Thorn Tree travel forum

Welcome to the Central America branch!

Welcome to the Thorn Tree's Central America branch.

We hope you find plenty of useful information about travelling to Central America here. It is highly recommended that new users check out the Central America FAQ thread before posting a new thread; you may find many of the answers you seek there, and the FAQ thread has been updated as of December 2008! It also contains helpful information about how to search the forum and advice for how to post your questions. If you are a returning user or a Central America guru, please help us keep the FAQ thread up-to-date by adding important information which is absent, or pointing out information which is no longer being represented accurately.

Choosing a country to post to:

When you make a post and choose a country from the drop down menu, your post will... more »

Bustickets out of San jose

Hello,

Hopefully I can get some advice here :-)

I will be arriving late Friday night in San Jose planning to head out towards Quepos area Saturday afternoon (this Friday/Saturday). Guidebooks suggest that one book bus tickets for this area in advance but is that really neccesary and where and how do one do so??? Are there any specific bus companies that one should prefer?

Thank you for any advise you can provide me :-)

How long to travel Central America?

I have booked flights to Cancun Mexico for the 19th May and returning on the 14th July. My plan was to travel down to Costa Rica within this time and fly back from San Jose. Does anyone know if this is feasible? I have looked into flights back from Costa Rica and including taxes they are about $300 so thats not to bad and i would fly back to Cancun on Monday 12th July. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Mike

where best to visit for historical interest?

Hi everyone,
I'm in the very early planning stages of a trip to Central America this summer. I'm a History student, and I'm planning on writing my final year thesis on the colonisation/Christianisation of Central America and I want to be able to experience the country and culture for myself before my head gets lost in the books!! I'm planning on joining an archaelogical dig (I've found a couple of possible ones in Belize) for a couple of weeks and then travelling around for probably another month - 6 weeks. If the dig plan falls through then I was considering maybe doing a Spanish language course somewhere.
Does anyone know where in this region is most interesting to visit from a historical point of view? Or where the Mayan culture is still most intact, or perhaps the less touristy ruins? I am also interested in hiking and generally exploring Central America - any suggested 'must s... more »

One Week Intensive

I'm in the early stages of planning a two-week trip, my first to Central America, and the big question is whether to set my ass down & take a very intensive week of language classes, or to travel and explore the country a bit more.

For background: I've never formally studied Spanish, but have stumbled through trips to Mexico and Argentina & did ok. I am not a natural at languages, but have learned a few through hard study and travel. So: I know what it takes & am willing to go through the grind and the headache.

I'm wondering how people who've done a serious week feel - did you make a great deal of progress? Or is a week just not enough & you would have learned just as much through solo travel?

What I'm trying to balance is this: the school that catches my eye is the Cooperativa in San Pedro, but a week there would only leave me with a quick visit to Antigua, there'd... more »

2 panama city questions

Landing in Panama City in a few days, two questions on my mind ...

1. I'll be staying at Euro Hotel ... what should I expect the taxi fare from the airport to be? Do they all use meters, or will there be guys there -like most airports- ready to rip off people?

2. Will there be Carnival celebrations in Panama City itself? If so, which part of town should one head to?

Thanks everybody.

Buying a hammock

Anyone know what's a good price for a hammock (one if those colorful woven ones)? Should I buy here in Copan or wait until Guatemala?

Caulker, transportation and water

Hi,

have been reading all the great advice but have a couple of real quick questions.

is the water drinkable on caye caulker and in the cayo, have read mixed reviews? i prefer not to use plastic water bottles for environmental reasons and would be willing to use purification tablets.

we are looking to get from belize city to san ignacio by bus, but i can't find how far from the water taxi's terminal to the bus terminal. how far and how much by taxi?

are there any company's that run fishing day tours for fun of caulker. i'm not a huge fisherman but thought it might be fun, can anyone recommend a good company.

We will be in belize during US/Canada march break and are 'winging' it for reservations on caye caulker, is that ok if we're looking in the $20-60 range.

thanks for the help

Vs

PS Lan thank you so much for all the writeups you do and your belizefirst.com we... more »

Hostel work in Nicaragua, Panama or maybe Costa Rica - where at?

Been travelling for a while but now I feel like staying in one place for a while.
Been looking into working at a hostel, seems nice enough as long as I can stay without wasting much of my budget. Guess the best would be somewhere I could get food and lodging paid, and maybe a small sum of money a day for expenses.

This is what I'm looking for...
Setting near a beach (1 hour away max)
Good party possibility
Not only gringos but also locals or domestic tourists
Ability to stay afloat without wasting much or if possible any of my budget
A bar and/or restaurant in the hostel would be cool, busy place would be cool as well.

This is what I got...
Advanced level C1 in Spanish, not fluent but can work in a solo Spanish environment without issues.
Very good English
Swedish
Good references
Ability to work hard

Been looking into the following places, comments and tips on wher... more »