How to meet people on the road?

Hi -- I've recently gotten the traveling bug, and booked a trip to Central America through Gap Adventures. I figured it would be a good way to get my feet wet and not travel alone. (Most of my friends are married to jobs or kids or couches.)

How does anyone "go it alone" though? I mean without a tour.

I'd like to know how you all meet up with fellow travelers, and how you determine what to do and where to go?

I'm really green at all this, and am a little lost -- but excited!

As an example, my Gap tour takes me from Antigua to San Jose (17 days). After the tour, though, I'd like to stay for maybe a week longer, but I'm not sure I'd like to do it all alone. I figure I'd stay in hostels and use guidebooks. My Spanish is "OK."

I have found that hostels are often a good place to meet fellow travelers. Often there's a common room where people hang out and talk.

Also in really out of the way places, I've met people just be sitting at an outdoor cafe. When you look like a foreigner, you often attract people who want to talk with you, including other lonely foreigners. I once met another American on the street of a shopping district in Singapore. She was African American taking photos so she stood out in the crowd as not likely local so I said hi. We ended up spending the next day sightseeing together.

Also sometimes a short tour will help you meet fellow travelers. I met a great group of people in Prague on a beer pub tour there. A tour involving drinking is good.

I think it's great you want to do some independent travel after the tour. A tour is a convenient way to get your feet wet. If there are local guides hired for the tour, ask them for recommendations on what to do. Find out what their family and friends do for fun, where the locals go for holiday. You might even score a home stay, home cooked meal, or a weekend out with a local family. There's comfort in meeting other tourists, but there's a real potential for cultural exchange if you can meet locals. Since you can speak Spanish, I'd encourage you to give the locals a try.
Either way, you'll definitely meet other tourists on a packaged tour. So, someone in your group or on your "circuit"(popular tourist spots), may be interested in traveling with you.

I appreciate the encouragement.

The hostel recommendations are great -- thanks. And the reminder to try to meet locals is a pretty important one to me. I'd really like to be able to do that, but I'm afraid my Spanish is not *that* sharp. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

In any case, I just wanted to know if I was going to be meandering around aimlessly on my own.

Thanks!

On a six-month solo stint through Asia, I learned that the majority of solo travellers are on the lookout for other travellers to socialize with. Of course, you’ll be tempted to move in very tight social circles with other backpackers and ex-pats as you travel.

Since you mentioned you know Spanish, I think it’s a good idea thatyou go out of your way to make local friends while travelling, as well. Indeed, you’ll learn a lot more about the country in which you find yourself from a local.

Anyhow — we compiled some hints and tips here: "How to meet backpackers and influence people".

I hope that's not the case because I will be impressing no one, then!