Change your Thoughts...

 “ Change your thoughts and you change your world”. Normal V. Peale.

During one of my first business trips to Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the largest cities in the world, I casually asked the taxi driver what he thought of Rio de Janeiro.  The driver looked at me with a concerned look and vowed never to visit Rio because it was a very dangerous city.  He then added anecdotal stories of murder, robberies and police brutality.  

A few weeks later, I was walking near Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro with a grin from ear-to-ear in awe of the sheer beauty of the place they have nicknamed “The Marvelous City”.  The famous beaches, the lush jungle nestled up to the city sitting on the edge of a beautiful crystal blue Atlantic Ocean.  I found myself inside another taxi and this time decided to ask the driver what he thought of Sao Paulo City.  The driver nearly jumped out of his seat to warn me of the dangers lurking all around Sao Paulo, the infamous gang violence of 2006, homicides and daily carjacking’s.  He refused to visit Sao Paulo because he had been warned it was such a dangerous place.  Like most, if not all large cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have their fair share of crime, however these cities also offer a tremendous amount beauty, prosperity and culture.  The truth is that the vast majority of citizens of these two cities are hard working, law abiding, warm people who love living life to it’s fullest and not opportunistic criminals waiting for the first gringo to walk by.

Before we embarked on our road trip we read government produced country reports on the dangers lurking in every single country between Brazil and Canada.  Most reports had recommendations such as “avoid all non-essential travel”, while others suggested that we “avoid all travel” period.  The sad reality is that a good majority of countries throughout the Americas are having a difficult time in keeping the crime rate at an acceptable rate and have poor records for good governance.  It also doesn’t take long to find online news articles depicting senseless and at times random acts of violence and a million and one “reasons” never to leave the comfort of one’s own city.  It didn’t take long before we questioned if this trip was worth the “risk”.  

Just like the taxi drivers who have never ventured outside of their cities, we were slowly falling into the trap of fearing the unknown.  

With support and encouragement from family, friends and other travelers who had embarked on similar trips throughout the Americas, we decided to press on…and we weren’t disappointed!   

We were blessed, privileged and humbled to have traveled over 19,300 km through 12 countries without any major issues.  The border crossings were a pain but not difficult, we just needed some patience and respect for local laws and procedures.  The police and military roadblocks are a necessary reality of many countries but we were always treated in a professional manner, perhaps we were lucky.  The roads were surprisingly in good condition and the drivers as good and/or as bad as in North America...Lima, Peru perhaps being the exception in which controlled chaos and extreme honking is the norm. 

It’s difficult to choose the “best country” or pick a favorite place, but some things do stand out.  Driving over the Andes at one point reaching an altitude of almost 15,000 feet while seeing small children happily playing on the side of the highway in near freezing temperature.  Descending into the highest capital in the world, Quito, Ecuador didn’t disappoint and was well worth the visit. The gorgeous old walled city in Cartagena, Colombia on the shores of the Caribbean Sea.  Enjoying a break from the daily driving while diving in the crystal waters off Taganga, Colombia.  The pristine and untouched San Blas Islands of the Kuna Yala tribe off the coast of Panama.  The colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala, sitting in the shadow of Volcan de Agua and de Fuego.  The peacefulness and freedom of driving with those you love.

We are now back home. The bags have been unpacked, the kids enrolled in school and the work schedule posted on the fridge.  We now sit quietly reflecting on what we’ve accomplished but also back to the wonderful places we visited, lifelong friendships and elated we embarked on this journey of a lifetime.

Home Sweet Home

Apologies for not updating the blog....but after arriving home on September 1, it's just been CRAZY busy with REALITY!

I'll update the blog with one final posting...

B

Mexico

We knew that our drive across Mexico would be a fast and furious mad dash for the US border.  Well, if you consider a top cruising speed of 100 km/hr fast and two kids in the back seat regularly reminding us that they’re suffering from acute boredom and can't take it anymore driving. 

The trip throughout Mexico was a series of long drives which first took from Las Champas to San Cristobal de las Casas.  A beautiful and peaceful drive through the high pine mountain forest of Chiapas.  When we arrived it had started to rain so we cleaned up and went to a great local Thai Fusion restaurant owned by a couple of American Ex Pats.  Although we had heard lots about San Cristobal, the kids (ie: youngest) did not want to walk around and explore ANY more colonial towns. 

After some checking, we decided not to drive up into the Province of Veracruz and decided to “loop around” via Oaxaca.  We drove down from the Chiapas mountains until we reached Arriaga and then climbed back up again to Oaxaca.  We also managed to time our arrival perfectly with a torrential down pour, in rush hour traffic as the sun was going down....perfect.  It ended being a 12-hour day and when we eventually found a hotel, we ordered pizza and called it a night.

The gray overcast sky and drizzle the following day only convinced us to keep driving.  This time we headed towards Mexico City via Puebla but the four lane divided highway helped the drive considerably.  We aimed our sights on the town of Teotihuacan where we would visit the Pyramides of Teotihuacan and see the largest pyramids outside of Egypt.

We arrived Teotihuacan early enough where the kids enjoyed a much needed swim while mom and dad a cold drink pool side.  

The following day we visited the ruins but not before Mateo became sick from running up the pyramid steps.  Again with his ego staggered and his brother laughing, we spent the rest of the day building him up.

We went from DF to Guadalajara to Los Mochis to the border and we paid for it in sweat and tears…when we drove through Hermosillo the temperature climbed to 43c and over 50c inside the truck. 

When we listen to the news or read an article about Mexico's struggle with drug cartels, senseless violence, corruption and political scandals we forget that the vast majority of people are going about their regular day to day.  We saw a beautiful, culturally rich country with great highways.  Perhaps we were fortunate, because there are countless stories on blogs about travelers being harassed, intimidated and at times extorted of money.  We were stopped several times at well marked road blocks.  They were always intrigued in our adventure and once they realized what we were in the middle of doing, asked the usual questions and always wished a safe journey home.

However, we when stopped in Los Michos, Sonora for the night we asked the hotel for a good restaurant.  The hotel front counter staff  suggested the “El Farallon” three blocks down the road.  We read good reviews about this restaurant which specialized in seafood and didn’t think twice about checking it out.  It also turned out that the local crime figures also enjoy a good meal. 

It could have been the older gentlemen with slicked back hair, insisting and undoubtedly paying for exclusive rights of the mariachi band while he danced in his seat.  It could have also been the group inside a private room ordering large quantities of wine and platters of food.  However, when we walked out of the restaurant, the bullet proof SUV’s, armed body guards wearing earpieces looking at everything that moved with suspicious eyes convinced us it was a good time to head back to the hotel. 

We finally reached the Nogales border crossing on Friday Aug 24 around 9 pm, 45 minutes later we were on US soil and it felt great! 

Aug 19 - 21 - Guatemala to Mexico

Three day's....1521 km's... oh the joy's of living on the road.  We went from Lake Atitlan, Guatemala to San Cristobal, Mexico to Oaxaca to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan (50 km North of Mexico City)

Leaving Guatemala Sunday morning worked out to be great! There was barely any traffic on the road and we started getting very excited to cross into Mexico.  Until we reached this!

Oh just a small mud slide across the PanAmerica highway near the Guatemalan/ Mexican border.  But no worries, there was a detour down the road.  A simple dirt/ rock road detour but it did the trick.

We arrived in San Cristobal to rain, but were treated to a beautiful day the following morning.

Then this... the bliss of open road between Chiapas and Oaxaca.

But then it changed to this! Arriving in Oaxaca.

More Mexico details to follow...

Aug 16 to 18 - Antigua, Guatemala

We spent our last evening near Playa de los Cabanos, El Salvador at small resort on the Pacific.  The place had four small swimming pools, beautiful grounds, bar/ restaurant and free breakfast.  However, our plans to stay the following morning and enjoy the water were shattered by two wonderful kids who only wanted to play video games.  So we did what most parents would have done, took the video games away, packed the truck and hit the road to Guatemala.

The border crossing from El Salvador to Guatemala thus far takes top marks for taking the longest.  Nothing complicated or overly taxing, just the slow wheels of bureaucracy at work.  One hour and forty-five minutes later we were back on the road, but this time towards Antigua, Guatemala.  The weather cooled off considerably as we climbed into the Guatemalan mountains, which was a nice change for all of us but it meant we were back into mountain driving. 

Antigua is one of those special places that seems to have found balance between old and new.  An old city sitting in the shadows of Volcano of Water (12,356 ft) was the perfect place to stay for a couple day's and explore.  We visited two hostels before stopping the Yellow House Hostel.  This is listed as Lonely Planet’s top choice for Antigua and it was a gem.  Beautifully decorated room with two double beds, a terrace on the roof with views of the surrounding mountains and a delicious, fresh breakfast.  We were lucky they had a room for us, because the place was filling up fast.  

The only thing that wasn’t going our way was the weather because as soon as we arrived it started to pour! The boys and I were happy to stay in the room, surf the net and watch TV, but that did not sit well with Marnie (understandably so).  Finally after a couple hours…maybe three, the rain had stopped and we went out in search of a restaurant.  

We came across a great Mexican restaurant (Frida's), had some tequila shots (helped relax the mood) and just kicked back, until the kids became bored.  :)

After two day's in Antigua we decided to drive to Atitlan Lake and spend a day or two.  We had heard it was a spectacular place and worth a visit.  As we were leaving Antigua, we decided to drive up a back road in search of a lookout overlooking the valley.  

However, we were given very vague directions to the "look out" and after a few minutes we realized that yet again we were well off the main road... now we were on some dirt road in the Mountains of Guatemala.

We pressed on, found a small mountain village and they told us to just keep going up and we would "eventually" reach the main highway.  One hour later, we were back on the Pan America.

We found Lake Atitlan without any issues and the views were stunning, but we didn't enjoy the city of Panajachel all that much.  The city was overly touristy, the restaurants and vendors were a bit to pushy and we ended up in another crappy restaurant.   All the hikes up to the Volcano San Pedro required a guide and were several hours long.  So the thought of hiking up volcanic rock, in 30 degree heat with kids, not this time around.  Instead, we decided to go on a small hike around Pana inside a Nature Reserve and leave for Mexico the following morning. 

Aug 14 - Nicaragua to Honduras to El Salvador

The trip from Granada, Nicaragua to Santa Rosa de Lima, El Salvador via Honduras was long, hot but uneventful. Well, if you consider driving 500 km and crossing two borders in Central America and the odd volcano boring...

As we made our way through western Nicaragua, the roads became more and more void of cars and people.  We checked and double checked the paper maps and agreed we were heading in the right direction towards Honduras.  The kids were happy to be playing in the back seat and we quickly fell into our truck routine of listening to music and eating snacks.

Eventually, we reached the dishevel border crossing between Nicaragua and Honduras. I don't know what I was expecting but it was similar to most other borders, disorganized, slightly chaotic but everything worked.  The guides were a lot more aggressive and would actually run up to the car yelling they wanted to help with the various steps.  I thanked them but politely declined any assistance and found the Nicaraguan immigration office on my own.  After a few minutes of waiting the migration officer told us we could leave Nicaragua.  I noticed he didn't stamp the passports and asked him if he could.  Annoyed, he said it wasn't needed in Nicaragua and to just go. Of course when I reached the gate with the truck and was asked to present the passports, his colleague had a different opinion and sent us back to the office.

A few minutes later, I was back at the gate smiling with my stamped passports and made my way into Honduras.  It was a step back in time. There was very little infrastructure, dirt roads, a pig running around and no visible signs of any official government buildings.  However, it didn’t take long to notice someone sitting at a desk under the shade with some papers in front of him.  Yep, that was immigration. Step one done.

We walked over to customs but were politely advised they were closed; luckily lunch was ending in 10 minutes.  Sure enough about 15 minutes later, the customs officer emerged, asked for my documents, looked at the truck, asked me about the funny looking license plate and waved us through. The first border crossing of the day went by without any issues and we were now driving along Honduras southern departments that are considered the most dangerous according to Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs.

Before entering any country, there’s always a sense of apprehension.  A slight discomfort of not knowing what to expect or what the next bend in the road may reveal.  It was no different in driving though Honduras with the exemption the roads were pitiful.  We zig zagged around the massive holes and tried to enjoy the drive but it was very hot and it wasn’t long before the kids were complaining about the heat and needed something to drink.  We figured it would be a good idea to keep them hydrated.  Luckily, Esso has invested in Honduras and there were several brand new “On the Run” Esso gas stations.  Never mind they all had security guards with 12 gauge shotguns slung over their shoulders, it was a place we could buy some more snacks and cold drinks.

It had been previously reported (April 2012) that in the 80 or so miles of Honduran road between Nicaragua and El Salvador there were 14 roadblocks.  All of which presented an opportunity for police to “find” infractions.  We were pleasantly surprised to come across 4 and stopped only twice.  There were no issues and no one had to get out of the car and lay prone on the hot asphalt.  Never a good sign, no matter where you are.

Before we knew it, we had reached the Honduras/ El Salvador border and one hour later we officially inside El Salvador.  It took us 10 hours to drive 500 km and cross two borders; we were tired, hot and hungry.  Instead of driving to the usual pit stop city of San Migue, we decided on Santa Rosa de Lima.

We found a hotel in which had Air Conditioned rooms, secure parking and WiFi.  Ok, so the gate was never closed at night and we had to stand in the parking lot to get a WiFi signal, but it would do just fine.  They also sold nice cold beer for US$1.25 and with a Subway and Burger King close by we were all set.

Not every day can it be glamorous and exciting and this was a driving day and by night we were sleeping in a lime green room with lime green linen.  Top notch.

Aug 12/13 - San Juan to Granada, Nicaragua

The drive from San Juan del Sur to Granada only took one hour. So we arrived in time for lunch and running of the bulls..... Granada style.

After waiting for about one hour for the much anticipated and hyped running of the bulls the crowd started running and the screams became louder.  Unfortunately, it wasn't what we expected and the kids were sad for the bull... either way, it gave us a glimpse into some the local traditions.   

We also visited the Masaya National Park Volcano.  We were able to get super close to the crater and a peak down.  There was a bit of gases being emitted and we were asked not to stay more than 5 minutes near the crater.  The kid loved it!

You can just make out the inner deeper crater in this picture.

We finished our visit by going on a horse back ride around another non active crater. Super cool.