100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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We are back from Central America, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. It was a very good trip, most excellent. Overall, we had only pleasant surprises, an excellent hotel in Guatemala City, fantastic experience with Mayans, active volcanoes, boats, islands, and we learned much about the area. We started in San Jose, Costa Rica and took a bus to Managua, Nicaragua. It was 10 hours of riding and a 5 hour delay at the border for immigration and customs. One of the pics shows the "Passport control" process for our bus. In Nicaragua, we spent time on Lake Nicaragua and Ometepe island. We got to peer deep into the earth at bubbling lava in Masaya volcano. We flew from Managua to San Salvador, El Salvador. We visited the Mayan pyramid at Tazumal and the archeological site found at Joya de Ceren. We also went to the city of Granada. Then we flew to Guatemala City. We took a long day trip crossing the Honduran border to visit the Mayan pyramid at Copan. lastly,we went to Atitlan Lake and visted the "modern" Mayan town of Santiago Atitlan.


It was fitting that I watched the movie "American Made" on the flight back to Atlanta (2nd time). The film was largely filmed in Atlanta and Georgia. Pilots I know were extras in the movie.

Here are a few pics as I start to sort.




Comments

omegax said…
Lovely pictures Sir. Any idea what caused the delay at the border and did you use any specific travel agency? I might want to follow your path in future and it would help to know :)
6:45 PM
Charles said…
Omegax, The delay at the border was a combination of things 1.) Not being super freindly neighbors 2.) Holiday season and lots of guest workers returning up north after working in Costa Rica. 3.) crossing not well equipped/organized for efficient processing.

We did not use a specific travel agent. We did hire drivers and guides in different countries, but it was ad hoc.

It is a really interesting trip.
5:29 AM
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