OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
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It’s been an interesting week for us. The sunshine that welcomed us back to the northwest was simply too good to hold true for long. Last week it was replaced by somewhat a reminder of portland weather- grey and overcast all week. Now it’s just plain cold on top of it and were it not for warm clothing donations from…
Travel with Purpose. Wow. When we first began our little adventure, im not sure we could have even told you what “Overland Travel” meant. We were simply looking to change our current lives and mindsets, and couldn’t think of a much better way to do that than to remove ourselves. We set out on a bit of a walkabout (or…
Everyone warned us that 2 weeks home and we would be done… That we’d be annoyed with modern society and itching to return to the bus. Maybe because we’re twice as slow as everyone else, but it currently seems like that might take a few more weeks?? Certainly we struggle with some things. Every meal or happy hour with friends…
Maybe the best weekend ever. For a couple trying to soak up friends after a long period of time away, a sunny weekend comprised of two “holidays” might be as good as it gets. “Sunny” being the key word, especially after a week spent freezing in our new apartment. Our place is on the north side of the building, which…
The culture shock continues. It’s hard to describe what a good time we’re having. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, which implies that once you jump the fence you’ll wish you were right back where you were…. Maybe the secret to happiness is to keep hopping over fences? We spend almost every day with friends. …
Ahhh Portland, we have missed you. You are delightfully weird, can be incredibly cheap (unless in contrast to mexico and central america…not counting costa rica), and your aesthetic familiarity feels good. Your streets are filled with beautiful and strange and interesting people, and there are about a zillion places, old and new, that we want to experience within your city.…
Tomorrow we’re heading home. How very odd. The timing is great. The heat (really the humidity) here in Costa is now unbearable most days. Reminds me why i left the south. The rainy season has also entered the scene like someone flipped a switch. It downpours daily. It’s a refreshing reprieve from the heat…but the bus is far from watertight. …
In the morning we head for san jose. There’s a blanket of clouds overhead that are probably the only thing keeping us from overheating as we crawl up the mountains towards town. I’m white-knuckled the whole way fearing that our wheel could pop off and roll down the side of the mountain at any point; and if i’m not ready…
We continue south and start prep for our trip home. We had planned on skipping Tamarindo, thinking that it was just too big of a town for our tastes but everyone we spoke to kept telling us how it was a must see. We also were told that the vet outside of town was the place to go for a…
Or at least a decision… We finally gathered the steam to pack up the bus, say our goodbyes to pandora and drive the whopping 10 minutes down the peninsula to the next beach, playa coco. Coco seems crazy busy compared to our last stop, clearly a party town/beach and we drive by the discotecas and bars on our way to…
We take off and make the beach just fine. Apparently i’m now officially a mechanic (as long as nothing important is broken). We pull across the bridge onto the nicoya peninsula and are eager to find raw untouched beaches. The first one we pass has nothing but 5star resorts. The next few beaches however are a bit more what we…
We finally decide its time to pull away from our hilltop hostel, coast downhill and see how far we can make it towards the border. Who knows, we might even make it into costa rica? Our confidence in the bus is about zero right now and we caught ourselves being tempted to stay another night in the hostel. Not because…
Yes, Nicaragua. It seems we may have spoken a bit to soon about our border crossing into costa rica… We packed up the bus and headed back up the dirt road en route to Costa Rica, but as soon as we hit the pavement we knew that at least some of our unease about the repair was warranted. He had…
Sometimes things just fall into place… We arrange for transport back to mango rosa and the bus and as we pull into the parking lot we see the mechanics waiting with all of our parts. We didn’t arrange this time or even tell them we were returning today, so im somewhat curious if they been sitting here for a day. …
A much needed rest with a great friend. During our week in the rental house we did a really good job of completely forgetting about how we abandoned the bus (with only three wheels) and what that might mean later on. Mostly we lounged in the hammocks, hit the outdoor shower every 20 minutes to stay cool and fit as…
Working to assess the damage. We have a cold drink to ease the nerves and then set up some shade before getting to work. We find enough blocks to jack the bus up appropriately and then remove the tire. The axle stub is so loose i can wiggle it back and forth with no work and it spins roughly as…
Our drive to the next nicaraguan beach has a few bumps in the road, and our plans change again. We continue to explore and enjoy popoyo and the tiny villages around our surf camp. Beach time is limited due to the intensity of the sun and the shockingly cold waters. The gusty winds that keep us cool on the patio…
We’ve come to a realization over the last few days. We love home. We miss it. We crave it. The same way that when we’re at home we miss and crave travel and adventure and exploration but with the added reinforcement of friends and family. More poigniant…we also learned that we cant afford to live there. Not possible. We tried…
Finally make our way to the end of the dirt road. We pull into NicaWaves, a little popoyo surf camp and our home for the next three nights. Its scorching hot and we’re thrilled to get out of the bus. We walk up to the bar and sip a refreshing nica libre while waiting on the owner to come show…
We finally drive south from las penitas and stop in Leon for supplies. We actually start our day with some much needed bus maintenance and a tire rotation, but are underway soon enough. The market in leon is great and we dine on some pork and yucca dish cooked in a tire rim. Yummy. I love a market for the…
Our time in Nica has been spent slowly passing the days staring at the ocean. It’s hot here. Very hot. We spent the first few days at a surf camp decompressing from our border crossing day and trying to find the will to drive further. No waves to speak of and im still nursing my neck/ego from the last attempt,…
We hit the road early and make it to the honduran border crossing. There’s a chance we’ve read too much about the trip through honduras, because even though its only about 80km until nicaragua we’re a bit worried about it. We’ve read countless accounts of how corrupt the country is and the last post we read described 14 checkpoints within…
We pull into tunco knowing that it’s a bit too busy for us, but needing to get online again and knowing we can meet up with Tad and Gaila of Overland Now for dinner. We return to the discoteca parking lot and make camp; then head out for some food, some internet and another smoothie. If theres anything that would…
Our time in el zonte is a paradox between the tranquillo serenity onshore and the power constantly crashing just meters away offshore. We spend our time endlessly watching the waves, our days bookended by glorious sunrises and sunsets at opposite ends of the beach. We talk with Raul, our host, and enjoy the smile that takes up his whole face…
We eventually learn that in this small bay there are many things that can be difficult to find. Internet it seems is one of them. There is a guy with a usb modem, but on days like this with a lot of wind it doesn’t work. There is also very little to offer at the tiny tienda behind Raul’s place…
Nothing but wind and waves in El Salvador. All night the wind gusts through the shade structure that is our sleeping quarters and while we see nothing but darkness you can make out the white mass that is a wave trailing from right to left on the horizon. Other than the crashing waves and the occasional howling of the wind…
its a bit slower than planes, trains and automobiles, but we make it work… In the morning we decide to use the shade of the parking space to swap out the wrench come washer for some real washers we picked up during our drive yesterday. We get the bus jacked and are propping up the transmission when POP – our…
We pull out of the surf house and rattle down the sandy road. Eventually we run back into pavement and continue past puerto san jose and several small villages along the road all with the backdrop of large houses along the water. The streets are littered with signs advertising resorts and hotels and we cant help but wonder where the…
sadly, the boards remain dusty and strapped to the roof of the bus. I woke up with a bit of a restless tummy, but jen didn’t mind giving the toe another day to heal and the waves looked like mush anyway, so we missed the morning session… Turned out the tummy wasn’t the only thing restless..by afternoon i was achy…
We successfully made our way back into guatemala, meaning we are no longer driving the roads of mexico (illegally). The border crossing wasn’t exactly what we might call smooth or fast, but we did get across nonetheless… Despite what we’d been told, canceling our expired vehicle permit actually was no problem and things on the mexican side of the border…