BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi everyone. I would like to travel to Central America for a couple months this summer. I don't really have the money to stay in hostels, however. I was wondering if it would be feasible to bring my backpacking gear and just camp every night? I don't have good Spanish speaking skills either (though I'd love to learn), not sure if that's a big issue.

Also, I've been reading these forums and people say not to bring anything you can't afford to lose. Would it be unsafe to bring my backpacking gear? Most of it, I really could not afford to lose. Are there certain places that are safe? I was thinking Costa Rica, but I'd like to check out other countries too.

Also, if anyone knows of any good backpacking hikes in Central America, that would be really awesome. I usually prefer to do 10-20 miles a day and have ample water access (natural or human infrastructure, doesn't matter), food access (from cities, at least once every 1-2 weeks) and decent places to camp where I won't be hurting the environment. If anyone knows of anywhere I might find stuff like that, I would be really grateful.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Simple fact is, if you can't afford accommodations in Guatemala or Nicaragua, you can't afford to travel there. Why don't you consider taking a shorter trip, rather than living on poverty rations for a couple of months? If you are really frugal, you can get by in both countries for $15/day. Camping isn't really done in Central America, and it wouldn't be very secure anyway.

Costa Rica is quite expensive for the region. If budget is your primary concern, you should rule that out off the bat.

As for backpack hikes, you should look into northern Guatemala. There are quite a few treks of several days out of Flores, to Maya ruins deep in the Peten jungle like El Mirador or El Zotz. You'll need to pay a guide for those, as that's mostly uninhabited territory up there, but they sound like a lot of fun.

Thanks for the info, Felix. Disappointing to hear camping isn't feasible. I really don't have any excess money. It costs about $600 a month to stay in America over summer break so I figured I could go to Central America for two months and that would give me about $1200. Half of which is the flight. The other is $600 for two months. I guess that would be a stretch though?

Those jungle hikes sound pretty awesome. If I do make my way down there, I'll have to check those out. I wonder how much a guide would cost. It's something you can't do on your own with maps?

Felix speaks wisely on this. About the only way I could think of to exist on 300 a month would be to homestay with someone. Even then optional meals and travel would be very limited.

quote:

Originally posted by ooter37:
Thanks for the info, Felix. Disappointing to hear camping isn't feasible. I really don't have any excess money. It costs about $600 a month to stay in America over summer break so I figured I could go to Central America for two months and that would give me about $1200. Half of which is the flight. The other is $600 for two months. I guess that would be a stretch though?

Those jungle hikes sound pretty awesome. If I do make my way down there, I'll have to check those out. I wonder how much a guide would cost. It's something you can't do on your own with maps?

Well, you can work and earn a lot of money in the States over break. If you're in Flagstaff, it wouldn't be too hard to hitch down through Mexico to Guatemala, if you know some
Spanish. That's often a great way to live cheap - traveling through Mexico by hitching, people invite you to their homes all the time.

Unless you're in a secure campground, and there are very few of those, you'll be camping in some areas where tents ---free stuff for others when you leave, or while you occupy them.

There MIGHT be a good campground in Panajachel, but I've looked it up and they don't have a website.

Ok, I guess you don't want to stay in Pana for three months, but one month would be very pleasant, and you could use it as a base of operations.

No, I don't mean the public one.

For a first trip to that area, make it a two month trip for 1200 dollars.. Yes, you can travel safely for say, 200 dollars a week, or less.

Oh, the other option, and one I like as well, is to look into work camps. VFP and others charge 250 for two weeks of work camp in CA, where you have a choice of assignments.

Then there is a rainbow gathering, where a bunch of tents together equals relative safety, if you can stand being around an interesting hippy crowd and eat a LOT of vegetarian food.

Sometimes rainbow buses head off to CA as well, though I'm out of that circuit now.

Be aware this is an adventure in a Rainbow lifestyle, not a trip to CA.

Volunteering is another and very interesting option.