travel though central america.....3 - 4 months

[laje]

hey everyone
im new to TP, im not even sure how i came across it, but it sure has been a great help

Im a 19 year old female from newfoundland canada...... 2 nd year university, which i HATE.......... when i finsih up in april im not plainning on going back for ahile, so i might as well make the most of it. with all my time i want to save a fukk load of $$ and travel around, probably work 3 jobs this summer if i have too....min. wage here is only $6.50) i want to start from panama and possibly end up in mexico by the end of it..... if all goes well.

im planning on back packing through central america for about 4 months, ive never done this before so i need some advice.

got a few questions:
where are the best places to go?
things to do?
how much do you think ill need for 4 months?
plane tickets/return?
about how long does it take to travel through each country?
jan - april ,good months to go? (the weather sucks in NL at that time)

ahhh i dunno.... would you recommed travelling alone?... im hoping my boyfriend will come with me

thanks for the help.

[omisan]

Hello and welcome...

First things first - you'll find a wealth of personal opinions and experiences in the Central America portion of this board, found here: http://www.travelpunk.com/boards/index.php?showforum=38

A handful of us have had stints in C.A. and have posted our experiences there.

Next: Best places to go and things to do really depend on what you want out of the trip. CA's a huge destination for eco & adventure tourism, so there's all that, but it's also a great place to go and immerse yourself in another culture and take the opportunity to do an intense Spanish program.. Or perhaps you just want to surf and be a beach bum the whole time. Or just party on the cheap. There are options galore.

Figuring out what sort of things you want to do will determine your costs, how long it will take you to do those things in each country, and the route you might want to take.

As far as airfare goes, it's tied in with the season. Being a tropical part of the world, our summer is their rainy season, so just before or after that is pretty ideal in terms of price and weather. Of course, if you're bigtime into stuff like rafting, then the rainy season is a better time to go, since the waters will be higher, and if you're a beach bum, then peak season is for you.

Your first step is to figure out what you want to do. And checking out the linked forums might give you an idea of what's out there.

[Joker]

Agreed with Omi. I took a lot of his advice on my recent trip to Costa Rica, and though I only saw one country, I can say that I'd love to do the several month jaunt through.

Some Brits I met in La Fortuna have been blogging their C.A. back-a-packing trip pretty well (until they got into CR. They're currently on a boat somewhere headed to Ecuador. Anyway, Rob & Sara's blog has some great info. They started off in Mexico and traveled down into Guatamala, Belize, Nicaragua, CR, and Panama. Word of caution: El Salvador is still very unsafe, even according to the Salvadorans I work with. Very volatile country, still dealing with the aftermath of their revolution.

Anyway, good luck, do some digging around here and if you can't find an answer, let us know. We'd be more than happy to help out!