city was definately Jaco, Costa Rica....what a polished turd that place is!
Food, anything seafood and roadside jungle chicken (!)....kidding about the roadside jungle chicken. In El Salvador the little tortillas stuffed with cheese and sometime meat or beans especially when the tortilla are made on the spot. Can't recall the name of the tortilla at the moment. Restaurant, any of them in Santa Catalina, very good food and real cheap, $10 for huge meals...I had a fat lobster one night (the only one I ate on the trip) for $12! I had some very good street tacos/tortas one night in Guatemala...after I ate them I took a walk behind the place with my dog and there were stacks and stacks of wooden crates that all said "gato" on them! I wondered if I had cat tacos but hey they tasted very good and what you don't know won't kill you!
Favorite beer, Bravaria in Costa Rica and Moza in Guatemala, both are extremely good. The Gallo bombers also go down real easy but it is not a top quality beer. I wasn't impressed with Panamanian beer at all or El Salvador. Nicaragua has some decent beers. Really no bad beers to be had on the trip besides Sol, hate it...
RockyMtnFamily
Explorer
Sounds like Papusas :drool:
I am looking forward to the rest of you photos and want to do this with my family next Summer or the summer after that.
Kevin
So very cool man...
Santa Catalina... thats up in the mountains near Volcan, near santa fe... right? I enjoyed Granada also... cool vibe. Hell, I dig the whole latin america vibe!
Dont remember the relic bar in Panama City. My favorites where in Casco Viejo.... lots of small little bars. I LOVED Los Bovedas! Outstanding latin jazz... musica en vivo. Plus.. the atmosphere! I met a few folks down there and they took me to the habano or havana bar... (again those stories will be told around a campfire!) ... again the atmosphere!!!
San jose is without the a doubt the LEAST safest latin american city I have ever been to! I never had any problems, but almost everyone i encountered had some sort of ordeal. I felt very unsafe there. but again, no problamos.
Boquete was cool. i was there during the week long fair in january. the flower and coffee fair. the place swells to about 100 times the normal population. I also liked the constant drizzle that took place the whole time i was there. Did you stop by the Zanzibar? Cool little african themed bar in panama!
I was a big fan of imperial and pilsen in costa rica. I also like the cans of rum and coke. I would love to have a few cases of them at the house. in panama, i like panama (in the green bottle) and soberana. Those hit the spot on the beach. I like poker and aguila in Colombia.
but when the temp is in the 90's with 90%+ humidity... any beer hits the spot... am i right?
moza was good too.
I cant wait for the panama pics!
Santa Catalina... thats up in the mountains near Volcan, near santa fe... right? I enjoyed Granada also... cool vibe. Hell, I dig the whole latin america vibe!
Dont remember the relic bar in Panama City. My favorites where in Casco Viejo.... lots of small little bars. I LOVED Los Bovedas! Outstanding latin jazz... musica en vivo. Plus.. the atmosphere! I met a few folks down there and they took me to the habano or havana bar... (again those stories will be told around a campfire!) ... again the atmosphere!!!
San jose is without the a doubt the LEAST safest latin american city I have ever been to! I never had any problems, but almost everyone i encountered had some sort of ordeal. I felt very unsafe there. but again, no problamos.
Boquete was cool. i was there during the week long fair in january. the flower and coffee fair. the place swells to about 100 times the normal population. I also liked the constant drizzle that took place the whole time i was there. Did you stop by the Zanzibar? Cool little african themed bar in panama!
I was a big fan of imperial and pilsen in costa rica. I also like the cans of rum and coke. I would love to have a few cases of them at the house. in panama, i like panama (in the green bottle) and soberana. Those hit the spot on the beach. I like poker and aguila in Colombia.
but when the temp is in the 90's with 90%+ humidity... any beer hits the spot... am i right?
moza was good too.
I cant wait for the panama pics!
Looking forward to the story then some day...
Maybe Granada, Nicaragua....maybe not the best city but it was entertaining there.....the first night we got there it was on Valentines Day and the place was going off with a festival and all that. Leon looked cool but we just pasted through it 2x.
Favorite would be Santa Catalina in Panama but it is so small not really even a town.
Panama City was cool, I liked the Relic Bar. Boquete in Panama was also really cool but we were only there one night. San Jose, Costa Rica looked pretty cool with the boardwalk through the middle of the city but once again was only there one night.
My least favorite city was definately Jaco, Costa Rica....what a polished turd that place is!
Food, anything seafood and roadside jungle chicken (!)....kidding about the roadside jungle chicken. In El Salvador the little tortillas stuffed with cheese and sometime meat or beans especially when the tortilla are made on the spot. Can't recall the name of the tortilla at the moment. Restaurant, any of them in Santa Catalina, very good food and real cheap, $10 for huge meals...I had a fat lobster one night (the only one I ate on the trip) for $12! I had some very good street tacos/tortas one night in Guatemala...after I ate them I took a walk behind the place with my dog and there were stacks and stacks of wooden crates that all said "gato" on them! I wondered if I had cat tacos but hey they tasted very good and what you don't know won't kill you!
Favorite beer, Bravaria in Costa Rica and Moza in Guatemala, both are extremely good. The Gallo bombers also go down real easy but it is not a top quality beer. I wasn't impressed with Panamanian beer at all or El Salvador. Nicaragua has some decent beers. Really no bad beers to be had on the trip besides Sol, hate it...
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RMP&O
Expedition Leader
same man...I love Latin America! Santa Catalina is a sleepy little surfers townsouth of Santiago on the Peninsula De Las Palmas. A remote place not easy to get to unless you have a car.
The Relic Bar is located below Lunas Castle Hostel. It may not have been there last time you were in Panama City?
http://www.hosteltrail.com/lunascastle/
BTW, Lunas Castle is the coolest looking hostel I have ever seen!
Yeah I have heard the same thing and also didn't have any problems. I did like the look of the city though...I drove right through the heart of San Jose during rush hour zig zagging one way roads. In it's self that was an adventure to find our accomidations for the night!
small world! Yes I went to the Zanzibar...cool decor. But there was only really old people there (nothing against old people it was just sleepy) and the service sucked hard. We were ready to leave and stood at the bar for 15 mins with cash in hand to pay the tab. After being ignored that long we just left...thanks Zanzibar for the free beers/drinks! I stayed up the street at the Hostel Verde. We had the whole place to ourselves, not even a desk attendant at night and we watched a pirated DVD of Sherlock Holmes they had in the DVD player! Not 2 blocks up from the Zanzibar was a old 60 series Nissan Patrol...I took pictures but they will come later in this thread.
Funny but they have Imperial and Pilsen brands in El Salvador, but they are not the Costa Rica beers they are El Salvador beers. The Costa Rican Imperial is not bad but I much prefer Bavaria, it is a dark beer. I drank lots of Panama and also Balboa, they are alright but with Guiness running .65-.85 cents a can it was my beer of choice in Panama....often with a shot of Zacapa rum in it.
I have been to Colombia 3x and agree on the Colombian beers, not bad at all. Did you ever go to a Bogota Brewery and get the huge mugs that have a tap in them? Fun times! I never saw Soberana in Panama.
Out of all the Latin countries I have been to Panama and Colombia are by far my favorites. I was really dissapointed with Costa Rica.
very right....even luke warm beer tastes good in the heat, humidity and sun.
No worries....the reason I am waiting so long to finish this is my buddy really does have some great pics and video. He documented all the border crossings, shake down by cops, the acident in El Salvador including the police escort to the right HWY and much more! Since I was focusing on driving I didn't get hardly any video or pics of the trip from Belize to Panama. When I did it was usually using his camera since it has in reach. He is a kayak guide and works in adveture tourism and moves around a lot or is not near the internet for long periods of time. So it is not only hard to get something like a dvd of pictures from him it is just hard to stay in touch with the guy!
I can tell you this...I am hooked on road trips deep into Latin America. The danger facotr makes things exciting to me, Guatemala for example is nasty bad for armed robberies but I loved Guatemala and want to experience more of it. The cops in Mexico shaking me down and the border guard in Belize taking my cell really bummed me out for a few weeks but I got over it and realized this is part of the adventure. Without the possibilty of things like this happening it would just be another road trip in the USA. A few stretches of road I really dreaded driving while we were doing it but now looking back on it, I almost feel privleged to have had the chance to drive them. I don't even really have the desire to jump on a plane and go somewhere now (I still will of course) and am really looking forward to my next trip deep into Latin America by vehicle. More on this though as the story continues to unfold.....
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
LOL....
I wish I was making money off this....truth be I am just sharing. :camping:
I think it is worth the wait which shouldn't be to much longer. My friend Jaime is a very good photographer and his videos should be near as good.
LOL....
I wish I was making money off this....truth be I am just sharing. :camping:
I think it is worth the wait which shouldn't be to much longer. My friend Jaime is a very good photographer and his videos should be near as good.
You've got 24 hours. Starting... now.
Cambo
Adventurer
I say in the meantime, why not tell us about your Panama City adventure?