I offer this post as a picture for the reader of what I face in the days ahead. Managua is about 9 hours from San Miguel by bus and includes two border crossings into Honduras & Nicaragua. Considering the fact that I prefer to travel 4-5 hours per day at most, that means a two day trip with an overnight in the Honduran town of Choluteca.
Once past the Nicaraguan border formalities I have to decide if I will stop in Leon and/or Managua (probably one or the other but not both). Then it's onward immediately to my true destination goals of beautiful colonial Granada & the charming Pacific coast town of San Juan del Sur. Last year I visited both latter two places but was very short on time. I would like to spend perhaps a week total in that area.
Then there's another border crossing nearby into Costa Rica and one or two days (at my easy-does-it tempo) to the capital San Jose. A day or two there hanging out with my student's Uncle Marco is sure to be a highlight of this trip.
From San Jose, another day's travel will get me to Tortuguero, famous for its turtle-hatching seasons and its remote beauty (the only way to get there is by air or boat). This is yet another place that, for me, is worth spending a few days.
At that point, Panama--or at least the Carribean coast of Panama near the Costa Rican border--becomes a viable option. However, if I go that route, then Merida,Venezuela simply becomes not viable at all--if it ever was, at my meandering rate of speed.
Probably the reader has figured out already that this trip isn't really about getting to Merida, or any other destination, but more about the voyage of getting to several stopping off points along the way. Budget issues also play an important part in my deliberations. For example, if it takes me 14 days worth of hotel spending to get to Panama City from here, but I can get a flight for the same amount or less, should I buy the plane ticket? The answer is, not if that expense puts me wildly above my projected costs for the entire enterprise.
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