Closing Out Central America...for now

I think attempting to write coherent sentences about what Central America has taught me would be more of a thesis project than a blog, so I’m going to be short and sweet and do this bullet style and test my long forgotten abilities to be concise. So here they are, Manda’s lessons from somewhere South of Mexico.

• Write your itinerary in pencil, if it doesn’t change at least once a week, you’re doing something wrong.
• Separate each intense experience with at least four mental health days at a beach. 
• Drink coffee. 
• Live with a tribe, preferably without electricity or running water.  
• Write daily. 
• Let your guard down, both emotionally and mentally, it’s the only way you’ll really know a person. 
• If your bus leaves before 5 am, don’t go to bed. 
• Get heinously dirty as often as possible (rainy season helps the cause). 
• Make sure there is a bat in every hostel you stay at. 
• Don’t move too quickly, even separate countries can blur together if you’re not careful. 
• If you fever exceeds 102 for more than three days, it’s probably time to find a hospital. 

• Avoid dogs, especially the ones that are foaming at the mouth. 
• Avoid the internet at all costs, but when you do use it, surrender to the fact that facebook is actually your best link to the life you left behind and that’s OK. 
• Be OK with sitting on the side of the road for long periods of time. 
• Splurge on raw cookie dough and peanut butter from time to time. 
• Read political travel writing. Then read book candy. 
• Laugh… a lot especially at Israeli travelers, it makes them far more tolerable.
• Choose your travel partner wisely, he/she will be your other half and chemistry is vital. 

• When your clothes smell as if they’ve been worn for a month straight, wear them for another week and then wash them. 
• If your host grandma tries to fatten you up with enough rice for an entire Nicaraguan army of Sandinistas... let her, it makes her happy to feed the gringos. 
• Listen to an awesomely awful American pop song at least once a week (Miley Cyrus and backstreet boys will do just fine). 
• Don’t ever go to Tegucigalpa, Honduras nothing good can come of it (accept of course AguaClara).
• Always be prepared for a 5 hour trip to turn into a 48 hour adventure.
• Don’t wash your hair more than once a week, it’s just superfluous. 
• Learn Spanish. 
• Beware the Bombas (Guatemalan fireworks). 

• Don’t attempt to find environmental policy amongst people who can’t even afford food.
• Give Americans a good name. 
• Write a Haiku for each country you visit. 
• Take a character from every country; travel is shaped by the people you meet along the way. 
• If (like me) you dislike most children in the states, you will LOVE them in Central America. I can't quite explain it, but meet as many as you can and talk to them for as long as they'll let you... they are truly a different breed of wonderful.