Final thoughts on Central America

I´m packing to head to the airport. I have a marathon flight to Madrid, then a short connection to Marrakech. I can´t believe I´ve been traveling for less than four weeks! I´ve been moving pretty quickly, doing the typically American tourist thing, moving from spot to spot, but I knew when I came here my itinerary was pretty ambitious (and unrealistic).

I´m spending a few days in Morocco -- not nearly enough, of course, just enough to see a few of the main cities -- and then a couple of weeks in Spain. After that I´ll be spending a month or so in each country. I´m looking forward to when my pace slows a bit.

I´ve traveled by plane, car and boat, but not train, which is a bit ironic in that, when I get to Asia, that will be my primary mode of transportation for several months.

I´ve already made some horrendous rookie backpacker mistakes and had my share of frustrations and sleepless night, but all in all it´s been a great few weeks. I chose Central America to start my trip for a few practical reasons.
1) It´s cheap to get to. When I booked my first flight there were tickets from BWI to Costa Rica for about $225. You can´t fly in the US that cheaply!
2) It´s inexpensive. Panama is pricey by Central American standards, although Costa Rica is by far the most expensive, and yet last night I was drinking beers at my hostel for 60 cents a piece.
3) I´ve been to Central America a couple times so I sort of know how to find my way around, so I figured it would be a good way to ease myself into my round-the-world trip and gain some confidence before I head to more challenging locales.
4) I´m meeting my friend Lily in Spain in July, so basically I had a month to kill!

I do have a rough itinerary for the year, but even though I was only in Central America a few weeks I made some radical detours, and they ended up being some of my favorite spots. I had no plans to go to Honduras at all, but I loved both Utila and Copan. I had no plans on going to Bocas del Toro, but I enjoyed a wonderful few days there.

There was only one spot on the entire trip that I planned on visiting for the second time. (I´ve been to Spain before but I´m not going anywhere I visited before.) There is a hostel in Costa Rica that I visited a few years ago and loved. And that was the biggest disappointment of the trip so far. It´s really gone downhill. Lesson learned!

Thanks to everyone who has kept in touch. It´s fun writing this, but even more satisfying knowing someone is reading it!